that not only the Countries possess'd by the old German Nations were all reduc'd under his Obedience but all those that lay upon the Baltick Sea and that part of Poland which lies on the West of the Vistula which was then inhabited by the Sclaves for History saith They also were either Tributaries to that Prince or majestatem comiter coluisse were Homagers to his Crown 6. The greatest part of the German Of what Nation Charles the Great was Writers have very fondly endeavoured to have it believed he was their Countryman as being born at Ingelheim a Town in the Bishoprick of Mentz but now under the Elector Palatine and in an ancient Charter of the Abby of Fuld the Lands upon the River Unstrut in Thuring are call'd The Lands of his Conception And that he us'd the German Tongue is apparent by the names of the Months used in his time which are still retained in Germany and are thought to have been introduced by him But if the Germans would suffer me a Foreigner to pass my judgment in this Affair tho' I am not at all disposed to favour the French in their other pretences to the damage of the Germans yet I would perswade them here freely and willingly to renounce their Pretences to Charles the Great and the rather because it can bring no injury to their present Empire for it is certain the Franks placed the Seat of their Empire in Germany and it is no less A Frank certain that the Father of Charles the Great By his Father was King of France and all his Progenitors had for many Ages lived in great Honour and managed great Employments in that Kingdom Besides those parts of Germany And born in France which lie on the West of the Rhine and were then subject to the Crown of France were possess'd by them as Accessions acquired to that Kingdom by Conquest and were looked upon as conquered Provinces and every man is esteemed to be of the same Nation his Father was and in which he has placed the Seat of his Fortunes and Hopes after his Father and Ancestors The sole consideration That a man was born in this or that Country will hardly be allowed to make a man of a different Nation from his Father unless we can believe that if the present King of Sweden had been born in Prussia he had been to have been esteemed a Prussian and not a Swede Nor was that part of Germany which lieth on the West of the Rhine esteemed a part of France till under Charles the Great it was united to that Kingdom And in the first timeâ— that followed when his Posterity had divided their Ancestor's Dominions amongst them the Historians frequently distinguish between the Latin or Western France and the German or Eastern France which is the same with Germany And it is observed that after the times of the Otho's that name of Germany by degrees grew out of use The objection made on the account of the use of the German Language by Charles the Great may be thus easily Tho' he used the German Tongue answered The Gauls having been long subject to the Romans by degrees lost their own Tongue and embraced that of their Conquerors so that at last there were scarce any footsteps of the old Celtick left amongst them But then the Franks brought their German Tongue along with them and without doubt did not presently forget it But then as the Franks neither destroyed nor expelled the Gauls but only assumed the Government and Soveraignity of the Country from whence it came to pass that those who were descended of the Franks were employed in the great Affairs and the Gauls as a conquered People were kept under but then as two Rivers of different colour uniting in one stream may for some time preserve each his proper colour but at length the greater stream will certainly change the lester into its own colour so in the beginning the Gauls had their Tongue and the Franks theirs till in length of time a third was made out of both mixed and twisted together in which yet the Latin is the predominant the plain cause of which is That the Gauls were more numerous than the Franks and it was much harder for them to learn the German than it was for the Franks to learn the Gallick Latin for with what difficulty Foreigners learn the German Tongue I my self know by experience From hence it proceeds that the most ancient Writers of this Nation call the vulgar Latin the Rustick or Countryman's Tongue because the Nobility and Gentry still used the German whilst the Countrymen and the rest of the Gauls had no knowledge of any other than the Latin And thus we see it is in our own times in Livonia and Curland where the old Inhabitants are by the Germans reduced into the condition of meer Rusticks for all the Nobility and the Inhabitants of the Cities speak the Sclavonian Tongue and the German but the Countrymen do scarce understand one German word of ten Thus Charles the Great might easily understand the German Tongue because the Franks who were a German Nation had not quite laid aside the use of it and also because the Franks before his time had conquered a great part of Germany and he went on with the work and reduced all the rest under his Dominion Nor was it possible in that unlearned Age to converse with the Germans in any other than their own Language But then he that observes that there is two very different Questions confounded into one will very accurately determine this Controversie for if the Question be Whether Charles the Great were of a Gallick or a German Original without doubt it will be answered That he was not a Gaul but a German or which is all one a Frank. But if the Question be What Countryman he was France and not Germany is to be assigned him and therefore in this respect he was no German but a Gaul or Gallo-Frank I fear I shall make the Reader think I take him for a stupid person if I should dwell any longer on so plain a thing and yet I will presume to give the Germans a known example If you fall upon a Nobleman of Livonia and ask him what Countryman he is he will reply a Livonian and not a German but then if you still insist and ask him of what Lineage he will say he is descended of the Germans and not of the Livonians 7. This Prince Charles the Great had The Titles of Charles the Great to his several Dominions under him divers Nations which he had acquired by very different Titles He enjoy'd France as his Inheritance devolved to him from his Father by Succession For though we read in their Histories that the ancient Franks had lodged in the Nobility and People of that Nation some Authority in the constituting their Kings yet I conceive it was rather a solemn Inaguration and an acknowledgment of their Loyalty
yielded it to them on that score yet after all for ought that appears to me we shall never read that any of the Line of Charles the Great call'd the Kingdom of France by that Name 13. When the Caroline Family began to The Fall of the Caroline Race the Rise of the Kingdom of Germany under Otho 1. decline and the Germans had divided themselves from the Kingdom of France and Italy was afflicted with great Commotions there sprung up other States out of the Ruins of this House and amongst them Otho the First King of Germany who having overcome Berengarius and reduced the Kingdom of Italy the Popes who could not trust to their States thought fit to put Otho in possession of the same Power that had been enjoyed by the Family of Charles the Great and consented That for the future the Protection of the See of Rome should be united to the Kingdom of Germany so that whosoever enjoyed that Kingdom should be the Protector of that See But then after many of those old German Kings had couragiously executed that Office upon the See of Rome and in the mean time the Wealth and Power not only of the See of Rome but of the Bishopricks of Germany was become very great the Popes of Rome began to grow weary of this German Protection too the Causes of this were 1. The Aversion common to all Nations against a Foreign Dominion 2. The Indignity which was offered hereby to the Italick People who having ever been celebrated for Civil Prudence were by this kept under the Tutelage of the less-politick Germans 3. Besides it was very uneasie to the Vicar of J. C. to be any longer under the Guardianship of another whose fingers itched to be giving Laws to all Princes therefore for the shaking off this Yoke they took this course viz. They found out ways by the