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The question, whether the revolution which has broken out in Germany and is still going on, is justifiable, desirable, and necessary on the ground we have before claimed and pronounced as reasonable and just, it is our purpose to answer by giving a brief statement of the political condition of this country, and this principally by facts, so that every one may draw his own conclusion, and form an answer to the above question himself; but we must plead, in the beginning, the insufficiency of our space for a perfect statement of so vast a subject.

Since the general watchword in Germany is, at present, "One Germany, one empire as of old, and a constitutional representative government," we shall begin with giving a brief outline of what Germany was in former times, when it was yet called an empire, and when it was, at least nominally, a confederated state; we shall then proceed to state what the political condition was after the dissolution of the empire, and conclude with giving the plan of the projected union of the new empire now in process of being established.

The old Germanic empire may be said to have existed, at least nominally, from the time of Charlemagne, in the year 800, till Francis II., in 1806. Charlemagne was the first who renewed the title of Cæsar (Kaiser) or Emperor, when he was crowned Roman Emperor in the year 800, by Pope Leo III., at Rome. He connected with this title the claim of universal sovereignty over all Christendom, and it was long considered as attached to the sovereignty of Rome. It was therefore given to the oldest son of Louis the Pious, Lothaire, as King of Italy, and was afterwards bestowed upon Charles the Bald and other Italian princes, until Otho I., in 962, for ever united the imperial crown with the German royal dignity. However, until Maximilian I., the title of Roman Emperor was given only to those German kings who were crowned by the Pope, otherwise they had only the title of Roman King. After Maximilian had called himself, for the first time, Roman Emperor, the German kings took this title without having been in Rome. The last German king who was crowned in Italy was Charles V.

Among the Carlovingians, the German crown was hereditary, but after their extinction it became elective, and the German kings were chosen by all the princes of the empire, until, in the middle of the thirteenth century, the elective right was confined to certain electoral princes; this distinctly appears in 1256, at the election of Emperor Richard of Cornwallis.

The electoral princes were those of Mayence, Treves, and Cologne, as the first archbishop and chancellors of the empire, and those of the Palatinate, alternating for a time with. Bavaria, and of Brandenburg, Saxony, and Bohemia. The other princes still demanded the right of participating in the election, but the electoral princes succeeded in maintaining their exclusive privilege, until Charles IV., in 1356, confirmed it by the edict called the Golden Bull.

The qualifications required for the imperial dignity were to be of legitimate birth, a German, at least eighteen years old, of high nobility, at least a count, and in later times an electoral prince, not a clergyman, and not an infidel. When a person of such qualifications had been elected, he had to sign the so called Capitulation, or compact drawn up by the electoral princes, which began, however, first, when Maximilian proposed his grandson, afterwards Charles V. Hereupon he was crowned as German King, at Aix la Chapelle, and in later times at Augsburg or Regensburg, and for the most part at Frankfort on the Maine, by bestowing upon him the imperial insignia, namely, the golden crown, gilt sceptre, golden globe, the sword of Charlemagne and that of St. Maurice, the gilt spurs, the dalmatica and other robes; at Milan he received an iron crown, and was finally crowned at Rome by the Pope. This last ceremony ceased, as we have said, with Maximilian I.

The college of electoral princes remained the same, seven in number, till the Peace of Westphalia, except that Bohemia, after King Wenzel had been deposed in 1400, did not exercise her right, and was not admitted again into the electoral college till 1708. When the Elector Frederick V. of the Palatinate was outlawed, his electoral right and dignity were transferred to Bavaria; but at the Peace of Westphalia, it was stipulated that an eighth electoral dignity and vote should be created for the Palatinate, on condition that in case of the extinction of the Bavarian Wilhemian line, the Bavarian electoral vote should fall again to the Palatinate, and the eighth electorate should be discontinued. In 1692 a ninth electoral dignity was created by Leopold I., who made Brunswick Luneburg an electorate, but it was not admitted into the college till 1710, after a long resistance on the part of the Estates of the empire. When, in 1777, the Bavarian line became extinct and its lands fell again to the Palatinate, the Bavarian electoral vote ceased, according to the previous agreement, and hence there were again but eight votes.

The electoral princes had privileges which the other Estates of the empire did not possess, beside their exclusive right of electing the emperor. They had royal honors, but not the title "majesty;" they were not subject to the jurisdiction of the imperial and aulic courts; their lands were indivisible, and they held their regalia without investiture. They were called, according to the Golden Bull, "the seven pillars and lights of the holy empire;" they could give advice, even when it was not called for, and could recommend matters to the emperor, as of particular urgency, through addresses; and, finally, they had the right to draw up the capitulation of election," of which we shall make mention presently. The Elector of Mayence was arch-chancellor.

