The revival of the Imperial title and dignity involved, and was intended to involve, no modification of the status of the Bundespraesident, save in respect to his official designation and certain of his personal privileges. His relations with the states and with the princes of the federation continued precisely as before. The powers of the Kaiser were, and are, the powers of the old President, and nothing in excess of those. The title might be taken to imply a monarchy of the customary sort; but properly it does not. There is no Imperial crown, no Imperial civil list, no Imperial "office" as such. The king of Prussia, in addition to his purely Prussian prerogatives, is by the Imperial constitution vested with the added prerogative (p. 211) of bearing the Kaiser title and of exercising those powers which under the constitution and laws are conferred upon the bearer of that title. Apart from the Prussian crown the Imperial function does not exist; from which it follows that there is no law of Imperial succession apart from the Prussian law regulating the tenure of the Prussian throne,[299] and that in the event of a regency in Prussia the regent would, _ipso facto_, exercise the functions of Emperor. Chief among the privileges which belong to the Kaiser as such are those of special protection of person and family and of absolute exemption from legal process. Responsible to no superior earthly authority, the Emperor may not be brought for trial before any tribunal, nor be removed from office by any judicial proceeding. Assaults upon his person are punishable with death, and attacks, in speech or writing, which are adjudged to constitute _lese majeste_ are subject to special and severe penalties.[300] [Footnote 299: Arts. 53-58 of the Prussian Constitution. See p. 253.] [Footnote 300: R. C. Brooks, Lese Majeste, in _The Bookman_, June, 1904.] *221. Powers: Military and Foreign Affairs.* The king of Prussia being _ipso facto_ Emperor, the royal and Imperial functions which are combined in the hands of the one sovereign are of necessity closely interrelated. There are powers which belong to William II. to-day solely by virtue of his position as king of Prussia. There are others, of an Imperial nature, which he possesses by reason of the fact that, being king of Prussia, he is also Emperor. In practice, if not in law, there are still others which arise from the thoroughgoing preponderance of the Prussian kingdom as a state within the Empire--the power, in general, of imparting a bent to Imperial policy such as would not be possible if, for example, the king of Wuerttemberg were Emperor, rather than the king of Prussia.