438 GERMANY. 



The revocation of the edict of Nantes, by Lewis XIV, which obliged 

 the French protestants to settle in different parts of Europe, was of 

 infinite service to "the German manufactures. They now make vel- 

 vets, silks, stuffs of all kinds, fine and coarse linen and thread, and 

 every thing necessary for wear, in great perfection. The porcelain 

 of Meissen, in the electorate of Saxony, and its paintings, have been 

 long in great repute. 



Constitution, government, and laws. ...Almost every prince in 

 Germany (and there are nearly 300 of them) is arbitrary with regard 

 to the government of his own estates ; but the whole of them form a 

 great confederacy, governed by political laws, at the head of which is 

 the emperor, whose power in the collective body, or the diet, is not 

 directorial, but executive : but even that gives him vast influence. 

 The supreme power in Germany is the diet, which is composed of 

 the emperor, or, in his absence, of his commissary, and of the three 

 colleges of the empire. The first of these is the electoral college ; 

 the second is the college of princes ; and the third, the college of 

 imperial towns. 



The empire was hereditary under the race of Charlemagne, but 

 after that, became elective ; and in the beginning, all the piinces, 

 nobility, and deputies of cities, enjoyed the privilege of voting. In 

 the reign of Henry V, the chief officers of the empire altered the 

 mode of election in their own favour. In the year 1239, the number 

 of electors was reduced to seven. One elector was added in 1649, and 

 another in 1792. In consequence of the late secularisations, and other 

 alterations made in the constitution of the empire, under the influence 

 of France and Russia, they are now ten in number, viz. one ecclesias- 

 tical and nine secular electors. 



The dignity of the empire, though elective, has for some centuries 

 belonged to the house of Austria, as being the most powerful of the 

 German princes ; but, by French management, upon the death of 

 Charles VI, grandfather, by the mother's side, to the emperor Joseph 

 II, the elector of Bavaria was chosen to that dignity, and died, as it 

 is supposed, heart-broken, after a short uncomfortable reign. The 

 power of the emperor is regulated by the capitulation he signs at his 

 election ; and the person, who in his life time is chosen king of the 

 Romans, succeeds, without a new election, to the empire. He can 

 confer titles and enfranchisements upon cities and towns ; but as 

 emperor, he can levy no taxes, nor make war or peace, without the 

 consent of the diet. When that consent is obtained, every prince 

 must contribute his quota of men and money, as valued in the matri- 

 culation roll, though, perhaps, as an elector or prince, he may espouse 

 a different side from that of the diet. This forms the intricacy of 

 the German constitution ; for George II, of England, as elector of 

 Hanover, was obliged to furnish his quota against the house of Aus- 

 tria, and also against the king of Prussia, while he was fighting for 

 them both. The emperor claims a precedency for his ambassadors 

 in all Christian courts. 



The ten electors of the empire, who have the sole election of the 

 emperor, are in order as follow : 



The elector of Ratisbon (or Aschaffenburg) arch-chancellor of the 

 empire. 



The elector and king of Bohemia (the present emperor) who is 

 grand cup-bearer. 



