CONSTITUTION. 



that Britain continually forced him. Whatever ma 

 have been the true cause of these continual conflicts 

 it cannot be denied, that, if the tumult of the strif 

 had not prevented the operation of the just principle 

 which these constitutions contained, they would havi 

 been of essential benefit : they would, at least, hav 

 formed a basis for further political developments, 

 and furnished a much more reasonable prospect of a 

 speedy attainment of the great objects of political so- 

 ciety, than the constitutions, if they deserve the name 

 which the conquerors of Napoleon have establishec 

 in, or rather imposed on, different countries ; e. g. tin 

 provincial estates which Prussia has established in he: 

 different districts, and the political organization which 

 the house of Austria has introduced into the Tyrol 

 which had sacrificed itself in a bloody struggle for 

 that imperial family. These mock constitutions, to- 

 gether with the right of armed intervention, pro- 

 claimed by the holy alliance, are so entirely incon- 

 sistent with the spirit of the age, that they afford no 

 hopes of improvement except by their entire abolition. 

 Napoleon, as one of the emperor's nearest connex- 

 ions, who stood highest in his confidence, said to us, 

 was essentially, by conviction and natural inclination, 

 the enemy of feudalism, and the sincere friend of the 

 principles of equal liberty. It must always be re- 

 membered, that he abolished everywhere, by one oi 

 his first acts, wherever his power reached, the feudal 

 services, estates, and constitutions, founded on the 

 old corporations, which had become useless or ob- 

 noxious, and were, with very few exceptions, much 

 more unpopular than the actual rulers. We shall 

 now give a very condensed view of the existing con- 

 stitutions. 



Europe. I. Constitutions founded on the feudal estates of 

 the middle ages, and on the system of corporations, continue to 

 exist, 1. in the Austrian monarchy. In the arch-duchy of Lower 

 Austria, in Stiria and Carinthia, in Bohemia, Moravia, and 

 since 1817, also in Galicia and Lodomeria with Bukowine, the 

 estates are still kept up, comprising the fuur orders the clergy 

 nobility, gentry (Ritterstand), and citizens ; the latter being 

 represented by the magistrates of the royal cities. Jn the Ty- 

 rol, we find again, since March 24, 1816, the estates of peasants, 

 citizens, nobility, gentry, and clergy. But, notwithstanding 

 their gallant struggle against the French and Bavarians, they 

 have not even received from Austria the right of a voice in tlie 

 imposition of their own taxes, which formerly belonged to them 

 but the constitution allows them the right of making repre- 

 sentations, in the name of the country, to the emperor ' In the 

 imperial part of Silesia, the estates are composed only of the 

 dukes and princes, with the lords (Standesherren), and gentry 

 (Ritterschaft), who are immediately under the emperor. In the 

 Lorn bardo- Venetian kingdom, the estates are founded, accord, 

 ing to the constitution of April 21, 1815, on the system of cor- 

 porations. Two central congregations exist at Milan and Ve- 

 nice : the different provincial congregations in the Lombardic 

 part of the kingdom consist of deputies appointed by the king- 

 in the Venetiau part, of deputies elected by the central congre- 

 gation and the gubernium (the Austrian designation of the go- 

 vernment.) All these deputies are from among the noble and 

 not noble landed proprietors, and from the royal cities, under 

 the sway of the imperial governors or delegates. The privileges 

 of these estates consist almost solely in the right of granting the 

 royal postulates, and in the distribution and collection of the 

 taxes. Some have also the rightof advising the government, and 

 that of petitioning. In Hungary, the four orders of the estates 

 the high clergy, the barons and magnates, the gentry (Bit. 

 terschaft), and royal free cities have important privileges. (See 

 Hungary.) The nobility or gentry and the cities elect their 

 deputies and give them instructions. In Transylvania, or 

 Sieben!>uergen,the grand-prince exercises certain rights of sove- 

 reignty, assisted by the representatives of the three nations 

 (the Hungarians, Szeklers, and Saxons) whom he convokes 

 These representatives consist partly of royal officers, partly of 

 deputies appointed by the regent, or elected by the corporations. 

 2. Sardinian monarchy. On tne island of Sardinia, the clergy, 

 nobility, and deputies of the cities and boroughs exercise, tol 

 gether with the king the right of legislating and taxing. In 

 the kingdom of Sweden, there exist, according to the latest 

 constitution of June 7, 1809, the old estates, comprising four or- 

 dersthe nobility, clergy, citizens, and crown-peasauts. The 

 diet has the right of legislation and taxation, and the superin- 

 tendence of the finances, hank, and mint. The king has an un- 

 conditional veto. In the kingdom of Saxony, the estates are 



the gentry, to which, since 1820, twenty-nine deputies also have 



beenjoined from the possessors of noble estxtos.* The third 

 order consists of deputies from the magistrates of the cities. 

