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Cobbett’s Political Register, 1802

Page vi: The German Empire divided into Departments under the Prefecture of the Elector of —; to which is prefixed, a preface of the Translator, and also an Introduction, consisting of a Memoir on the Political and Military State of Europe, by the same author. — Translated from the French by Mr. Cobbett.

Page 29: D— Street, July 3. — The King has been pleased to appoint Francis Drake, Esq. to be his Majesty’s Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary at the Court of his Serene Highness the Elector Palatine.

Page 239: The Elector of Mentz remains the only Ecclesiastical Elector, and receive such indemnities for his losses, that his revenue, in the whole, will amount to a million.

Page 249: For the present we must, however, confine our remarks chiefly to the changes which are ordered to take place relative to the German possessions of his Majesty, and which are signified in the following terms: “The King of England, in his quality of Elector of Hanover, has raised pretensions to Hildesheim, Corvey, and Hoaxer, and as it would be of interest that he should desist form his pretensions, it is proposed that the Bishopric of Osnaburgh, which now belongs alternately to the Electoral House of Brunswick, should devolve to him in perpetuity, upon the following conditions: — First, That the King of England, Elector of Hanover, shall renowned all his rights and pretensions to Hildesheim, Corvey, and Hoexter. — …..

Page 259: It was determined that this plan should be presented to the Diet of the Empire, in the form of a declaration to be made at the same time by Ministers appointed for that purpose. On the part of the First Consul, Citizen Laforest, Minister of the Republic to the Elector Palatine of Bavaria, has received orders to repair to Ratisbon; and on the part of the Emperor of Russia, the Baron de Buhler, likewise his Minister at Munich. …… It is also with real satisfaction that France and Russia, obliged to take the system of secularization as the basis of indemnities, perceive the possibility of preserving to the Empire, one Ecclesiastic Elector, and that they have proposed to assign him a suitable establishment, in conferring on him the title and functions of Arch-Chancellor.

Page 261: To the Elector Palatine of Bavaria, for the Duchy of Deux-Ponts, the Duchy of Juliers, the Palatinate of the Rhine, the Marquisate of Bergenopzoom, the Seignoy of Ravenstein, and others situate in Belgium and Alsace; the Bishoprics of Passau, with the reservation of the part of the Archduke; of Wurzburg, with the reservations hereinafter mentioned; of Bamberg, of Aughsted, of Freisingen, and of Augsburg; the Provostship of Kempten; the Imperial Cities of Rothenbourg, Wessenbourg, Windsheim, Schweinfort, Gochsheim, Sennefelt, Allhousen, Kempten, Kaufbeuren, Memmingen, Dunkel-buhl, Nordlingen, Ulm, Bossfingen, Buckhorn, Waagen, Leutkirch, Ravensbourg, and Alschausen; the Abbeys of Saint Ulrie, Irsen, Weugeu, Sooflingen, Aichingeu, Ersberg, Rochenbourg; Weltenhausen, Ottobeuren, and Kaisersheim.

Page 263: The First Consul of the French Republic, and his Majesty the Emperor of Russia, after having proposed to regulate thus the demandable indemnities of the Hereditary Princes, have acknowledged that it was at once possible and fit to preserve, in the first College of the Empire, an Ecclesiastical Elector. ……. The King of England, in his quality of Elector of Hanover, has raised pretensions to Hildesheim, Corvey, and Hoaxer, and as it would be of interest that he should desist from his pretensions, it is proposed that the Bishoprick of Osnaburgh, which now belongs alternately to the Electoral House of Brunswick, should devolve to him in perpetuity, upon the following conditions: First, That the King of England, Elector of Hanover, shall renounce all his rights and pretensions to Hildesheim, Corvey, and Hoexter. Secondly, That he shall likewise give up to the cities of Hamburgh and Bremen, the rights and properties which he exercises and possesses in the said cities, and within the extent of their territory. Thirdly, That he shall cede the Bailiiwick of Wildhausen to the Duke of Oldenbourg, and his rights to the eventual succession of the country of Sayn, Altenkirchen — to the Prince of Nassau Usingen.