means of the Bishops to imbroil the Affairs of these Kings sometimes in Germany and at others in Italy and the Pope seconded them with his Fulminations or Censures which in those Ages were wonderful terrible Thus by degrees the Kings of Germany grew weary of Italy and being content with their own Kingdom left the See of Rome to the sole management of the Popes which they had sought so many Ages and by such a variety of Arts to the embroiling all Europe After this the Kings of Germany a long time omitted the being crowned at Rome yet they retained the old Titles of Emperors of Rome and when they entred upon the Kingdom the Defence of the See of Rome was in the first place enjoin'd them from which care the Protestant Electors have since given the Emperor a Discharge 14. By all that has been said it will appear The Kingdom of Germany has not succeeded in the Roman Empire how childishly they are mistaken who think the Kingdom of Germany his succeeded in the Place of the old Roman Empire and that it is continued in this Kingdom when in truth that Empire which was seated at Rome was destroyed many Ages before Germany became one Kingdom and that Roman Empire which was given to Charles and Otho which was nothing but the Advousion and Protection of the See of Rome in length of time fixed its Name upon that Kingdom of Germany tho' the States of the Church in Italy never were united into one and the same Polity with the Kingdom of Germany much less did either Charles or Otho submit their proper Kingdoms to Rome as the Metropolis or Seat of the Empire In the mean time because it was believed the very Title of Emperor of Rome upon the account of the Greatness of that ancient Empire had something of Majesty and Grandeur in it it was frequently given to the Kings of Germany only And the consequence of this was that Germany was afterwards call'd the Roman Empire by way of Honour but the different Coronations which belong to them do not obscurely shew that there is a real difference to be made between the Roman Empire and the Kingdom of Germany and the later Emperors since Maximilian I. after the Title of Roman Emperor expresly subjoin that of King of Germany The Germans also at this day do commonly call their State The Roman Empire of the Teutonick Nation which form of Speech seems to contain in it a contradiction Seeing it is very certain the present State of Germany is not one and the same with the ancient Roman Empire yet the Kings of Germany retain the Title which has been received tho' they have for a long time omitted the Reception of the Crown of Rome and use very little of the ancient Rights of an Advocate which belonged heretofore to them because Princes do more easily part with the things in dispute than with the Titles to them Now whether that Right they once had is by the lapse of time expir'd or preserved by the use of the Title only we shall hereafter when occasion is offered enquire 15. But in the mean time the Title of the The Title of Roman Emperor damageable to Germany Empire of Rome is so far from being any advantage that it is manifest it has been the cause of great Mischief and Inconvenience to Germany Priests are alwaies ready to receive but never part with any thing and whereas all other Clients dispose their Masters to favour them by their Presents if a Priest be not fed with new Presents he presently snarles and imputes his Blessing as a wonderful Obligation I should think that the ancient Princes heaped their Bounties upon the Clergy of Germany principally because they were made believe God expected they should provide plentifully for that Order of Men. And what has been spent by Germans in Journies to Rome for the Imperial Crown What Treasures and Men have been consumed in Italick Expeditions in composing the Commotions stirr'd up by the Popes and in protecting them against refractory men that have attack'd them is not to be conceived Nor has any Foreigner got much by attacking Italy the Spaniards excepted who have stuck so many years in the Bowels of * The Author tho'a German pretends to be an Italian our Country that we have never yet been able to â—epell them Lastly no Princes were oftner fulminated by that See than the German Emperors nor was any of them more exercised by the frequent Seditions of the Churchmen than they the principal cause of all which misfortunes seem to have arisen from hence That they thought these Princes who had this Title from the See of Rome in which they took such pride were obliged by it above all other Men to promote the Affairs of that See Or otherwise because that Order of Men is above all others unwilling to be subject to the Soveraignty of another and with Mother-Church is ever seeking how to shake off the hated Secular Authority yet I would have this understood with Salva reverentia sanctissimae sedis a saving the Reverence and Respect due
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
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.
and Obedience to the new King than a Free Election for they rarely departed from the Order of a Lineal Succession but when there were Factions or the next Heir in the Line was wholly unfit for Government A part of Germany was before this time united by Conquest to the Crown of France and the rest of it was subdued by the victorious Arms of Charles the Great Whether any part of this Country freely and willingly submitted to him out of Reverence to his Greatness is very uncertain He also by his Arms conquered the Kingdom of the Lombards in Italy the Pope of Rome affording him a Pretence for it after which he was by the Pope and People of Rome saluted Emperor of Rome and Augustus Now what he gain'd by this Title we shall by and by inform you 8. Thus under Charles the Great Germany Germany a part of the Kingdom of France became a part of the Kingdom of France and was sufficiently subject to the Absolute Empire or Soveraignty of those Princes During this state of Affairs it was divided into divers Provinces which were governed by Counts or Earls and Marquesses who were for the most part of French extraction yet in these times the Saxons enjoy'd a greater shew of Liberty because Charles the Great had not been able to reduce them without a long and tedious War and was at last to perfect the Work and establish his Soveraignty necessitated to admit them to a participation of the Priviledges enjoy'd by the Franks and to unite them into one Nation with their Conquerors That he might further assure himself of this fierce Nation which was so impatient of Servitude he call'd in the assistance of the Priests who were ordered to teach them the Christian Faith and to inculcate into them how much they were obliged to those who had shewn them the way of obtaining Eternal Life On this account many Bishopricks and Abbies in Germany were founded by Charles the Great Germany was in the same estate under Saint Lewis the Son of Charles but that the Authority of the Prefects or Governours of the Provinces began to grow greater 9. But afterwards when the Children of The Children of St. Lewis divide their Father's Kingdom this Lewis had divided their Father's Kingdom amongst them which was the first and principal cause of the Ruin of the French Power and of the Caroline Family Germany became separated from the French Empire and was a distinct Kingdom under Lewis II. Son of St. Lewis To it was afterwards added a great part of the Belgick France or of the Low Countries as it is now called which lies towards the Rhine which for the most part was inhabited by German Nations which from Lotharius another of the Sons of St. Lewis was then called the Kingdom of Lorrain though at this day only a very small part of that Kingdom retains the old name During the destructive Wars which followed after these times between the Posterity of Charles the Great not only the German Nobility gained exorbitant Power but the very Family of Charles was at last totally extinguished or at least deprived of the Crown of France for to this day the Dukes of Lorrain and the Electors Palatine pretend to be descended of that Family and the Germans chose themselves Kings out of the Nobility of their own Nation from which times Germany became again a free State and Germany a free State had no dependance on the Crown of France Now because the German