severer punishment than imprisonment during fourteen days, or a fine of fourteen rix-dollars. Where the transgression seems to merit a higher degree of punish ment, the magistracy only conducts the inquiry, and transmits the documents to the supreme court of the district, for its deter mination. In larger towns, again, where the magistracy forms a college, with the proper complement of legal assessors, its competency extends to imprisonment for eight weeks. In cases of doubt, they are directed to take the opinion of the juridical faculty of Gottingen; beyond this limit, their sentences cannot be carried into execution, until ratified by the minister of justice.

In regard to the civil jurisdic tion of private proprietors, the provisions of the new law are much less sweeping. To remedy the confusion arising from the mixture of different authorities, the jurisdiction over the whole village or small district, where they cross each other, is given to that party, be it the crown or an individual, whose jurisdiction extends already to at least one third of the hearths; and where the concurring jurisdictions are all private, and no one proprietor possesses the above qualification, they are bound within a fixed time, to come to some arrangement by which the jurisdiction over the whole, shall be given to one of themselves, under the penalty of its devolving on the crown, if such an agreement is not concluded within the appointed term. But, notwithstanding these, and some other less important enactments, the great, perhaps the greatest part of the private civil jurisdictions, still

remains, though subjected to rules whose aim is, to create a more respectable administration of justice, the only thing that can ever inspire public confidence in the laws. For this purpose, the ratification of the crown is declared to be necessary to the appointment of judges by the private proprietors. This ratifica tion cannot be granted, till a regular contract has been executed by the judge and his superior, fixing distinctly the nature and the amount of his emoluments; this contract is subject to the sanction of the crown, as well as the appointment itself; and from the moment this sanc. tion has been given, neither the one nor the other can be altered without the same authority; the judge is considered in all respects to be a public officer; totally independent of the private proprietor'; nor can he be removed from his office, except with the approbation of the government. By these regulations, if honestly observed, if the control vested in the government were conscientiously and vigilantly exercised, some limits might be set to the oppressions, which the Dogberries of Hanover every where allow themselves, to gratify their own rapacity, or evince their subserviency to a master. The Hanoverian government seems to have been sincere in its wish to do good; that it has to so great an extent adopted only half measures, is not to be wondered at, considering that its powers are chiefly lodged in the hands of those, who believe that their own dignity and influence are interest> ed in preserving institutions so pregnant with evil.

The political differences, which

sometimes vented themselves in vehement debates in the chambers, diminished in nothing the universal joy, with which, later in the year, the Hanoverians received their king in his German capital. His majesty left England at the end of September; and directing his journey from Calais, by Lisle and Brussels, arrived in Hanover, on the 8th of October. From the moment he entered the kingdom, his subjects displayed every where their attachment to the family which had so long ruled over them, and their joy at seeing once more a reigning prince, and that prince the first of their kings. In Hanover were assembled, besides several personages of royal birth, nearly the whole diplomatical body of Germany, and the Austrian minister for foreign affairs, appeared in person to represent his sovereign. His majesty remained in the capital ten days, which passed away in public festivals and private entertainments, in military reviews and civic processions; and after visiting Gottingen, where the students received him with as loud acclaims as the rest of his subjects, he returned to England by Cassel and the Rhine.*

In Cassel, the year opened with the death of the elector, at a very advanced age. That strong attachment, with which every German people clings to the family of its hereditary princes; the recollection of all they had suffered while they were under the domination of France, and their prince was in exile, added

* For the farther details of the king's journey, see the Chronicle, p. 149. VOL. LXIII.

to the affability of his conduct, and the sincerity of his character, had gained for William I. in no inconsiderable degree the affections of his subjects. He could have boasted of leaving behind him a people who regretted his loss, had he not been stained with the most unprincely of all failings, niggardliness and avarice; and had not the natural prejudices of an absolute monarch, and the ordinary weaknesses of an old man seduced him sometimes, in the later years of his reign, into measures which many called unjust, and all allowed to be harsh. He left behind him a treasure which placed the elector of Cassel, in comparison with his wants, among the wealthiest of the secondary princes. The foundation of these riches had been laid by his predecessor, and was the price he received from England for troops which he furnished to her during the American war. The long reign of the elector had been spent in adding to the heap. None of his inclinations led him into expense; his court was, perhaps, less gay and magnificent, than the splendour of a prince required; he squandered little for his own pleasures; although justly taxed with libertinism, it never overcame his frugality; and his subjects had reason to rejoice, when they compared it with the costly profligacy of the royal lustling from France. When driven from his territories by Napoleon, he had already been provident enough to put his treasures in safety. The seven years that elapsed, before the victories of the allies recalled him to his dominions, were spent chiefly at Prague. Upon his restoration, he brought back with him all his

[M]

severer punishment than imprisonment during fourteen days, or a fine of fourteen rix-dollars. Where the transgression seems to merit a higher degree of punish ment, the magistracy only conducts the inquiry, and transmits the documents to the supreme court of the district, for its determination. In larger towns, again, where the magistracy forms a college, with the proper complement of legal assessors, its com. petency extends to imprisonment for eight weeks. In cases of doubt, they are directed to take the opinion of the juridical faculty of Gottingen; beyond this limit, their sentences cannot be carried into execution, until ratified by the minister of justice.

