ses, to twenty.

[Footnote 317: Under the Alsace-Lorraine
Constitution Act of 1911 (see p. 285), comprising
for all practical purposes an amendment of the
Imperial constitution, the territory of
Alsace-Lorraine has become nominally a state of the
Empire, being accorded three votes in the
Bundesrath. The whole number of votes was thus
raised to sixty-one. The Alsatian delegates are
appointed by the Statthalter, who is the immediate
and responsible agent of the Emperor. Their votes
are cast, however, under regulations which are
inconsistent with full-fledged statehood.]

It may be observed that the allocation of votes for which provision
was made in the constitution of 1867-1871 was largely arbitrary. That
is to say, except for the quotas of Prussia and Bavaria, it was
perpetuated from the constitution of 1815 with no attempt to apportion
voting power among the several states in exact relation to population,
wealth, or importance. Upon any one of these bases Prussia must have
been accorded an absolute majority of the aggregate number, rather
than a scant third. In 1867 the population of Prussia comprised
four-fifths of that of the North German Confederation; in 1871,
two-thirds of that of the Empire. That Prussia should intrust to her
sister states a total of forty-one votes, retaining but seventeen for
herself, was one of the arrangements by which Bismarck sought to
assure the lesser members of the federation against too complete
domination on the part of the Prussian kingdom.

*229. Status of Delegates and Method of Voting.*--Each state is
authorized, though not required, to send to the Bundesrath a number of
delegates identical with the number of votes to which the state is
entitled. The full quota of members is, therefore (since the
Alsace-Lorraine Constitution Act of 1911), sixty-one. Legally, and to
a large extent practically, the status of the delegate is that, not of
a senator, but of a diplomat; and the Emperor is required to (p. 219)
extend to the members of the body the "customary diplomatic
protection."[318] Delegates are very commonly officials, frequently
ministers, of the states which they represent. They are appointed
afresh for each session, and they may be recalled or rep