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lishments, which serve for facilitating commercial intercourse. These duties, as well as the duties for navigating such artificial channels, which are property of the state, are not to exceed the amount required for the maintenance and ordinary repair of the institutions and establishments. These rules apply to rafting, so far as it is carried on on navigable water-courses.

The levying of other or higher duties upon foreign vessels or their freights than those which are paid by the vessels of the federal states or their freights does not belong to the various states, but to the Empire.

ARTICLE 55. The flag of the war and merchant navy shall be black, white, and red.

X.-CONSULAR AFFAIRS.

The Emperor shall have the supervision of all consular affairs of the German Empire, and he shall appoint consuls, after hearing the committee of the federal council on commerce and traffic.

No new state consulates are to be established within the jurisdiction of the German consuls. German consuls shall perform the functions of state consuls for the states of the confederation not represented in their district. All the now existing state consulates shall be abolished, as soon as the organization of the German consulates shall be completed, in such a manner that the representation of the separate interests of all the federal states shall be recognized by the federal council as secured by the German consulates.

XI.-MILITARY AFFAIRS OF THE EMPIRE.

ARTICLE 57. Every German is subject to military duty, and in the discharge of this duty no substitute can be accepted.

ARTICLE 58. The costs and the burden of all the military system of the empire are to be borne equally by all the federal states and their subjects, and no privileges or molestations to the several states or classes are admissible. Where an equal distribution of the burdens cannot be effected in natura without prejudice to the public welfare, affairs shall be equalized by legislation in accordance with the principles of justice. ARTICLE 59. Every German capable of bearing arms shall serve for seven years in the standing army, ordinarily from the end of his twentieth to the beginning of his twenty-eighth year; the first three years in the army of the field, the last four years in the reserve; during the next five years he shall belong to the militia. In those states of the confederation in which heretofore a longer term of service than twelve years was required by law, the gradual reduction of the required time of service shall take place in such a manner as is compatible with the interests and the war-footing of the army of the empire.

As regards the emigration of men belonging to the reserve, only those provisions shall be in force which apply to the emigration of members of the militia.

ARTICLE 60. The strength of the German army in time of peace shall be, until the 31st December, 1871, one per cent. of the population of 1867, and shall be furnished by the several federal states in proportion to their population. In future the strength of the army in time of peace shall be fixed by legislation.

ARTICLE 61. After the publication of this constitution the full Prussian military system of legislation shall be introduced without delay throughout the Empire, as well the statutes themselves as the regulations, instructions, and ordinances issued for their execution, explanation, or completion; thus, in particular, the military penal code of April 3, 1845; the military orders of the penal court of April 3, 1845; the ordinance concerning the courts of honor of July 20, 1843; the regulations with respect to recruiting, time of service, matters relating to the service and subsistence, to the quartering of troops, claims for damages, mobilizing, &c., for times of peace and war. Orders for the attendance of the military upon religious services is, however, excluded. When a uniform organization of the German army shall have been established, a comprehensive military law for the Empire shall be submitted to the diet and the federal council for their action in accordance with the constitution.

ARTICLE 62, For the purpose of defraying the expenses of the whole German army, and the institutions connected therewith, the sum of 225 (two hundred and twentyfive) thalers shall He placed at the disposal of the Emperor until the 31st of December, 1871, for each man in the army on the peace-footing, according to article 60. (Seo section 12.)

After the 31st of December, 1871, the payment of these contributions of the several states to the imperial treasury must be continued. The strength of the army in time of peace, which has been temporarily fixed in article 60, shall be taken as a basis for calculating these amounts until it shall be altered by a law of the Empire.

The expenditure of this sum for the whole army of the empire and its establishments shall be determined by a budget law.

In determining the budget of military expenditures, the lawfully established organization of the imperial army, in accordance with this constitution, shall be taken as a

ARTICLE 63. The total land force of the empire shall form one army, which, in war and in peace, shall be under the command of the Emperor.

