And, "no ensign can be promoted to a higher grade till after his promotion has been agreed to by the superior board or commission of examiners at Berlin, and his name has been placed on the list of those whose knowledge and acquirements (_connaissances_) render them qualified (_aptes_) for the responsible duties of their profession.

The nomination to the grade of second-lieutenant is not, even after all these conditions are fulfilled, left to the choice of the government.

When a vacancy occurs in this grade, the subaltern officers present to the commandant of the regiment a list of three ensigns who have completed their course of study; the commandant, after taking the advice of the superior officers of the regiment, nominates the most meritorious of these three to the king, who makes the appointment." The government can appoint to the engineers and artillery only those who have been instructed as _eleves_ in the Berlin school of cadets and the school of artillery and engineers, and these appointments must be made in the order in which the pupils have passed their final examination.

In these corps the lieutenants and second captains can be promoted to a higher grade only after they have passed a satisfactory examination.

No political influence, nor even royal partiality, can interfere with this rule.
Even in the arbitrary monarchies of Austria and Russia it is deemed necessary to subject all military appointments and promotions, in the peace establishments, to certain fixed rules.