separately declaring and carrying on war, and of negotiating and making peace with any power foreign to the Confederation, excepting in the single case of a war declared by the Confederation itself; in which case, no State can negotiate with the enemy, nor conclude peace or an armistice, without the consent of the rest.

In other cases of disputes, arising between any State of the Confederation and foreign powers, and the former asks the intervention of the Diet, the Confederation may interfere as an ally, or as a mediator; may examine the respective complaints and pretensions of the contending parties. If the result of the investigation is, that the co-State is not in the right, the Diet will make the most serious. representations to induce it to renounce its pretensions, will refuse its interference, and, in case of necessity, will take all proper means for the preservation of peace. If, on the contrary, the preliminary examination proves that the confederated State is in the right, the Diet will employ its good offices to obtain for it complete satisfaction and security. (e)

confederated

It follows, that not only the internal but the external The Gersovereignty of the several States composing the Germanic manic ConConfederation, remains unimpaired, except so far as it a system of may be affected by the express provisions of the funda- States. mental laws authorizing the federal body to represent their external sovereignty. In other respects, the several confederated States remain independent of cach other, and of all States foreign to the Confederation. Their union constitutes what the German public jurists call a Staatenbund, as contradistinguished from a Bundesstaat; that is to say, a supreme Federal Government. (f)

§ 50. Very important modifications were introduced Act of the into the Germanic Constitution, by an act of the Diet of Diet of 1832. the 28th of June, 1832. By the 1st article of this act it is declared, that, whereas, according to the 57th article of the Final Act of the

(e) Wiener Schlussacte, arts. 35-49. Klüber, § 462.

(ƒ) Klüber, §§ 103 a, 176, 248, 460, 461, 462. Heffter, Das europäische Völkerrecht, § 21.

The Treaty of Paris, 1814, art. 6, declares: "Les états de l'Allemagne seront indépendans et unis par un lien fédératif.”

The Final Act of the Congress of Vienna, 1815, art. 54, declares: "Le but de cette Confédération est le maintien de la sûreté extérieure et intérieure de l'Allemagne, de l'indépendance et de l'inviolabilité de ses états confédérés."

And the Schlussacte, of 1820, declares :

ART. 1. The Germanic Confederation is an international union of the sovereign Princes and Free Cities of Germany, formed for the maintenance of the independence

Congress of Vienna, the powers of the State ought to remain in the hands of its chief, and the sovereign ought not to be bound by the local constitution to require the co-operation of the legislative Chambers, except as to the exercise of certain specified rights; the sovereigns of Germany, as members of the Confederation, have not only the right of rejecting the petitions of the Chambers, contrary to this principle, but the object of the Confederation makes it their duty to reject such petitions.

ART. 2. Since according to the spirit of the said 57th article of the Final Act, and its inductions, as expressed in the 58th article, the Chambers cannot refuse to any German sovereign the necessary means of fulfilling his federal obligations, and those imposed by the local constitution; the cases in which the Chambers endeavor to make their consent to the taxes necessary for these purposes depend upon the assent of the sovereign to their propositions upon any other subject, are to be classed among those cases to which are to be applied the 25th and 26th articles of the Final Act, relating to resistance of the subjects against the government.

ART. 3. The interior legislation of the States belonging to the Germanic Confederation, cannot prejudice the objects of the Confederation, as expressed in the 2d article of the original act of confederation, and in the 1st article of the Final Act; nor can this legislation obstruct in any manner the accomplishment of the federal obligations of the State, and especially the payment of the taxes necessary to fulfil them.

ART. 4. In order to maintain the rights and dignity of the Confederation, and of the assembly representing it, against usurpations of every kind, and, at the same time, to facilitate to the States which are members of the Confederation the maintenance of the constitutional relations between the local governments and the legislative Chambers, there shall be appointed by the Diet, in the first instance, for the term of six years, a commission charged with the supervision of the deliberations of the Chambers, and with directing their attention to the propositions and resolutions which may be found in opposition to the federal obligations, or to the and inviolability of the confederated States, as well as for the internal and external security of Germany.

ART. 2. In respect to its internal relations, this Confederation forms a body of States independent between themselves, and bound to each other by rights and duties reciprocally stipulated. In respect to its external relations, it forms a collective power established on the principle of political union.

rights of sovereignty, guarantied by the compacts of the Confedera tion. This commission is to report to the Diet, which, if it finds the matter proper for further consideration, will put itself in relation with the local government concerned. After the lapse of six years, a new arrangement is to be made for the prolongation of the commission.

ART. 5. Since according to the 59th article of the Final Act, in those States where the publication of the deliberations of the Chambers is secured by the constitution, the free expression of opinion, either in the deliberations themselves, or in their publication through the medium of the press, cannot be so extended as to endanger the tranquillity of the State itself, or of the Confederation in general, all the governments belonging to it mutually bind themselves, as they are already bound by their federal relations, to adopt and maintain such measures as may be necessary to prevent and punish every attack against the Confederation in the local Chambers.

ART. 6. Since the Diet is already authorized by the 17th article of the Final Act, for the maintenance of the true meaning of the original act of confederation, to give its provisions such an interpretation as may be consistent with its object, in case doubts should arise in this respect, it is understood that the Confederation has the exclusive right of interpreting, so as to produce their legal effect, the original act of the Confederation and the Final Act, which right it exercises by its constitutional organ, the Diet. (a)

§ 51. Further modifications of the federal constitution Act of the were introduced by the act of the Diet of the 30th of Diet of 1834. October, 1834, in consequence of the diplomatic conferences held at Vienna in the same year, by the representatives of the different States of Germany.

