off from even favourable appearances, and the vast throng of combatants which rushed forward to the right hand, now returns to the left hand, with encreased speed, and with the highly wrought vehemence of contest; here a new struggle commences, and the flying ball deludes the watching eyes of the embattled host, and falls in some new direction, where shouts and screams, and blows, and thrusts, and every species of alacrity, straining every nerve of the most active, await it, with fresh endeavours to direct it in the line most likely to ensure suc

cess.

Amid these ever varying changes, who can hope for rest and tranquillity? who indulges the soothing expectation of that settled state of things, for which all profess to be waiting, and all desire to be thought expecting? Will Politics, then, never be at rest? Not till there be no more struggling for victory; or till competitors cease to contend for the ball thrown up among them not till the billowing waves suspend their agitations, and afford firm footing for powers much inferior to those inherent in the character of a mighty Angel.

tion of his natural rights as a savage to roam the world at large; it is for this purpose, smaller settlements of mankind form themselves into one community; it is for this purpose, smaller communities become members of Political Associations; and on this purpose alone can the combination of powers into masses of political strength be defended and justified.

There cannot be a more striking instance of the necessity for combination and consolidation, than that of Germany. Placed by Nature, in the very heart of Europe; abounding in men and wealth; destined to influence and importancebut, nothing better than a rope of sand; never to be depended on for one consistent meaning or effort. The current of ages seemed to have thrown the Constitution of Germany into somewhat of a formless form, much as the stream of a river throws sand or gravel or pebble stones into some fantastic shape, on the river's bank :-they describe angles, polygons, of every shape; but regularity there is none. From the earliest times, this has been the lot of the country; when the Western Empire became hereditary under Charlemagne, and his race, when it afterwards became elective, still the body of the population formed no homogeneous mass; and the number of Sovereigns,-some of them possessing States not equal in extent to an English county-was little, if any thing, short of three hundred. It was not uncommon to see the same prince, who was bound, in compliance with an Such an attempt is now before us.-- order of the Empire, to send half a dozen Such an attempt demands our applause. men to support A.-to see him send a As we cannot expect the end without dozen or a score to support B. in conemploying the means, so we cannot ex-formity with his own views of his indipect national welfare without the neces-vidual interest. George II. of England, sary institutions and regulations. And while fighting for the House of Austhe necessary institutions and regulations tria, was bound, as Elector of Hanover, cannot be established and enforced, un- to furnish his quota of troops, and he less the parties interested, will recede did furnish them-in opposition to the something from their pretensions, res-interest of that house: a squad of his pectively, and relinquish a good of a certain value, or description, in expectation of another, superior on the whole, and at length, though at the moment, not susceptible of being the object of instant comparison. It is for this purpose, man in society relinquishes a por

And yet, it is truly honourable to endeavour to introduce some settled maxims of mutual good-will among mankind; some determinate and acknowledged principles of general harmony, which meeting the wishes of all, shall combine their favourable opinions, and conduce to happy issues, in the various forms to which occurrences and incidents direct them.

troops, in arms against the person of their Sovereign-by his orders!!

In fact, the Germanic Constitution was so intricate, that only one man in all Germany was supposed to understand it thoroughly; he passed a long life in the study of it, and when he died-with

Imperial Constitution. That is Impe rial Majesty could afford to do all this with the rapidity of a reni, vidi,—will not be affirmed; or at least, it will not be affirmed, that his officers could afford such dispatch, on such terms; and hence, we believe, that more than one Chancery suit, of three hundred, or of four hundred years' standing, was closed without being compromised, or without a definitive sentence obtained, at the moment, when the Chancery itself was dissolved;-when the men of the robe thought their inviolability secure in proportion to their distance from the thuns der of Republican cannon.