The regiments, &c., throughout the whole German army shall bear continuous numbers. The principal colors and the cut of the garments of the Royal Prussian army shall serve as a pattern for the rest of the army. It is left to commanders of contingent forces to choose the external badges, cockades, &c.

It shall be the duty and the right of the Emperor to take care that, throughout the German army, all divisions be kept full and well equipped, and that unity be established and maintained in regard to organization and formation, equipment, and command in the training of the men, as well as in the qualification of the officers. For this purpose the Emperor shall be authorized to satisfy himself at any time of the condition of the several contingents, and to provide remedies for existing defects.

The Emperor shall determine the strength, composition, and division of the Contingents of the imperial army, and also the organization of the militia, and he shall have the right to designate garrisons within the territory of the confederation, as also to call any portion of the army into active service.

In order to maintain the necessary unity in the care, arming, and equipment of all troops of the German army, all orders hereafter to be issued for the Prussian army shall be communicated in due form to the commanders of the remaining contingents. by the committee on the army and fortifications, provided for in article 8, No. 1.

ARTICLE 64. All German troops are bound implicitly to obey the orders of the Emperor. This obligation shall be included in the oath of allegiance. The commander-inchief of a contingent, as well as all officers commanding troops of more than one contingent, and all commanders of fortresses, shall be appointed by the Emperor. The officers appointed by the Emperor shall take the oath of fealty to him. The appointment of generals, or of officers performing the duties of generals, in a contingent force, shall be in each case subject to the approval of the Emperor.

The Emperor has the right with regard to the transfer of officers, with or without promotion, to positions which are to be filled in the service of the Empire, be it in the Prussian army or in other contingents, to select from the officers of all the contingents of the army of the Empire.

ARTICLE 65. The right to build fortresses within the territory of the Empire shall belong to the Emperor, who, according to section 12, shall ask for the appropriation of the necessary means required for that purpose, if not already included in the regular appropriation.

ARTICLE 66. If not otherwise stipulated, the princes of the Empire and the senates shall appoint the officers of their respective contingents, subject to the restriction of article 64. They are the chiefs of all the troops belonging to their respective territories, and are entitled to the honors connected therewith. They shall have especially the right to hold inspections at any time, and receive, besides the regular reports and aunouncements of changes for publication, timely information of all promotions and appointments concerning their respective contingents.

They shall also have the right to employ, for police purposes, not only their own troops but all other contingents of the army of the Empire who are stationed in their respective territories.

ARTICLE 67. The unexpended portion of the military appropriation shall, under no circumstances, fall to the share of a single government, but at all times to the treasury of the Empire.

ARTICLE 68. The Emperor shall have the power, if the public security of the Empire demands it, to declare martial law in any part thereof, until the publication of a law regulating the grounds, the form of announcement, and the effects of such a declaration, the provisions of the Prussian law of June 4, 1851, shall be substituted therefor. (Laws of 1851, page 451.)

Addition to section XI.

The provisions contained in this section shall go into effect in Bavaria as provided for in the treaty of alliance of November 23, 1870, (Bundesgesetzblatt, 1871, section 9,) under III, section 5, in Würtemberg, as provided for in the military convention of November 21-25, 1870, (Bundegesetzblatt, 1870, section 658.)

XII.-FINANCES OF THE EMPIRE.

ARTICLE 69. All receipts and expenditures of the Empire shall be estimated yearly, and included in the financial estimate. The latter shall be fixed by law before the beginning of the fiscal year, according to the following principles:

ARTICLE 70. The surplus of the previous year, as well as the customs duties, the common excise duties, and the revenues derived from the postal and telegraph service, shall be applied to the defrayal of all general expenditures. In so far as these expenditures are not covered by the receipts, they shall be raised, as long as no taxes of the Empire shall have been established, by assessing the several states of the Empire

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according to their population, the amount of the assessment to be fixed by the chancellor of the Empire in accordance with the budget agreed upon.

