my. pire inte circles. The first division of Germany was 
ae the Upper and Lower, or southern and northern 
states... line dividing them was supposed to be 
_ drawn easterly from the mouth of the Mayne. It was 
afterwards geographically ‘divided into the states lying 
on the principal rivers, as the Danube, Rhine, &c.. Max- 
imilian the First divided it into ten circles, viz. Bava- 
ria, Franconia, Suabia, Lower and Upper Saxony, Low- 
er and Upper Rhine, Westphalia, Austria, and Burgun- 
dy ; ince aclnapplonioeieties High Burgundy or Franche 
Compté, and the 17 provinces of the Netherlands, was 
soon afterwards separated from the empire. 
nit Daring the same period, the diets which had been 
uently held, were regularly and solemnly establish- 
the ed, consisting, as has been already noticed, of three 
p, Classes’: the college of electors, of ecclesiastical’ and 
secular princes, and of imperial towns. This divi- 
sion was. finally established at Frankfort in 1580. 
The three colleges deliberated separately. The agree- 
ment of them all, as well as the consent of the emperor, 
was necessary to: form’a resolution or law of the ei- 
P Mexithilian I, .also established the imperial ¢hamber 
and the Aulie council. The president of the former 
was appointed by the emperor; the. assessors by the 
states. The Court Palatine, or Aulic Council, was és- 
tablished asa check on the imperial chamber. Du- 
ring the vacancy of the throne, its powers were sus- 
pended ;:but the imperial council acted, under’ the vi- 
cars of the empire. There was'no appeal from one ‘to 
the other; the dernier resort was the diet. From the 
aceession.of the house of Austriato the imperial throne, 
the history of Germany may properly be sought for un- 
der»the article Ausprra... It will‘ be necessary’ here, 
however, to notice«the ‘leading events ; first; from- the 
division of the-house.of Hapsburg into its Spanish‘and 
German dines, till the final extinction of the latter: in 
the house of Lorraine, or the period between 1558 and 
1745.3 and, secondly, from the marriage of Maria The- 
resa, till the abdication by the emperor of Germany of 
theimperial government of the empire, and the forma- 
tion of the confederation of the Rhine, or the’ period 
between 1745 and 1806. AN 
The seen events in Germany during the first 
iod,. were the war of thi , which began in 
Ete nd ended in 1648 pylons the vuabiaiot of 
Spain, which-began in 1700 and ended in 1713; the 
war for the succession of Poland, which began 1733 
and ended 1735; and the war for the succession of 
Austria, which began 1740'and ended we ate war 
_ * of thirty:years was principally owing to the’ religious 
i. Besacmctensa Gusdovey; Tat the diet of augibiens, 
1530, the Protestant, princes of Germany delivered m 
their confession of faith) and afterwards formed the 
eof. Smalkald against the Emperor. At the peace 
of P. , the free exercise of the Lutheran elie 
128.8% Seger Sey 
h igion 
was ited. In consequence of the disputes regard- 
ing the succession-to the duchies of Cleves and Juliers, 
the Protestant princes formed a confederacy, called the 
Evangelical Union, at the head of which was the Elec. 
tor Palatine... To this» the Catholics opposed the con- 
federaey called the Catholie League, and placed at its 
head the Duke of Bavaria: From 1618, when open 
| war began, till the peace of Westphalia in 1648, Ger- 
i “many was a scene of» ion, By this peace, the 
empire underwent: considerable: changes : the Swedes 
obtained Pomerania; the house of Brandenburg ob- 
nee _M urg, Minden; ‘&c.;\ Alsace was con- 
_ quered- by France ; and Lusatia teded to Saxony. The 
" war for the succession of Spain not producing any 
GERMANY. 
253 
changes in the Germanic empire, need not be particu. Germany. 
larly noticed: the same remark applies to the war for 
the succession of Poland. 
reunited, war, 
resa, his only daughter, succeeded him. The first A. D. 1757 
event of importance, after her accession, was the war. —4- D. 
of seven years. In consequence of the King of Prus- 176: 
sia invading Saxony and Bohemia, the Aulic Council 
voted his conduct a breach of the public peace ; and the 
Diet of the empire passed a decree to the same effect. 
This'made it a war of that kind, which the publicists 
of Germany call a war of execution of the empire. The 
event of the war was, that a mutual oblivion and resti- 
tution took place. The next war was occasioned by the 
extinetion of the house of Bavaria: it ended in the peace Extinetion 
of Saxe-Teschen, by which the right of the Elector of the 
‘Palatine to the succession was allowed, with the ex~ house of 
‘ception of some districts of land between the Danube, Bavaria, 
the Inn, and the Salze, which were’ ceded to Austria. 
No event affecting the Germanic empire took place (° mya 
after this till the French revolution. By it the German pyench ree 
states on the left of the Rhine were first overwhelmed : volution on 
afterwards the ‘power of Austria was reduced ; Bavaria , the Germa- 
‘Wurtemberg, and Saxony, raised tothe rank of kingdoms, "¢ empire. 
and their territories ‘considerably incréased, principally 
by the annexation of the smaller states.’ Shortly after the 
treaty of Presburg, most of the princes in the western 
and southern divisions of Germany separated themselves 
fromthe Germanic body, and formed themselves into 
a league under the’ protection of the Emperor of the 
French, under the title of the Confederated. States of 
the Rhine.’ The’ contracting parties to this confedera- ager 
tion weré, ‘the Emperor of the French on the one part, Rnine ° 
and, on the other, the Kings’ of Bavaria and Wurtem- 1896," 
berg; the Elector Arch-Chancellor, and the Elector of 
Baden; the Duke of Berg, the Landgrave of Hesse 
Darmstadt, the Princes of Nassau, Weilbourg, Usin- 
gen, Hohenzollern’ Hechingen, Siegmaringen, Salm 
alm, Salm Harberg, Isersbourg Bristein, Lichtenstein, 
the Duke of Aremberg, and the Count of Leyen. By 
the act of the confederation, ali the laws of the empire 
were abrogated ‘with respect to these states ; their com- 
mon interests were to be discussed in an assembly of 
the league at Frankfort, divided into two colleges of 
kings and princes: the members of the confederation to 
be independent of foreign powers, and not to enter into 
any kind of service except among themselves ; the Em- 
peror Napoleon to be protector of the alliance ; all the 
princes, counts,’ &c. within the circle of the allied ter- 
ritory: to be'swbject' to the’ confederation ; every conti- 
nental war in which the Emperor of the Frencli or the 
confederated states might be engaged, to be common 
to both; the contingents to be as follows: France 
200,000 men ; Bavaria 30,000; Wurtemberg 12,000; 
Baden 8000 ; B 6000; Darmstadt 4000; Nassau, 
Hohenzollern, and the others, 4000: other German 
princes were to be' admitted into the alliance, when con- 
ducive tothe common interest. See CONFEDERATION of 
the Rhine; vol. viii. p..115, 116. ' 
By a’solemn act, dated at Vienna on the 6th of Au-. The empe- 
gust 1806; the Emperor of Germany, after adverting ** of Ger- 
to the consequences of the treaty of Presburg, | one ae 
to the formation of the confederation of the states of {ic 
the Rhine, absolved all his German provinces and states 
of the empire from their reciprocal duties towards the 
Germanie empire ; and the electors, princes, and states, 
and all that belonged to the empire, from the duties 
Consequen- 