Page 273: The Elector of Hanover is to give up his pretensions to the Bishoprick of Hildesheim and the Abbey of Corvey. It is not the intrinsic value of the former, so much as its local situation, which strikes the politician. It is situated in the middle of the territories of the house of Brunswick and Hanover. …… In the year 1519, just at the commencement of the reformation, the Bishop John having begun what was called the Hildesheim war, was not only stripped of the greater part of his territories, but put under the ban of the empire, and all but the cathedral itself with three bailiwicks, solemnly and legally conferred on the House of Brunswick, in whose possession the great bishopric (as the conquered portion of the diocese was styled) continued for more than a century, when it was given up by a particular convention, not long before the peace of Westphalia; by which convention, the patronage, or guardianship of the city was reserved by the elector: so that, the “pretensions” (as Citizen Talleyrand has the insolence to term the claims of his Majesty) to this bishopric are just as good as any man’s pretensions can be to the lordship of a manor. ……. If any doubt remained respecting the ultimate views of Prussia against Hanover, it must be removed in a moment, when we consider, that Osnaburgh, which is in itself or more value than Hildesheim, and is, besides, almost surrounded by the Prussian possessions in Westphalia, suited Prussia much better than Hildesheim, while Hildesheim suit the elector better than Osnaburgh. Had it been the intention of France and Prussia to stop here, the distribution would, therefore, have taken this turn; but, Prussian covetousness saw a prospect of seizing on Hanover itself, and Buonaparte gratified at once his interest and his malice, by holding in his hand the fate of the patrimonial possession of the Royal Family of England, by the means of one of his humble vassals, with whom the Electorate of Hanover will, at any time, be a sufficient bribe, if far should fail to produce the desired effect.

Page 275: It is clear, then, that no part of this arrangement is to be ascribed to a desire of injuring the Elector of Hanover, but to injure, affront, and insult Great Britain, through the sides of the Elector and Electorate, and, probably to furnish the world with an illustration, which was very much wanted, of your lordship’s “conciliation with firmness,” which was to produce such happy consequences to the nation. Th degree of respect, of weight and importance, which Great Britain has secured by this “conciliation with firmness,” is clearly ascertain by the indemnity to the Stadholder, and by the mode of that indemnity.

Page 297: The Electoral College, which before the dismemberment of Germany had enough with eight electors, is to have nine, viz. 1st. A catholic ecclesiastic elector surrounded by the partisans of Prussia. 2dly. The Elector of Bohemia, that is to say, Austria herself. 3dly. The Elector of Bavaria, a catholic himself, and ruling over subjects almost all of the same persuasion, but devoted to France and Prussia, cherishing an old grudge against Austria, and augmenting his hatred against her proportionably to the grievances that he has caused her, and from the revenge he fears from thence. 4thly. The Elector of Saxony, a catholic himself only, but sovereign over a protestant country, a protector by his oath of the protestant religion and moreover entirely surrounded at this time by Prussia. 5thly. The Elector of Brandenburgh, that is, Prussia; protestant. 6thly. The Elector of Hanover, protestant; seldom of the same sentiment with the King of England, and acting mostly in concert with Prussia, and besides, now under the absolute command of a Prussian garrison. 7thly. The Elector of Hesse-Cassel, protestant, and both by inclination and locality a vassal of Prussia. 8thly. The Elector of Wurtemburgh, a protestant, and neighbor to France. 9thly. The Elector of Baden, protestant; in the neighborhood of France, and moreover rewarded by the esteem of the First Consul, and the largest prize of this lottery for having, one of the first, detached himself from the cause of Germany. Of the three new ones of consular creation, two are doubtless to compensate for the two ecclesiastic electors politically put to death though physically still alive, viz., the Elector of Treves, uncle to the Elector of Saxony, a respectable old man in every point of view, and particularly for his fidelity in the common cause, as a return for which he is entirely despoiled, and the Archduke Anthony, brother to the Emperor, legally chosen elector by the electoral chapter of Ahrensberg, and bishop by the episcopal chapter of Munstr, instead of his late uncle. The ninth elector has been created over and above to insure still better the protestant majority. ……. Let us take a view now in what manner Austria is to be made amends for her losses in territory and influence in German? What will the Emperor receive in compensation for his possessions in the Low Countries and Lombardy, and the debts on these countries which he remains burdened with? For the Brisgau, the Frikthal, and what he had in Germany? For the security arising to him from the neutrality of Switzerland and of the Grisons, and the inoffensive existence of the Venetian Republic, the Duke of Parma, and the King of Sardinia; for that of the Archbishop and Bishop of Saltzburg and Passau, who as ecclesiastics were entirely at his devotion, and might have been considered as parts of his own possessions, whilst the Elector of Bavaria is now at the cost of these two states aggrandized, and brought closer to Austria? What will the emperor, I say, receive for all this?

