had been observed in the old Kingdom of France viz. That the Consent of the Nobility and People did not easily depart from the Order of a Lineal Succession in the Royal Family And this continued to Henry IV. who being young and perhaps not Governing well the Nobility thereupon by the procurement of the Pope rose up against him and deposed him from the Kingdom and for the time to come made a Law That though the Son of the last King were worthy to succeed him yet he should attain the Throne by a Free Election and not by a Lineal Succession as the words of that Constitution run 2. That old Approbation and Election The ancient Elections not made by any certain numâ—â—â—â— of Princes exclusively was made by all the People though it is not to be doubted but the Authority of the Nobility and Princes or of the Bishops and Peers was much valued But now for some Ages past Seven chuse the Emperor in exclusion of all others and since the Treaty of Osnaburg Eight of the principal Princes are to do it who from thence are called The ELECTORAL PRINCES Of these Three are stiled Ecclesiastical Electors viz. The Archbishops of Mentz Trier and Cologne and Five are Temporal or Secular Electors the King of Bohemia the Dukes of Bavaria and Saxony the Marquess of Brandenburg and the Count Palatine of the Rhine It is not very clear how these Princes came by this Right for two Ages viz. from the year 1250 to the year 1500 it was a received Opinion That Otho III. And Pope Gregory V. instituted the The 7 Electors not instituted by Otho III. Seven Electors but with this Difference that some Authors ascribe the principal share in the Act to the Emperor and others to the Pope as each man was affected to them Our Countryman Onuphrius Panvinius was the first man that opposed this Opinion in a Book De Comitiis imperatoriis of the Imperial Diets which is since approved by all the wisest of the German Nation His best Argument against it is Because this Ottonian or Gregorian Constitution was never yet produced by any man and no man has mentioned it from the times of Frederick II. to those of Otho III which contains 240 years for the first that mentions the Electors was one Martin a Polonian who lived under this Frederick and therefore his Testimony was justly liable to exception seeing it was not supported by any better in an Affair which happened so long before his own times And yet after all he doth not mention any such Constitution nor doth he say the Electors began in the time of that Otho but that after his times the Officers of the Empire began to elect Which is capable of a double sence either because they were then possess'd of very large Dominions who before had the principal Offices in the Court or because those Offices were then first collated for ever on Princes that had very great Dominions who though perhaps they had a Signal Authority as the most eminent men above all others yet that the Election belonged to other Princes besides these Seven can be denied by no man who is not very ignorant of the German Antiquities Others have ascribed the appointing the Seven Electors to Frederick II but then there is no Record of any Law to that purpose any where to be found nor is it probable that the rest of the Princes so early and so easily parted with their Right of Electing 3. The current Opinion of the most But yet they seem ancienter than Frederick II. Skilful in the German Affairs is That before the times of Frederick II those Seven Princes as the great Officers of the Empire and persons that had great Estates began by degrees to overtop the rest and to have the greatest Authority in the Elections of the Emperors but after the times of this Frederick the German Affairs being wonderfully disordered whilst the rest took little or no care of the Publick these Seven assumed it wholly to themselves This after it was confirm'd into a Custom by some repeated Acts was at last passed into a Law by the solemn and publick Sanction of the Golden Bull in which the whole form of the Election and all the Power of the Electors is contained and from thenceforward those Princes added to their former Titles that of Electors and were ever after esteemed as persons set in an higher Station and Dignity than the rest 5. Thus though at the first these Princes Of the â—â—â—viledges of the Electors seem to have assumed the power of electing the Emperor as they were the great Officers of the Empire yet afterwards by the Law call'd the Golden Bull those very Offices as well as the Electoral Dignity are annexed to certain Dominions so that whoever is legally possessed of them is thereby made one of the Electors the Ecclesiastical Electors in the mean time are made by Election or Collation as the other Bishops of Germany are where it is to be observed that though these Bishops to enable them to perform the other Functions belonging to their Office stand in need of the Pope's Confirmation and the Pall which they must not expect gratis yet they are admitted without them to the Election of the Emperor because these Secular Dignities pass without the Character But then when the See is vacant the Chapter has no Right to meddle with the Election In the Secular or Temporal Electors the Succession passeth in a lineal Paternal Descent so that neither the Electoral Dignity nor the Lands united to it admit of any Division But if a new Elector is to be made or for some Offence any one is to be deprived of that Dignity it is without doubt agreeable to the other Laws and Customs of the Empire for the Emperor not to dispose of the said Dignity without the Consent of the other States or at least not without that of the Electors though it is not to be denied the last Age saw an Example to the contrary against which however one or two of the Electors protested the Emperor despising their words because he saw his Arms prosper yet this Prince had wit enough to bestow the Dignity on one of the same Line and Family which tended very much to the abating the Envy of the Fact and divided two most potent Families by raising an endless Emulation between them and made that Party that was obliged by the Grant obnoxious to the Imperial Family for the preservation of it If any of the Electors happen to be a Minor their Guardians supply their place and the Minority ceaseth when the Prince is Eighteen years of age 6. The manner of the Election is thus The Elector of Mentz within one Month Of the manner of the Election after he knows of the Death of the Emperor signifies it to his Colleagues and calls them to the Election that is to be made who meet in person or by their Proxies When they
Princes repented they had consented to this Attempt of the Bavarian but could not then recall their Letters to him But then as is usual in such Encroachments no man was willing to join with the Oppressed and make his Quarrel his own afterwards they printed Books one against the other Now though no man could wonder that the Duke of Bavaria should venture upon this Practice who in the more flourishing state of the Count Palatin's Affairs had pretended to the Electorate and now having got part of the Palatin's Country had encreased his own Power and was otherwise well assured of the Concurrence and Favour of the House of Austria both on the account of Kindred and Religion yet the far greatest part of the indifferent Spectators thought the Count Palatine had sufficiently shewn his Right and demonstrated that this Vicarian Viceroyalty was no part of the Great Lord High Sewer's Offices but was perpetually annexed to the Palatinate of the Rhine as the Duke of Saxony has the other half of that Power in the rest of Germany not as Elector but as Palatine of Saxony But then as there were many that openly favoured the Bavarian so the rest were not willing openly to espouse the opposite side and that Prince would not confess he had done wrong and so the Controversie remains undetermin'd still 10. Sometimes there is joined to the Of the King of the Romans Emperor Extra Ordinem a King of the Romans in pretence as his General Vicar or Deputy who in his Absence or Sickness is to Govern the State and upon his Death to succeed without any new Election But then though the Good of the State has ever been pretended as is usual in such Cases yet the real Cause has ever or at least most usually been That they might with the greater ease in their own lifetimes preferr their Sons Brothers or near Kinsmen to the Empire by the Influence or Recommendation of a Regnant Emperor foreseeing that one that was chosen in a Vacancy or Interregnum would have harder terms imposed on him by the Electors Joseph King of Hungary the eldest Son of Leopald the present Emperor of Germany who was born the 25th of July 1678. was chosen King of the Romans the 24th of January 1689 90. and Crowned the 26th at Ausburg This Emperor has another Son of his own Name who was born the 12th of June 1682. who ought to have been taken notice of in the end of the former Chapter where the Males of the House of Austria are set down but it slipped my Memory till that Sheet was wrought off CHAP. V. Of the Power of the Emperor as it now stands limited by Treaties and the Laws and Customs of the Empire and the Rights of the States of Germany 1. I Have already shewn by what degrees Of the Limits set to the Imperial Power and upon what occasions the Nobility of Germany mounted themselves to that excessive height of Power and Wealth as is wholly inconsistent with the Laws of a regular Monarchy Nor is it worth our wonder that when the Election of the Emperor in aftertimes was devolved upon them they set their Hearts upon the preserving what they had gotten By this Change in the State of Affairs the Kings of Germany lost the Power of Disposing or Governing as they thought fit the Concerns of that Nation and were necessitated to consult the Princes in things of great moment and transact more of their business with the States by their Authority than by their Soveraign Power and there is no question to be made but the Princes inserted a Clause to this purpose very early into the Coronation Oath of Germany which is usually administred to all Christian Princes in a very solemn manner upon their Accession to any Crown viz. That the King should Promise and Swear to Defend all the Rights of all and singular the Inhabitants of Germany and observe and keep all the laudable Customs in that Kingdom received and used But whether in process of time any particular Laws were added to the old and comprehended in Writing is not so manifest because before the times of Charles the Fifth we have no Copies of any such Capitulations or Agreements and those that are pretended to be more ancient are of no great certainty And whereas it is said in the Golden Bull The Emperor shall presently confirm all the Rights Priviledges and Immunities of the Electoral Princes by his Patent under Seal This seems to belong only to them and therefore is a very different thing from the Agreement by which the Emperor is now obliged to engage for the Liberty or Freedom of the whole Empire Now the Reasons why the Electors desired to have Charles the Fifth bound to them in so many express and tedious Articles and Covenants was That they considering the great Power of that Prince his Youth High Spirit testified by his Motto Plus ultra and his other Advantages feared lest he should imploy his Patrimonial Estates to subdue the German Nation and took this way to make him consider That he must Govern Germany after another manner than he did his other Dominions And this Custom being once taken up has been ever since continued though there are not the same Reasons there were at first for it 2. These Conditions have been prescribed These Conditions prescribed only by the Electors to the Emperors by the Electors without consulting the other States of Germany though they have sometimes complained of it and in the last Treaty of Munster it was moved That in the next Diet there might be care taken to draw up a standing form of Articles which should be perpetual And I heard when I was at Ratisbone that it was then under serious Debate and that much Paper had been spent in that Service but the Wiser part thought the Electors had no reason to fear the event of this Consultation because it was the Emperors Interest as well as theirs that the Electors should still be in a better condition than the other Princes for they being few in number might more easily be brought to a compliance with him than the other States which were more numerous and therefore it was reasonable on the other side that he should rather indulge them of the two And those Princes of the Empire who were descended of the Electoral Families were very inclinable to it too and the Demands of the rest might be deluded without much difficulty Nor doth it agree with the Manners of Germany to deprive any man of what he has by Force and Combination however he came by it They added That though what the States asked was not unreasonable viz. That they might be equally secured in the Capitular with the Electors yet that it was not possible to pen an Instrument in such manner but that upon the change of times and things it would be necessary to change and correct it That in the former Agreements there were many things changed added
