STATE? PAPERS: 
the supreme chief of the enspire, 
the depuied- states, and -the de- 
puties of France, or of the consti- 
tutional proceedings in all other 
wespe€is, readily complies with the 
States of the empire, and under 
this proviso consents that his Prus- 
sian majesty, according to his own 
repeated voluntary offers, may on 
his part employ his good offices 
with France to obtain on the basis 
agreed and determined upon, a 
peace for the empire, which re- 
stores its integrity and secures its 
constitution. 
Lastly, his majesty repeats once 
more the declaration set forth in 
the Imperial court decree of the 
roth of May, and which cannot be 
too often repeated, viz. that the 
political importance of Germany 
rests on the close and happy union 
between the supreme chief of the 
empire and the electors, princes, 
and states; and its welfare depends 
on the inviolability of its funda. 
mental laws. These ought to guide 
the chief’as well as the members. 
His majesty, who, not only in vir- 
tue of his Imperial office, but also 
by a solemn compa¢t between him 
and the eleftors, is charged with 
the administration of justice, is 
therefore obliged, by open and 
lawful means, to proteét the con- 
stitution against all unconstitutional 
proceedings; lest the like prece- 
dents might in future times be 
supposed to contain a tacit abro- 
gation of laws which are of the 
greatest importance for the safety 
and welfare of the German empire. 
Imperial Court Decree, concerning the 
separate Treaty of Peace, concluded 
between the Landgrave of Hesse 
Cassel and the French Republic ; 
267 
published at Ratisbox, September 
iat Ma 
THE diet of the empire declared 
but very lately in the second part 
of the advice of the 3d July, occa- 
sioned by the Imperial court de- 
cree of the 19th of May, before all 
Germany and Europe, in the most 
solemn and positive manner. 
That it still remained the con- 
stant wish and firm determination 
of the empire, in undissolved and 
unalterable junétion of all the 
members of the empire, with its 
chief, by constitutional means, to 
obtain a general peace for the em- 
pire, and through it the resto. 
ration of the integrity of its do. 
minions. 
The political relations of the 
Germanic empire, and the pressing 
urgencies of the present posture of 
affairs, seemed to require that his 
majesty should answer this truly 
patriotic declaration with the same 
clearness dnd undisguised frank- 
ness which becomes the father of 
the empire. His majesty, there. 
fore, declared in the court decree 
of the 29th July, ‘© That the afore- 
said constant wish and resolve did 
not only afford him peculiar sa- 
tisfaction in his quality as supreme 
chief of the empire, but that also 
(as according to the fundamentai 
laws of the German institution in 
all matters concerning both the 
conclusion of a peace and the de. 
termination on a war of the em. 
pire, neither the supreme chief 
could be separated from the mem-~ 
bers, nor the latter from the 
former.)’? The said declaration 
was the genuine and glorious ex- 
pression of constitutional and pa- 
triotic sentiments; and that the 
Germanic constitution might still 
. flourish 
