Page:Readings in European History Vol 2.djvu/538

 500 Readings in European History respect to size and importance, which originally existed among the various members of the confederation, both as regards each other and the whole of which they have formed a part. The diet has no longer a will of its own ; the sentences of the superior courts can no longer be executed ; every- thing indicates such serious weakness that the federal bond no longer offers any protection whatever and only consti- tutes a source of dissension and discord between the powers. The results of three coalitions have increased this weak- ness to the last degree. . . . The Treaty of Pressburg assures complete sovereignty to their Majesties the kings of Bavaria and of Wurtemberg and to his Highness the elector of Baden. This is a prerogative which the other electors will doubtless demand, and which they are justi- fied in demanding ; but this is in harmony neither with the letter nor the spirit of the constitution of the empire. His Majesty the emperor and king is, therefore, com- pelled to declare that he can no longer acknowledge the existence of the German constitution, recognizing, how- ever, the entire and absolute sovereignty of each of the princes whose states compose Germany to-day, maintain- ing with them the same relations as with the other inde- pendent powers of Europe. His Majesty the emperor and king has accepted the title of Protector of the Confederation of the Rhine. He has done this only with a view to peace and in order that by his constant mediation between the weak and the powerful he may obviate every species of dissension and disorder. Having thus provided for the dearest interests of his people and of his neighbors, and having assured, so far as in him lay, the future peace of Europe, and that of Germany in particular, heretofore constantly the theater of war, by removing a contradiction which placed people and princes alike under the delusive protection of a system contrary both to their political interests and to their treaties, his Majesty the emperor and king trusts that the nations of Europe will at last close their ears to the insinuations of