of government there prevailing is in a measure
regulated.]

I. THE MORE IMPORTANT MONARCHIES (p. 275)

*294. Bavaria: Crown and Ministry.*--After Prussia, the most important
of the German states, in point both of area and of population, is the
kingdom of Bavaria. The constitution at present in operation in
Bavaria was promulgated May 26, 1818, though it has undergone no
slight modification through the process of amendment since that
date.[404] The original instrument replaced a fundamental law of May,
1808, devised by the king of Bavaria in imitation of the constitution
given some months before by Napoleon to the kingdom of Westphalia; and
even the present frame of government bears unmistakable evidence of
French influence. The functions and prerogatives of king and ministers
are substantially what they are in Prussia.[405] In addition to the
Ministry of State, consisting of the seven heads of departments, there
is an advisory Staatsrath, or Council of State, comprising, besides
the ministers, one prince of the royal blood and eight other members.
In accordance with royal proclamation important acts of the government
require the countersignature of all of the ministers. This, of itself,
does not imply any larger measure of ministerial subordination than
exists elsewhere in German governments, but it is worth observing that
during a prolonged period, especially after 1869, there was persistent
effort on the part of the Clericals to inject into the Bavarian system
the principle of ministerial responsibility in the parliamentary sense
of the phrase, and that although the attempt was by no means wholly
successful, it is true that in Bavaria the ministers occupy in
practice a somewhat less independent position than in other German
monarchies. The device of interpellation, for example, not only exists
in theory; it means something, as elsewhere in Germany it does not, in
actual operation. If a minister will not answer an interpellation that
is addressed to him, he is obliged by law at least to give reasons for
his refusal.[406]

[Footnote 404: Among amendments the most notable
have been that of March 9, 1828, relating to the
composition of the upper legislative chamber; those
of June 4, 1848, and March 21, 1881, by which was
modified the composition of the lower h