Page 335: The electoral sub-delegate of Bohemia is also charged to communicate those sentiments of his Majesty to the plenipotentiaries of France and Russia, adding that though according to the law of nations, and also according to the laws of the empire, the deputation cannot be restrained even by the head of the empire within a peremptory term, yet that his Majesty, in his quality of King and Elector of Bohemia, will accelerate, as much as possible, the termination of the points which are to constitute the completion of the peace.

Page 369: A report has prevailed for some days at Munich, that the Austrians were disposed to evacuate Passau, but it has been contradicted by late events. We learn, on the contrary, that there is an intention of forming a second camp at Weis, on the frontier of High Austria. M. de Buol, the Austrian envoy at Munich proposed that the elector should evacuate all the countries which h had occupied, on which condition, it was addd, the uproar would withdraw his troops from Salzburg, Passau, Berchtolsgaden, etc. but this proposition was not agreed to at Munich. — The Bavarian troops have delayed until now, the taking possession of the different imperial cities of Suabia allowed to the elector. The occupation of those cities has at length taken place within these few days. On the 8th, a detachment entered Noerdlingen, and another Bopsingen.

Page 371: The count de Lerchenfeld, a commissary of the Bavarian government, charged with the particular confidence of the elector, is arrived at Augsburg. He notified on the 10th to the imperial officers of the Prévoté Saint Ulrich, that a detachment of Bavarian troops would enter the city of Augsburg to take possession of that Prévote. It is asserted that the magistrates of Augsburg have protested against the entry of a foreign force into that city.

Page 393: 1. The breaking to pieces of the established ascendancy of the House of Austria. — There were eight voices, in the election of an emperor, out of which number were three ecclesiastical electors: there will now be only one ecclesiastical elector out of nine; and, as your lordship will perceive from the very concise and correct statement of my correspondent Agricola, there will be a fearful majority of protestants in the electoral college. The Elector of Saxony is, indeed, himself a catholic, and the Elector of Hanover, though a protestant, is bound, by the terms of his creation, to vote for the House of Austria; but, the subjects of the former are protestants, and the territories of both these electors are, by the new division, placed as a pledge in the hands of Prussia. Th Elector of Bavaria, who is another of the catholic electors, has long been the enemy of Austria, and must now b so from the combined and powerful motives of interest, of rancor, and of fear. So that, out of nine electors, there will be but two, at most, decidedly in favor of the present reigning house; and, it is by no means improbable, that, at another election, the imperial corn may be transferred from the constant friend and faithful ally of England, to a vassal of France.