 The business of granting and fixing the taxes, and of receiving 

 the accounts connected therewith, belongs to the diet : import- 

 ant laws of a general character must also be laid before them 

 for consideration. A similar constitution exists in the duchy of 

 Saxe.Gotha, in which the legislative body consists of the estate? 

 of the counts, the gentry (Ritterschaft), and the citizens. Kach 

 of these estates has only one vote. J hi- principality of Alten- 

 burg has two estates the gentry and the citizens. In the 

 kingdom of Hanover, the estates were, according to a decree of 

 Dec. 7, 1819, divided into two chambers. The old system of 

 corporations was retained. (See Hanover.) In the principality 

 of Liechtenstein, a constitution after the Austrian fashion was 

 introduced, Nov. 9, 1818. The estates consist of the clergy and 

 the deputies from the communities, appointed by the magis- 

 trates. Their power is simply to make propositions. In the 

 two grand-duchies of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and M. Strnlitz, 

 the estates consist of the Ritterschaft and deputies of the corpol 

 rations. They have very great privileges, which the former 

 particularly maintains with great strictness. In the principal, 

 ities of Reuss, the old estates also exist, as, likewise, in the 

 Danish duchy of Saxe-Lauenburg. The republic of the seven 

 Ionian islands was erected March 21, 1800, and governed ac- 

 cording to the aristocratic constitution, established, under Rus- 

 sian influence, Dec. 6, 1803. When the republic was placed 

 under the protection of Great Britain, the lord-commissioner, 

 Maitland, dissolved the senate, which hud existed at Corfu since 

 1803, and established anew constitution Jan. 1, 1818, according 

 to which the legi.slative body consists of deputies of the nobility, 

 and the senate is chosen from among the legislative body. 



II. The constitution of Great Britain is founded jointly upon 

 the old system of corporations that of estates, and that of a 

 general national representation. See Britain. 



III. A national representation, in the full sense of the phrase, 

 was first established in the year 1787, by the constitution of the 

 United States of America. The reader will find, towards the 

 end of this article, some account of the constitutions of the se- 

 veral states which compose this union. Constitutions in which 

 the aristocratic element was excluded were soon after estab- 

 lished in France. Several other states then shook off the feiters 

 of the feudal system, and introduced more or less of the demo, 

 cratic element into the constitutions which they adopted. Dur- 

 ing the last half century, there have been 114 new, written con- 

 stitutions established in Europe and America : 31 of them have 

 been abolished, but the remainder still exist, and about 100 mil. 

 lions of people are ruled by them. 



France has seen, since the old revolution, ten different consti- 

 tutions : 1. The monarchical-representative constitution ol 

 1791. 2. The republican-democratic constitution of June 24. 

 1793. This never went wholly into operation, much power 

 being given, for the time, to dictatorial.bodies. 3. The constitu- 

 tion of Sept. 23, 1795, which established the directorial govern- 

 rnent, and divided the legislative body of the national conven- 

 tion into the council of the ancients and the council of the five 

 tiundred. It rested the right of electing the representatives 

 immediately in the primary assemblies. 4. The constitution of 

 Dec. 13, 1799, established a first consul for ten years, with the 

 right of proposing laws, and two other consuls. The first con- 

 sul (Bonaparte) was surrounded by a council of state and minis- 

 >-rs. A triple election was, at the same time, established. 

 The citizens of each commune chose one-tenth of their number 

 as persons qualified for public oflfire ; the aggregate of the per. 

 suns thus named in all the communes of a department chose 

 also one-tenth of their number ; and from the whole body of 

 persons thus nominated by all the departments, forming the na- 

 ;ional list of persons eligible to official situations, the conserva- 

 ive senate chose the legislators, tribunes, consuls, the members 

 >f the court of cassation, and the commissioners of accounts. 

 In this instrument, the principles of the liberty of the press, 

 ind others of a similar kind, which had been guaranteed in the 

 'brmer constitution, were omitted. 5. Many essential changes 

 vere soon after made in this constitution by the various se- 

 tatut.consultes organiguet, so called. These decrees of the 

 enate, of Aug. 2 and 4, 1802, gave the first consul. Napoleon 

 Jonaparte, his dignity for life, and invested him with several 

 nonarchical prerogatives. 6. At last, the senatus.consulte of 

 Jay 18, 1804, elevated the first consul to the dignity of emperor 

 >f the French, and the succession was made hereditary in his 

 amily. France had now a monarchical constitution with some 

 "emocratic forms ; one of these the tribunate was abolished 

 y the senatus.consulte organigue of August 19, 1807. Tha 

 quality of all citizens in the eye of the law, was a principle 

 ireserved in all the French constitutions, and even the Bour. 

 ions were obliged to make it a prominent feature in the Charte 

 onstitutionnette. 7. After the downfall of Napoleon, the senate 

 rew up a new constitution, of April 6, 1814, in which an aris- 

 ocracy, hereditary in the families of the senators, was esta- 

 lished. It guaranteed, however, in several respects,, the liberties 

 f the people. But Louis XVIII., as it is well known, adopted 

 t St Ouen, May 2, 1814, only certain principles ot this constitu- 

 iou, relating to the representative system in two bodies, the 

 esponsibility of the ministers, the judges' tenure of office 

 uring good behaviour, the irrevocability of the sale of the na- 

 ional property, the capacity of every Frenchman for all civil 

 nd military appointments, and, as before mentioned, the 

 quality of ull citizens in the eye of the law. $. After this, the 

 ing promulgated, June 4, 1814, the present constitution, which 



Xotlt estate (in German, Rilttrmu) is such an estate as fomierlv could, 



n some countries, still can, be held by a nobleman only. Prussia l s 



bolished tliis condition of tenure so that commoners -.ui buy such esuun. 



