without their representatives. Even in the times of absolute monarchy
the old "estates of the realm" had their being as a representative body,
and wherever and whenever these privileges were suppressed it was
regarded as a violation of our fundamental rights and is so still
regarded.

Our princely houses are as old as our monasteries, our cities, and our
cathedrals. A thousand years ago the Guelphs were a celebrated family,
and the Wettins have ruled over their lands for eight centuries. In the
twelfth century the Wittelsbachs and Thuringians were Princes under the
great Kaisers of the Hohenstaufen dynasty. Among these great families
the Hapsburgs (thirteenth century) and the Hohenzollerns (fifteenth
century) are quite young. All have their roots in Germany and belong to
the country.

We glory in our Princes. They link our existence with the earliest
centuries of our history. They preserve for us the priceless
independence of our small home States.

We are accused of militarism. What is this new and terrible crime? Since
the years of the wars of liberation against France and Napoleon we have
had what amounts practically to universal conscription. Only two
generations later universal suffrage was introduced. The nation has been
sternly trained by its history in the ways of discipline and
self-restraint. Germans are very far from mistaking freedom for license
and independence for licentiousness.

Germany has a long past. She enjoys the inheritance of an original and
priceless civilization. She holds clearly formulated ideals. To the
future she has all this to bequeath and, in addition, the intellectual