Page 419: Justice and generosity, which are always the first heard in the heart of the First Consul, made it a law with him to forget what songs the elector might have done to the republic, and not to suffer to perish a state weekend and threatened, but however hitherto secured by the policy of the governments interested in maintaining a just equilibrium in Germany; for, if the equilibrium of Europe requires that Austria should be great and powerful, that of Germany requires that Bavaria should be preserved entire and protected from all further invasion. ……… Having been unable to succeed either at Petersburgh or Paris, the Court of Vienna nevertheless pursued at Munich the execution of its projects, and it was the communication of his uneasiness made by the Elector to the French and Russian governments, which contributed above all to make them feel the necessity of uniting their influence to protect the hereditary princes, secure the execution of the seventh article of the treaty of Luneville, and not to suffer to fall to the lowest rank one of the oldest, and not long ago one of the most powerful houses of Germany. — The undersigned, therefore, is charged to declare to the deputation, that the states of his Serene Highness the Elector Palatine of Bavaria, as well as the possessions destined for him as indemnities, and as necessary for reestablishing the equilibrium of Germany, are naturally and indispensably placed under the protection of the mediating powers; that the First Consul, personally, will not suffer the important place of Passau to remain int he hands of Austria, nor allow it to obtain any part of the territories which Bavaria possesses on the right of the Inn; for he considers that there would be no independence for Bavaria, the moment when the troops of Austria should be near its capital. ……. But he must again declare, that his Imperial Majesty has manifested the sentiments of justice by which he is distinguished, and the interests he takes in the happiness and equilibrium of the Germanic Empire, in the declaration which he caused to be transmitted on the 18th of August last, conjointly with the First Consul. His Imperial Majesty cannot then but expect its speedy accomplishment. He particularly considers the hereditary states of his Serene Highness the Elector Palatine of Bavaria, as well as the possessions assigned to him as an indemnity, as indispensably place under the protection of the mediation; and has no doubt that the town of Passau will be immediately given up to its destination.

Page 465: Some indirect insinuations made at Vienna, by a distinguished person in the service of the Court of Munich, have given reason to think that the Elector Palatine himself wished to settle with the Grand Duke of Tuscany upon the exchanges for their mutual convenience; nobody then doubting but that the Indemnity of His Royal Highness would be such as the Treaty imported. …… Insinuations of the same kind took place at Paris at the tim of the ratification of the Treaty of Luneville, and they went even so far as to put in doubt what had been said to the Austrian Plenipotentiary, whether the Elector would be able to preserve the City of Munich; but it never had been, nor could be, a question, in these different conferences to carry so far as the Lech the Indemnity of the Grand Duke of Tuscany.

Page 467: Upon what little could the Elector be deprived of the whole of Bavaria? Where could the means be found to indemnify him? and though His Majesty should have had views so foreign from his sentiments, how could he conceive the idea solely to engage the French Government to adopt them? …… All those who had a knowledge of the subject which was then in treaty, now that the only question was, that of the Iser, with the addition of the proposition made by Austria to leave to the Elector a suitable extent of County, for the purpose of removing the City of Munich from the frontier; and that this projet, which surely was not exaggerated in the supposition of a full and enter indemnity for Tuscany, at the same time that His Palatine Highness should have obtained in Suabia a complete equivalent of cessions, to which it would be willingly carried, was entirely abandoned by the Emperor, the moment it was perceived that the Elton was not inclined to put his hand to it. ……. Never could the Emperor have entertained a thought of procuring for his august Brother any part whatsoever of Bavaria in any other manner than by an arrangement of mutual consent, tot he perfect convenience of the Elector Palatine. His Majesty has already given, relative to the City of Passan, every assurance that could be expected from his justice and moderation. He is ready to surrender that City to the person, who by the legal and definitive arrangement of the Indemnities shall be acknowledged its lawful owner.

Page 528: In the 12th sitting of the Deputation of the Empire, on the 5th October, the various claims and remonstrances were again taken into consideration. The Elector of Treves gave in a similar memoir to that delivered by the Archbishoprick of Cologne. It was stated, on the part of the Archduke Ferdinand, that the revenue of the Duchy of Modena was 1,560,000 Imperial florins, while that of the Brisgau was only 104,119 florins. …… Sect. 4. To the King of England and Elector of Brunswick Lunenburg, for his claim to the country of Sayn Altenkirchen, Hildesheim, Corvey, and Hoster, and his rights and property in the cities of Hamburgh and Bremen, and in the territory of the latter, as shall be hereafter particularly stipulated, and for the cession for the district of Wildshausen.

Page 529: Sect. 25. The Seat of Mentz shall be transferred to the cathedral of Ratisbon, and the dignity of elector, arch-chancellor and primate of Germany, shall be perpetually united to it. His metropolitan jurisdiction shall extend of the old ecclesiastical provinces of Mentz, Cologne, and Treves, as far as they extend ton the right bank of the Rhine, and excepting the territory of the King of Prussia. The Elector of Mentz receives the principality and city of Ratisbon, and Wetzlar, with the title of a county.