Onolzbeck 8. Next after the Electors follow some Of the other Princes of the Empire other Princes whose Houses are still extant and because amongst these there are various Contests for the Precedence I would not have the Order I here observe give any prejudice to any of them in these their vain Pretences The Dukes of Brunswick The Dukes of Brunswick and Lunenburg and Lunenburg possess a very considerable Territory in the Lower Saxony they are divided into two Branches to the first of these belongs the Dukedom of Brunswick now enjoyed by an ancient Gentleman two Brothers have divided the Dukedom of Lunenburg between them one of which resides at Zel the other at Hannover and the third Brother is now Bishop of Osnaburg The Dukes of Mechlenburg have a Mechlenburg small Tract of Land belonging to them which lies between the Baltick Sea and the River Elbe and this Family is now divided into two Branches Swerin and â—ustrow The Duke of Wurtemburg has in Franconia Wurtemburg a great and a powerful Territory his Relations have also in the extreamest parts of Germany the Earldom of Montbelgard in Montpelgart Hassia Alsatia The Lantgrave of Hassia has also a large Country and is divided into the Branches of Castel and Darmstad The Marquesses of Baden have a long but narrow Baden Country on the Rhine and are also divided into two Lines that of Baden properly so called and that of Baden Durlach The Dukes of Holstein possess a part Holstein of the Promontory of Juitland which by reason of the Seas washing its Eastern and Western sides is very Rich That part of Holstein which belonged to the Empire is possessed by the King of Denmark and the Duke of Holstein Gothorp which last has also the Bishoprick of Lubeck The Dukedom Lubeck of Sleswick doth not belong to the Empire The Duke of Sax-Lawemburg has Sax-Lawemburg a small Estate in the Lower Saxony and almost equal to that of the Prince of Anhalt in the Upper Saxony 9. These are the ancient Princes of the Savoy and Lorrain Empire for the Dukes of Savoy and Lorrain though Fees depending on the Empire and so having Seats in the Diet yet by reason of the Situation of their Countries they are in a manner separated from the Empire and have different Interests Ferdinand II who as many believe Ferdinand II. encreased the number of the Princes designed the subduing the Power of the German Princes and to gain an Absolute Authority over them amongst other Arts by him imployed brought into the Diet many Princes which depended entirely on him he intended by their Votes to equal if not overballance the Suffrages of the ancient Princes if he should be at any time forced to call a Diet which yet he avoided as much as was possible or that he might shew at least that there was no reason why the ancient Princes should so much value their Power seeing he was able when he pleased to set as many as he pleased on the same Level with them And the Princes of the old Creation had without question been very much endangered if the Emperor could have created Lands as easily as he could give Titles Amongst those however that then gained Places in the Diet are these the Prince of Hoenzolleren The Titles of Eleven of his creation Eggenburg Nassaw-Hadmar Nassaw-Dillenburg Lobkowitz Salm Dietrichstein Aversberg and Picolomini But then this Project of Ferdinand miscarrying and the Estates of the new Princes bearing no proportion with that of the ancient Families their advancement to this Dignity has never been found as yet of any use to them and they have also been much exposed to the Reproaches of the ancient Princes as the new Nobility is ever slighted by the old and they have taken it up as a Proverb against them That they have got nothing by this Exaltation but of Rich Counts or Earls to be made Poor Princes Yet it is to be considered That the most ancient Nobility had a beginning and that these Families in time may get greater Estates though the easiest way is now foreclosed against them by restraining the Emperor from disposing of the vacant Fees as he thinks fit 10. The Next Bench in the Diet belongs The Ecclesiastick States to the Bishops of Germany and Abbots Though this Order consists of men of no very great Birth as being but Gentlemen or at best the Sons of Barons or Earls and advanced to this Dignity by the Election of their Chapters yet in the Diet and other publick Meetings for the most part they are placed above the Temporal Nobility For since the Fortunes of the Churchmen in these latter Ages has been so vastly different from what it was in the beginning of Christianity it were very absurd to expect they are now bound to observe those Laws of Modesty our Saviour at first prescribed them and perhaps those Laws too were by him designed only for the Primitive Times For in truth it would have been ridiculous for Fishermen and Weavers ambitiously to seek the Precedence of Noblemen who were to earn their Bread with the labours of their Hands or to subsist on voluntary Contributions Now the Authority and Revenues of the Churchmen is very great in all those Countries that ever were under the Papacy yet their Riches and Power are no where so great as in Germany there being few of them in the Empire Oâ—â— very rich and powerful whose Dominions and Equipage is not equal to that of the Secular Nobility and their Power and Authority over their Vassals is of the same nature and many of them are also more fond of their Helmets than their Miters and are much fitter to involve their Country in Wars and their Neighbours in Troubles than to propagate true Piety But however in these later Ages there are more than there were in former times who are not ashamed to take Orders and once or twice in a year to shew the World how expert they are in expressing the Gestures and representing the Ceremonies of the most August Sacrifice But then whereas of old their Estates Now much diminished equalled if not exceeded that of the Secular Princes the Reformation of Religion which was embraced by the greatest part of Germany and the Peace of Westphalia in the year 1648 have strangely diminished them for in the Circles of the Upper and Lower Saxony the Churchmen have very little left But then in the Upper Germany if you except the Dukedom of Wurtemburg they escaped better Now the reason of this is this The Saxons being more remote did not fear the Efforts of Charles V. so much as the other Princes who were awed by his Neighbourhood to them and oppressed by his Presence Besides in Saxony their Dominions were intermixed with Potent Secular Princes and consequently lay exposed to their Incursions but in the Upper Germany they were seated They possess the greatest part of
more fond of getting Money than preserving the Souls of those under his care or lastly to prevent being suspected to be better pleased with the price of Mens Sins paid to him than with the most Innocent and Holy Life The more indevout sort of men were not to be tempted neither by this Affair to suspect that the Priests were very like Physicians and Chirurgeons who reap too much Benefit from the Diseases and Wounds of Men to be heartily sorry for them So that if it was foolish and sacrilegious to give Sentence against the Indulgences to the damage of the Church it had been prudent to sweeten a man of too warm a temper with Presents Preferments and Promises that he might not light the Laity into the way of shaking off the Church's Yoke and when so many have by Ambition and Gifts aspired to the highest Dignities in the Church of Rome I think for my share it would have been worth the while to have wrapped this Monk in Purple to prevent his doing her so great a mischief For when Martin Luther saw he could have no Justice done him at the Pope's Tribunal he began to court the Grace and good Opinion of the Laity and soon after he positively refused to submit to the Judgment of the Pope because he had made the Quarrel his own by entring into it And that he might not want a Patron he began to teach That the Care of the Church belonged to Secular Princes and those who had the like Authority and they again reflecting That the great Revenues their Ancestors had given to pious uses were spent in Sloth and Luxury quickly embraced the opportunity of turning these lazy fat Cattel to Grass This was greedily followed by What is said of the design of enriching themselves by the Revenues of the Church is to be understood as spoken in the Person and Name of a Roman Catholick for all the Protestant Princes have ever denied they had any such design and it is not at all probable at first they could have any such many partly because what Luther said seemed true and partly because they sound they could considerably improve their Revenues There was then a Rumour also that the Italians imposed upon the old German Honesty and Simplicity and that they spent the Money they had torn from them on the account of their Sins in Gaming Luxury and filling the insatiable Avarice of the Pope's Officers and Creatures They called to mind a Saying of Pope Martin V. which in truth was very worthy of a Spiritual Pastor viz. That he could wish himself a Stork provided the Germans were turned into Frogs Hereupon they began to bemoan themselves to one another and say We who of old so valiantly repell'd the victorious Arms of the Romans are by an unwarlike sort of men under pretence of Religion reduced almost to a necessity of eating Hay with our Beasts I cannot tell how much the restoring Learning in this part of the World might contribute to this Revolution which was thereupon received with great Applause However we we may well and safely affirm That Men of Learning are not easily perswaded to believe what is or seems contrary to Reason 10. The effect of this Controversie was Many of the German Princes deserted the See of Rome that a great part of the ancient Rites and all those Doctrines which seem'd superfluous to these new Teachers were laid aside by a considerable part of the Germans and at the same time many of the Clergy were deprived of their Church-Lands Thereupon many Suits were commenc'd in the Chamber of Spire by the Clergy against those that had deprived them of their Possessions and that Court was also very willing to have restored all to the outed Clergy but then the Protestants as they are call'd refused in this matter to acknowledge the Jurisdiction of that Court For though said they the Laws in all Cases command that they which have been dispossess'd should be restored to what they once had yet in this Case that was now depending it was sit and reasonable that a lawful general Council or some other publick Convention that is a National Council of Germany should first consider and determin whether the outed Clergy did profess and teach the true Religion for if this was not first well proved as they believed it could not it was in vain and to no good purpose for them to expect the enjoyment of those Revenues which had been given by their Ancestors for the maintenance of the true Worship of God Now because they were quickly sensible that Reasons and Protestations alone would not secure them the greatest part of these Protestant States and Princes joined in a League at Smalcald to repell any Force or Violence which might be offered to any of them because they had embraced the Reformed Religion At length it came to a War which proved very unfortunate to the Protestants and the Elector of Saxony and the Landtgrave of Hess the two principal persons of their Party were both taken Prisoners and their Religion seem'd to be in a desperate and hopeless condition but then Maurice the next Duke of Saxony restored it to its former Power by his Arms and the R. Catholicks were forced to come to a Treaty at Passaw for the securing all Parties the terms of which may easily be found in any of the German Historians of that time After this in the Diet of Ausburg The Decree of Ausburg for the Liberty of Religion in the year 1555 the Protestants obtained the securing their Religion by a Law passed there in favour of it by which Law they had sufficient Security given them that they should live in Peace and that neither of the Parties should hurt or invade the other on the account of their different Religions nor compel any man by force to abjure that Religion which he professed If any Church-Lands had been seized by any of the Secular Princes which did not belong to any other immediate State or Prince of Germany it should be left to the present Possessor against whom no Suit should be commenced in the Chamber of Spire if the Clergy were not in possession of the same at the time of the Treaty of Passaw or after it That the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction should not be exercised against those who professed the Protestant Religion and that they should manage their Religious Affairs as they thought fit That no Prince should allure the Subjects of another Prince to his Religion nor undertake the Defence of them on the pretence of Religion against their own Prince But then those Subjects of either side that were not pleased with the Religion or Ceremonies of his own Prince might sell their Estates and go where they pleased And lastly if this Difference of Religion cannot be composed by fair and lawful means this Peace shall nevertheless be perpetual 11. In the mean time there was a sharp The Liberty of the Clergy more fiercely
