]
As to Germany, (in which, from their relation to the Emperor, I
comprehend the Belgic Provinces,) it appears to me to be, from several
circumstances, internal and external, in a very critical situation; and
the laws and liberties of the Empire are by no means secure from the
contagion of the French doctrines and the effect of French intrigues, or
from the use which two of the greater German powers may make of a
general derangement to the general detriment. I do not say that the
French do not mean to bestow on these German states liberties, and laws
too, after their mode; but those are not what have hitherto been
understood as the laws and liberties of the Empire. These exist and have
always existed under the principles of feodal tenure and succession,
under imperial constitutions, grants and concessions of sovereigns,
family compacts, and public treaties, made under the sanction, and some
of them guarantied by the sovereign powers of other nations, and
particularly the old government of France, the author and natural
support of the Treaty of Westphalia.
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