Page 543: The affairs at the Diet of Ratisbon have assumed an aspect somewhat new; but, as will be seen by a reference to the official papers and to abridgement of the supplementary plan of indemnities, which, however, we do not give positively as authentic, nothing decisive has yet been done. One article of news from Ratisbon, if it be true, is of great importance; that is, that the Elector of Hanover has objected to the supplementary plan.

Page 555: The main object of this compend of French policy towards England is, that with regard to past events, we never interfered in Europe but for its destruction; that at present we have no right to interfere at all. It states the shameful truth, that we have no allies on the Continent; and as the Elector of Hanover has adhered to the Franco-Russian plan of indemnities, it is asserted that we can have no right whatever to inquire in what manner the different powers on the Continent settle their marches, or, as Citizen Hauterive quaintly terms it, their interets limitrophes. “The relations of France and England are the treaty of Amiens — the whole treaty of Amiens — nothing but the treaty of Amiens.” So says Citizen Hauterive, and so says Buonaparte.

Page 566: The English libellists state, that the feeling expressed by the King of England, as Elector of Hanover, is not that of the English nation. But what other title could an insular power have to interfere in the affairs of Germany; and to what abject state would Russia, Austria, Prussia, Sweden, Denmark, Bavaria, and the Houses of Wurtemberg, Baden, Hesse Cassel, and the French Republic, be reduced, if they could not negotiate, conclude, and arrange their interests as neighbor, (interest limitrophes) without the consent of a power which has as little to do with these interests as with our diplomatic law! A power which alone disowns the rights of independent nations on the seas. — The relations between France and England are the treaty of Amiens — the whole treaty of Amiens — nothing but the treaty of Amiens.

Page 567: if the King of the Two Sicilies twice saw his territories invaded, and his capital in the power of the French; if the Elector of Bavaria wise saw the same scene renewed in his states; if the King of Sardinia has ceased to reign in Savoy and Piedmont; if the house or Orange has lot the Stadtholdership; if the Oigarchy of Berne and of Genoa has seen its influence vanish; and if Portugal has beheld its provinces covered with troops ready to conquer them, were they not all indebted for these misfortunes to the alliance of England?

Page 589: Hamburgh, Oct. 29. — Yesterday, at nine o’clock in the morning, a general meting of the Senate and principal Burgresse of this city took place at the Town Hall, and lasted till near six o’clock in the afternoon. This meeting had, amongst other things under consideration, the proposed cession of the rights, privileges, and revenues, which his Britannic Majesty, as Elector of Hanover, possesses in the Cathedral of Hamburgh, its precincts, and the dependencies belonging to it on the Hamburgh territory. Some notes from the Regency of Hanover, and from the King of Denmark, in his quality of Duke of Holstein, against the plan, were also taken into consideration; but the result of the debates still remains a profound secret.

Page 639: As to Passau, the Imperial and Royal Court is disposed to consent to the abstraction of the part of that bishopric situate beyond the Inn and the Danube, provided there be given to the Archduke some other advantage in exchange. She is also disposed to make her troops evacuate that part of Passau, if the Elector Palatine, on his part, shall undertake not to occupy it, until, by some arrangement of indemnity, his Royal Highness the Grand Duke, shall be secured according to the sentiment of moderation above expressed.

Page 727: In the meantime, the Elector of Bavaria seems to be new-modeling his government and dominions upon the French plan; and, we should not be at all surprised, if the Prince of Baden, whom the honest Talleyrand has surnamed “the good,” were to follow the example of his neighbor. In fact, the whole o the Empire of Germany is, either directly or indirectly, under the influence, and, indeed, under the command of France. Had we kept the colonies and the sea, the powers of the Continent would have retained some degree of hope; but, seeing us basely yield the only remaining counterpoise to the monstrous power of the common enemy of all independent nations, they hastened to save themselves from the effects of her vengeance, by an early and implicit submission to her will.

Page 747: Rabisbon, Nov. 26. ….. The day before yesterday 350 Mentz troops entered this city, and today the Count de Benzel took civil possession, in the name of the Elector Arch-Chancellor.

