523 
GERMANY. 
The names and offices of the eleftors, then, as they 
iverc confirmed and acknowledged by the treaty of 
Raftadt, were as follow ; 
1. The archbifliop of Mentz, chancellor of the em- 
pire when in Germany. 
2. Archbifhop of Treves, chancellor when in France. 
3. Archbifhop of Cologne, chancellor when in Italy. 
4. King of Bohemia, cup bearer. 
5. Eleftor of Bavaria, grand ferver of feafls. 
6. Eledtor of Saxony, great marfhal. 
7. Eleftor of Brandenburg, (king of Pruffia,) great 
chamberlain. 
S. Elector palatine, great fteward. 
9. Eledtor of Hanover, (king of Great Britain,) arch 
treafurer. 
The refpedlive offices of thefe eledlors were eftablifhed 
by the go/den buU, a.s mentioned at p. 485, whereby the 
eledtors became as it were great officers of flate, and 
their offices were made hereditary in their families. 
The form of eledtion is by the faid bull diredted to 
be as follows. The eledtor of Mentz, in quality of 
great chancellor of the empire, is to fummon the elec¬ 
tors, upon the demife of an emperor, within the fpace 
of one month after he receives notice of that event ; 
and the day fixed for the eledlion is to be within the 
compafs of three months from ilTuing the fummonfes. 
The ele'dlors are not required to attend perfonally, but 
may fend their ambaffadors, and on fuch an occafion 
they generally name three ; but if an eledlor neither at¬ 
tends in perfon, nor appoints an ambalTador, he forfeits 
his right of voting for that time only. The eledtor of 
Mentz collects the fuffrages, which are given viva voce, 
according to the rank of the eledtors ; and lalt of all he 
gives his own vote, which is required ot him by the 
eledtor of Saxony. It isneceffary that the perfon chofen 
fhould have a majority of the whole body, and not 
merely a majority of votes; for if there are three can¬ 
didates, and one has four, another three, and the third 
two voices, the eledtion remains-undecided. The cere¬ 
mony of the eledtion is performed at Frankfort on the 
Maine ; but though cultom has fixed it at that city, it 
is not ellentially neceflary that it fhould be held there. 
As loon as the choice is made, the newly-eledted em¬ 
peror, or his proxy, muft immediately fwear and fub- 
fcribe to the capitulation of eledtion; and before his 
coronation, mull fwear to it in perfon ; and, till this is 
done, he cannot afl'ume the government, but muft leave 
it to the vicars of the empire. The capitulation is the 
contract between the emperor and the Itates, which he 
fwears faithfully to obferve and keep: viz. i. To de¬ 
fend the empire in church and Itate. 2. To obferve 
and maintain the fundamental laws of the empire. 
3. To defend and uphold the rights, privileges, fran- 
chifes, and immunities, of the princes and people, in 
every part of the empire. The coronation, according to 
the golden bull, ought to be performed at Aix-la-Cha- 
pelle, but it has been performed for many years in the 
place where the eledtion is made. Until the reign of 
Maximilian, the emperors were crowned at Rome by 
the pope, and then ftyled themfelves “Roman empe¬ 
rors;” but that emperor not choofing logo to Rome, 
obtained from the pope a bull, which empowered him 
to take the title of emperor, on his being crowned in 
Germany. The title of king of Italy and Lombardy, 
if we except twenty-one fiefs of the empire which lie 
in the ecclefiaftical Hate, is merely titular. 
