520 
G E R M .A N Y. 
emperor of Auffria fliould for ever relinquifh the dates 
of the republic of Venice, as ceded to him by the trea¬ 
ties of Campo Formio and Luneville, with the Venetian 
ifles, Kiria, and Dalmatia, now to be united to the king¬ 
dom of Italy; and of which the emperor Napoleon fhould 
be acknowledged king. That the electors of Bavaria 
and Wirtemburgh, the allies of France, fliould refpeft- 
ively take upon them the title of king, and be thus ac¬ 
knowledged by the houfe of Auftria and the German 
States; and who fhould never in future exercile any 
kind of authority over them, or over the eleftor of Ba¬ 
den, or the territories claimed, or to be claimed, by all 
or either of them. Signed at Prefourgh the 26th of De¬ 
cember, 1805.—For more extenlive particulars of this 
war, and the confequences refulting from it, as well as 
for the complete hiftory of the French Revolution, fee 
the article France, vol. vii. p. 760-905- 
CONSTITUTION AND GOVERNMENT. 
The German conflitution and government appear to 
have been founded upon the bafis of its numerous inde¬ 
pendent (fates, of which it is faid there are nearly three 
hundred ; and, upon the authority of the eUBars, who, as 
■•we have feen, p.484, afl'umed.the right of eleiffiug their 
emperors ever fince the demife of Louis IV. the laft 
reigning prince of the houfe of Charlemagne in Germany. 
Tlie emperor Maximilian firff divided the empire into 
ten circles, in the year 1552 ; but the circle of Burgundy 
or the Netherlands being afterwards detached from th.e 
empire, there of courfe remain only nine. It is the claim 
of thefe eleffors, which originally, as well as at pre¬ 
lent, renders the German empire elettivcj and on this 
account, every king of the Romans, when chofen, is re¬ 
quired Iblemnly to renounce all attempts to render the 
dignity Itereditary in his family. The conflitution of 
th.e empire, (ince the peace of Weflphalia, which termi¬ 
nated the thirty years war againftthe proteflants, makes 
no cxprefs limitation with refpeit to religion, nation. 
Hate, or age ; but the engagement at the coronation, 
“ to protect the pope and the holy fee,” leems to ex¬ 
clude a proteftant from this dignity. On the intricate 
fubjedf of the Germanic Conflitution, as fettled at the 
peace of Weflphalia, the ingenious Putter remarks as 
follows : 
“ Confidering the various revolutions which were oc- 
cafioned partly by the number* of important articles of 
that peace, and partly by the calamities of lo long and 
fo general a war, it cannot be wondered that the whole 
conflitution. of tiie Germanic empire, almofl all at once, 
underwent a conliderable change, or rather firfl acquired 
its proper firmnefs, which loon diicovered itleif by ef- 
fedts of the firlt importance. As Inch great revolutions 
in general do not aril'e fuddenly, without many prepara¬ 
tory circumftances, which gradually unfold themlelves, 
fo Germany had been for feveral centuries in fuch a (itu- 
ation, that it might eaflly be forefeen, that it would not, 
like France and other European nations, continue an un¬ 
divided empire, which could not upon the whole be 
confidered in any other light than as a flngle flate. From 
the hereditary rights of the dukes and counts in their 
original date, as fervants of the crown, and of the rights 
of (overeignty of which the fpiritual and temporal (fates 
gradually acquired the pofl'eirion, it could not be laid, 
that the emperor was the only regent in Germany, or 
that the whole of Germany could be confidered as a 
(ingle (fate. Every fpiritual and temporal elector, or 
prince, count, dr prelate, had in fatt been long the 
adtual fovereign of his own country. Every imperial 
city formed a diflinct, though tmall, republic. Even 
cities which were not imperial, were almofl in a (imiiar 
fituation. Every imperial knight, or immediate noble¬ 
man, had dominion over the diltridf of his eflate, as his 
territory. Germany, therefore, had been long divided 
into as many leparate (fates as there were electorates, 
principalities, counties, imperial prelacies, imperial ci¬ 
ties, immediate nobility, and imperial villages; and it 
could only fo far be faid, that Germany continued upon 
the whole one flate, and one empire, as all thefe parti¬ 
cular ftates did not dilTolve the bond which originally- 
united them as members of the fame empire, but conti¬ 
nued in a mutual and perpetual connection, fiibjedt to 
the fame fundamental laws, and, to one common fupreme 
head. 