ARTICLE 71. The general expenditures shall be, as a rule, granted for one year; they may, however, in special cases, be granted for a longer period. During the period of transition fixed in article 60, the financial estimate, properly classified, of the expenditures of the army shall be laid before the federal council and the diet for their information.

ARTICLE 72. An annual report of the expenditure of all the receipts of the Empire shall be rendered to the federal council and the diet, through the chancellor of the empire.

ARTICLE 73. In cases of extraordinary requirements, a loan may be contracted in accordance with the laws of the Empire, such loan to be granted by the Empire.

Addition to section XII.

Articles 69 and 71 apply to the expenditures for the Bavarian army only according to the provisions of the addition to section XI of the treaty of November 23, 1870; and article 72 only so far as is required to inform the federal council and the diet of the assignment to Bavaria of the required sum for the Bavarian army.

XIII.-SETTLEMENT OF DISPUTES AND MODES OF PUNISHMENT.

ARTICLE 74. Every attempt against the existence, the integrity, the security, or the constitution of the German Empire; finally, any offense committed against the federal council, the diet, a member of the federal council or of the diet, a magistrate or public official of the Empire, while in the execution of his duty, or with reference to his official position, by word, writing, printing, signs, or caricatures, shall be judicially investigated, and upon conviction punished in the several states of the Empire according to the laws therein existing, or which shall hereafter exist in the same, according to which laws a similar offense against any one of the states of the empire, its constitution, legislature, members of its legislature, authorities or officials is to be judged. ARTICLE 75. For those offenses, specified in article 74, against the German Empire, which, if committed against one of the states of the Empire, would be deemed high treason, the superior court of appeals of the three free Hanseatic towns at Lubeck shall be the competent deciding tribunal in the first and last resort. More definite provisions as to the competency and the proceedings of the superior court of appeals shall be adopted by the legislature of the empire. Until the passage of a law of the Empire, the existing competency of the courts in the respective states of the empire, and the provisions relative to the proceedings of those courts, shall remain in force. ARTICLE 76. Disputes between the different states of the confederation, so far as they are not of a private nature, and therefore to be decided by the competent authorities, shall be settled by the federal council, at the request of one of the parties. Disputes relating to constitutional matters in those of the states of the confederation whose constitution contains no provision for the settlement of such differences, shall be adjusted by the federal council, at the request of one of the parties, or, if this cannot be done, they shall be settled by the legislative power of the confederation.

ARTICLE 77. If in one of the states of the confederation justice shall be denied, and no sufficient relief can be procured by legal measures, it shall be the duty of the federal council to receive substantiated complaints concerning denial or restriction of justice, which are to be judged according to the constitution and the existing laws of the respective states of the confederation, and thereupon to obtain judicial relief from the confederate government in the matter which shall have given rise to the complaint.

XIV.-GENERAL PROVISION.

Amendments to the constitution shall be made by legislative enactment. They shall be considered as rejected when 14 votes are cast against them in the federal council. The provisions of the constitution of the empire, by which fixed rights of individual states of the confederation are established in their relation to the whole, shall only be modified with the consent of that state of the confederation which is immediately concerned.

No. 226.]

No. 172.

Mr. Bancroft to Mr. Fish.

AMERICAN LEGATION,

Berlin, May 29, 1871. (Received June 14.)

SIR: To the inquiry when diplomatic relations with France will be resumed, the Foreign Office still answers that the time is not yet definitively known. I shall telegraph to you, according to your directions, as soon as it can be done. I have written to Mr. Washburne, but as yet have received from him no answer.

The German estimate of the number of lives lost in the city of Paris, since the beginning of the French bombardment, including men, women, and children, is fifty thousand. Bodies lie unburied in the streets, and there is no orderly provision for the wounded.