The prerogatives of the emperor confift partly in his 
being confidered, by all other crowned heads and Hates 
in Europe, as the Jirjl European potentate, and cpnfe- 
^uently precedence is given him and his ambaffadors in 
all foreign courts. With refpedl to the German em¬ 
pire, he is its fupreme head, and as fuch enjoys many 
privileges. Yet his power in the adminiHration of the 
German empire, is limited both by the capitulation of 
2 
the eledtion, the other laws of the empire, and by tlie 
cuHoms of the empire. Thofe privileges which he has 
the right of exercifing without the advice of the Hates, 
are called his refervata ; but his greateH power does not 
confiH in thefe, which are far from being repugnant to 
the liberties of the Hates of the empire. His rights, 
with refpedl to ecclefiaHical affairs, con.fiH in little 
more than confirming ecclefiaHical eledlions, and fending 
commiffaries to the eledlions of archbifiiops, bi(hops*.and 
abbots,Hhat they may be performed in due order; but the 
commiflTary is never perfonally prefent at thefe eledlions. 
In temporal affairs, the emperor has the right of be- 
flowing perfonal dignities; fuch as creating lords, ba¬ 
rons, and counts, who enjoy the dignity of princes, and 
of knights and gentry ; as allb that of raifing countries 
and territories to a higher rank; of bcHowing coats of 
arms, as alfo the enlarging, improving, and altering, 
them. He has the power of eHabliffiing univerfities, 
and enajiling them to confer academical degrees; of 
granting a right of holding fairs and markets, and of 
eredling any place into a fandtuary. He can place chil¬ 
dren who are born out of wedlock upon the footing of 
fuch as are legitimate ; can confirm the contradls and 
Hipulations of the members of the empire ; and fo far 
remit the oaths extorted from them, that they may 
commence an adlion at law againff another, on account 
of the very thing for which the oath was adminiffered. 
The emperor, however, has no right, without the con- 
fent of the colledlive Hate of the empire, to put one of 
thofe Hates under the ban ; to exclude a Hate of the 
empire from a feat and voice in its colleges ; to inter¬ 
fere in the laws of the empire ; to conclude treaties ia 
affairs relating to the empire ; to involve it in a war ; 
to raife levies ; or to conclude a peace in which the 
empire is concerned ; to appoint taxes in it; to regulate 
the coinage ; to build forts in the empire ; or to deter¬ 
mine religious difputes.. 
The fucceffbr in the adminiHration is frequently 
chofen by the eledlors during the life of the emperor, 
and the perfon fo chofen is Hyled “ king of the Ro¬ 
mans.” He is eledled and crowned in the very fame 
manner as the emperor ; and though he has properly no 
kingdom, he is adtually a crowned head ; is faluted 
with the title of majeHy, and enjoys the title of “ Per¬ 
petual Augmenter of the Empire,” and “ King of 
Germany;” and takes precedence before all the other 
kings of ChriHendom : on the death of the emperor, he 
fucceeds, as heir apparent, without any freffi eleflion. 
Since the emperors are no longer crowned at Rome, 
the only meaning that is affixed to the title of king of 
the Romans, is, therefore, that of the prefumptive heir 
to the imperial dignity : the golden bull indeed, makes 
no fuch provifion for a fuccelfor during the life of the 
reigning prince ; but this mode of ele6lion was eHa- 
bliflied by an agreement entered into between the em¬ 
peror and the electors, for the benefit and convenience 
of the empire. When the throne becomes vacant by 
the death of the reigning emperor, and no king of the 
Romans has been previoully chofen, the elector pala¬ 
tine, and elellor of Saxony, have the title of vicars, of 
the empire, in right of their reipcllive offices; the one 
of count palatine, the other of arch-marlhal of the em¬ 
pire. The emperor in his capitulation conllantly en¬ 
gages to ratify and confirm, in the fulleH manner pol- 
fible, all alls performed by the vicars general, during 
the time of the interregnum. 
The emperor may delegate his power to any prince 
of the empire, when he himfelf is not in a condition to 
exercife it, and an officer thus appointed is called “vicar 
of the emperor;” but the authority annexed to fuch a 
poH, is much more circumferibed than that of the vi¬ 
cars of the empire, it being held during the pleafure of 
the emperor, to whom this officer is accountable for the 
exercife of his delegated power, 
^Yhaf 