State is commonly call'd the Sacred Roman Empire I think it will be worth my pains to enquire How it first obtained this Title what it has gained by it and by what Right it now enjoys that Name for the clear understanding of which it will be necessary shortly to recapitulate the state the Roman Empire in the West was reduced to before the times of Charles the Great 10. It is very well and commonly known A short account of the Roman Empire after what manner the People of Rome after they had by the Success of their Arms subdued the noblest part of the then known World were at last by the ambition of a few over-potent Citizens engaged in Civil Wars and at length brought under the Dominion of a single person But then Augustus the Founder of the Roman Empire or Monarchy when he had by the assistance of the Army gained the Empire perswaded himself that he should easily keep it by the same way Therefore tho' from thenceforward he seemed to leave some of the Affairs of the State to the disposal of the Senate that it might still seem to have a share in the Government yet he wholly kept in his own hands the Care and Government of the Army But then it was his principal care to conceal from the Rabble of the Army That the Souldiers were the men who could set up and pull down the Emperors which Secret when it was once discovered the State of the Empire became as miserable as the Condition of the Emperors for the Empire being weakened by frequent intestine Wars found it self also often exposed to the worst of men by a covetous and turbulent Rabble which oftentimes most wickedly murdered her best Princes to her great damage and sorrow Nor could any of her Emperors after this entertain any hopes of firmly settling the Empire in their Families but was necessitated to be contented with a precarious Title amongst a parcel of mercenary Souldiers So that in truth the whole power of making the Emperors was in the Army which is the common Attendant of all Military Monarchies where a strong and perpetual Army is kept together in any one place and the Senate and People of Rome were weak and vain Names made use of to delude the simple common People as if the free and voluntary consent of the whole Body had constituted the Emperor That Kingdom thus founded on a Military Licence as it was unfit for continuance was by Constantine the Great and Theodosius hastened to its fatal period the first of these making Byzantium now called Constantinople the Seat of the Empire and withdrawing the Armies which had till then been maintained on the East of the Rhine for its preservation and the later by dividing the Empire between his two Sons Arcadius and Honorius soft lasie Princes and neither of them fit for such a Command From thence forward there were two Kingdoms for one and this Division was no way useful but only for the fitting the Western part by separating it from the Eastern to be the more easie Prey to the barbarous Nations and accordingly not long after this an end was put to the Western Empire and Rome was taken and sack'd by the Goths which before that had been deprived of all her Provinces by as good Right as she had got them and now in her turn lost her beloved Liberty and became a part of the Gothick Kingdom 11. After this the Gothick Power being Rome for
are elected by the Suffrage or Voices of the Senate and here the Senate is no way subject to the People nor bound to give any account to them of their Administration of the Publick Affairs In other places the Populace is uppermost and the Form democratical and here the Senate is filled by the choice of the Tribes or Companies and they have also a Power to call the Senate to account 3. But then the German Writers are by The Form of the whole Body is neither of these but an irregular System no means agreed what Form belongs to the whole Body of the German Empire which is an infallible sign of an irregular Form and no less also of the Ignorance of these Authors who with small Abilities and little Learning have pretended too hastily to write of what they did not understand yet I do not remember I ever saw one Author that did say it was a Democrasie yet some have had so little wit as to say none were parts of this State but those that had a Right to vote in the Diet in this without doubt blindly following Aristotle who defines a Citizen to be one that has a Right to deliberate and vote in the Commonwealth Affairs Now if we could grant this then it would be a Democrasie because all its Parts are composed of the States only who have every one of them a Right to debate and vote in the Diet and the Emperor is the Prince or Head of the State but he that should extend that Definition further than the popular Cities of Greece for whom only it was made would certainly be guilty of very great Absurdities For who can think that Freemen and Gentlemen too who have great Estates and Families of their own and live in Kingdoms or Commonwealths are not to be accounted * Cives Members of their Government though they are admitted to no share of the Government or Who in a Kingdom can think the King the only Member or in an Aristocracy would esteem none such but the Senators 4. The greatest part of those who pretend Many pretend the Empire is an Aristocrasie to exquisite Knowledge in Politicks and a great love of the German Liberty pretend it is meer Aristocrasie these maintain their said Opinion by these following Arguments 1. There is no reason say they that any man should be removed from this Opinion by the outside appearance of things which seem to represent to us a Monarchy viz. The proud Flourishes of great Titles and the usual Forms of Address much of which is owing to the Genius of the German Tongue which abounds in such vain insignificant luxuriant Expressions and the rest proceed from the ancient form of Government which was indeed Monarchical though the present is nothing less for they in truth are in possession of the Supreme Authority who dispatch the greatest Affairs of the State as they themselves think fit by what Title soever they are call'd 2. That it is not at all contrary to the nature of an Aristocrasie to have an Head a little higher than the rest who may be the Director of their Councils and the President of their Senate and on that Score be of greater Authority than the rest 3. That the form of any State ought to be distinguished from the manner of its Administration which distinction is to be thus explicated That it sometimes happeneth that one State imitates the manner of Administration proper to or very like that of another Form of Government or which at least may have some signs of it Thus if a King that is a real Monarch thinks fit to consult his People or a Senate of them the first of these will seem to have something of a Democrasie and the latter of an Aristocrasie and yet after all the Form is a real Monarchy and nothing else for these Conventions of the People or Senate are nothing but an Assembly of Counsellors and the King has no necessary dependance on them And on the contrary in a Democrasie or Aristocrasie the principal Magistrate or Prince of the Senate who has the Office of consulting the Senate or Assembly in all publick Affairs of executing the Laws and enforcing their Decrees and in whose Name the publick Acts and Decrees are made will indeed be a lively Figure of a Monarch but yet still the Supreme Authority will nevertheless still reside in the People or Senate There are some indeed who oppose this distinction chiefly on this ground Because the Form is the beginning or first mover of Operations and they must of necessity follow the nature of their efficient Cause Now say they the Form of a State is as it were the Fountain from whence all the Operations pertaining to the Administration of that State flow and therefore it is impossible the Form should differ from the Administration To this others reply That we ought to distinguish in these Cases between what one doth in his own Name or Right and what he doth in anothers In the first of these there can be no difference between the Form and the Manner of Administration in the latter it is not impossible for a man to seem to be what he really is not The thing in short is thus The different Forms of States or Governments result or spring from the different Subject to whom the