THE PRESENT STATE OF GERMANY LICENS'D Januar. 31. 1689 90. I. Fraser THE Present State OF GERMANY OR An Account of the Extent Rise Form Wealth Strength Weaknesses and Interests of that Empire The Prerogatives of the Emperor and the Priviledges of the Electors Princes and Free Cities Adapted to the present Circumstances of that Nation By a Person of Quality Reges ex Nobilitate Duces ex virtute sumunt Nec Regibus infinita aut libera Potestas Tacit. LONDON Printed for Richard Chiswel at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-Yard MDCXC TO THE READER I Need not pretend to apologize for the publishing this small Piece at a time when the continued Victories of the Emperor of Germany over that once so formidable Enemy the Turk and the present War with the French has made that Nation the Subject of all our Conversation and Discourse for so many years and our present Union with those Princes in a War that is of so great consequence in the event be it what it will is like to make this Country more the Subject of our Hopes and Fears now than ever it was before It is natural for men to be very desirous to know the Circumstances of those they are concern'd with and there is nothing excites our Curiosity so much as the considering our own Happiness or Misery is wrapt up in the Fate of another Our Regards for the Empire of China are very languid and we read their Story and Descriptions with little more attention than we do a well-drawn Romance because be they true or false we are nothing concerned in the Fortunes of that remote Empire which can have no influence upon our Nation If the World desires it it will not be difficult to give a more particular account of the Electors and of the other Princes and Free Cities of Germany but without that this will be sufficient to shew the general State of Germany which is the thing we Englishmen are most desirous and concerned to know I shall make no other Apology for it because I am beforehand resolved to be wholly unconcerned for its fate the Reader is left entirely to his own liberty to think and speak of it as he himself please January the 24th 1689. THE CONTENTS CHAP. I. Of the Origene of the German Empire p. 1. 1. THE ancient and present Bounds of Germany 2. The ancient state of the German People dangerous and weak 3. The Franks who are of an uncertain extraction the first Conquerors of Germany 4. It is highly probable the Franks were originally Germans 5. They certainly went out of Germany and conquered Gaul now France and afterwards returned back again and conquered all the other Germans 6. An enquiry of what Nation Charles the Great was he is proved a Frank by his Father and was born in France though he used the German Tongue and an account is given of the Language of the Gauls and of the Origene of the present French Tongue 7. The Titles of Charles the Great to his several Dominions 8. Germany a part of the Kingdom of France 9. The Children of St. Lewis divide their Father's Kingdom by which means Germany became once more a Free Independant Kingdom 10. A short historical account of the Roman Empire and of its Fall 11. Italy and Rome for some time under the Greek Emperors 12. The Lombards feared by the Popes subdued by Charles the Great and he thereupon was chosen Emperor of Rome or rather Advocate of that See yet neither he nor any of his Successors would suffer France to be taken for a part of that Empire 13. The Fall of the Caroline Race Otho the first King of Germany only 14. The Kingdom of Germany has not succeeded in the Roman Empire 15. That Title has been damageable to Germany CHAP. II. Of the Members of which the present German Empire is composed p. 24. 1. Germany still a potent State though much diminished as to its ancient extent 2. Which are the Members of that Empire 3. An account of the House of Austria how this Family gained Austria Stiria Carniola it is the first amongst the Spiritual Electors 4. It has long possessed the Imperial Crown The Priviledges granted to it by Charles V. the Low Countries pretended to be united to the Empire by Charles V. and why The Males of this House 5. The Family of the Count Palatine's of the Rhine the Dukes of Bavaria the Palatine Family that of Newburg the other Branches the present King of Sweden of this House 6. The House of Saxony 7. That of Brandenburg 8. The other Princes of the Empire 9. Savoy and Lorrain Ferdinand II. encreaseth the number of the Princes eleven of which are named 10. The Ecclesiastick States once very rich now much diminished yet they still possess the greatest part of the Countries on the Rhine 11. The Ecclesiastick Electors and Bishops that are Princes of the Empire the mitered Abbats the Prelates that are not Princes yet have Votes in the Diet. 12. The Earls or Counts and Barons of the Empire 13. The Free Cities make a College in the Diet. 14. The Knights of Germany divided into three Classes but have no Vote in the Diet. 15. The Empire divided into ten Circles CHAP. III. Of the Origene of the States of the Empire and by what Degrees they arrived to that Power they now have p. 50 1. The Secular Princes of the Empire are either Dukes or Earls 2. The old German Dukes military Officers and their Grevens or Earls were Judges but in time obtained these Offices for their Lives and at last by Inheritance 3. Charles the Great endeavoured to redress this Error but his Posterity returned back to it Otho Duke of Saxony a King in Fact though not in Title other Princes afterwards raised to this Dignity by the Emperors others by Purchace Inheritance and Vsurpation 4. Whose Power was after confirmed by the Emperors upon the failing of the Line of Charles the Great Germany became perfectly free the Princes of Germany now not Subjects but Allies to the Emperor 5. Great Emperors are well obeyed the weaker are despised Luxury has impoverished some of the Princes 6. The Election of the Bishops renounced by the Emperor 7. The Bishopricks of Germany endowed by the Emperors 8. Who when they became very rich refused to be subject to their Benefactor 9. The Free Cities Why the Germans of old had no Cities 10. The Cities were at first subject to the Kings or Emperors of Germany CHAP. IV. Of the Head of the German Empire the Emperor and of the Election and the Electors p. 68. 1. The Emperor the Head of Germany The Empire of the Romans pretendedly given by the Pope The Kingdom of France more hereditary than elective Germany given freely to Conrade The Empire of Rome united for ever to the Kingdom of Germany 2. The ancient Elections not made by any certain number of Electors exclusively 3. The Seven Electors not instituted by Otho III. 4.
Imperial Dignity gave him also afterwards opportunity of obtaining a considerable Patrimony for his Posterity for when any Fee became vacant none could better pretend to it than one of his own Sons for to take it to himself would have been very invidious Thus Austria Stiria Carniola c. came into this House as vacant Fees that House obtained Austria Stiria Carniola and the Marquisate of Vindish in Carniola and some other Territories and in process of time many other were added by the Bounty of other Emperors as the Opulent are more frequently obliged with such Favours than the Poor Being thus enriched it became very easie for this Family to match into the best Houses and because Ladies are not only won by Riches but dazzled sometimes with the glittering of a new and extraordinary Title a Son might easily gain in that case from a less yielding Father some new additions which might set him above the other Dukes and yet even here the Prudence of the House of Austria deserves commendation It would have been very invidious for this new Family to have taken a Place in the Diets above the more ancient and yet it did not become it to follow the rest now it was possessed of the Empire therefore they took the first place amongst the Spiritual Electors who have a Bench distinct The first amongst Spiritual Electors from the Secular Princes for these being for the most part descended of lower Families did without any reluctance yield the first place to this Family and yet this their modesty went not unrewarded for on this account they obtained that Employment or Honour which they call the Directory in the Colledge of the Princes to be exercised by turns with the Bishop of Saliburg These things are so far from deserving the blame of any wise man that it would have been the utmost degree of stupidity to have done otherwise Thus the House of Austria gained to it self the greatest part of the Eastern Countries of Germany after this they got the Crown of Hungary by almost an Hereditary Title which amongst other advantages serves as a Bulwark to their other Dominions against the Irruptions of the Turks and give the Austrians many pretences of draining the Moneys of Germany to maintain its Wars against that dreadful Enemy 4. We ought well to consider also not only This Family has long possessed the Imperial Throne that the House of Austria has continued its self so long in the Imperial Dignity that there is scarce any other House in Germany which has a Revenue sufficient to hear the Expence of that Station but that they have also found means in the interim so to order their Dominions that without any difficulty they can erect them into an Independent separate State or Kingdom if any other Family should happen to be advanced to the Imperial Crown for they have procured such Priviledges that whenever they shall not be pleased to acknowledge the Authority of another Emperor they may say They have no business with the Empire of Germany their Dominions are a separate State Which would not only wonderfully maim the Empire by depriving it of so great a part of its body but would also set a dangerous Example to other powerful Princes to do the like especially if they conceive they are able to preserve themselves without the assistance of the Empire yea if this example were once given the meaner and lesser Princes would not continue in the state of Subjects And thus Germany would soon be brought into the same state with Italy but then it seems to me to be very doubtful whether it could so well preserve it self as Italy doth That I have not rashly feigned all this will be easily granted if any one is but pleased to consider That the Kingdom of Bohemia has very little concern with the Empire of Germany besides its Vote in the Election of the Emperor or if he will but reflect on the greatest part of the Priviledges of the House of Austria It will to this purpose be sufficient to represent a few Heads of the Immunities given by Charles V. In the very entrance of The Priviledges granted to this Family by Charles V. this Grant he is pleased to acknowledge that Men naturally desire the welfare of their Families then he decrees That Austria shall be a perpetual Fee of this Family which no future Emperor shall deprive it off 2. That the Duke of Austria for the time being shall be such a Counsellor of the Empire as without his knowledge nothing shall be determined And yet 3. He declares his Dominions free from all Contributions to the Empire 4. And yet obligeth the Empire to the defence of them so that in all Advantages it is a Member in all Charges it is not 5. The Duke of Austria shall not be obliged to demand the Investiture of his Dominions out of the Bounds of them but it shall be offered to him in his own Territories to wit because for a naked acknowledgment of the Tenure he will not confess himself subject to the Empire or as if he were to be intreated to own himself a Vassal of the Empire And then the Ornaments that are allowed him in this action do also sufficiently argue that he is to be treated like an Equal and not like a Subject 6. If he please he may come to the Diet and if he please he may forbear 7. The Emperor has no Authory to rectifie any thing done by him in his own Dominions 8. The Emperor can dispose of no Fees within the Dominions belonging to the House of Austria 9. His Subjects shall not be drawn out of his Dominions to answer in any other Courts 10. From his Sentence there lies no Appeal 11. He may without any danger receive such as are put under the Ban of the Empire so that he take care to do Justice to the Party injured but then those that are banished by the Duke of Austria shall be absolved by no other Prince nor in any other place than in Austria 12. He may lay new Tributes or Taxes on his own Vassals at his own pleasure 13. He may create Earls Barons and Gentlemen within his own Dominions which was heretofore thought one of the Acts of Soveraignty 14. Lastly to perfect his Power it is decreed That in case the Male Line fail in this House the Estates belonging to it shall devolve to the Female Issue and if there be no Females neither the last Possessor shall give or dispose of them as he thinks fit It is to no purpose to add any more seeing these are sufficient to convince any wise man So that the man must be very silly who doth not perceive the sham designed the Empire by Charles V. when he submitted his 17 Provinces to the Empire with a The Low Countries united to the Empire by Charles V. and why magnificent Promise that they should pay as much as any two of the Electors paid to
