which had been reserved to him. In the exercise of these, on some public occasions, outrages were committed on him, by the people of the city. The consequence was, that the city was put under the ban of the empire; and the Duke of Bavaria, though Director of another circle, obtained an appointment to enforce it. He soon appeared before the city, with a corps of ten thousand troops; and finding it a fit occasion, as he had secretly intended from the beginning, to revive an antiquated claim, on the pretext that his ancestors had suffered the place to be dismembered from his territory,[1] he took possession of it in his own name, disarmed and punished the inhabitants, and reannexed the city to his domains.
It may be asked, perhaps, what has so long kept this disjointed machine from falling entirely to pieces? The answer is obvious. The weakness of most of the members, who are unwilling to expose themselves to the mercy of foreign powers; the weakness of most of the principal members, compared with the formidable powers all around them; the vast weight and influence which the Emperor derives from his separate and hereditary dominions; and the interest he feels, in preserving a system with which his family pride is connected, and which constitutes him the first Prince in Europe: these causes support a feeble and precarious Union; whilst the repellent quality, incident to the nature of sovereignty, and which time continually strengthens, prevents any reform whatever, founded on a proper consolidation. Nor is it to be imagined, if this obstacle could be surmounted, that the neighboring powers would suffer a revolution to take place, which would give to the Empire the force and preëminence to which it is entitled. Foreign nations have long considered themselves as interested in the changes made by events in this Constitu-
- ↑ Pfeffel, Nouvel Abrég. Chronol. de l' Hist. etc., d' Allemagne, says the pretext was to indemnify himself for the expense of the expedition.—Publius.