Supreme Power is committed or annexed as it is a single Person or a Council or Senate consisting of a few men or of all the People but then what Ministers are employed by them that have that Power in the executing of it is nothing to the purpose or all one I might say also that Axiom on which the Argument resteth is only true in natural Agents but cannot rightly be applied as it is here to free Agents who can govern their Actions as they please themselves 5. But then though these things may The German Empire is no Aristocrasie thus with Subtilty enough be disputed in the Schools yet no wise man will thereby be perswaded to think the German Empire is an Aristocrasie especially if he has any competent degree of Civil or Politick Experience and Knowledge because the Essence of an Aristocrasie lies in the committing the Supreme Authority to a fixed and perpetual Senate or Council which has a Right to deliberate consult on and determine all the publick Concerns and Affairs of that State committing only the daily and emergent Affairs to some Magistrates who are to execute the same and are bound to give an account of their Actions to that Senate But then there is no such Senate in Germany for the Chambers of Spire and Vienna do only judge of Appeals and the Diet is not holden as a settled and perpetual Senate which has the Soveraign Authority and is to direct all the publick Affairs of a State ought to be but has ever been call'd upon particular and emergent Causes There are some so weak as to conclude the German Empire is infallibly
some time under the Greek Emperors entirely ruin'd Rome and a considerable part of Italy returned under the Obedience of the Greek Emperors tho' on the account of her former Majesty and for that Constantinople was considered as the Metropolis Italy was rather treated by them as an Ally than as a subject Province But however the Supremacy was acknowledged to be in the Emperor of Greece who exercised it in Rome and those other parts of Italy which were under his Jurisdiction by his Exarchs But by degrees the Popes became weary of this Greek Empire they lay the blame however on the Misgovernment of the Exarchs and because some of the Greek Emperors were too severe against Images which they yet judged a most useful Tool to instruct the Many in the Superficial Rites of Religion which as they said was become incapable of receiving or bearing a more solid Piety nor was it so profitable to the Priests to let the People know a good and holy Life would certainly please God Perhaps also it was believed the Church would be very much exalted in her Authority if the Pope could by degrees gain the Secular Empire as he had already in a good degree assumed the Supremacy in Ecclesiastical or Sacred Affairs throughout the World And in truth it did not seem fit that he should live in subjection to the Slave of a Greek Emperor who sometimes was deprived of his Virilities whom God had intrusted with such Power as his own Vicar in the World that he being freed from the Care of the Church might be at the better leisure to attend the Civil Affairs of the World and that they too had been delegated by God to the Pope if it had not been apparent that the holy minds of these Bishops were so taken with the Pleasures of Divine Affairs that they wholly declined the being concerned in these prophane Employments But then though The Lombards feared by the Popes the Greek Emperor was not much feared both on the score of his distance and also because he had enough to do to defend himself against the Saracens which then from the East fiercely and successfully attack'd the Empire yet the Power of the Lombards was more dreadful and hung like a mighty Tempest over all Italy and had almost made themselves Masters of the Suburbs of Rome and the Pope not being able alone to grapple with this Enemy could bethink him of no body that was able to succour the See of Rome in this exigence but the King of France and he too was very much disposed to it by the Prospect of that Glory which would attend the rescuing from Injury that Person who like an unexhaustible Fountain dispensed to all Christian Souls the Waters of Divine Grace The Pope also had before-hand very much obliged Pipin the Father and Charles the Son by his ready consenting That Chilprick King of France should be shaven and turn'd into a Monastery Which could never be equally recompensed by those Princes who might otherwise have had painful Scruples of Conscience to perswade themselves That a Subject might lawfully shave his Prince and make him of a Monarch become a Monk who was guilty of no other fault but his having committed more Power to a Potent Minister than was consistent with the safety of his Crown and Kingdom And in this the Fates strangely befriended the French in giving them so plausible a pretence of invading and possessing our Italy which has alwaies been courted by the Vltra-montane Kingdoms 12. After then that Charles the Great had subdued all that part of Italy which was before Charles the Great subdues the Lombards and is made Emperor subject to the Lombards the Pope who had a good share of the Prey that he might shew his gratitude and assure himself for the future a Potent Defender declared Charles Emperor and Augustus with the Approbation of the People Now it is not easie to conceive what Charles got by this Title in truth Rome long before this was not the Seat of the ancient Roman Empire being made first a Part of the Gothick Kingdom and after that of the Eastern Empire and therefore the Romans could not give that to Charles which heretofore belonged to the Western Empire for all that Right was determin'd by Conquest and the Right of War by Cession and Desertion and was now for a long time in the peaceable possession of others And even Rome her self was not sui juris and therefore could not give her self to another And therefore Charles was at first in doubt whether he should accept the Title till he had made an agreement with the Greek Emperor and obtained his consent The Emp. of Constantinople who was then weak and needed the Friendship of Charles yielded the point without any difficulty to preserve Calabria and those other Ports he had yet left him in Italy So that upon the whole Charles the Great under the Or rather Protector and Advocate of the See of Rome splendid Title of Emperor borrowed from the ancient State of Rome but in a very different sense was made the Supreme Defender Protector and Advocate of the See of Rome and of the States belonging to it either by the Usurpation of the Pope or the Liberality of others Now whether this Defence and Protection included in it a Supreme Empire or Dominion over that See as some Civilians have said seems a doubt to me and I should rather think there was a kind of unequal League only entred between Charles and the See of Rome That he should defend her against all Invaders or by his Authority compose all internal Commotions which might tend to the damage or dishonour of that See and on the other side the See of Rome should pay a due respect to his Majesty and not undertake any thing which was of great consequence without his Authority or Leave and in the first place that no man should be admitted Pope against his will From whence it will appear that the See of Rome from thenceforward became a particular State and properly speaking was not united to the Kingdom of France And that Charles the Great was not the Master of the See of Rome and the States belonging to it nor did he exercise a Soveraign Dominion over her by making Laws imposing Tributes creating Magistrates or exercising any Jurisdiction or the like for all these things are not above the Pretences of an Advocate viz. To expel a Pope that entered by ill Arts to reduce into Order such as designed the Ruine of the Church or any other signal damage or to subdue the Romans or any other who should rebel against the Pope Charles and some of his Posterity tho' they seemed fond enough of the Titles of Emperors and Augusti and on However neither he nor any of his Successors would suffer France to be taken for a part of the Empire that account took upon them the Priority amongst the other European Princes who willingly
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
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