him died his knowledge; he had no successor. Nor should it be omitted, when glancing at this confusion, that a number of Ecclesiastical princes raised their heads-mitred, or unmitred-above their fellows, and possessed a temporal power as absolute, and as arbitrary, as that of any illustrissimo around them. Moreover, the Free Cities, too, were Sovereigns; and the crossing of a bridge, or the passing of a hand-post, like that of a parish boundary, transferred a traveller from one dominion to another; with all its armamentalia of Custom-house Officers, coinage, and municipal regulations; more or less, conformable or unconformable, to those It can surprize nobody, that an office of the country a few yards in the rear. so unprofitable should be resigned by This might have been supported, had not the Emperor without reluctance; acthese petty princes made a point of ex-cordingly, he gave public notice of the hausting their income, and plunging dissolution of this relation, on his part; deeply into debt, by vyeing in expence, and-not to lose a title by the occasion, with the Sovereigns of more extensive he caused himself to be crowned Emdominions. The grandeur and mag-peror of Austria, August 11, 1804. nificence of the prince his esta- Nor had he a moment to spare; for, blishments of horses-hounds,-gar- already had a rival Emperor started up dens,-pictures,-table,-dress-music in the person of the Corsican First --opera,--guards,--&c. &c.--were paid for by-his impoverished subjects; and the products of their labour was, much more frequently than otherwise, insufficient to maintain their prince;-to say nothing on the subject of their own maintenance. Such as it was, however, Germany conferred the title of Emperor on the house of Austria, for several generaWhat the Emperor of Austria laid tions, though the dignity was under-down, the Empereur des Francois took stood to be elective; and elective it was-with this only proviso, that the choice should fall on the heir apparent of the Austrian family, as King of the Romans; and the King of the Romans, succeeded to be Emperor of Germany, as a matter of course.

That portion of the revenue of the Empire which entered the treasury of the Emperor, might amount, in favourable seasons, to five or six thousand pounds sterling;-in consideration for which appointments, and his title, he was expected to confer his protection on every part of his Empire, to defend the rights of all, to redress the wrongs of all, and to determine all cases of quarrel and misunderstanding, according to the original and established laws of the

Consul; who, on the 20th of May, in the same year, had been proclaimed under the title of "Napoleon par la grâce de Dieu et par les Constitutions de la République, EMPEREUR DES FRANCOIS". Being first crowned, however, the Emperor of Austria claimed precedence, and took it.

up; and the Germanic-powers! directed to look across the Rhine instead of across the Danube, for a head, had no ability for resistance, when the said Emperor Napoleon par la grâce de Dieu assigned them their places in his new Confederation of the Rhine, and assumed the Supremacy of their whole body, as "Chief and Protector" of this inviolable "Confédération qui les mette a l'abri de toutes les incertitudes de l'avenir.”

The Confederation of the Rhine had this good effect, that it prepared the public mind for a better constitution, when opportunity should offer it had removed a great portion of the unmana geable pretensions of various powers, by annulling the powers themselves; and

the odium of violating principles, venerable by their antiquity, had been incurred, and had already subsided, when the Congress of Potentates at Vienna, determined to take advantage of events, and once more to bring Germany under a Confederation, of which France was no longer the head. For this purpose, among other Articles in a Treaty signed the 9th of June, we find the following, which forms part of the series of Treaties between the Great Powers, and also, a separate Treaty, under the title of the

FEDERATIVE CONSTITUTION OF

GERMANY.

ARTICLE I.

The Sovereign Princes and Free towns of Germany, under which denomination, for the present purpose, are comprehended Their Majesties the Emperor of Austria, the Kings of Prussia, of Denmark, and of the Netherlands; that is to say, the Emperor of Austria and the King of Prussia for all their possessions which anciently belonged to the German Empire, the King of Denmark for the Duchy of Holstein, and the King of the Netherlands for the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, establish among themselves a perpetual Coufederation, which shall be called "the Germanie Confederation."

ARTICLE II.

8. Electoral Hesse

9. Grand Duchy of Hesse
10. Denmark, for Holstein.
11. The
Netherlands, for
the Grand Duchy of
Luxembourg.

12. Grind Ducal and Ducal
Houses of Saxony

13. Brunswick and Nassau.
14. Mecklenburg-Schwerin
and Mecklenburg-
Strelitz

15. Holstein Oldenburg,
Aubalt and Schwartz-
burg

16. Hohenzollern, Lichten-
stein, Reuss, Schaum
burg-Lippe, Lippe
and Waldeck

17. The Free - Towns of
Lubeck, Frankfort,
Bremen and Ham-
burgh.

Total 17 Votes,

ARTICLE V.

Austria shall preside at the Federative Diet. Each State of the Confederation has the right of making propositions, and the presiding State shall bring them under deliberation within a definite time.

ARTICLE VI.

