hte
von der Aufloesung d. alten bis zur Errichtung d.
neuen Kaiserreichs (Stuttgart, 1903-1905); and M.
L. Van Deventer, Cinquante annees de l'histoire
federale de l'Allemagne (Brussels, 1870). A book of
some value is A. Malet, The Overthrow of the
Germanic Confederation by Prussia in 1866 (London,
1870). P. Bigelow, History of the German Struggle
for Liberty (New York, 1905) is readable, but not
wholly reliable. An excellent biography of Bismarck
is that by Headlam (New York, 1899). For full
bibliography see Cambridge Modern History, X.,
826-832; XI., 879-886, 893-898; XII., 869-875.]

III. THE CONSTITUTION: NATURE OF THE EMPIRE (p. 202)

*211. The Constitution Framed.*--As ordained in the treaties of
November, 1870, ratified subsequently by the _Bundesrath_ and the
_Bundestag_ of the North German Confederation, and by the legislative
assemblies of the four incoming states, the German Empire came legally
into existence January 1, 1871. It consisted fundamentally of the
Confederation, which in the process of expansion did not lose its
corporate identity, together with the four states, whose treaties
bound them severally to it. The _Bund_ was conceived of technically,
not as replaced by, but rather as perpetuated in, the new Empire. The
accession of the four southern states, however, involved of necessity
a considerable modification of the original character of the
affiliation; and the innovations that were introduced called for a
general reconstitution of the fundamental law upon which the enlarged
structure was to be grounded.

The elements at hand for the construction of the constitution of the
Empire were four: (1) the constitution of the North German
Confederation, in operation since 1867; (2) the treaties of November
15, 1870, between the Confederation, on the one hand, and the
grand-duchies of Baden and Hesse on the other; (3) the treaty of
November 23, 1870, by which was arranged the adhesion of the kingdom of
Bavaria; and (4) the treaty of November 25, 1870, between the _Bund_,
Baden, and Hesse, on the one side, and the kingdom of Wuerttemberg on
the other. Each of these treaties stipulated the precise conditions
under which the new affiliation should be mainta