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
an Aristocrasie only because in the Diet things pass by a majority of Votes for in many Kingdoms there are Parliaments or Assemblies of the States which are of the same nature with the Diets of Germany and in them too the majority of Voices prevails and yet they are Monarchies and not Aristocrasies as for example England Sweden and Scotland What is more usual than for a System of States which are united only by a strict League and Combination to hold their Assemblies Diets or Parliaments And thus have all of them as much Power over the Members of their States as the Diet of Germany have over the States that compose it The Society of the Amphyctyones and Achaeans in old times and the Diets of the Cantons in Switzerland and the Grisons and the Assemblies of the United Provinces in their States-General at the Hagne in latter times are full and clear Instances of this and true Aristocrasies have all of them this in common viz. That no one in the Senate is superiour to the whole Senate and they all of them are bound as much to obey the Decree of the major part of the Senate as any other Subject and the Senate has a Power of Life and Death over all the Members of it which is by no means true of the Diet of Germany And in an Aristocrasie the Senators have their private Estates which commonly are greater than those of the private Subjects yet not only the publick Revenues but the private Estates of the Senators are as much subject to the Laws and Decrees of the Senate as the Estates of private men But in Germany if you remove out of the Computation that which belongs to the several Members of the State there will be nothing left for the Diet or Body to dispose of And it would be a great abatement of the German Liberty to assert the Diet there has the same Authority over the Estates of its Members that the Senate of the most Serene Republick of Venice has over those of its Senators As to that famous Speech of Albert Archbishop of Mentz when the Electors were considering whether they should elect Charles V. or Francis I. That the Government of France was too Monarchical and that the Princes of Germany did rather incline to an Aristocrasie which they ought carefully to preserve This may easily be thus answered There is no reason to suppose that Prelate had any exact knowledge of Politicks and the sence of what he said is true though he has ill expressed himself viz. That if the German Princes were desirous to continue in the same condition they then were they were to avoid the Empire or Government of a King of France whose great design it ever was to reduce the Nobility of their own Kingdom under the Laws of an Absolute Monarchy and would without all doubt endeavour to do the same thing in Germany 6. It remains now that we consider The German Empire no Regular Monarchy whether it may be taken into the List or Number of Monarchies or Kingdoms of these there are two sorts the Absolute and the Limited In the first the whole Soveraign Power is in the hands of the Monarch by what Title soever he is call'd and he governs all the publick Affairs as he himself pleaseth But in the latter the King is bound up by certain Laws in the exercise of the Soveraign Power All those that have not exactly considered the Difference between these two Species of Monarchies have committed great Errors whilst because the Emperor has not an Absolute Soveraignty they falsly conclude that he has not a Limited neither Now he that can think the Emperor is an Absolute Monarch is wonderful silly and the Arguments that are brought for it deserve rather to be hissed at than answered seriously It is full as absurd to fetch an Argument to prove the German Emperor absolute from the Visions of Daniel as from the Books of the Civil Law That the Emperor has no Superiour but God and the Sword gives him no more Absolute Authority over the Princes of Germany than it gives to the State of Holland over the other Six who may as truly say this as he As to the empty Titles as for example that he is by all the States and Princes stiled their most merciful Lord and that in the conclusion of their Letters they promise much in the Matter of Loyalty and Obedience to him the Genius of the Age the Stile of the Times are responsable for them and there is no more to be expected from them than from other Expressions of Honour and Respect in which the most unwilling to act is the most forward to promise what he never means to perform That Plenitude and Perfection of Power which the Secretaries and Clerks ascribe to the Emperor in their Letters and Decrees is a meer Jargon of insignificant words The States do indeed swear Allegiance to the Emperor but with a saving of their own Liberties and Rights And I have already sufficiently shewn what Power is thereby reserved and secured to them but to use any more words in so plain a case were not only needless but foolish 7. The Opinion of those who have ascribed That it is no Limited Monarch to the Emperor a Supreme Regal Power but limited and restrained within the Bounds of certain Laws has seemed the most probable of all other to the greatest part of men and you shall also frequently hear this Opinion defended and stoutly maintained in the Schools of Germany The first that appeared openly against Hippolithus a Lapide considered and confuted this Opinion was a nameless Author under the feigned Title of Hippolithus a Lapide in the heat of the Imperial and Swedish War This Writer saith many things of unquestionable veracity which no modest man can deny but then it is no less apparent his implacable Hatred to the House of Austria has in other things mis-led and deceived him The prohibiting the reading of this Book was the only thing that gave it Reputation and made Learned men inquisitive after it so that it was read with unusual Application and Care Yet however I should never have mention'd it but that I find many still so fond of it that they still think it an invaluable Treasure and that all those that have pretended to answer it have rather trifled with the Subject or basely flattered the Emperor than destroyed his Reasons This Author has well and clearly proved that the Emperor has not a Supreme and Regal Authority over the Princes and States of Germany but then is strangely absurd when he makes the Emperor subject to the States and gives him nothing but the naked Dignity of a subordinate Magistrate that wears a great many proud Titles precariously bestowed upon him as if whereever the Monarchy is not Absolute it must presently degenerate into an Aristocrasie and a Prince must presently acknowledge all those to be his Superiors whom he could not
command and govern as he pleased He that observes this one Mistake will be able by it to unravel and disbowel all his weak Arguments And yet besides this he mingles many other silly Fallacies of which I shall mention some few to expose his Folly To prove that the Soveraign Majesty is alwaies in the Princes he alledgeth That it is in them when the Imperial Throne is vacant But who knows not that In all other Kingdoms during the Interregnum the Soveraign Power returns into the hands of the People or of their Representatives the States which yet they can retain no longer than till they have made a new King Nor doth a man presently make every one his Master to whom he willingly gives an account of his Actions It is one thing to give an account to a Superiour who can punish me if I have not performed my Duty to his satisfaction and quite another thing to do it to one who expects it according to an Agreement to that purpose made between us and it is yet less when I do it to preserve my own Reputation and without any other Motive or Reason Thus Kings when they begin a War endeavour to satisfie all the World in the Justice of their Cause Thus one Companion or Partner gives the other and a Guardian gives the Pupil when he comes to Age an account of his Administration Nor is he anothers Master and Superiour who can remove him from his Office for that a man may by Compact and Agreement be preferred to the management of their common Concerns so that neither of these may have any direct and true Authority or Soveraignty over the other and so when he doth not please the other Party and for that cause is deposed or