“ The remains of a fimilar conflitution were evident 
even in France, as long as there were dukes of Bur¬ 
gundy and Britanny; and formerly the conflitution of 
that country was almolt the fame as that of Germany 5 
•but the great difference which now appears between the 
internal conflitution of the two nations of France and 
Germany, difeovered itfelf in two principal things ; 
firfl, that the kings of France, notwithftanding the in- 
creafe of the number of dukes, counts', and prelates, 
always preferved their own domains, whilff the empe¬ 
ror, on the contrary, loft them all; and then, that in 
France, all the (fates, as at laft Burgundy and Britanny, 
were united to the crown; whilff in Germany, on the 
contrary, even the hopes of redeeming thole domains 
whicli had been onh- mortgaged, were at laft totally 
abandoned. 
“Every thing was already, and had been for many 
years, in I'uch a fituation in Germany, that it was eafy 
to perceive that it would be diihcult to make any fur¬ 
ther alteration ; efpecially as the attempt made by the 
powerful emperor Charles V. which had the faired: 
profpedfs of (uccefs, was totally fruftrated by the va¬ 
liant conduif of a (ingle German prince, [Maurice, J 
fupported by France. The queftions, however, likely 
to aril'e concerning the Angular conlfituticn formed in 
Germany, which was almofl the only one ot its kind, 
were not fo thoroughly determined that obffacles could 
not be raifed, and that a Ferdinand III. after the vidfo- 
ries of Prague, Lutter on the mountain of Barenberg, 
and Nordlingen, might not ftill feel a Ifrong inclination 
to imitate the example of Charles V. and make another 
attempt to reduce (jermany to the dominion of a Angle 
fovereign. So far, the whole of the war of thirty years 
may be confidered as a (fruggle againfl this attempt ; 
but it is likewife evident, that the peace of "Weftphalia 
has finally decided the queflion, in oppofition to the 
defigns of Ferdinand, in favour of the conflitution, as 
it had adfually exiffed for fo many years, and for the 
advantage of the ftates of the empire. Not that the 
peace was the firff foundation of their territorial fove- 
reignty, and the prerogatives connedfed with it—No— 
tliis had been continually increaflng for feveral centu¬ 
ries, and in its nature was equally as valid before the 
commencement of tlie war of thirty years, as after¬ 
wards ; but the treaty of 'Weflphalia firfl confirmed it, 
and affixed the feal. All doubts wlvich had before 
arifen were finally removed, and the whole conflitution 
became f'olidly and permanently eftabliftied. 
“ Germany therefore, confidered as one empire, is a 
political, but not, like the other European nations, a 
finiple body, but a compound one, the component parts 
of which are diflincfl ftates, which preferve their con- 
nedtion under the emperor, as one common fupreme 
head. With this idea, every difficulty which had hi¬ 
therto arifen in the difputes concerning the Germanic 
empire, whether its government was monarchical, arif- 
tocratical, democratical, or mixed, totally vanifhes. 
People were not aware that among different forms of 
governments there might be another higher divifion of 
limple and compound ftates, which had no conformity 
with any other than the firff of the different ftandards. 
The exiunples of the Seven United Provinces, theThir- 
teen Cantons of Swifferland, and the United States of 
North America, prove the poflibility of feveral flutes 
being united in one compound political body, the com¬ 
ponent parts of which do not on that account ceafe to 
be leparate (fates. The Germanic empire has only this 
peculiarityj 
