Such resolutions might be considered as
valuable material, but it had been agreed that they could have
no binding effect either upon the government or any member of it,
and that nobody had ever dreamed that by a mere change of business
rules the whole constitution of the Empire was being changed and
authority given to the Reichstag to dismiss ministers at will;
that in France and Great Britain conditions were different, but
that parliamentary government did not exist in Germany; that it
was the constitutional privilege of the Emperor to appoint the
Chancellor without any assistance or advice from the Reichstag;
that he, the Chancellor, would resist with all his might every
attempt to change this system; and that he, therefore, refused
to resign because the resolution had no other effect than to
make it evident that a difference of opinion existed between the
Reichstag and the government.
This debate took place on December ninth, 1913, and, with the
exception of the Social Democrats and the Polish deputies, the
leaders of all parties supported the view of the Chancellor.
Pages:
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104