Page 845: Milan, Nov. 21. — The Polish troops remaining in our republic will be sent to St. Domingo.

Aschaffenburg, Nov. 30. — Yesterday the bishoprics of Bamberg, Wurtzburg, and Eichstadt, were taken possession of by Bavaria, under the title of the Duchy of Franconia. The Prince-bishops of Bamberg and Wurtzburg have resigned their government, and the minister of the Elector of Bavaria, Baron Hompesch, has received homage at Wurtzburg.

Page 881: Stuttgart, Dec. 12. — The celebrated Mr. Moore presented himself at the court of the Duke of Wurttemberg, who received him very ill, and caused him to be informed, that he (the Duke) was disposed to unite himself with France to maintain the peace of the continent, and to support the operations of the Diet at Ratisbon. — Mr. Moore, therefore, has not been more successful here than he was at Vienna, where the court, would not receive him. It is not probable that the will obtain more credit at Munich, at Carlsruhe or with the Elector of Hesse. The particular protection afforded at London, to a number of pamphlets which are published there against the King of Prussia, makes it probable that Mr. Moore would not meet with a very favorable reception at Berlin. It is even doubtful, whether he would be received at Hanover. He is thus reduced to think Constance wine, which is certainly not so good as that of the Cape, until a new cargo of allies comes from the Indies, which will afford the means of making a small coalition.

Page 949: Ways and Means for answering the Foregoing Services. …. Do. - grants to Elector of Bavaria: $65,671. …..

Page 1515: No. 10. Copy of the Correspondence between the Get? Gen. and the Governor of Fort St. George, on the subject of the Carnatic; from the Perido of the death of his late Highness Omdnt ud Omrah to the Election of Azeem ul Dowlah to the Musnud.

Page 1635: The indemnities of the House of Orange are regulated by France, without even the formality of any concert with G. Britain; and they do not amount to one-tenth part of his loss. And yet no interference in his favor was perceived. The same stupor which had prevailed all along still held the King’s ministers, and their conduct was still marked by humiliation and concession. Nay, that was not all. Even the miserable pittance that was allowed to the House of Orange was in part extorted from the just claims and rights of the Elector of Hanover; so that our own Sovereign was plundered to pay the debt of justice which G. Britain owed to the House of Orange, while he was at the same time exposed to the indignity of seeing, by the allotment of Hildesheim to Prussia, a Prussian garrison placed in the very heart of his dominions.

Page 1695: But how did the case stand? Was the arrangement of the German indemnities to be considered as an aggression, an arrangement which was partly settled by the treaty of unveil? Was it now known at the time the peace of Amiens was ratified, that those indemnities were to be provided for by secularization? This arrangement, then, is no aggression against Great Britain. If so, why not as well complain of Russia, who interfered as actively in settling these indemnities as France? The House is told that the Elector of Hanover is a loser by this plan; I believe otherwise; but even if he were, it has been the policy of all former reigns, since the accession of the House of Hanover, to keep the concerns of that electorate quite distinct from the affairs of this country; and why not? for we had no more to do with it, than with Hesse Cassel, or any other Germany principality.

Page 1801: The Empire of Germany divided into Departments, under the Prefecture of the Elector of —. To which is prepared, a Memoir on the political and military State of the Continent, written by the same Author, Translated from the French, by William Cobbett.

Page 1813: By the usurpation of Eichsfeld, Mulhausen, and the country of Erfurt, he communicates from Halberstadt with the states of Franconia on one side, and by the bishopric of Fulda, which he has obtained for his protege the prince of Nassau-Diffembrg, on the other, with the new stats of his ally the elector of Bavaria, with whose prejudices against the house of Austria we are already well acquainted. — By this new disposition of his states, the king of Prussia surrounds more than three-fourths of the electoral and ducal possessions of the house of Saxony; and when we consider that in the center roof Lusatia he possesses Cotbus, that the whole of the frontier of Saxony towards Prussia is open, while his frontier towards Bohemia can be protected against Austria (supping her engaged in a war against the Prussian league) by the standing army of the elector of Saxony, we shall be convinced that the prince cannot, without subjecting himself to the most imminent danger, preserve in that case the neutrality so essential to his interests, and, consequently, that the king of Prussia will force the states of Saxony into the league against the house of Austria.