By the 1st article of this last-mentioned act, it is provided that,' in case of differences arising between the government of any State and the legislative Chambers, either respecting the interpretation of the local constitution, or upon the limits of the co-operation allowed to the Chambers, in carrying into effect certain determinate rights of the sovereign, and especially in case of the refusal of the necessary supplies for the support of government, conformably to the constitution and the federal obligations of the State, after every legal and constitutional means of conciliation have

(a) Wheaton's Hist. Law of Nations, 460-486.

been exhausted, the differences shall be decided by a federal tribunal of arbitrators, appointed in the following manner:

2. The representatives, each holding one of the seventeen votes in the ordinary assembly of the Diet, shall nominate, once in every three years, within the States represented by them, two persons distinguished by their reputation and length of service in the judicial and administrative service. The vacancies which may occur, during the said term of three years, in the tribunal of arbitrators thus constituted, shall be in like manner supplied as often as they may occur.

3. Whenever the case mentioned in the first article arises, and it becomes necessary to resort to a decision by this tribunal, there shall be chosen from among the thirty-four, six judges arbitrators, of whom three are to be selected by the government, and three by the Chambers. This number may be reduced to two, or increased to eight, by the consent of the parties: and in case of the neglect of either to name judges they may be appointed by the Diet.

4. The arbitrators thus designated shall elect an additional arbiter as an umpire, and in case of an equal division of votes, the umpire shall be appointed by the Diet.

5. The documents respecting the matter in dispute shall be transmitted to the umpire, by whom they shall be referred to two of the judges arbitrators to report upon the same, the one to be selected from among those chosen by the government, the other from among those chosen by the Chambers.

6. The judges arbitrators, including the umpire, shall then meet at a place designated by the parties, or, in case of disagreement, by the Diet, and decide by a majority of voices the matter in controversy according to their conscientious conviction.

7. In case they require further elucidations before proceeding to a decision, they shall apply to the Diet, by whom the same shall be furnished.

8. Unless in case of unavoidable delay under the circumstances stated in the preceding article, the decision shall be pronounced within the space of four months at farthest from the nomination of the umpire, and be transmitted to the Diet, in order to be communicated to the government of the State interested.

9. The sentence of the judges arbitrators shall have the effect of an austrëgal judgment, and shall be carried into execution in the manner prescribed by the ordinances of the Confederation.

In the case of disputes more particularly relating to the financial budget, the effect of the arbitration extends to the period of time for which the same may have been voted.

10. The costs and expenses of the arbitration are to be exclusively borne by the State interested, and, in case of disputes respecting their payment, they shall be levied by a decree of the Diet.

11. The same tribunal shall decide upon the differences and disputes which may arise, in the free towns of the Confederation, between the Senate and the authorities established by the burghers in virtue of their local constitutions.

12. The different members of the Confederation may resort to the same tribunal of arbitration to determine the controversies arising between them; and whenever the consent of the States respectively interested is given for that purpose, the Diet shall take the necessary measures to organize the tribunal according to the preceding articles. (b) 30

(b) For further details respecting the Germanic Constitution, see Wheaton's History of the Law of Nations, 455, et seq.

[The German Confederation. — During the revolutionary troubles of 1848, an attempt was made to create a political union of the entire German nationality. A parliament met at Frankfort in May, 1848, with the approbation of the Diet of the confedcracy. The parliament proposed a constitution creating a German empire, with an hereditary emperor, a diet of two chambers, a constitutional government and imperial judicature, with full freedom of speech and press. Austria, Wurtemburg, Bavaria, and Hanover having refused to join the empire, the King of Prussia, to whom the imperial throne had been offered, refused it; and the attempt fell through. Efforts were afterwards made by Austria and Prussia separately to construct some form of a united German government, but they all failed; and, in May, 1851, they fell back upon the old German confederacy of 1815. (Annual Register, 1848, p. 362; 1849, pp. 347, 364; 1850, pp. 313, 320; 1851, p. 276.) The war of 1864, for the duchies, found Denmark unsupported by any European power; and, after a short, brave struggle with the combined Austrian, Prussian, and German-Confederate armies and navy, Denmark sent a plenipotentiary directly to Vienna to settle terms of peace with Austria and Prussia, without the intervention of any of the other great powers. The preliminaries of peace were signed at Vienna, on the 1st August, 1864. The terms were as follows: I. The King of Denmark renounced his rights to the duchies of Schleswig, Holstein, and Lauenburg, in favor of the King of Prussia and Emperor of Austria; engaging to respect such arrangements as their Majesties might make respecting the duchies. II. The boundaries are settled by including in Schleswig the islands belonging to that duchy, and the Jutland possessions lying south of the southern line of Ribe, which includes several islands, as Amrom, parts of Föhr, Sylt, &c.; and by Denmark retaining small portions of Schleswig, to rectify the line. III. The ceded duchies bear their share of the debts of the kingdom of Denmark, contracted for the general account. IV. An armistice was established upon the principle of uti possidetis. V. A treaty of peace is to be made. By the subsequent Convention of Gastein, Prussia takes Schles