turn'd out of his Administration it has no other effect or cause than the breaking off the Bargain made with him because he has not performed his part of the Contract and satisfied the Conditions of the Covenant And yet perhaps a man might doubt whether all that was done in the Cases of Henry IV. and Adolph of Nassaw were legally and regularly done but that it is notorious the Reverend Bishops of those Ages were the principal Agents in those Affairs What he so largely argues from the Power of the Diet are true as to the matter of Fact but nothing to his purpose for which he alledgeth them for though the Emperor can in truth do nothing against the Consent of the States yet I think it is as true that no man ever heard the States pretended to do any thing without the Consent of the Emperor The Electors in their Capitular do prescribe to the Emperor what he shall and what he shall not do not by force of any Authority they have or pretend to have over him but by way of Contract So that if the Emperor should pretend to enjoin any thing contrary to his Covenants with them they may safely and lawfully not obey him in those Instances But then this springs from the nature of all Contracts and not from any Authority the Electors have over the Emperor That is more probable yet that he alledgeth from Ancient Custom and the Golden Bull viz. That if the Emperor should happen to be complained of in certain particulars he shall be bound to answer the Complaint before the Count Palatine of the Rhine And it is well known that the Three Spiritual Electors cited Albert I. Emperor before Rudolph Count Palatine to plead his Cause and defend himself but then when they had so great a Criminal to contest with they relied more on their Swords and Armies than on their Counsel or Judge But then since the Date of the Golden Bull there is not one Example to be found of any such Suit commenc'd against the Emperor that I have read of The Rise of that Authority which the Count Palatine has did without doubt spring from his Office which in ancient time as Mayor of the Palace he exercised in the King's Court For as he exercised a real Jurisdiction over the other Courtiers so if any thing was demanded of the King which was doubted of it was wont to be referr'd to the Examination of the Count Palatine to whose Sentence the King stood not because he owned the Count who was his Servant and Subject for his Superior but because when he once knew the Petitioner had Right to what he asked it was beneath a King to do him wrong As we have known many Princes in Germany and elsewhere who when they doubted of any Debt demanded of them have answered the Claim in their own Courts And yet it is not to be supposed that these Courts have any Authority over their Princes or could force them to pay those Debts if the Reverence they bear to Justice the Publick and their own Private Conscience and the desire they naturally have to preserve a good Reputation in the World did not much more powerfully move them to pay them than the Authority of these Courts which are managed by their Subjects and Servants And I believe the States of Germany think they are happy enough in this Priviledge That the Emperor can exact nothing of them against their wills and that the Wisest of them would disclaim the Invidious Liberty of commanding their own Emperor 8. Doubtless the Emperor would with The Arguments of those that pretend it is a Limited Monarchy answered great facility compound the Dispute with our Hippolitus and obtain his Leave to continue a Prince still and not be reduced by him to the mean condition of a Subject But they are not so easily baffled who allow the Emperor to be a Soveraign but Limited King and ascribe unto the States great Liberties but tempered too by Laws and so place Germany in the List of Limited Monarchies for as for those who prate of mixed forms of Government they can never disintangle themselves from the Objections brought against them for that not only all kinds of mixture can produce nothing at last but a monstrous deformed Government but it is also certain none of the Notions of that kind will at all fit Germany in which the whole Supreme Power is not undividedly in the hands of many nor are the Parts of it divided between divers Persons or Colleges here But to return to our former Monarchists They pretend that the Capitulars made with the Emperors when they are chosen are not at all inconsistent with the nature of a Limited Monarchy as for instance That he is bound to administer the Government according to the Fundamental Laws and to require the Consent of the States in their Diet for those things that are of the greatest moment That he cannot enact new Laws without their Consent nor change any thing in the matters of Religion nor make War or Peace or enter Leagues without the Approbation of his Subjects That he must determine their Controversies in certain known Courts and by Stated Laws and Methods And whereas the Princes
and States swear Fidelity both to the Empire and the Emperor this they think may be thus explained That they will obey the Emperor as far as he shall employ their Assistance and Treasures to the Publick Good and as far as is expressed in the Laws and that as to the rest of the States they will live like good Neighbours and true Fellow-Subjects But still at last there are two things that will not suffer us to reckon Germany amongst the Limited Monarchies First In Two Arguments against This. every Limitted Kingdom though the King is bound up by some certain Laws in the management of its Government yet after all he so far excells all his Subjects that none of them dares presume to compare his Liberty or his Rights with the Power of his Prince and therefore all the Nobility depend on the Will of the King and are responsable to him for their Actions Now that it is otherwise in Germany is known to all the World for none of the German Princes or States will acknowledg that the Dominions which are under them are more the Emperor's than they are theirs or that they are bound in the Administration of them to have respect more to the Service of the Emperor or the People than to their own Personal Profit and Advantage But on the contrary every one of them is so far a Soveraign that he makes War upon his Neighbours at home or abroad and entereth into Leagues with his Neighbours or Foreigners without ever consulting the Emperor and every one of them that can trust to his own Forces or those of his Allies looks upon the Reverence he ows to the Emperor as a meer empty piece of Pageantry To conclude every King how Limited soever he may otherwise be must still have sufficient Power left to command all the Forces of his whole Kingdom and direct them as he thinks fit so that the last Resort may be to him and the said Forces be united in him as their Head for the procuring the Common Good so that they may seem all of them to be as it were animated and governed by one Soul Now he that can see or find this in Germany must be wonderfully quick-sighted for there he that is call'd their King has no Revenues from the Empire but is forced to live by his own Juice there being no common Treasure nor are there any common Forces but every Prince and State disposeth of the Forces and Revenues in his own Territories as he or they think fit and only contributes to the Publick some small matter and that after tedious Delays and much humble Attendance and Courtship for it All which things have been fully and clearly proved in the Chapter before this and are found evidently true in the Actions of these Princes 9. There is now nothing left for us to That it is an irregular System of Soveraign States say but that Germany is an Irregular Body and like some mis-shapen Monster if it be measured by the common Rules of Politicks and Civil Prudence So that in length of time by the Lazy-easiness of the Emperors the Ambition of the Princes and the Turbulence of the Clergy or Church-men from a Regular Kingdom it sunk and degenerated to that degree that it is not now so much as a Limited Kingdom tho' the outward Shews and Appearances would seem to insinuate so much nor is it a Body or System of many Soveraign States and Princes knit and united in a League but something without a Name that fluctates between these two This Irregularity in its