[p. 601]
|601| no longer even exists. On the other hand, another difference, relating not so much to principles and right as to prudence, has come in.
In the course of time, namely, the power of the states by which the smaller are surrounded has altered completely, the large countries have come to internal consistency and become states; among all European states there has thereby arisen such a connection that, inwardly pacified, they have leisure to turn their attention outward and make their weight felt with others.
A league of imperial cities in southern Germany waged successful wars against the allied princes and barons of the same; the fleets of the Hansa were formidable to the northern realms, they ruled the northern seas. A league of the nobility with Sickingen conquered electorates; Maurice of Saxony made the mighty Charles, Emperor of Germany, lord of Italy, Spain, Hungary, the Netherlands, Mexico and Peru, tremble and forced him to peace, and that without help from a foreign power, at a time when Charles was not otherwise occupied or in distress.
These times are past; to the example of Venice, which later maintained itself against the Ligue of Cambrai, or even of the Marquis de Brandebour and his resistance to the union of the greatest powers of Europe, no German estate of the Empire will wish to appeal or rely. The relation of power, even if the German estates have become more powerful, has altered completely; compared with the state colossi they have become pygmies; from their power as individuals they cannot hope for their preservation, nor any more from their union; politics has become too calculating in itself for each individual not to be able to perceive in his union either loss or at least lesser advantage than another has, and the jealousy of this coming second must separate them. Besides, however, the German estates would have to give up in a union precisely that which they aim at or for which they fought; namely they would have to submit to a universal, to laws of the union, set a power of the whole over themselves, and this is precisely what they strive against.
The very nature of the matter raises territorial lordship, sovereignty, above the sphere of the courts. The Peace of Westphalia expressly accepted foreign powers as guarantors; practice has decided all important cases by negotiations or war; laws of the Empire have established that such cases are to be brought before Emperor and Empire, and are thus to be decided by the legislative,
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.