440 GERMANY. 



troops live at free quarter upon the estates of the delinquent, and he is 

 obliged to make good all expences. 



Every state which acts directly or indirectly against the fundamental 

 laws of the empire, is subject to the punishment of the ban, or pro- 

 scription of the empire. The ban is of two kinds : the one is pri- 

 vatory, the other provisionary. The first consists- in depriving a 

 prince or state of the empire, of all their rights, privileges, dignities, 

 &c. : the second consists in taking away the actual government of the 

 states, and committing them to the care of some other, until it be 

 otherwise ordered. But this sentence of proscription is difficult to 

 obtain, because it is difficult to unite all the orders of the empire in 

 the same measure. The execution of it belongs to the director of the 

 circle where the prince resides, and every feudal state of the empire 

 is subject to it. 



The constitution of the Germanic body is a study of no small diffi- 

 culty. However plausibly invented, the several checks upon the 

 imperial power may be, it is certain that the house of Austria has 

 more than once endangered the liberties of the empire, and that they 

 have been saved by France. The house of Austria, indeed, met with 

 a powerful opposition from the house of Brandenburg, in consequence 

 of the activity and abilities of the king of Prussia. It may here be 

 proper to inform the reader of the meaning of a term which fre- 

 quently appears in the German history ; that of the Pragmatic Sanc- 

 tion. This is no otRer than a provision made by the emperor Charles 



VI, for preserving the indivisibility of the Austrian dominions in the 

 person of the next descendant of the last possessor, whether male or 

 female. This provision has been often disputed by other branches of 

 the house of Austria, who have been occasionally supported by France 

 from political views, though the pragmatic sanction is strongly guar- 

 anteed by almost all the powers of Europe. The emperor Charles 



VII, elector of Bavaria, and Augustus, king of Poland, attempted to 

 overthrow it, as being descended from the daughters of the emperor 

 Joseph, elder brother to Charles VI. It has likewise been repeatedly 

 opposed by the court of Spain. 



Few of the territories of the German princes are so large as to be 

 assigned to viceroys, to be oppressed and fleeced at pleasure ; nor are 

 they entirely without redress when they suffer any grievance ; as 

 they may appeal to the general diet, or great council of the empire, 

 for relief. The subjects of the petty princes in Germany are gene- 

 rally the most unhappy; for these princes, affecting the grandeur and 

 splendor of the more powerful, in the number and appearance of their 

 officers and domestics, in their palaces, gardens, pictures, curiosities, 

 guards, bands of music, tables, dress, and furniture, are obliged to 

 support all this vain pomp and parade at the expence of their vassals 

 and. dependents. With respect to the burghers and peasants of Ger- 

 many, the former in many places enjoy great privileges : the latter 

 also, in some parts, as in Franconia, Swabia, and on the Rhine, are 

 generally a free people, or perform only certain services to their 

 superiors, and pay the taxes ; whereas, in the marquisate of Branden- 

 burg, Pomerania, Lusatia, Moravia, Bohemia, Austria, Sec. their con- 

 dition is various, indeed, but universally very servile. _ 



The judicial courts throughout Germany follow in their decisions the 

 Roman or civil law, except where that law is altered or superseded by' 

 the statutes of the several states ; which are very various, as the states 

 themselves are extremely numerous. 