the Charges of the Empire for he well considered that all was to be spent on the Turkish War and the Preservation of the Austrian Dominions and when the Accounts of the Moneys expended in the Turkish War were to be in the hands of the Princes of this Austrian Familys the Low Countries were not likely to be overcharged nor to be very ill treated if they proved slow in the payment So that it was easie to observe That Charles V. by this Promise only encouraged the Germans to spend their Treasures the more freely in the defence of his Territories when they saw him so freely consent to bring his own Patrimony under the same Burthen tho' perhaps there might be another reason too at the bottom of it viz. That whereas his Son Philip then aspired to the Empire it might not be objected against him that he had no Dominions in the Empire those belonging before to the House of Austria being then assigned to his Brother Ferdinand Or perhaps that the Germans might think themselves the more obliged to defend these Provinces if they were at any time invaded by the French King At this time that Line is reduced The Males of this House to two Males Leopald Emperor of Germany who has since our Author wrote had a Son named Joseph and Charles King of Spain who has no Issue I have heard many of the Germans wish this Prince a numerous Male Posterity out of meer fear that the failing of the Line in this Family may cause dreadful Convulsions in Europe 5 The Family of the Counts Palatine of the The Counts Palatine of the Rhine and the Dukes of Bavaria Rhine and of the Dukes of Bavaria are as to Antiquity equal to the best and it enjoys a vast Tract of Land which extends from the Alps to the River Moselle and two Dukedoms in the Borders of the Low Countries It is divided into two Lines the Rudolfian and William one of these is possess'd of the Dukedom of Bavaria Bavaria and has ever been thought very Rich and in the last tedious Civil War it got also the Electoral Dignity from the Palatinate Family and for almost an hundred years it has possessed the Electorate of Cologne Prince Clement who was lately chosen being likely still to continue it in this Family tho' powerfully opposed by the King of France his Predecessor also possess'd the Bishopricks of Liege and Hildisheim The Rudolfian The Palatine Family Line is divided into many Branches the Principal of which is the Elector Palatine and it enjoys the Lower Palatinate on the Rhine a Country which for its strength pleasantness and fertility was equal to the best parts of Germany before the French with Fire and Sword barbarously laid it desolate not only demolishing but burning down to the Ground the greatest part of its Towns Cities Palaces and Churches The Count Palatine of Newburg The House of Newburg possess'd heretofore the Dukedoms of Juliers and Montz and some Dominions on the Danube and in the year 1685. Charles Lewis the last Elector dying without Issue Philip William of the House of Newburg succeeded in the Electorate too which in the year 1688. he resigned to his Son John William being grown very old and sorely oppressed by the French Besides these The other Branches of this House there are the Palatines of Sultzback Simmeren Deuxpont or Zuibrucken as the Germans call it Birkenfield and Lawtreck The Family of Deuxpont produced Charles Gustavus King of Sweden who The King of Sweden of this Family His Dominions in Germany now reigns in that Kingdom who by the Peace of Osnaburg has obtained in Germany the Dukedoms of Breme Ferden and the upper Pomerania together with Stetin the Principality of Rugen and the Barony of Wismar This Family enjoys now also Princes of great worth and virtue for as the Bavarian Line are celebrated for their great Piety so the Electoral Family have been much esteemed for their Prudence which character will belong equally to the House of Newburg the last of this Family was on that account thought worthy of the Crown of Poland tho' he was no way related to the Families that had worn it And Prince Rupert a Branch of the elder House of the Palatinate who died in England was a Person of great Valour and Worth and famous over all Christendom for the Wars he had managed by Sea and Land 6. The Dukes of Saxony possess almost the The House of Saxony middle parts of Germany to whom belongs Misnia Thuring and a small Country on the Elbe called the Vpper Saxony Lusatia and in Franconia the Dukedoms of Coburg and the Earldom of Henneburg a Country celebrated in some parts for its Fertility and in others for its Mines This Family is divided in to two Branches viz. Albert and Ernest the last of these is in possession of the Electorate and the second Son is to be Bishop of Magdeburg of the first are the Dukes of Altenburg Gotham and 4 Brothers of the Family of Wimar and a numerous Posterity besides 7. Next these are the Marquesses of Brandenburg The House of Brandenburg the Head of which Family is one of the Electors who has large Dominions in Germany besides Prussia which is placed now out of the Empire which also he lately obtained from the Crown of Poland he has Mark the further Pomerania gained from the Swedes tho' it belonged to him by Inheritance upon the death of the last Duke without Issue Halberstad Minden and Camin three Bishopricks given him as an Equivalent for the hither Pomerania and he was also to have that of Magdeburg after the death of Augustus the present Possessor of the House of Saxony These Dominions are large and fruitful yet some believe he would have chosen the two Pomerania's entire before all the rest I remember when I was in my return from Germany being at an Entertainment at Padoua in which were present some Italian and French Marquesses I had an occasion to say the Marquess of Brandenburg could travel 200 German miles in his own Dominions without lying one night in any other Prince's Country though in some places it was indeed interrupted whereupon many that were present began to suspect I was guilty of the common fault of Travellers and my Faith was much questioned but that an old Souldier who was present and had served long in Germany and had been one of my Acquaintance in that Prince's Court delivered me from their Suspicions They could not but blush thereupon when they considered that some prided themselves in this Title in Italy and France who were scarcely Masters of Two Hundred Acres of Land So little did they understand that our German Marggraves are more considerable than their Marquesses There is another Branch of this Family in Franconia who if I am not mistaken possess the old Inheritance of the Burggraves of Norimburg and are divided into two Lines that of Culemback and that of
the Lands on the Rhine nearer one another and on the Rhine which is the most fruitful part of Germany they were possessed of the whole Country except what belongs to the Elector Palatine which as it interrupts that beautiful Chain of Church-Lands has I perswade my self been looked on by them with an evil Eye This their Neighbourhood has in the mean time contributed very much to the preserving them from the Reformation one of them assisting another to expel that dangerous Guest till the French at last by a just Judgment of God though a Catholick Nation as they call it came in to revenge their Contempt of the True Religion and has laid the far greatest part of these populous well built fruitful Countries in Ashes twice or thrice within the Memory of Man and now especially in the year now current 1689. But to return to our Author 11. Ecclesiastick States which are not The Ecclesiastick Electors come into the hands of the Protestant Princes are these The three Archbishopricks of Mentz Trier and Cologne which Mentz Trier and Cologne are three of the Electors and the Archbishopricks of Saltsburg and Besanzon in Burgundy for as for Magdeburg it is a meer Lay-Fee The inferiour Bishopricks are Bamberg Wurtzburg Worms Spires Aichstad Strasburg Constance Ausburg Hildisheim Paderborn The Bishops Freisingen Ratisbone Passaw Trent Brixen in Tirol Basil Liege Osnaburg Munster Curen in Curland The Master of the Teutonick Order has the first Seat amongst the Bishops And we must observe too that in our times there are sometimes two or more Bishopricks united in the same Person either because the Revenues of one single Diocess were not thought sufficient to maintain the Dignity and Splendor of a Prince's Court or that they might by that means be rendred more formidable to those that hated them The Bishoprick of Lubeck is very little better than a part of the Patrimony of the Duke of Holstein and all the Country has also embraced the Protestant Religion Amongst the Abbies which are called Prelates are these Fuld Mitered Abbots Kempten Elwang Murback Luders the Master of St. John Berchtelsgaden Weissenburg Pruym Stablo and Corwey the rest of the Prelates who are not Princes are divided The Prelates that are not Princes but vote in the Diet. into two Benches that of the Rhine and that of Schwaben or Suabia one of each of which has a Vote in the Diet and they are esteemed equal to the Counts or Earls of the Empire 12. The Estate of the Counts or Earls The Earls and Barons of the Empire and Barons of the Empire is also much more splendid and rich than that of men enjoying the same Dignities in other Kingdoms for they have almost the same Priviledges with the Princes and the ancient Earldoms had also large Territories belonging to them whereas in other Kingdoms a small Farm or Mannour shall dignifie its owner with that Title Yet the Division of the Estate amongst the Brothers has damnified many of the German Families and is only to be admitted in Plebeian Families for its Equity and Piety sake Some others have been equally ruined by the Carelesness and Luxury of their Ancestors and their prodigal Expences At this day the Earls have four Votes in the Diet one for Wetteraw Have 4 Votes another for Schwaben a third for Franconia and the fourth for Westphalia The Earls which are known to me are these Nassaw Oldenburg Furstemberg Hohenlohe Their Names Hanaw Sain Witgenstein Leiningen Solms Waldek Isenburg Stolberg Wied Mansfeld Reussen Ottingen Montfort Konigseck Fugger Sultz Cronberg Sintzendorf Wallenstein Papenheim Castell Lewenstein Erbach Limburg Schwartzenburg Bentheim Ostfrisland who is now made a Prince Khine and Walts Rantzow and perhaps many other whose Nobility is not to be prejudiced by my silence and as to those I have named I pretend no skill in the marshalling of them according to their proper Places There are also many Earls and Barons in the Hereditary Countries belonging to the Emperor who being of late Creation or subject to other States have no Place or Vote in the Diets of Germany and therefore are not to be mentioned here 13. There is also in Germany no small The Free Cities make a College in the Diet. number of Free Cities who are subject to no Prince or State but are immediately under the Emperor and the Empire and are therefore called Imperial Cities In the Diet they constitute a particular College which is divided into two Benches that of the Rhine and that of Schwaben The Principal of these are Norimberg Ausburg Cologne Lubeck Vlm Strasburg Frankford Ratisbone Aix la Chapelle or Aken Metz Worms Spire Colmar Memmingen Esling Hall in Schwaben Heilbron Lindaw Goslar Mulhausin North Hausin the rest have reason rather to pride themselves in their Liberty than in their Wealth In the former Ages the conjunction of two or three of these Cities together made a great Power and they were terrible to the Princes but now their Wealth is much reduced and we may probably enough conjecture they will one after another be all reduced under the Yoke of the Princes At least the Bishops threaten those very much in which their Cathedrals are There are also some potent Cities which preserve their Freedom though perhaps not very well grounded for the Dukes of Holstein pretend a Right over Hamburg which this Hamburg most wealthy City of all Germany will not submit to and it is thought the Strength of it and the Jealousie of the neighbouring Princes who envy the King of Denmark the possession of this fat Morsel will preserve it The King of Sweden has such Breme another Dispute with the City of Breme without which he can never secure that Dukedom and perhaps the Kings of Sweden have too much reason to suspect that City was admitted into the Diet in the year 1641 when they began to suspect those Princes would become Masters of this Dukedom on purpose to keep it out of their hands and deprive them of this convenience and security The City of Brunswick doth strangely weaken and disfigure Brunswick the Dukedoms of Brunswick and Lunenburg and by its Site interrupt their otherwise well compacted Territories And yet they will never suffer the Bishop of Hildisheim to take possession of that City Hildisheim The Elector of Brandenburg is not very favourable to the Cities in his Dominions and therefore it is not improbable the City of Magdeburg may suffer the loss of Magdeburg her Liberty after the death of Augustus of the House of Saxony They of Erford weary Erford of a doubtful Contest for their Liberty submitted and for their Folly and Cowardice were thought worthy to lose their Liberty Wise men wonder also that the Dukes of Saxony have not seized the Citadel of Thuring and I suppose by this time the Hollanders are made sufficiently sensible they ought to have defended the Inhabitans of Munster against
