[414] Great Britain had refused in 1806 to recognize the dissolution of the Empire. And it may indeed be maintained that in point of law the Empire was never extinguished at all, but lives on as a disembodied spirit to this day. For it is clear that, technically speaking, the abdication of a sovereign can destroy only his own rights, and does not dissolve the state over which he presides.
[415] 'Les états d'Allemagne seront independans et unis par un lien federatif.'—Histoire des Traités, xi. p. 257.
[416] The late king of Prussia was actually elected Emperor by the revolutionary Diet at Frankfort in 1848. He refused the crown.
[417] [Since the above was written (in A.D. 1865) sudden and momentous changes have been effected in Germany by the war of 1866; the Prussian kingdom has been enlarged by the annexation of Hanover, Hessen-Cassel, Nassau, and Frankfort; the establishment of the North German Confederation has brought all the states north of the Main under Prussian control; while even the potentates of the south have virtually accepted the hegemony of the house of Hohenzollern. It was the author's intention to have added here a chapter examining these changes by the light of the past history of Germany and the Empire, and tracing out the causes to which the success of Prussia is to be ascribed. But at this moment (July 15th, 1870) the French Emperor declares war against Prussia, and there rises to meet the challenge an united German people,—united for the time, at least, by the folly of the enemy who has so long plotted for and profited by its disunion. Whatever the result of the struggle may be, it is almost certain to alter still further the internal constitution of Germany; and there is therefore little use in discussing the existing system, and tracing the progress hitherto of a development which, if not suddenly arrested, is likely to be greatly accelerated by the events which we see passing.]
[418] See Louis Napoleon's letter to General Forey, explaining the object of the expedition to Mexico.
[419] One may also compare the retention of the office of consul at Rome till the time of Justinian: indeed it even survived his formal abolition. The relinquishment of the title 'King of Great Britain, France, and Ireland,' seriously distressed many excellent persons.
[420] I speak, of course, of the Papacy as an autocratic power claiming a more than spiritual authority.
[421] 'Ipsa enim ecclesia charior Deo est quam cœlum. Non enim propter cœlum ecclesia, sed e converso propter ecclesiam cœlum.' From the tract entitled 'A Letter of the four Universities to Wenzel and Urban VIII,' quoted in an earlier chapter.
[422] Von Raumer, Geschichte der Hohenstaufen, v.
[423] Meaning thereby not the citizens of Rome in her republican days, but the Italo-Hellenic subjects of the Roman Empire.