F. E. Haynes, '89, read the Bowdoin Prize Dissertation on "The Prospect of a Constitutional Government in Germany," before an audience interested in the subject, last night in Sever 5. He said that the first step towards a constitution was taken after the fall of Napoleon, when the confederation of the German states was formed. Up to 1848, however, there was virtually no constitution, as the bodies empowered to form one did not do so. The revolutions in all the other states in 1848 caused the monarchs of these states to yield, and a parliament representing the people was formed. In this the present German constitution received its inception. After the Austrian war the Reichstag was established. This body is elected by the people and represents them, while the Bundesrath represents the governments of the different states. The Reichstag is a single chamber, and its main function is to discuss and sanction. The Bundesrath can veto any legislation of the Reichstag, and its vetoes are incontestable. In this is found the first obstacle to constitutional government in Germany. Under the present government a responsible ministry is an impossibility, which forms another obstacle. A third is found in the relation of Prussia to the Empire, at the head of which Prussia stands, with the Prussian king at the head of the government of the Empire. The success of this system necessitates the greatest harmony and most complete unity between Frussia and the rest of the Empire. Such a unity does not exist. In the relation of the king to the government, and the foreign relations of Germany are also found obstacles to the development of constitutional government, Bismarck has been the ruling force in the development of the German state and constitution. There is question whether the constitution is self constructive, as he styles it, and whether its development will not cease when his hand ceases to guide that development.