Constitution affords the matter of an inextricable and incurable Disease and many internal Convulsions whilst the Emperor is alwaies labouring to reduce it to the condition of a Regular Empire Kingdom or Monarchy and the States on the other side are restlesly acquiring to themselves a full and perfect Liberty But then as it is the nature of all Degenerations that they go forward in their Degeneracy and Corruption with great Facility it being a down-hill motion but they can hardly and with much difficulty be reduced to the pristine or ancient state for as a Stone laid on the edge of a Precipice or Downfall is with the smallest Thrust thrown down to the bottom but it is not to be replaced again at the top without great and almost insuperable difficulty So now Germany without great Commotions and the utmost Confusion of all things can never be reformed or reduced to the Laws of a Just and Regular Kingdom but it tends naturally to the state of a Confederate System Nay if you take away the mutual Bond or Tie between the Emperor and the States I suppose he means their Oaths Germany would then truly be a System of States united in an unequal League because those that are called the States are still bound to reverence the Imperial Majesty as their Head For a Free State we may take for our Example of this the League between the Romans and the Latin People before the latter were reduced into the condition of meer Subjects So the Generalship of Agamemnon in the Warlike Expedition of the Greeks against the Trojans was of the same nature And it commonly comes to pass in length of time that he that is the Superiour in these Leagues if he has much the advantage of his Allies in point of Power by degrees he sinks them into the condition of meer Subjects and so treats them Thus the best account we can possibly give of the Present State of Germany is to say That it comes very near a System of many Soveraign States in which one Prince or General of the League excells the rest of the Confederates and is cloathed with the Ornaments of a Soveraign Prince but then this Body is attack'd by furious Diseases of which I shall treat in the next Chapter CHAP. VII Of the Strength and Diseases of the German Empire 1. THE Forces of any State may be considered as they are in themselves or as by reason of the elegant Structure of its Form or Constitution they may be used Forces considered in themselves consist in The Subjects of Humane Force Men and Things As to the first of these Men Germany has no reason to complain that it wants numbers of them or they Wit or Ingenuity there is so great a multitude of the principal Nobility and they too are in such splendid circumstances that there is scarcely the like to be found elsewhere in all the World The Gentry or Inferiour Nobility are neither for want of Ground or by their over-great number compell'd to condescend to the exercise of mean and sordid Arts Trades Perhaps yet there are more of them employed in Learning than is convenient though amongst the many Graduates there are not many eminent Scholars Of Merchants Tradesmen and Mechanicks there is a great plenty But then in many places there is now a want of Husbandmen considering the largeness of the Country This is owing
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
Freedom For whilst every Sect of them believes it has God on their side if any man differeth from them in any thing besides the affront offered to their Authority they are for accusing him forthwith of Impiety Contempt of the Heavenly Truth Obstinacy and Unwillingness to be brought over by another from a manifest Error And yet in the mean time it is a wonder that they which pretend to teach others the utmost Clemency and Goodness of the Christian Religion should not observe what horrid Passions they carry about them Or let them shew me some other sort of men more ambitious covetous envious angry stubborn and selfish than they if this is possible who so soon as ever they meet a man that differeth a little from them presently damn him to the Pit of Hell and will not suffer God himself to reverse their outragious Sentence But then for men to be a little more than ordinarily warm when they find their beloved Wealth like to be diminished that though not often mentioned for good Causes is not altogether so irrational 7. But for the more accurate knowledg The Tempers of the Three Religions in Germ. of the Causes of our Dissentions it is necessary here to make a close reflection on the Tempers of the three Religions which are now allowed a publick Liberty in Germany I shall not trouble my self with a curious Enquiry how well each of them can prove their respective Doctrins by the Authority of the Sacred Scriptures because we are only allowed the use of them for the Improvement of our private Piety and so are not allowed to suppose we can understand them and are besides bound to think our Church loves us too well to destroy us by false Doctrine yet we may be allowed to see and consider how far the way they teach us of going to Heaven will agree with our other Temporal Interests for I cannot think the Deity ever intended his Worship should embroil and disquiet the World That therefore I may The Temper of the Lutherans considered begin regularly I will consider the Lutherans in the first place because they first deserted our Holy Roman Catholick Church And I say I could never yet find any thing in their Doctrine which was contrary to the Principles of Civil Prudence and Government The Power they ascribe to Princes for the governing Religion is indeed not so favourable to the excessive Grandeur of the Priests so where it has prevail'd their Wealth is little but the Commonwealth has the benefit of that Abatement The People are taught by them to reverence their Magistrates and Princes as the Ministers of God and that all the good works expected from them is to do the Duties of Good men Nor am I displeased that they have retained so much of the Ceremonial Part and the Pomp of Religion which serves to divert the minds of the People who have not sence enough to contemplate the Beauty of simple undress'd Piety So that though their Religious Mysteries are not adorned to the frightful height of Superstition yet they are in a decent and grave Dress and adapted to teach Mankind that the Divine Wisdom and Power is able to effect that which we are not able throughly to comprehend the very Rusticity and Simplicity that appears in the Professors of that Religion and which is so much blamed by some is to me a sign and a testimony of their Sincerity and Uprightness So that as it is not possible to imagine a Religion that can be more serviceable and useful to the Princes of Germany than that of the Lutherans we may from hence conclude that this is the best for a Monarchy of any in the World And if Charles V. had not been diverted by the consideration of his other States and Kingdoms he must as Emperor of Germany have been thought blind and impolitick in not taking the opportunity the Reformation offered him to enrich the Patrimony of the Empire when so many of the Princes and Free Cities had before shewed him the way and would very gladly have permitted him to have shared in the Prey and the People were generally so taken with their new Preachers that he needed not to have feared them As to the Calvinists or Presbyterians it differeth very The Temper of the Calvinists little from the Lutheran but only in their great Zeal for sweeping out all the Roman Catholick Rites and Ceremonies with the Dust of their Churches and in a design to new polish the Lutheran Doctrine and to make it more subtile neither of which Intentions are accommodated or suited to the Minds of the meaner People for they are apt to fall asleep when the whole Service of God in publick is reduced to a Psalm and a Sermon and when it is once made a fashionable thing to have the meanest of men exercise their Curiosity upon the most Sacred Parts of Religion the most perverse and ignorant will soon catch the Itch of Innovating and Inventing and when they have once started a new Opinion they will persist in and defend it with invincible stubbornness yea some of them have faln into lamentable Follies and with them it was a great Sin to have a comely Head of Hair And it has long since been observed by wisemen