their Bishop seeing Munstet it would the better have became them who took Arms against their own Prince for their Liberties to have assisted their Neighbours in a like Attempt 14. The Knights of Germany are not all The Knights of Germany in the same condition part of them being immediately subject to the Emperor and the Empire and another part being under the subordinate States who are their Lords They that belong to the first of these Classes call themselves the Free Nobles of the Empire and the Conjunct Immediate and Free Nobility of the Empire These according to the respective Circuits in which their Estates are stand divided into three Classes of Divided into three Classes Franconia Schwaben and the Rhine which are again subdivided into lesser Divisions They have of their own Order certain Directors and Assessors who take care of those Affairs which concern the whole Body of this Order and if any thing of great moment happen they call a general Convention but then they have no Place in the But they have no Vote in the Diet. Diet which they look on as a Priviledge for the saving of the Expences necessary in such an Attendance And in truth it would be no great advantage to them to be admitted into the Diet to give their Votes in all other things they enjoy the same Liberties and Rights with the other Princes and Free States so that they are inferiour to the Princes in nothing but Wealth To recompence this they have great Advantages from the Ecclesiastical Benefices and Cathedral Churches in which they are Canons and by this way many of them become Princes of the Empire They that obtain this Honour have learned by the Pope's example to take good care of their Family and Relations and besides there is a wonderful satisfaction in the enjoyment of great Revenues with small Labour for they employ their Curates or Vicars to make a noise in their Churches so that they are in no peril of spoiling their Voices by any thing but Intemperance and as to the inconveniences of living unmarried their Concubines which are not wanting cure them Those that make themselves Eunuchs for the Kingdom of Heaven are in the mean time very scarce in Germany And it is almost as infamous in a Nobleman to be continent as not to love Dogs and Horses I have heard some of them complain that some of the Princes have an apparent disgust at their Priviledges and look upon them with an evil Eye because living in the midst of their Territories they enjoy such large Exemptions And others say such vast numbers of small Royolets do much weaken the Empires in which they are suffered And if a foreign War happen they become an easie Prey to the Invaders Yet for all this these Gentlemen will not part with a certain Liberty for an uncertain Hazard or Danger and the rest of the Princes will not suffer so considerable an Addition to be made to the Power and Riches of the Princes they live under except some great Revolution open a way to this change or by length of time and crafty Projects their Estates be wasted and consumed 15. We must here in a few words The Empire is divided into ten Circles admonish the Reader that this vast Body of the Empire by the appointment of Maximilian I. in the year 1512 was divided into ten Circles the names of which are these Austria Mentz Trier Cologne and the Palatinate call'd the Lower Circle of the Rhine the Vpper Circle of the Rhine Schwaben Bavaria Franconia the upper and lower Saxony Westphalia that of Burgundy the Kingdom of Bohemia with the Provinces of Silesia and Moravia belong not to any of these Circles Which yields us a clear proof that it is rather united to Germany by a kind of League than a part of that Empire To which of these Circles any Place belongs may be found in common Books every where to be had This Division was made for the more easie Preservation of the Publick Peace and the Execution of Justice against contumacious States and Princes to which end each of them has Power to name a General for the commanding their Forces and the appointing their Diets in which the principal Prince in the Circle for the most part presides in which they take care for the defence of the Circle and for the levying Moneys for the publick use Yet a man may well question whether this Division doth not tend more to the Distraction and weakening of Germany than its Preservation the whole Body being by this means made less sensible and less regardful of the Calamities which oppress or endanger the Parts of it and threaten though at a distance the Ruin of the whole Thus much of the Parts of the Empire CHAP. III. Of the Origine of the States of the Empire and by what degrees they arrived to that Power they now have 1. FOR the attaining an accurate knowledge of the German Empire it is absolutely necessary to enquire by what steps those that are called the States of the Empire arrived to the Power they now possess for without this it will not be possible to see what was the true cause that this State took such an irregular form Now these States are Secular Princes Earls Bishops and Cities of the Rise of each of which we will discourse briefly The Secular Princes are Dukes or Earls who have The Secular Princes of the Empire are either Dukes or Earls to these Titles some other added in the German Tongue viz. Pfaltzgrave Landtgrave Marggrave and Burggrave for to the best of my remembrance none of the ancient Princes except he of Anhalt has the simple Stile of a Prince without one of these Additions yet some of them use the Title of Prince amongst their other Titles Thus they of Austria are stiled Princes of Schwaben the Dukes of Pomerania now under the King of Sweden the Princes of Rugen the Landtgrave of Hussia and Hersfield c. 2. Amongst the ancient Germans before they The old German Dukes military Officers as were subdued by the Franks a Duke was a meer Military Officer as appeareth plainly by the German word Heerzog who for the most part were chosen on the account of their Valour when a War was coming upon them In Times of Peace those that governed Their Grevens or Earls were Judges in times of Peace them and exercised Jurisdiction and governed their Cities Districts and Villages were for the most part chosen out of the Nobility and were called Greven or Graven which is as much as President though the Latin word Comes is more often used for it because from the time of Constantine the Great downward those who were employed in the Ministry or Service of the Court in the command of the Forces dispersed in the several Provinces of the Empire or in administring Justice and the execution of the Laws were all stiled Comites After this when the
Franks had subdued Germany and were become Masters of all its Provinces they after the manner of the Romans sent Dukes to govern the Provinces in it that is Presidents to govern them in Peace and command their Forces in time of War And to these they sometimes added Comites for administring Justice and some Provinces were put under Comites only and had no Dukes The Dukes and Earls made Officers for their Lives and at last became hereditary Proprietors but then all these that were thus employed by them were meer Magistrates but in length of time it came to pass that some persons were made Dukes for their Lives and the Son for the most part succeeded the Father So that having so fair an opportunity in their hands of establishing themselves they began to look on their Provinces as their Patrimony and Inheritance Nor can a Monarch commit a greater Error than the suffering these kinds of Administrations to become hereditary especially where the Military Command is united to the Civil And therefore I can scarce forbear laughing when I read this Custom in some German Writers defended as commendable and prudent for it is the Honour of a Prince to reward those who have deserved well of him But then if a Master should manumise all his Servants at once I suppose he might for the future make clean his Shooes himself A Father may be the fonder of a thing because he knows he can leave it to his Son after him but then the more passionately he loves his Son the greater care he ought to take that a Stranger may claim as little Right as is possible to it Thus we usually take more care of what is our own than of what belongs to another But then a good Father will not give his Estate to his Tenant that he may use it so much the better There is a cheaper way of preventing the Rebellions of Presidents than that of granting Provinces to them to be administred as an Inheritance And 't is a very silly thing to measure the Majesty of a Prince by the number of those in his Dominions who can with safety despise him and his Soveraignty To say more were to no purpose for to expose the Stupidity of these men it will be sufficient for us to consider that they are not ashamed to compare the German Lawyers with the Italian French and Spanish Writers and yet the Writings of the greatest part of them shew they never understood the first Principles of civil Prudence 3. Charles the Great observing the Error Charles the Great endeavoured to redress this error committed by his Ancestors took away the greatest part of the Dukedoms which were of too great extent and dividing the larger Provinces into smaller parts committed them to the care of Counts Comites or Earls some of which retained the simple Name of Counts and others were call'd Pfaltzgraves or Pfaltzgraven Comites Palatini Count Palatins or Prefects of the Court-Royal and in that capacity administred Justice within the Verge of the Court. Others were call'd Landegraves that is Presidents set over a whole Province Others were call'd Marggraves Presidents of the Marches or Borders for repelling the Incursions of Enemies and administring Justice to the Inhabitants Others were called Burggraves that is Prefects or Governours of some of the Royal Castles or Forts And these Offices and Dignities were not granted by Charles the Great in Perpetuity or Inheritance but with a Power reserved to himself to renew his Grants to the same person or bestow them on another as he thought fit But after the Death of Charles the Great his Posterity But his Posterity returned to the former ill management returned to the Errors of the former Reigns and not only the Sons were suffered to succeed their Fathers in these Magistracies or Governments but by a conjunction or union of many Counties or Earldoms or by the Will of some of his Successors some Dukedoms were again formed which contained great Extents of Lands The Presidents employed by them in the Government of these Provinces thought it a piece of Cowardice and Sloth in themselves not to take hold of these occasions and opportunities of establishing themselves and their Posterities as the nature of Mankind is prone to Ambition especially when the Authority of the French Emperors declined and became every day more contemptible by reason of their intestine Dissentions and destructive Wars with one another And in the first place Otho Duke of Saxony a King in Fact though not in Title Otho Duke of Saxony the Father of Henry the Falconer having under him a large and a warlike Nation so established himself that he wanted nothing but the Title to make him a King And when Conrad I. Emperor of Germany undertook to subdue and bring under Henry his Son he miscarried in the Attempt and at his Death he advised the Nobility to bestow the Imperial Dignity on this his prosperous Rival thinking it the wisest course to give him what he could have taken by force for sear he should canton himself and disjoin his Dominions from the rest of Germany There are yet some Princes who owe their Other Princes raised to this Dignity by the Emperors Dominions to the Liberality of some of the Emperors Examples of which occurr frequently in the Histories of the Otho's and whether this is consistent with the Laws of Monarchy I am not now at leisure to enquire After these Beginnings or Foundations Princes encreased their Power afterwards by Purchaces by Hereditary Descents not only in the Right of Blood but Others by Purchace Inheritance or Vsurpation also by mutual Pacts of Successions which the Germans call Confraternal Inheritances or Successions which are of the same nature with that League between the potent Houses of Saxony Brandenburg and Hassia which is now in force And by vertue of such a League the Dukes of Saxony obtained the Earldom of Henneberg and the House of Brandenburg the Right of Pomerania though that League was not reciprocal and yet it is apparent these Leagues are injurious to the Emperor who has the Right of a Lord over the Dominions of the Princes and ought upon a vacancy to dispose of the Fee Lastly Some Estates have been seized by force by some of them when Germany was involved in Wars and Disturbances 4. But then in after times when it appeared In after times these Powers were confirmed by the Emperors that the Power which these Princes had once gotten could not be dissolved without distracting all Germany and perhaps not so neither without hazarding the Ruin of him that should attempt it it seemed better to the succeeding Kings especially after they saw they could not obtain the Empire without it to confirm their Possession so that from thenceforth they enjoyed their Territories as Fees acknowledged to depend on the Emperor and swore Allegiance to him and the Empire From hence it is that by what means soever the
