It only remains therefore, for Europe and England to recognise this new departure and to ratify it by admitting Germany to the League of Nations. And even if this new Constitution be held to be no more than new wine in old bottles and new patches on an old garment, that is no reason why Germany should not be included in the League as at present conceived and constituted. FOOTNOTES: [K] Delbrück, the leader of the Right, who defended Bismarck's Constitution in the Assembly against the supporters of the present Constitution, ignored the fundamental difference caused by the fall of the dynasties. Even Bismarck could not have succeeded had he not had the King of Prussia, the Emperor of Austria and the Princes of Germany on which to build his structure. [L] It was at first proposed, when decentralisation was at its strongest, that each State should have its own President, and that the Reichs President and Prussian President should be kept separate. But there is as yet no Prussian President, nor does there seem likely to be one. [M] The sovereignty of the Southern States was always a danger to German unity, as in the last crisis when great efforts were made by France to start secession movements in the South and West. The diplomatic right of representation was also an embarrassment in every crisis; as when a Bavarian representative suddenly appeared at Brest-Litovsk in the high tide of reaction, or again at Berne in the height of the Revolution. APPENDIX THE GERMAN CONSTITUTION INTRODUCTORY NOTE Before the revolution of 9 November, 1918, the Constitution in force was that of 16 April, 1871--the "Constitution of the German Reich," which had replaced the "Constitution of the German Bund" of November, 1870. But the following Constitution has less in common with these later Constitutions, based on alliances between Sovereign Princes, than with the abortive "Constitution of the German Reich" of 28 March, 1849, which embodied the nationalist and democratic revolution of 1848. The November revolution brought to power a provisional Government--the Council of People's Commissaries--which in its first proclamation of 12 November, 1918, announced that the future Constitution would be framed by a National Assembly elected by universal suffrage and proportional representation. Under electoral regulations of 30 November, 1918, elections were held on 19 January, 1919. The National Assembly met in Weimar on 6 February, 1919, and on 10 February voted the Provisional Constitution; whereupon the Council of Commissaries resigned their authority to the Assembly. This Constitution gave the Assembly sole power to vote the Constitution; but its provisions could only be submitted with consent of a "State Committee" of representatives of the "Free States." This provisional Constitution was supplemented by an "Interim Act" of 4 March, which maintained in force previous legislation of the Reich and decrees of the Provisional Government.