That the Genius of this Religion is purely Democratick ☞ and adapted to Popular Liberty and a Commonwealth For when the People once are admitted to a share in the Government and Discipline of the Church it will presently seem very unreasonable to them that one Prince should without them govern the great Affairs of the State These two Religions having spread themselves The extent of these two Religions over a great part of Germany by their mutual Enmity each to other gave Opportunities to the Roman Catholicks to destroy them both Now what Reason can any man assign for this but the Perverseness of their Ministers who were on both sides more concern'd to maintain their Reputations than their Doctrine and they thought that they should certainly much sink in the esteem of Men if they should tamely submit their Judgments to such as explained things better than they could or taught them more Humility and Modesty than they had occasion for For The Differences destructive as for these two Parties there is no Contest between them which is attended with any Gain or Loss it being equally mischievous to both of them to be forced again to submit to the Church of Rome And therefore seeing the Ministers could never be perswaded to sacrifice their Obstinacy to the Peace of the Publick it had been the Duty of the Princes by degrees to have laid these Controversies asleep not by violent methods which commonly exasperate Dissenters but by oblique ways and Artifice For if Princes in chusing their Ministers would for the future not regard the Names of Mens Parties but the Abilities and Endowments of their Minds and if the Subjects were inured to bear an equal
Authority given him equal to that of God This Vicar of God cannot err and administreth the Function of a Turn-key to the Gates of Heaven and Hell with an Authority above controul and from which there lies no Appeal And in the better and more fortunate Ages of this Church it was most firmly believed too that this King was the Disposer of all Kingdoms that he could depose Kings and set others up in their steads but now alas the new Doctors have so traduced this most useful Doctrin that it is become hateful and invidious to the very Catholick Princes themselves and they are fain in some Kingdoms to deny they ever taught any such thing And because the Majesty of this King depends only on the Opinion of his Sanctity they have wisely contrived that it should pass by Election for fear this Royal Blood should degenerate and that this Throne may ever be filled with a person free from the defects of Youth and to the end he might be more intent upon the Good of the Church than the enriching his Family For this last reason they have denied Marriage to all the Members of this Society the Priests and Clergy that their Family-concerns might not divert them or Wife and Children make them subject to the Wills of their Princes The multitude and variety of their Religious Orders is very great that there might be many in every place to take care of their Affairs and spread their Nets and bait their Hooks to catch the Estates and Goods of the Laity Nor has any Temporal Prince in the whole World so great and profound a Respect and Obedience paid to him by all his Subjects as this Ecclesiastick Monarch and although there are many furious Emulations between his Subjects yet the Pope wisely takes such care to The reason of inventing the Jesuits Order moderate and govern them that they never bring any Damage or Disturbance to his Kingdom Thus all the old Orders look very discontentedly on the new company of the Jesuits because it has much abated the Esteem they enjoy'd before for after this wanton Age would no longer be bridled by the simple ignorant Sanctity of the Monks that holy Society was invented to the great good of the Church which at first with great Art supported this falling Fabrick by undertaking the Instruction of Youth Confession of Penitents and a cunning Scrutiny into the Secrets of all men So that many think all that Job hath said of the Leviathan may in a mystick sence be very aptly applied to this Priestly Empire No doubt can reasonably be made however that the Religion is the very best of all others which heaps most Riches and Honours on all its Votaries and is furnished with the best means of shearing the Sheep to the very Skin and at the same time keeping them as quiet and more obedient than those that have all their Wool left on them to keep them warm I think by this time I have sufficiently proved that they have hitherto managed the Disputes between the Catholicks and the new Teachers very ignorantly for these Catholicks have ranged their Antagonists amongst the Hereticks and raised brutish Cries against them in all places that they ought to be extirpated by Fire and Sword by which they have made all sincere and hearty reconciliation desperate and impossible This has again forced the Hereticks to take the utmost care for their own safety and security and when they had once possessed the Laity with a Suspicion of the Priests Sanctity it was a very easie step by shewing them the Priests Wealth would be their reward to draw them on their side and engage them to be their Defenders But if at first their Brains had lain right there might have been means found out to have sweetned the Minds of the Laity before they embraced that side and that small Saxon Monk Luther might more easily have been won to a reconciliation with the Pope by presenting him with a good fat Benefice than by all the Thunders of the Vatican the force of which by the distance of the place and the coldness of the German Air was so much abated that by that time it reached the Monk the noise the heat and the terror of it was wholly lost And on the other side we cannot enough admire the folly of the modern Protestant Doctors that they should without blushing perswade those of the Church of Rome to leave their present state and renounce all their vast Wealth and to come over to them that they may there be reduced into the mean condition of the vulgar people and work hard for a Living or starve For they have some reason for what they say when they offer the Lay-people more Liberty and the Princes the Spoils of the Priests Yet to give the Roman Catholicks their due after the Terror of the first Defection and the Heat of the first Reformers was abated they recollected the Remains of their broken Forces with all the Industry and Care that was possible and they have ever since managed their affairs with more order and subtilty than the Reformed have theirs for to the best of my remembrance in this present Century none of our Roman Catholick Princes have become Protestants but some of theirs have returned into the Bosom of our Church Christina Queen An Addition of Sweden the House of Newburg now Elector Palatine and James II. late King of Great Britain This Gentleman was going on when the Pope's Nuncio put an end to his Discourse by saying Sir you have sufficiently shewed us what Skill you have in Church affairs and were you to preach these things in the publick you would seldom want Auditors and Approvers though I think the Protestants would not approve of them Then looking upon me he said It was not convenient to have thus on a sudden admitted this Lay-Gent to the knowledge of a Secret which many thousands make it their business to conceal from the most cunning and accomplished Men the World has 9. These things were once discoursed Some Considerations on the excessive Revenues of the Church with this liberty I have represented them in the presence of the Pope's Nuncio who seemed to approve the Candour of this old Minister of State and gave me such encouragement and insight into things that from thence forward I became less scrupulous to converse freely with men of the contrary perswasion whose Hearts are more open than those of our own party are Not long after I met with a man who was well acquainted with the German Affairs and seem'd not very averse to the Protestant Religion which I speak by way of Apology for what I am going to relate that you may not think I do approve of all he said and giving him by chance an account of what I had heard in the fore-recited Conference he began a little higher and added That in a well constituted Government there ought to be some men set apart for the