Trade gave them great Security and by consequence made them populous and rich The principal of these Leagues is that made by the Cities on the Rhine in the year 1255 in which some Princes desired to be included The Hanse League was chiefly made on the account of Maritime Commerce and grew to that height of Power that they became terrible to the Kings of Sweden England and Denmark But then after the year 1500. it became contemptible because the lesser Cities when they found the greater got all the profit fell generally off and deserted them And the Nations upon the Ocean and Baltick Sea by their example began about the same time also to encourage Trade in their own Subjects especially the English Flandrians and Hollanders Thus their Monopoly failing their Strength fell with it 10. Though in the beginning the Cities The Cities at first subject to the Kings or Emperors of Germany were in a better condition than the Villages yet they were no less subject to the King or Emperor than they and these Princes took care to have Justice exercised in them by their Counts or deputed Judges as they call'd them After this by the enormous and imprudent Liberality of the Emperors many of the Cities were granted to the Bishops others to the Dukes and Counts and the rest remained as before only subject to the Emperor In the XII Century they began to take more liberty as they found they could relie upon their Riches because the Emperors by reason of the Intestin Wars were not able then to reduce them to a due Obedience some Princes were but just advanced to the Imperial Dignity and so were forced also to purchase the Favour and Assistance of the great Cities by the Grants of new Priviledges and Immunities that they might employ them as a Bulwark against their Refractory Bishops and Princes after this by degrees they shaked off the Emperor's Advocates The succeeding Emperors observing also that the Bishops employed their Wealth against them encouraged the Cities to oppose the Bishops The Dukes of Schwaben failing many small Cities in the Dukedom catched hastily at the opportunity of being made free yet they did not obtain their Freedom all at once but one after another as they could gain the Favour of the Emperor and that is one Reason that they have not all the same Priviledges and some of them want a part of the Regalia to this day Some of them bought these Priviledges of their Dukes or Bishops and others shook them off by force and then entred into Treaties for the purging that Iniquity for when these Princes were poor or low their last Remedy was to sell the richest of their Subjects their Liberty and others when they saw they could no longer keep them in subjection took what they could get from them and were unwillingly contented with it CHAP. IV. Of the Head of the German Empire the Emperor and of the Election and the Electors 1. THough Germany consisteth of so many The Emperor the Head of Germany Members many of which are great and perfect States yet it has at all times excepting the Interregnums which have happened since Charles the Great been united to one Head which the Ancients only call'd their King the later Ages by the more ambitions Titles of the Roman Emperor and Casar and upon the sole account of this Head it has seem'd to the most of men to be one single simple State And my next business is to shew how this Head is constituted or appointed but then it will be worth my while by way of Introduction to represent this Affair from its Rise that it may the more clearly appear how much the present differeth from the ancient Election and what is the true Original of the Electoral Princes As to Charles the Great and his Posterity the Roman Empire and the Kingdom of France are to be severally and distinctly considered The The Empire of the Romans pretendedly given by the Pope first of these was collated upon Charles by the Pope and the People of Rome as the principal Members of that Empire or rather as upon one who plainly designed to make himself Emperor and that as appeareth in an Hereditary way So that the Crowning his Successors had not the force of a new and free Election but of a solem Inaguration For we read that Charles the Great made Lewis his Son and Lewis made also Lotharius his Son their Consorts in the Empire and yet there is no mention made of their asking the Consent of the Pope or of the People of Rome on either of these occasions But then as to the ancient Kingdom of France we cannot affirm that it was either meerly elective or meerly hereditary but a mixture of both For we read frequently that the The Kingdom of France morchereditary than elective Kings of France were constituted by the Consent and Approbation of the Nobility and whole People of France but in such a manner yet that they never chose out of the Line of the dead King but for very great reasons which kind of Election is as we know still observed in Poland yet he that shall curiously observe it shall find France had more of a Successive than of an Elective Kingdom So that it seems to have been collated on the first of the Race with a Condition that he should transmit it to his Posterity unless they appeared to the People very unworthy of it So that the Children of the Deceased King did not so much gain a new Right to the Kingdom by this Approbation of the Nobility and People as a Declaration that they were not uncapable of succeeding by the Right that was at first collated on them Afterwards the Line of Charles the Great being deposed or rejected and denied the Throne of France the Kingdom of Germany or as they then called it the East Kingdom of France was by the most free Consent of Germany given freely to Otho and after to Conrad the Nobility given to Otho the Saxon who excusing himself on the account of his Age by his Advice Conrad Duke of Franconia was by them chosen King of Germany who was as some think of the Line of Charles the Great By his Counsel also afterwards Henry the Falconer Son of Otho Duke of Saxony was by a free Election advanced to that Kingdom who being contented with Germany would not accept the Title of Emperor though the Pope offered it to him but Otho the Great his Son having subdued Italy so united Rome and The Empire of Rome united to the Kingdom of Germany for ever the Lands of the Church to Germany that from thenceforward he that had the Kingdom of Germany without any new Election should be Emperor of Rome the Crowning by the Pope being nothing but a Solemnity though before this Ceremony the Kings of Germany had not usually used the Title of Emperors The same form of Succession hereupon was used in Germany which
enter Frankford each of them is allowed Two hundred Horsemen and no more but this thing at this day is not nicely observed Whilst the Election is making all Strangers are commanded to depart They begin the Election in the Chancel of the Church of St. Bartholomew with the Ceremony of the Mass then they come to the Altar and each of them sweareth that he will chuse a fit person to be Emperor The Bishop of Mentz as Dean of the College gathereth their Votes and first he asketh the Bishop of Trier then the Bishop of Cologne and so all the rest in their order and gives his own in the last place The majority of Votes is as good as the whole but then whereas there is now eight it was never yet certainly agreed what should be done in case the Votes should happen to be equally divided None of the Electors is excluded from the Right of nominating himself When the Election is made it is recorded in Writing and confirmed with the Seals of the Electors then they all together go to the Altar and the Elector of Mentz assembles the People and declareth to them the Name of the new elected Emperor out of the Writing After this the Empire is committed to him upon certain Conditions but so that he is forthwith bound to confirm to all and every one of the Electors all their Rights and Priviledges By the Golden Bull Aix la Chappelle is appointed for the City where he is to be Crowned though for the most part ever since the Coronation is perform'd in the same place where the Election is made and because that City is in the Diocess of Cologne that Ceremony has been commonly performed by the Elector of Cologne yet the Bishop of Mentz alwaies puts in his Claim for it and if I be not deceived of late this Controversie is thus determin'd That they shall do it by Turns whereever the Emperor is Crowned The rest of the Ceremonies may be easily found in German Writers 7. Perhaps it would be too hard and The Electors have deposed an Emperor too invidious to make a Publick and Formal Law to declare That the Electors have a full Right and Power to depose the Emperor if he deserves it as well as to elect him Yet it is certain they exercised this Power upon Wenceslaus Sigismond the Son of Charles the Fourth being elected in his stead in the year 1411. This Prince that he might gain the Empire made the Golden Bull and rewarded the Electors with great Gifts which is very much resented by those who are not well affected to the Electors Henry the Fourth was deposed by the other Princes joined with the Electors And in truth the Bishops of Mentz have pretty plainly and fearlesly sung this Tune and claimed the Right of deposing the Emperors to one or two of them who were engaged in Designs that were not acceptable to these Prelates 8. The Electors have some other Princely The Electors have some other special Priviledges Rights beyond what belongs to any of the other Princes for they are not only the greatest Officers of the Empire but they have Right also in some Cases to exclude all the rest of the States and Princes and to consult amongst themselves about things of the greatest importance The Archbishop of Mentz is Lord Chancellor of Germany The Archbishop of Trier of France and of the Kingdom of Arles by which Names the most skilful do not understand all that Country that is now call'd France but only so much of it as in the XI Century belonged to the Kingdom of Burgundy and was then united to Germany And the Archbishop of Cologne is Chancellor of Italy But then at this day the first of these has an effectual Power and the other two have nothing but meer empty Titles The King of Bohemia is Lord Cup. bearer and in the highest Ceremonies and Solemnities gives the Emperor the first Cup of Wine The Duke of Bavaria is now Lord High Sewer and carrieth the Pome or Globe before the Emperor in the Solemn Processions The Duke of Saxony is Lord High Marshal and carrieth the naked Sword before the Emperor The Marquess of Brandenburg is Lord High Chamberlain and gives the Emperor Water to wash and in the Solemn Procession carrieth the Scepter The Count Palatine of the Rhine is Lord High Treasurer and in the Procession to the Palace at the Coronation scattereth the Gold and Silver Medals amongst the People Each of the Secular Electors has his certain known Deputy for the performance of his Function Limburg beareth the Cup for the King of Bohemia Walburg is Sewer for Bavaria Papenheim carrieth the Sword for Saxony the Counts of Hoenzolleren is Deputy for Brandenburg and Sintzendorf for the Count Palatine of the Rhine There are also other Priviledges belonging to the Electors which are express'd in the Golden Bull as peculiar to them but are at this day possess'd by other Princes too two only excepted viz. 1. That there lies no Appeal from their Judgment and 2. That in the regranting their Dependent Fees they are above controul and as to the taking up their own they do it without any Charge And perhaps there may be some others 9. When there is an Interregnum or What is done during the Interregnum want of an Emperor the Count Palatine of the Rhine and the Duke of Saxony supply that Defect and Govern as Viceroys the first all the Countries on the Rhine and Schwaben and whereever the Franconian Laws and Customs take place The second takes Care of all the Countries which are under Saxon Laws but then neither of them are allowed to dispose of the Fees of the Empire which shall become vacant by the Death of any Prince which are given by the delivery of a Banner Nor can they alienate or mortgage any of the Demeans of the Empire all the rest of their Acts are for the most part confirmed by the new elected Emperor In the last Vacancy upon the Death of Ferdinand III. the Duke of Bavaria disputed the Count Palatine's Viceroyalty to gain his Point the Duke of Bavaria used great Policy that he might not be disappointed in his design He laid Post-Horses and Curriers on the Road who gave him an account of the Death of the Emperor very early and upon that he presently sent Letters to acquaint the Princes and States with it and that he had taken upon him the Care of the Empire in the Franconian Circles whereupon many of the Princes and States being surprized by this subtile Management congratulated his Honour before the Death of Ferdinand was known to the Count Palatine whose Right it was But however that Count did not patiently suffer his Right to be thus sliely stoln from him but declared for the future he claimed this his Vicarian Power and entered a Complaint against the Duke of Bavaria for thus usurping his Right And it is very certain the far greatest part of the
