Note 46 — Chapter IV · PARLIAMENTARY GOVERNMENT (continued 2)

Article 64 provided also that after the reunion of Austria with the German Reich the latter would have the right to be represented in the Reichstag numerically in proportion to the size of its population. Until such union the representatives of German Austria would have only a consultative voice. This provision, contrary both in letter and spirit to Article 80 of the Peace Treaty, brought a protest from the Supreme Council of the Allied Powers and their associates. The first note on September 2, 1919, demanded the abolition of the offending provision by constitutional amendment within a fortnight. On September 5, the German government replied that no article of the Constitution could be in contradiction with the Treaty of Peace, for Article 78, paragraph 2, expressly provides that no constitutional provision may carry any attempt against the treaty. This reply justly seemed to the Allies insufficient. Article 78, paragraph 2, constitutes, it is true, on the part of the drafters of the Constitution an excellent measure of precaution against contradictions between the Constitution and the Treaty not provided for in advance and revealed in practice. But the contradiction pointed out by the note of the Allies of September 2 was too clear and evident to have been accidental. The Allied Powers, therefore, demanded that the German Government send by means of a diplomatic document the interpretation contained in its note of September 5. This is the text, therefore, of a supplementary declaration drawn up by the German Cabinet and ratified by the National Assembly:

“The undersigned, duly authorized in the name of the German Government, recognize and declare that all provisions of the German Constitution of August 11, 1919, that are in contradiction with stipulations of the Treaty of Peace signed at Versailles on June 28, 1919, are without force, and that particularly the admission of the representatives of Austria as members of the Reichstag cannot be effected except if, in conformance with Article 80 of the Treaty of Peace, the League of Nations sanctions a change in the international situation of Austria. The present declaration must be ratified by the competent authorities within a fortnight after the Treaty of Peace becomes operative.”