Page 1815: He surrounds them on the east by Alt-Marck and the principalities of Magdeburg and Halberstadt; on the south by Eichsfeld, and, in case of necessity, by his vassal the landgrave of Hesse-Cassel; and lastly, on the west by Corvey, Paderborn, Pyrmont, Ravensberg, Minden, and the bishopric of Munster. These states then, of so much importance both from their magnitude and the exalted rank of the sovereign to whom they belong, are completely in the power of the Prussian monarchy, and are already treated as conquered countries: since France and Russia have disposed, without designing to consult him, of the claims of the Elector of Hanover in Bremen, Hamburgh, Heidersheim, Corvey, his bailiwick of Vildhausen and of the county of Altenkerchin. ……. Whatever step the emperor of Germany may adopt, with regard to this dignity, it is evident, that the electors of Brandenburg, Bavaria, Baden, Wirtemberg, Hesse-Cassel, nay, the ridiculous elector of Aschaffenburg, and probably those of Hanover and Saxony, will either vote against the house of Austria, or confer upon it the imperial dignity under certain restrictions, which will render the emperor a mere crowned phantom, and a passive spectator of the resolutions dictated by Prussia to the diet. I have said, the ridiculous elector of Aschaffenburg: for what can possibly be more ridiculous than a principal elector almost without subjects, with the town of Aschaffenburg for a capital, and possessions (Ratisbon and Wetzlar) at the distance of 100 leagues from each other, the one shut up in the center of Bavaria, and the other in Hesse? Who is not convinced that this elector can have no will but that of Prussia, and that on the very day in which he dared to manifest a contrary disposition, his person, his petty estate, and his archives would immediately fall into the hands of the anti-imperial party? And yet this impotent and dependent condition is the very motive that will hereafter induce the enemies of the emperor to invest this elector with great power and authority, either as arch-chancellor or catholic primate of the empire; secure in the assurance that a power entirely under their control could at any time be directed to the detriment of the emperor. …….. There is a remarkable clause in the creation of this same elector of Aschaffenburg; I mean that by which Prussia cuts off from the jurisdiction assigned to the new elector, as catholic primate of Germany, the territories of Erfurt and Eichsfeld, the sovereignty of which countries she has reserved to herself. Is not this announcement, in so many words, that what belongs to the elector of Brandenburg in the empire is no longer a portion of the empire?

Page 1827: The marked influence of the house of Austria over some of the states of the empire, is not peculiar to that power, all the world knows the influence exercised by Prussia over most of the states of the north of Germany, and even over those states, which from their extent and power, form their rank in the empire, and from the exalted rank of their sovereign (the elector of Hanover) ought only to be subordinate to the supreme and constitutional authority of the German empire; it knows also the use she made of it to detach from the defense of the common country, a considerable portion of the empire, in order to facilitate an overthrow which was to secure it so vast an aggrandizement; and finally, it knows, that the very states whose proscription was decreed by the treaty of Basle, have contributed, under the pretext of maintaining the neutrality that was to bring on their overthrow, to the support of the Prussian army, called the army of observation. — It was not enough for France and Prussia to plunder the chief of the house of Austria of the valuable and undoubted rights which he enjoyed over the states of the grand duke of Tuscany. These two governments have carried their arrogance so far as to command the emperor, by that new vehicle of diplomatic communication, invented by Buonaparte, the Moniteur, to transfer to the elector of Bavaria certain possessions situate to the right of the Inn, and have peremptorily fixed the term of 60 days for the completion of their supreme will. — In the same insolent manner did they treat his Britannic majesty, by disposing of his bailiwick of Vildhausen, his county of Altenkirchen, and his possessional rights in the cites of Bremen and Hamburgh, without deigning to inform him but through the medium of the consular gazette. The illustrious emperors of the house of Brunswick, who reigned over Germany 300 years before a bunch of the house of Prussia filled the insignificant office of burgrave of Nuremberg, little imagine that their descendants would one day experience so serious an insult!

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