which he introduces
may be defeated; expediency may even require his removal by his
Imperial master; but he has never felt obliged to retire merely by
reason of lack of support in the legislative chamber, as would a
British or a French minister similarly situated. This does not mean,
of course, that the blocking of a governmental programme may not tend
to produce the practical effect of a parliamentary vote of "want of
confidence." It means simply that the Chancellor, in such a case, is
under no admitted obligation to resign. The retirement of Chancellor
von Buelow during the crisis of 1908-1909 was more nearly involuntary
than that of any one of his three predecessors, but persons most
conversant with the circumstances agree that there was involved in it
no intention of concession to the parliamentary principle. The
Chancellor's fall was, in reality, only his punishment for
countenancing the popular indignation occasioned by the Emperor's
memorable _Daily Telegraph_ interview, for which the Chancellor
himself had been, at least technically, responsible.[310]

[Footnote 310: For an excellent discussion of this
general subject see W. J. Shepard, Tendencies
toward Ministerial Responsibility in Germany, in
_American Political Science Review_, Feb., 1911. In
the course of an impassioned speech in the
Reichstag in 1912, occasioned by a storm of protest
against the Emperor's alleged threat to withdraw
the newly granted constitution of Alsace-Lorraine,
Chancellor von Bethmann-Hollweg stated the theory
and fact of the office which he holds in these
sentences: "No situation has been created for which
I cannot take the responsibility. As long as I
stand in this place I shield the Emperor (_trete
ich vor den Kaiser_). This not for courtiers'
considerations, of which I know nothing, but as in
duty bound. When I cannot satisfy this my duty you
will see me no more in this place."]

There is a clause of the constitution[311] which confers upon the (p. 215)
Chancellor the right to delegate the power to represent him to _any
other_ member of the Bundesrath; whence it seems to follow that the
Chancellor must be himsel