and altered as the necessity of the times required and as they found the Chinks and starting Holes their Emperors had endeavoured to escape out at That the Electors would willingly at the request of the Diet insert whatever was necessary for the preservation of the Liberty of Germany but then it was absurd to think the Electors would not preferr their own proper Interest to that of all other men Nor could they divest themselves of the common Inclinations of Mankind Some others suspect there was another reason at this time which brought the business of the Capitulars upon the Stage The Emperor who hated the thoughts of a Diet was then necessitated to call one by a Turkish War which then threatned his Dominions and this Affair was then set on foot to the end he might by this means obtain plentiful Contributions from the States of Germany but then they offered Souldiers instead of Money and this not answering the Designs of the Emperor's Ministers they thereupon clapt up a Peace with the Turks much sooner than they otherwise intended and then were doubtful what * The Germans call the Law which they form up on the Debates of the Diet in the end of it the Recess Recess they should draw up for the Diet for the business of giving Succours against the Turks which has often been the greatest part of their former Recesses or Edicts was now wholly at an end yet after all some curious and inquisitive men must needs know to what purpose so many men were called together from all parts of Cermany and sate so many years what good came of all the Sack they drank in the Forenoon and the Rhenish and Burgundy Wine they drank after Dinner To answer this they put them upon an inextricable business that they might at their return be able if need were to swear they had not been wholly idle and that repeating all their vain useless Brangles about the Capitular and referring it over to the next Diet as a thing which could not now be determin'd they might make this Story serve for a Recess or parting Edict such as it was 3. Whatever was the true cause of that The usefulness of the German Capitular Debate it cannot be denied but that the introducing the Custom of Comprehending the Laws the Emperor was to govern them by in express Articles in Writing was a thing of great good use for this tended altogether to the Reputation and Honour of the States that seeing they would not he governed in the same manner as the Subjects of other Monarchs are their Liberties which they enjoyed might not seem meer Contumacy or Usurpation but the effects of a Contract made with their Prince when they chose him to be their Emperor They consulted hereby also the Safety of their Liberties the Emperor being limited in such Bounds as he ought not in any case to pass over and being deprived of all reasonable cause of Complaint that he was not as Absolute as the rest of his Neighbour-Monarchs whose Subjects profess themselves on all occasions to be their most Dutiful and Obedient Subjects The Germans on the other side in the introduction of their Capitular say Vpon these terms the Emperor has undertaken the Government of the Empire and has yielded by way of Compact the said terms to the Electors in the behalf of themselves and the other States of Germany Now if he had disliked these Conditions he ought to have refused that Dignity or to have shewn the Electors beforehand that there was something of Injustice or Absurdity in them and they without doubt would in that case have corrected them But then when the Emperor has accepted a Limited Power it is utterly unreasonable he should endeavour to exercise a full and Regal Authority over them or at least it will appear much the more reasonable for them to oppose him in it for there are none of the more understanding Germans who do not believe the Regal Power may be included in certain Limits And I suppose the more understanding Politicians will not deny that there may be such a Competent Power assigned to the Head of a Confederate Body as shall be very different in Degree from that of a full and perfect Kingdom or Empire 4. But then when one happens â—t read The extravagant Opinions of some Writers concerning the Capitular any of the German Writers which mention the Capitular he cannot but observe their abominable Flattery or wonderful Ignorance in State-Affairs and civil Prudence Some of them have the Impudence to assert That the Capitular doth not set bounds to the Emperor's Power but only take care that the Forces of the Empire shall not be lessened by Alienations Mortgages and the like the greatest part of them do yet acknowledge that the Imperial Power is limited by it and so is not absolute but yet it is still Supreme or as some of them love to speak there is something thereby taken from the fulness of his Power but nothing from the Supremacy that is the height of it As we shall in the next Chapter examin this notion more accurately it will be sufficient for the present to say that they are deceived who think to take away the ground of this Controversie by distinguishing between those Laws which oblige as prescribed by a superiour Authority and those whose Obligation ariseth from our own Wills and are bound upon us by our Fidelity and the obligation of a Compact for all they can pretend to get by this distinction is to prove that the Emperor is not subject to the States and not that he has a Soveraign Authority over them For to invest a Prince with such an Authority it is not enough to shew that he has no Superiour but he must also shew that all the rest of his Subjects are bound without dispute to obey all his Commands and have no Right to appeal from him much less will it be sufficient to shew that he is the Highest in that State As for example In our Common-wealth of Venice as if the Duke were not the Highest and yet no man dares ascribe the Soveraign Power to him For as in all Common-wealths whether they be Aristocracies or Democracies there may be Princes properly so called who may be rightly stiled the Highest in their Commonwealths and yet still not be Kings So also in all Systems of co ordinate States which are Confederates each to other there may be some one more eminent person to whom the particular Care of the whole is committed and so he may rightly be called the Highest or the Head of that Body though he has in truth no Soveraign Authority over the Confederates nor can or ought to treat them as his Subjects But I think it were better here for the present to consider distinctly what part of the Soveraign Powers are intrusted to the Emperor for if a man doth not know them he is utterly unqualified to judge of the German Government And
here it will befit us rather to follow the Order which agrees with the Genius of that Empire than that which is prescribed by Politicians as more regular and exact 5. We will therefore begin with the The Emperor doth not appoint or punish the Magistrates in the Empire Appointment of Magistrates which in every Polity is a part of the Soveraignty for if they are at last accountable for the mismanagement of their Ministers it is fit they should have a Right to examin their Actions and if they have failed in the performance of their Duty they must have Power to remove or some other way to punish them Now there is no question to be made but the Emperor has this Power in a Soveraign Degree in his Hereditary Countries but then as to the rest of the Empire it is disputed for in the beginning the Dukes and Counts of Germany were Magistrates properly so called as we have above shewn and yet now they have Supreme Authority within their Limits under those Titles Nor will any of the Princes of Germany yield the Emperor the Government of the People within their Dominions or that they are the Subjects of the Emperor though they will with great Ceremony and much Submission own themselves to be his most dutiful Subjects and testifie their great Loyalty to him And although there may be an Hereditary Jurisdiction in a Kingdom which shall still be a meer Magistracy yet then the Supreme Authority must have reserved a Soveraign Power over that person that is invested with it We shall give some examples for the illustrating this The Emperor may give to one the Title of a Prince or Count of the Sacred Roman Empire but then he can give him no Right to vote in the Diet without the Consent of the rest of the States Cons Artic. 44. Capitul Leopoldina And seeing he is vainly puffed up with the Title of a Prince of the Empire who has no Dominions to sustain the Dignity and Splendor of his Title that he may never be able to enrich these Vpstarts care is taken by the Thirtieth Article of the same Capitular by which all vacant Fees are to be united to the Empire Art 29 For this there is a double reason first That all the vacant Fees should not be swallowed up by the House of Austria nor given to men obnoxious to that Family and secondly That in time Germany may be able to give something to its Emperor besides an empty Title by which the Charges of that high Station may be born that so in their Elections they may not be tied to chuse only persons of very great Estates but may be able in time to assign their Prince a Patrimony equal to the Title and set him in a condition which is proportionable to the rest of the Princes of Germany which if it had been to have been done at once and out of their proper Dominions would have been too much for them to have parted with Perhaps the Emperor might be allowed to admit amongst them a foreign Prince who is not subject to any of them But then if any of them could be contented to impair so much his condition what Place could he hope for in the Diet he would be ashamed to sit on the lowest Bench and except he were a King the ancient Princes of Germany would never give place to him It is probable however there would be less difficulty in receiving foreign Cities into the number of the free Cities of Germany 1. Because they are not so ambitious of Precedence as Princes are and Buckhorn and such other Cities would perhaps readily yield them their Places for the Encrease of the German Empire But then it is not likely that any such Free Cities will join with us till one or two of our Neighbour-States are dissolved and the Emperor cannot raise any of the Cities that are subject to any of the Princes to the Priviledges and Dignity of a free Imperial City 6. Much less is it in the Power of the The Emperor cannot deprive any of the Princes of their Dignity Emperor alone to take away or deprive any Prince of his Dignity or expel any of the States out of his Dominions though they are guilty of a great Crime against the Empire but in the most notorious Fact he must obtain the Consent of the Electors before he can interdict the meanest of them Capitul Leopold Artic. 28. They thought fit to get this Bar lest if any of the Princes had by chance offended the Emperor in his private personal Concerns he should presently persecute him as an Enemy to the Empire Whilst this Capitular was drawing up at Frankford some of the States desired there might be a Clause added to this 38th Article That the execution of all Judgments given against any Prince of the Empire ought by Law to be committed to the rest of the Members of the same Circle to which his Dominions belonged because if the Emperor himself undertook the execution of the Sentence he might perhaps seize the Estate under pretence of the Charges the Execution put him to On the other side the Emperor never concerns himself how the Princes treat their own Subjects and whether they flea or fleece their Flock is all one to him because one of the principal things he promiseth in his Oath is That he will save to every of the States their Rights and Priviledges and disturb none of them in the exercise thereof And this is one of those Rights in which the Princes and States of Germany take the greatest Pride That every one of them can govern their own proper Subjects according to his own will or to the Compacts he has made with them See the 3 7 8 9. Artic. Capitul Leopald Besides there are few instances in which the Emperor can directly and immediately command the Subjects of another Prince as for instance To give Testimony or answer an Action in a Suit depending and he is without any remedy from the Law in all those Citations which he sends out in his own Name if the Party will not appear Yet he may reward or priviledge any of the Subjects of another State so he doth not diminish the Authority or Rights of their proper Prince but then this Imperial Priviledge seldom goes further than the giving them Titles of Honour 7. Let us now see what Power the Emperor has over the Estates of the Princes The Emperor has no Revenues from the Empire as to the Contributions that are to be raised for the bearing the Charges of the Government in Times of Peace or War As far as I can understand all the publick Revenues a very few excepted belong to the respective Princes and Free Towns only the Emperor promiseth Articul 21 22 23. Capit. Leopold That he would prohibit overrating the Customs lest the Princes should thereby ruin the Trade of Germany And if any thing of this nature comes into the Emperor's Treasure it