The finances of France occupy public attention. By the treaty of peace Germany is to receive, thirty days after the restoration of order in Paris, five hundred millions of francs, and in the course of the year a milliard more. I am told that an association of European bankers, is disposed to provide for the first payment, receiving French 3 per cent. rentes at 50 per cent., and a commission of 4 per cent. Subscriptions to the loan, at the rate of 50 per cent., are to be opened in all parts of France, and the bankers are to make good the deficiency in the subscription, but to receive the commission of 4 per cent. on the whole; and they are further to have a six months' option of taking the milliard on the same conditions.

The debt of France before the war was about thirteen milliards; add to this the debt incurred by Napoleon in the early part of the war; the debt incurred by Gambetta; the debt incurred by the Versailles government in subduing the insurrection in Paris, and now the five milliards that are promised to Germany, and the aggregate seems more than even a state so wealthy as France can bear. Moreover, the cities and departments of France have large debts of their own. The prospect is very sad for a people which in habits of order and powers of generalization and analysis excelled all others in Europe. I hear from the most intelligent men of Germany ardent wishes for the recovery of France, and the acknowledgment that its peculiar office in the civilization of Europe cannot be made good by any other nation.

I remain, &c., &c.,

GEO. BANCROFT,

No. 173.

Mr. Bancroft to Mr. Fish.

AMERICAN LEGATION,

No. 227.]

Berlin, May 30, 1871. (Received June 14.)

SIR: I received from you, last evening, an official copy of the treaty of Washington, as published by order of the Senate. The treaty, in whole or in copious abstracts, had already gone through the European papers, and the decision of the Senate was made known by cable as soon as the vote was declared. Justice is everywhere done to the ability and moderation of the American negotiators, and the result is considered in the highest degree, I might almost say in an unexampled degree, honor

able to them; and this opinion is held most strongly by those who understand international relations best.

In efficiency and dignity the conference at Washington contrasts most favorably with the late conference at London on the Pontus question. Of course I do not as yet officially present the treaty to this government, but await your instructions.

I remain, &c., &c.,

No. 174.

GEO. BANCROFT.

No. 230.]

Mr. Bancroft to Mr. Fish.

AMERICAN LEGATION,

Berlin, June 5, 1871. (Received June 21.)

SIR: The auswer to my informal inquiries when diplomatic relations will be resumed with France is still indefinite. I annex a copy of a note which I have received from Mr. Washburne, who, at my request, made corresponding inquiries at Paris. I think the question will be settled within a few days. The great subject of political interest for the last week has been the bill for establishing a government in the new province of Alsace and Lorraine. Under the old German Empire the free cities, with their domain, stood directly under the protection of the Emperor. In theory, Alsace and Lorraine form a district belonging neither to Prussia nor to any other of the German states, standing directly, not under the King of Prussia, but under the Emperor of Germany. An exact conformity to the old precedents would make of them a republic under the protectorate of the Emperor. Prince Bismarck declared his wish to establish in the new territory self-government in the fullest extent compatible with their forming an integral part of Germany. Especially he was anxious to secure to the new provinces their own legislature, with control over their own internal affairs. In particular he desired to protect them against the interference of the German Parliament in affairs that belonged exclusively to themselves. In the course of the debate incidents in American history were repeatedly introduced as authorities, and our system of concentrating general affairs in the hands of the General Government, and distributing affairs of local interest among the several States, is working itself more and more into German institutions. During the debates there was at one time a fear of some serious difference between the chancellor and the diet; but, while the diet maintained with dignity all its rights as a deliberative body, it manifested, in a remarkable degree, the strength of its attachment to Prince Bismarck, and confidence in his wisdom. Indeed, the relation between the prince and the diet is unique. He has neither a party nor a majority at his bidding, but carries his measures by appeals to the judg ment and sentiment of the house. His support comes sometimes from one side, sometimes from another; but on every side he is looked upon as the only possible chief minister for Germany at the present time. He has not only no rival, but nobody is thought of as eventually able to take his place.

I remain, &c., &c.,

GEO. BANCROFT.

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