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 Europe after the Congress of Vienna 543 III. Germany and the Reaction after 1814 The German liberals came out of the struggle against Napoleon with high hopes. They desired that the many German states might be bound together into a really firm national union, under a constitutional government. Prussia favored this plan at Vienna, but Austria opposed it for obvious reasons, and the German Act of Confeder- ation, drawn up by the Congress of Vienna, established a very loose union of sovereign princes, who dealt with one another almost like independent rulers. Neverthe- less this constitution lasted Germany from 18 15 to 1866, and formed a transition from the ancient Holy Roman Empire, which Napoleon had destroyed, to the present German empire. In the name of the Most Holy and Indivisible Trinity : The sovereign princes and free towns of Germany, ani- mated by the common desire to carry into effect Article VI of the Peace of Paris of May 30, 18 14, and convinced of the advantages which would result for the security and independence of Germany and for the repose and equilib- rium of Europe from a firm and lasting union, have agreed to unite themselves in a perpetual confederation, and have for this purpose invested their envoys and deputies at the Con- gress of Vienna with full powers, viz. : His Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty; the Sieur Clement Wenceslas, Prince of Metternich-Winneburg-Och- senhausen, Knight of the Golden Fleece, Grand Cross of the Royal Order of St. Stephen of Hungary, Knight of the Order of St. Andrew, of the Order of St. Alexander Newsky and of St. Anne of the First Class; Grand Cordon of the Legion of Honor; Knight of the Order of the Elephant, of the Order of the Annunciation, of the Black Eagle, of the Red Eagle, of the Seraphim, of St. Joseph of Tuscany, of St. Hubert, of the Golden Eagle of Wiirtemberg, of the 460. The German Act of Confeder- ation (June 8, 1815). Metternich's grandeur