Independent as it is of the Cabinet, the Reichstag must be assured the power freely to deliberate without fear of riots and insurrections. Most governments have no special legislation in regard to this. They leave to the assembly, to which a special guard is assigned, the right to protect itself. Events, however, have demonstrated that in Berlin revolutionaries either of the extreme Left or of the extreme Right become, when they so desire, “masters of the street.” More efficacious measures had to be provided than prevail elsewhere. Accordingly a law was passed by the National Assembly, May 8, 1920, “for the protection of the Palace of the Reichstag and of the Landtag (State Assembly).”[34] This law draws about these palaces a perimeter of protection, within the limits of which no armed troops may penetrate, and it also provides different measures to make these palaces an adequate shelter against any _coup de main_ such as may come at any time from revolutionists. * * * * * 2. The Members of the Reichstag as individuals enjoy, like the Reichstag as a whole, privileges and guarantees such as are necessary to insure their independence. The situation accorded them in this respect is very analogous to that which other democratic countries assure the members of their popular legislatures. They receive compensation.[35] They are “irresponsible and inviolable.” 2.--THE RULES OF THE REICHSTAG. Protected against the Cabinet, against insurrections, and against individuals who have designs on their independence, the deputies of the Reichstag can and must organize themselves in such a way as to assure for their labours maximum efficiency. It is imperative that the majority shall be able to impose its will without thereby sacrificing the rights of the minority. To this effect Article 26 provides, “The National Assembly chooses its President, Vice-President, and its Secretaries. It regulates its own procedure.” The National Assembly adopted the procedure of the old Reichstag and the new Reichstag seems to have continued it also. Meanwhile a change of considerable importance has been adopted by the National Assembly. Theretofore the members of the Reichstag were divided by lot into bureaus, and these elected the committees. There are no longer any bureaus; and the essential machinery on which the functioning of the Assembly depends is the group or fraction, each of which consists of all the members of the Reichstag belonging to the same party.