[406] Let us place side by side the letters of Hadrian to Charles in the Codex Carolinus, and the following preamble to the Concordat of A.D. 1801, between the First Consul and the Pope (which I quote from the Bullarium Romanum), and mark the changes of a thousand years.
'Gubernium reipublicæ [Gallicæ] recognoscit religionem Catholicam Apostolicam Romanam eam esse religionem quam longe maxima pars civium Gallicæ reipublicæ profitetur.
'Summus pontifex pari modo recognoscit eandem religionem maximam utilitatem maximumque decus percepisse et hoc quoque tempore præstolari ex catholico cultu in Gallia constituto, necnon ex peculiari eius professione quam faciunt reipublicæ consules.'
[407] Cf. Heeren, Political System, vol. iii. 273.
[408] He had arch-chancellors, arch-treasurers, and so forth. The Legion of Honour, which was thought important enough to be mentioned in the coronation oath, was meant to be something like the mediæval orders of knighthood: whose connexion with the Empire has already been mentioned.
[409] Napoleon's feelings towards Germany may be gathered from the phrase he once used, 'Il faut depayser l'Allemagne.'
[410] Thus in documents issued by the Emperor during these two years he is styled 'Roman Emperor Elect, Hereditary Emperor of Austria' (erwählter Römischer Kaiser, Erbkaiser von Oesterreich).
[411] This Act of Confederation of the Rhine (Rheinbund) is printed in Koch's Traités (continued by Schöll), vol. viii., and Meyer's Corpus Iuris Confœderationis Germanicæ, vol. i. It has every appearance of being a translation from the French, and was no doubt originally drawn up in that language. Napoleon is called in one place 'Der nämliche Monarch, dessen Absichten sich stets mit den wahren Interessen Deutschlands übereinstimmend gezeigt haben.' The phrase 'Roman Empire' does not occur: we hear only of the 'German Empire,' 'body of German states' (Staatskörper), and so forth. This Confederation of the Rhine was eventually joined by every German State except Austria, Prussia, Electoral Hesse, and Brunswick.
[412] Histoire des Traités, vol. viii. The original may be found in Meyer's Corpus Iuris Confœderationis Germanicæ, vol. i. p. 70. It is a document in no way remarkable, except from the ludicrous resemblance which its language suggests to the circular in which a tradesman, announcing the dissolution of an old partnership, solicits, and hopes by close attention to merit, a continuance of his customers' patronage to his business, which will henceforth be carried on under the name of, &c., &c.
[413] Koch (Schöll), Histoire des Traités, vol. xi. p. 257, sqq.; Haüsser, Deutsche Geschichte, vol. iv.