The responsibility of the Chancellor, who was answerable both to the Reichstag and to the Bundesrat, extended not only to the general and particular decrees issued by the Emperor and countersigned by the Chancellor but also to acts of a political nature on the part of the Emperor; and it followed from this that the Chancellor and his representatives were also responsible for their own actions of the same character.
Further, one of the laws of October 28, 1918, in abrogating paragraph 2 of Article 21 of the Constitution of 1871, permitted thereafter members of the Reichstag to become secretaries of state while fulfilling at the same time their functions as members of the Reichstag. On the other hand the incompatibility between the Bundesrat and the Reichstag (article 9, paragraph 2, of the Constitution of 1871) was not abolished. It followed from that, therefore, that while a member of the Reichstag could become a Secretary of State, he could not become a member of the Bundesrat and therefore could not become Chancellor; for that office was open only to members of the Bundesrat.
2. The laws of October 28, 1918, broadened considerably the authority of the Reichstag and diminished correspondingly the Imperial authority in the right to declare war and conclude treaties. The Emperor could never again under any circumstances declare war in the name of the Reich without the consent of the Reichstag and the Bundesrat. He was required to obtain the same consent of the two assemblies to conclude treaties of peace and all other treaties that touched matters in which either of the assemblies had competence.
3. The authority of the Emperor as military commander was put under parliamentary control.
These reforms constituted certainly important progress along the road of parliamentary rule and it can be said that it placed Germany thereafter among the nations that are governed by such a system.
The texts of the laws of October 28, 1918, were accompanied by a letter of the Emperor to the Chancellor in which he wrote: “Prepared by a series of governmental acts a new order comes into being in which fundamental rights of the Emperor pass to the people. After the events of these our times the German people must not be denied a single right that is needed to guarantee them a free and happy future. I acquiesce together with my highest colleagues in the decisions of the representatives of the people and do so with the firm determination to co-operate to the greatest effectiveness, convinced that I will thus serve the welfare of the German people. The Emperor is at the service of the people.”
German jurists with good reason characterized this letter as a “political abdication.” But the changes which went with it came too late, and a simple “political abdication” appeared thereafter as strikingly insufficient. The German Empire was falling into ruin and it was no longer a question of partial reforms.
2.—THE FALL OF THE OLD RÉGIME.
Revolution broke out in Germany at the beginning of November, 1918.