By the Peace at Luneburg, in 1801, the left bank of the Rhine was ceded to France, and important alterations became necessary, particularly since only the hereditary princes could receive indemnification from the German empire. On the 14th of July, 1802, the imperial deputation was called at Regensburg, and through Russia and France a plan of indemnification was proposed, by which only one ecclesiastical electoral prince, the Archbishop of Mayence, with the title of Electoral Prince and first Chancellor of the empire, and three new secular electoral princes, to wit, of Baden, Wurtemburg, and Hesse Cassel, and afterwards, also, Salzburg and the new arch-chancellor, were admitted into the electoral college. This took place on the 22nd of August, 1803. Thus there were now ten electoral princes. In 1805, by the Peace of Presburg, Bavaria and Wurtemburg received the royal titles, but still continued to be parts of the German empire. But on the 12th of July, 1806, at Paris, the Rhenish confederation was established, whereupon Bavaria, Wurtemberg, the Archchancellor, and Baden broke off their connection with the old German union. When the French ambassador declared at the Diet at Regensburg that Napoleon no longer recognized a German empire, and that he had taken the title of Protector of the Rhenish confederation, Francis II., on the 6th of August, 1806, laid down the crown as German Emperor, and discharged all princes and states from their further allegiance and duties to him as Emperor of Germany, and thus the complete independent sovereignty of all the different states was formally declared.

The constitution of the German empire, which thus ended, may be said to have been principally based upon five imperial

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laws to wit, the Golden Bull of 1356, the Permanent Peace of the Land of 1495, the Imperial Capitulation beginning with Charles V., the Religious Peace of 1555, and the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. The import of these edicts or laws we will now briefly state.

The Golden Bull is the imperial law which Charles IV. issued in 1356, at the Diet at Nuremberg, after it had been discussed by the states. It contained, in thirty chapters, rules regarding the electoral princes and their privileges, and particularly those of the king of Bohemia; and regulations of the imperial election and coronation, of the currency, tolls, and feuds, and of the cities, whose further increase of power, at the expense of princes and sovereigns, Charles wished to check.

The Permanent Peace of the Land was the law made and proclaimed in 1495 by Maximilian, by which all feuds and personal revenge were prohibited under a fine of two thousand marks in gold. The Estates were to assemble every year to maintain the peace and punish offences against it; at the same time, an imperial court of justice was established, the judges of which were chosen by the Estates and the emperor, before whom subjects might enter complaints against their princes.

The Capitulation of Election was the articles of agreement which the electoral princes drew up on the election of an emperor, and which the emperor, before entering upon his office, swore to maintain. The first capitulation was submitted by the electors, when Maximilian I. proposed his grandson, Charles V., as emperor. For every newly elected emperor a special capitulation was drawn up, called "capitulatio cæsarea," but the main points remained the same; they were that the emperor should take care of the church and the Pope, protect the empire, give the proper protection to the electoral and other princes, and leave them in their possessions and rights; that he should undertake nothing without the consent of the Diet, enter into no compact without the concurrence of the same, support the police and commerce, impose no new taxes, keep in proper order the mint and currency, neither sell nor pledge any part of the empire, keep the stipulations of the Peace of Westphalia in force, reside in Germany, if possible; not suffer foreign powers to interfere in matters of religion, preserve the peace of the land and the independence of the judicial authority, and the imperial postal arrangements, &c. By this means the princes secured to themselves

the power of forcing from the emperor concessions favorable to their own independent sway.

The Religious Peace at Augsburg was concluded at the imperial Diet, held at this city in 1555. The import of this compact between the Protestant and Catholic princes was, that the Protestants should enjoy full exercise of their relig ion and remain in possession of all the sequestrated ecclesiastic estates. Each sovereign should have the right to establish a prevailing religion of state, but should allow his subjects of a different faith to emigrate. Religious controversies should be settled in a peaceable manner; and ecclesiastical jurisdiction should not extend to and have power over the faith and divine worship of the Protestants. The reformed church was, however, still excluded, and this compact included only the Lutheran church: at the Peace of Westphalia the Reformed church was also received into this compact. The Peace of Westphalia of 1648 established, besides the adjustment of religious controversies, the independent sovereignty of the individual German states, which made the imperial power dwindle into a mere shadow. Each prince obtained the right to make war, conclude peace, and negotiate treaties with foreign nations, and thus the bond of the united empire was in fact rent asunder, though the imperial title. continued to linger for a century and a half. The diplomacy of cabinets now commenced. Each prince sought only his own independence in his own territory, regardless of the welfare of the whole nation, and even of his own subjects. The freedom of trade and commerce was checked, as each petty state was surrounded with a barrier of duties and imposts, to supply the wants of the expensive princely households; the earnings of the industrious subjects were taxed and taken to uphold useless and ridiculous pride in courts, armies, and foreign diplomatic establishments.

The laws of the empire were made at the imperial diets, which consisted of the Estates of the realm, and these were divided into Ecclesiastic and Secular Estates; to the former belonged the clerical electors, archbishops and bishops, prel ates, abbots and abbesses, the grand master of the Teutonic orders, and that of St. John; to the latter the secular electors, dukes, princes, margraves, counts, and the free imperial cities. At first the emperor appeared in person at the diets, but afterwards by a commissioner, who was a prince of the empire. The elector of Mayence, as chancellor of the em

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