apparently at present the Advantage and it is not denied by the French who do what they can to separate the Allies one from another if they fail in this another Summer may by God's Blessing shew the World the German Nation is much superiour to the French and force that King to disgorge Lorrain Strasburg both the Alsatia's and the Franche Comte which have been got more by Purchace and Surprize than by the Force of a generous and open War 6. But though we suppose Germany superiour The Strength of Germany compared with its Neighbours united against her to any of its Neighbours when singly taken what may be the event if they should unite against her Here in the first place we ought to consider that Interest of State will not suffer many of her Neighbours to unite against her and that the Forces of others are so much inferiour to Germany that there is no reason for her to be concerned how they behave themselves And lastly it ought to be considered that the other Princes will not sit still and suffer Germany to fall into the hands of any one Prince who would then be in a condition to oppress and enslave the rest of the European Princes So that there will for ever be some Princes found who will join with the Germans and help them to preserve their Liberty for their own sakes So that there is in effect but three Princes in the World who at present are in capacity of subduing Germany viz. The Turks the House of Austria and the King of France Now it is not probable any Christian Prince will openly join with the Turks against Germany no not the King of France for the old Leagues the French had with the Turks were only for the curbing the over-great Forces of Charles V. who was then much too powerful for Francis I. King of France but we are never to fear a League in which these two Princes shall unite their Forces and jointly at once invade Germany to the end to make a Conquest of it because it would be both wicked and foolish to promote the Affairs of that barbarous Prince to that degree who bears an immortal hatred to all that is call'd Christian Besides as it is better for France that Germany should continue as it is than that any considerable share of it should fall into the hands of the Turks so it is better too for the Turks that it should continue in this divided state which makes it unfit to wage a War for Conquest upon its Neighbors rather than to have it brought by the French into the state of a well-formed Monarchy because if France and Germany were once throughly united in one Prince's hand the Turk would have too much reason to fear what Fortune might betide his Constantinople Nor is it the Interest of any of the European Princes to suffer the House of Austria to reduce the rest of Germany under their Dominion and therefore I cannot think any of them would be so mad as to promote them in it or lend their Assistance to it And as the Spaniard who is under a Branch of this Family might possibly be contented to do it so the French would certainly oppose it with all their Power with whom in that Case the Swedes and Hollanders would join the more readily because they never defended the German Liberty but to their own very great advantage Nor would the Pope in this Case be over-forward to assist the House of Austria because though it would be very glorious to him and profitable too to reduce so many straying Sheep into the Church's Fold yet let the hazard or loss of Souls be what it will he is not to hazard the loss of the Italian Liberty by making either the Emperor or the King of Spain Masters of that Country And if now the French should attempt the Conquest of Germany Spain England Italy and Holland would all unite with the Empire against him the Danes perhaps would not be much concerned at it so be they might be delivered from the Terror of Sweden though they for ever truckled under France But then the assistance of the Swedes would in this case be very considerable especially if that Nation happened to have then a Martial and a Warlike Prince But then it has been long since observed that the French must pay the Swedes very well for their assistance the French would also expect to be the only Gainers in the end of the War for the French would never be pleased to see the Swedes enlarge their Conquests in Germany with their Money to that degree especially that they might ever after despise the French Monarch And on the other side the Swedes are very sensible how foolish it is to spend their Bloods to the Advantage of the French and not at all for their own Benefit Nor are they so dull but that they very well know and consider that when the French are once Masters of the greatest part of Germany they will then pretend to give Laws to the Swedes as well as to the Germans And from this Consideration it is that there has for some time been a very moderate and luke-warm Friendship between these two Nations Which since the War in An Addition 1672. in which the French exposed the Swedes to all the Forces of the Brandenburgers and at the same time seized the Dukedom of Deuxpont which belongs to the King of Sweden though it lies on the Borders of France is so much abated that it is verily believed the Swedes will now heartily join with the Germans to humble France and it is certain in this present War he has done what was possible to prevent the Danes from embroiling the North parts of Germany which the French passionately desired The French King growing weary of the distant Swedes thought it more for his Interest before this to draw some of the German Princes on the Rhine into Leagues with him and as the Report goes has not been sparing in his Pensions to them and upon all accasions shews himself very solicitous for the general Liberty of Germany offering himself as a Mediator to compose any Difference that happen to arise between one Prince and another and is ever ready to send Money or Men to every one of them that desireth either of them and in short makes it his great business to shew them that they may certainly expect more from his Friendship than from the Emperor's or from the Laws of the Empire Now the man must be very stupid who doth not see that the End of all this Courtship is the opening a Way to the Ruin of the German Liberty especially if the Male Line of the House of Austria should happen to fail And the French King should thereupon An Addition obtain the Empire When this Author wrote the Emperor of Germany had no Son The Princes of the Rhine he here hints at are the Elector of Cologne and the Duke of Bavaria
to whose Sister he afterwards married the Dauphin his Son to fix him for ever to France but all would not do that Prince has since seen his true Interest as all the German Princes too by this time do and now France finding the wheeling way will never do has taken the way of Rage and Conquest having disobliged the whole World and what the event will be is in the Hand of God 7. This bulky and formidable Body which is thus united in the common Appellation Germany weak by reason of its irregular Constitution of the German Empire and if it were reduced under the Laws of a regular Monarchy would be formidable to all Europe is yet by reason of its own Internal Diseases and Convulsions so weakened that it is scarce able to defend it self Nay it is certain if it were not powerfully assisted by its Neighbours it is not able to defend it self against the French The principal Cause of this Impuissance and Weakness is its irregular and ill-compacted Constitution or Frame of Government The most numerous multitude of men is not stronger than one single man as long as every man acts singly by himself and for himself all its extraordinary Strength is from its Union and Conjunction And as it is not possible that many should join in one natural Body so they may certainly be united into one Force whilst they are governed by one Council as a common Soul By how much the closer and more regular this Union is so much the stronger this Society or Body is But on the contrary Weakness and Diseases ever follow upon a loose Conjunction and an ill-combined and irregular Union A well composed Kingdom or Monarchy is Monarchy the best and most lasting Government certainly the most perfect Union and the best fitted for duration or continuance for as for Aristocrasies besides that they can scarce ever conveniently subsist except when the force of a Commonwealth is collected into one single City yet even then in their own nature they are much weaker than Monarchies for the serene Commonwealth of Venice is to be reputed amongst the Miracles of the World A System of many Cities united by a League is much more loose in its conjunction and may more easily be dissolved which is the Case of the States of Holland And Wherein the Strength of a System of States consisteth here that there may be some strength in these kinds of Systems it is in the first place necessary that the Associated Cities or States have the same form of Government and be not overmuch disproportioned in their Strength and that the same or equal Advantages may from the Union arise to every one of them And lastly It is necessary in this case that they have come together upon well weighed and great Reasons and associated upon well-considered Laws or Conditions for they that unite in a Society rashly and as it were in a hurry without bethinking themselves very seriously what their future state shall be can no more form a regular well compacted Society than a Taylor can make a beautiful Garment after he has cut his Cloth all into Shreds and small Pieces before he has resolved whether he will form it into a Man's or a Woman's Garment And it has long since been observed that Monarchs very rarely enter into a sincere friendship with * The Leagues between Kings and Common-wealths seldome lasting Commonwealths or Free Cities though it be for a short time And it is yet much more difficult to make a perpetual or lasting League because all Princes hate Popular Liberty and the People or Popular States do equally detest the Pride or Grandeur of Kings And such is the Perverseness of Humane Nature that no man doth willingly see one inferiour to himself in point of Power live by him in an equal degree of Liberty and Men very unwillingly contribute to the Common Charges if they reap nothing or but a very little Advantage from the Common Profit 8. Now the State of Germany is so The Diseaseâ— of Germany much the more deplorable because all the Diseases of an ill-formed Kingdom and of an ill digested System of States are conjunctly to be found in it nay it is to be reckon'd as the principal Calamity of Germany that it is neither a Kingdom nor a System of States The outward Appearance and vain Images represent the Emperor as a King and the States as Subjects and in the most ancient times he was without doubt a King as he was call'd after this the Authority of the Emperor was from time to time diminished and the Liberties and Riches of the States were encreased till at last the Emperor had nothing but a shadow of the Kingly Power as at this day it is and seems liker the General of an Association than a King From hence proceeds a most pernicious Convulsion in the Body of the Empire whilst the Emperor and the States draw counter each to the other for he with might and main by all waies endeavoureth to regain the old Regal Power The Princes and the Emperor distrust each other and they on the other side are as solicitous to preserve the Liberties and Wealth they have got the possession of from whence there must necessarily follow Suspicious Distrust and underhand Contrivances to hinder each others Designs and break each others Power The first effect of this is the rendering this otherwise strong and formidable Body unfit to invade others or to make any Additions to its own bulk by Conquest because the States are not willing that any thing should be added to the Emperor's Dominions and yet it is not possible to distribute it equally amongst them And there are The States embroiled one with another very many distracting Differences between the States themselves on divers accounts and this makes them less happy than a well united System of States might be The States are under different forms of Government some of them being Princes and the rest Free Cities and these are intermixed one with another The Free Cities drive for the most part a considerable Trade and their Wealth excites the Envy of the Princes but especially when a great part of their Trade and Wealth ariseth from any of the Princes Dominions Nor can it be denied but that some Cities like the Spleen have swell'd too much to the damage of their Neighbour Princes their Subjects being drained away and their States impoverish'd to augment the Cities The Nobility are apt to despise the common People and they are as prone to value themselves on the account of their Money and to undervalue the Nobilities old Titles and exhausted Dominions Lastly Some of the Princes look on these Cities as a reproach to their Government and think their own Subjects would live more contentedly under their Command if these Instances of Popular Liberty were removed and all occasions of comparing their own Condition with that of their Neighbours in these