392 



CONFEDERATION CONFESSION. 



estates and private property, the jurisdiction in the 

 first and second instances, the feudal rights, and 

 mining privileges, &c. ; but the power of legislation, 

 essential to sovereignty, the supreme jurisdiction, the 

 right of declaring war and peace, of forming alli- 

 ances, of regulating the police, and taxation, &c., 

 devolved on the princes of the confederation, to whom 

 these mediatised princes became subject. The object 

 of this confederation was to secure external ami in- 

 ternal peace. France and the members of the cen- 

 to-deration were to be closely allied, and, if one of 

 them was threatened with war, or attacked, all the 

 other confederates were to take up arms at the call 

 of the protector, without further consultation, to 

 assist the parly threatened or attacked. Although, 

 by the act of confederation Napoleon was called 

 protector of the confederation, of the Rhine, he was 

 not recognised as a chief to whom the rulers of the 

 several states were to be subject. To deliberate 

 on the mutual affairs of the confederates, a confe- 

 derate diet was to be established at Frankfort on 

 the Maine, with two divisions the royal, in which 

 the grand-dukes were likewise to have seats, and 

 that of the princes. The prince-primate was to be 

 general president of the diet, and particularly of the 

 royal cliamber ; in that of the princes, the duke of 

 Nassau was to preside. At the death of every 

 prince-primate, his successor was to be appointed by 

 the protector of the confederation of the Rhine. No 

 member of the latter was to be allowed to enter the 

 service of any state not included in the confederacy, 

 or allied with the same, nor was any member to be 

 allowed to cede his sovereignty in favour of any but 

 a confederate. The disputes of the confederate 

 princes were to be decided at the diets, and, for the 

 sake of adjusting complaints against the members of 

 the confederacy, two courts of justice were to be 

 established. But neither these, nor the meeting of 

 the confederacy, ever took place. Finally, Catholics 

 and Protestants were to enjoy equal rights in all the 

 confederated states. Thus, in the place of the Ger- 

 man empire, which had existed nearly 1000 years, at 

 least in name, a confederation was formed, which, 

 transitory as it may seem in many respects, neverthe- 

 less brought about a total and lasting revolution in 

 the political relations of the former German states of 

 the empire and their subjects, and is erroneously judg- 

 ed, if it is considered as merely the offspring of for- 

 eign ambition, and not as the inevitable consequence 

 of the internal dissolution of the ancient constitution 

 of the empire. Sept. 25, 1806, the elector of Wurtz- 

 burg joined the confederacy as a grand-duke. 

 Prussia, on the other hand, to limit the increase 

 of the power of France, by the further extension of 

 this confederacy, had formed the project of a si- 

 milar union, under her protection, to be composed 

 of the northern German princes. But an end was 

 put to this project by the war of 1806 7 ; and, dur- 

 ing this war, the elector of Saxony, after having se- 

 parated from Prussia, and assumed the title of king, 

 at the peace concluded between Saxony and France, 

 at Posen (Dec. 11, 1806) entered the confederacy. 

 His example was followed (Dec. 15, 1806) by the 

 five Saxon dukes ; and, by the treaty signed at War- 

 saw, April 13, 1807, the two princes of Schwarzburg, 

 the three dukes of the house of Anhalt, and many 

 other smaller princes, were admitted into the con- 

 federacy. The kingdom of Westphalia, formed out 

 of the provinces conquered from Prussia and other 

 states, and assigned to Jerome Bonaparte, was like- 

 wise added to the confederation of the Rhine, by the 

 constitution, confirmed by the emperor of France, Nov. 

 15, 1807. Finally the duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz 

 (Feb. 18, 1808), the duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin 

 (March 22, 1808), the duke of Oldenburg and prince 



ofLubeck (Oct. 14, 1808), were admitted as mem- 

 bers ; so that the confederacy extended over a space 

 of 125,160 square miles, with 14,608,877 inhabitants ; 

 and the confederate forces were increased from the 

 originally stipulated number of 63,000 to 119,180. 

 But the protector of the confederacy of the Rhine, 

 who had established the league, for the maintenance 

 of internal and external peace, thought himself au- 

 thorized to make inroads on the security and inde- 

 pendence of his confederates, and, by a decree of Dec. 

 10, 1810, by which the rivers Scheldt, Meuse, Rhine, 

 Ems, Weser, and Elbe were added to France, depriv- 

 ed the following princes of the confederacy of their 

 political existence, and of the independence secured 

 to them by the act of confederacy : 1. the duke of 

 Oldenburg, on whose dukedom he seized, leaving 

 him only the principality of Lubeck ; 2. the duke 

 of Ahremberg, of whose possessions a part were ad- 

 ded to France, and the remainder to the grand-duchy 

 of Berg ; 3. the possessions of the prince of Sahn- 

 Salm and Salm-Kyrburg were likewise added to 

 France. Of the grand-duchy of Berg, and the king- 

 dom of Westphalia, considerable portions were like- 

 wise joined to France. The territories thus appro- 

 priated amounted to 11,278 square miles, with 

 1,133,057 inhabitants ; so that 114,140 square miles, 

 and 13,475,826 inhabitants, remained to the confe- 

 deracy. The year 1813 put an end to its existence. 

 The present grand-dukes of Mecklenburg-Schwerin 

 and Mecklenuurg-Strelitz, the last, who, compelled 

 by their situation, had joined the confederacy of the 

 Rhine, were the first that renounced it, immediately 

 on the alliance of Prussia with Russia against Napo- 

 leon. They were soon followed by the kings of 

 Bavaria and Wurtemberg, besides several less power- 

 ful princes. Others hesitated longer, prevented 

 partly by the situation of their countries, partly by 

 other considerations, from making a free declaration. 

 Among these were the king of Saxony, as also the 

 grand- duke of Frankfort, the president of the confe- 

 deracy. The former lost half of his country, the lat- 

 ter all. The king of Westphalia and the grand-duke 

 of Berg (son of the ex-king of Holland) shared the 

 same fate. For the same reason, by the resolutions 

 arbitrarily passed at the congress of Vienna, the do- 

 minions of the prince of Isenburg and of the prince 

 Von der Leyen, who, as princes of the confederacy 

 of the Rhine, were sovereigns, were mediatised. The 

 other members of the confederacy of the Rhine, with 

 the exception of the duke of Ahremburg and the 

 prince of Salm, have joined the German confederacy 

 as sovereigns. 



CONFESSION. This term is sometimes applied 

 to a profession of faith ; for instance, the confession 

 of Augsburg. See Augsburg, and Reformation. It 

 sometimes also signifies a religious sect ; as the three 

 Christian confessions the Roman Catholic, the Lu- 

 theran and the Calvinistic. Confiteor (I acknowledge) 

 is the confession which the Catholic priests make 

 before the altar, when beginning mass or public wor- 

 ship. 



Confession, in law, is when a prisoner, after being 

 arraigned, and hearing the indictment against him 

 read, confesses the offence of which he is charged. 

 Such confession is the most satisfactory ground of con- 

 viction.. In the German states, the confession of the 

 prisoner, to be conclusive, must not only be made in 

 open court, but must be accompanied by a disclosure, 

 on his part, of the circumstances under which the 

 crime was committed. By the revised laws of New 

 York, a prisoner, instead of being asked whether he 

 is guilty or not guilty, is asked whether he will be 

 tried by the jury. 



Confession, Auricular, in the Romish church ; the 

 disclosure of sins to the priest at the confessional, 