Whenever fundamental laws are to be enacted, changes made in the fundamental laws of the Confederation, measures The object of this Confederation is the adopted relative to the Federative Act itmaintenance of the external and internal self, and organic institutious or other arsafety of Cermany, and of the indepen-rangements made for the common interest, dence and inviolability of the Coufederated States.

the Diet shall form itself into a General Assembly, and, in that case, the distribution of votes shall be as follows, calculated according to the respective extent of the individual states:

The question, whether a subject is to be discussed by the General Assembly, couformably to the principles above establish· ed, shall be decided in the Ordinary Assembly by a majority of votes. The same Assembly shall prepare the drafts of resolutions which are to be proposed to the General Assembly, and shall furnish the latter with a the necessary information, either for adopting or rejecting them.

The plurality of votes shall regulate the decisions, both in the Ordinary and Ge neral Assemblies, with this difference, however, that, in the Ordinary Assembly, an absolute majority shall be deemed sufficient, while, in the other, two thirds of the votes shall be necessary to form the majority.

business, which may arise during the recess, shall be reserved for the Diet, which will consider them when engaged in preparing the organic laws.

ARTICLE VIII.

With respect to the order in which the members of the Confederation shall vote, it is agreed, that while the Diet shall be occupied in framing organic laws, there shall be no fixed regulation; and whatever may be the order observed on such an occasion, it shall neither prejudice any of the members, nor establish a precedent for the future. After framing the organic laws, the Diet will deliberate upon the mauner of arranging this matter by a permaueut regulation, for which purpose it will depart as little as possible from those which have been observed in the ancient Diet, and more particularly according to the Recess of the Deputation of the Empire in 1803. The order to be adopted shall in no way affect the rank and precedence of the members of the Confederation, except in as far as they concern the Diet.

ARTICLE IX.

The Diet shall assemble at Francfort on the Maine. Its first meeting is fixed for the 1st of September 1815.

ARTICLE X.

The first object to be considered by the Diet after its opening, shall be the framing of the fundamental laws of the Confederafion, and of its organic institutious, with respect to its exterior, military, and interior

relations.

ARTICLE XI.

The States of the Confederation engage to defend not only the whole of Germany, but each individual State of the Union, in case it should be attacked, and they mutually guarantee to each other such of their possessions as are comprised in this Union.

When war shall be declared by the Confederation, no member can open a separate negociation with the enemy, nor make peace, uor conclude an armistice, without the consent of the other members.

The confederated States engage, in the same manner, not to make war against each other, on any pretext, nor to pursue their differences by force of arms, but to submit them to the Diet, which will at

When the votes are even in the Ordinary Assembly, the President shall have the casting vote; but when the Assembly is to deliberate on the acceptance or change of any of the fundamental laws, upon organic institutions, upon individual rights, or upon affairs of religion, the plurality of votes shall not be deemed sufficient, either in the Ordinary or in the General Assembly. The Diet is permanent: It may, how-tempt a mediation by means of a Comever, when the subjects submitted to its deliberation are disposed of, adjourn for a fixed period, which shall not exceed four months.

All ulterior arrangements relative to the postponement or the dispatch of urgent

mission. If this should not succeed, and a juridical sentence becomes necessary, recourse shall be had to a well organised Austregal Court (Austregal instantz), to the decision of which the contending parties are to submit without appeal.

the above-mentioned prerogatives, for the better determining them, and, in general, for the adjusting and consolidating the rights of mediatised Princes, Counts, and Lords, in a manner uniform to all the States of the German Confederation.— The Ordinance issued upon this subject, by His Majesty the King of Bavaria, in 1807, shall be adopted as a general rule.

In order to secure to the ancient States of the Empire, mediatised in 1806, and in the subsequent years, the enjoyment of equal rights in all countries belonging to the Confederation, and conformable to the The ancient and immediate Nobility of relations at present existing between them, the Empire shall enjoy the rights specified the confederated States establish the foliow-in Sections 1 and 2; namely, of sitting in ing principles:

3. The privilege of being amenable only to superior tribunals, and of being exempt from all military couscription, for themselves aud families.

4. The exercise of civil and criminal jurisdiction, in the first instance; and, if the possessions are sufficiently extensive, in the second instance; the exercise of the forest jurisdiction, of the local police, and of the inspection of churches, schools, and charitable institutions: the whole conformably to the laws of the country to which they remain subject, as well as to the military regulations and supreme authority reserved to the governments, respecting objects of