In regard to the civil jurisdic tion of private proprietors, the provisions of the new law are much less sweeping. To remedy the confusion arising from the mixture of different authorities, the jurisdiction over the whole village or small district, where they cross each other, is given to that party, be it the crown or an individual, whose jurisdiction extends already to at least one third of the hearths; and where the concurring jurisdictions are all private, and no one proprietor sesses the above qualification, are bound within a fixed > come to some arrange y which the jurisdiction whole, shall be given to themselves, under the of its devolving on the if such an agreement is ncluded within the appoint rm. But, notwithstanding , and some other less imant enactments, the great, aps the greatest part of the ate civil jurisdictions, still

remains, though subjected to rules whose aim is, to create a more respectable administration of justice, the only thing that can ever inspire public confidence in the laws. For this purpose, the ratification of the crown is declared to be necessary to the appointment of judges by the pri vate proprietors. This ratifica tion cannot be granted, till a regular contract has been executed by the judge and his superior, fixing distinctly the nature and the amount of his emoluments; this contract is subject to the sanction of the crown, as well as the appointment itself; and from the moment this sanction has been given, neither the one nor the other can be altered without the same authority; the judge is considered in all respects to be a public officer; totally independent of the private proprietor'; nor can he be removed from his office, except with the approbation of the government. By these regulations, if honestly observed, if the control vested in the government were conscientiously and vigilantly exercised, some limits might be set to the oppressions, which the Dogberries of Hanover every where allow themselves, to gratify their own rapacity, or evince their subser viency to a master. The Hano verian government seems to have been sincere in its wish to do good; that it has to so great an extent adopted only half measures, is not to be wondered at, considering that its powers are chiefly lodged in the hands of those, who believe that their own dignity and influence are interest ed in preserving institutions so pregnant with evil.

The political differences, which

sometimes vented themselves in vehement debates in the chambers, diminished in nothing the universal joy, with which, later in the year, the Hanoverians received their king in his German capital. His majesty left England at the end of September; and directing his journey from Calais, by Lisle and Brussels, arrived in Hanover, on the 8th of October. From the moment he entered the kingdom, his subjects displayed every where their attachment to the family which had so long ruled over them, and their joy at seeing once more a reigning prince, and that prince the first of their kings. In Hanover were assembled, besides several personages of royal birth, nearly the whole diplomatical body of Germany, and the Austrian minister for foreign affairs, appeared in person to represent his sovereign. His majesty remained in the capital ten days, which passed away in public festivals and private entertainments, in military reviews and civic processions; and after visiting Gottingen, where the students received him with as loud acclaims as the rest of his subjects, he returned to England by Cassel and the Rhine.*

In Cassel, the year opened with the death of the elector, at a very advanced age. That strong attachment, with which every German people clings to the family of its hereditary princes; the recollection of all they had suffered while they were under the domination of France, and their prince was in exile, added

* For the farther details of the king's journey, see the Chronicle, p. 149. VOL. LXIII.

to the affability of his conduct, and the sincerity of his character, had gained for William I. in no inconsiderable degree the affections of his subjects. He could have boasted of leaving behind him a people who regretted his loss, had he not been stained with the most unprincely of all failings, niggardliness and avarice; and had not the natural prejudices of an absolute monarch, and the ordinary weaknesses of an old man seduced him sometimes, in the later years of his reign, into measures which many called unjust, and all allowed to be harsh. He left behind him a treasure which placed the elector of Cassel, in comparison with his wants, among the wealthiest of the secondary princes. The foundation of these riches had been laid by his predecessor, and was the price he received from England for troops which he furnished to her during the American war. The long reign of the elector had been spent in adding to the heap. None of his inclinations led him into expense; his court was, perhaps, less gay and magnificent, than the splendour of a prince required; he squandered little for his own pleasures; although justly taxed with libertinism, it never overcame his frugality; and his subjects had reason to rejoice, when they compared it with the costly profligacy of the royal lustling from France. When driven from his territories by Napoleon, he had already been provident enough to put his treasures in safety. The seven years that elapsed, before the victories of the allies recalled him to his dominions, were spent chiefly at Prague. Upon his restoration, he brought back with him all his

[M]

fondness for old forms, and his love for amassing. In the estates a spirit showed itself, which called for more liberal institutions, but without effect; partly because the elector was little inclined to brook any limitation of his ancient prerogatives, and partly because the estates gave symptoms of a disposition to relieve in some measure the burthens of the country, by appropriating to the public service a portion of the immense treasure which had been amassed from the taxes and the revenues of the domains. The accession of the new elector excited hopes that the scene would change. His character was supposed to have already given promise, that the gold amassed by his predecessors would no longer remain useless in the electoral coffers, and that all the establishments of the state would be put upon a footing more suitable to the dignity of the prince, and the honour of the country. One of the earliest acts of his government was the appointment of a commission to organize anew every department of the administration; and the whole was remodelled before the end of the year. He seemed likewise inclined to terminate amicably the unfortunate dispute, in which his father had found himself involved with the purchasers of the electoral domains. Under the expensive government of king Jerome, great part of these domains had been sold to provide for the exigencies of the state. The purchasers had always held their title good, as the kingdom of Westphalia had been formally recognized in the treaty of Tilsit by the great powers of the continent, to whom alone the elector was ultimately indebted for his

restoration. The late elector himself, however, had never acknowledged the newly-created kingdom; and, although similar sales were respected in every country where they had taken place, immediately on his return he dispossessed the purchasers, without any indemnification for the price they had paid, on the ground that their titles were null, as being derived from a military usurper who had no right to make the sales. All remonstrances on the part of the purchasers were vain. He allowed them to try their claim before the supreme court of Cassel; but, to that court every edict of the sovereign is law, and he had already put forth an edict in 1814, declaring the sales null. In consequence of an article in the act of the German ministers at Vienna in 1820, by which the confederation has the right of interfering even between the prince and his subjects, where the latter complain of a refusal of justice, the purchasers applied to the Germanic diet. That assembly lent a favourable ear to their claims; but remonstrances produced no change of any moment in the resolution of the elector. Wangenheim, the envoy for Wirtemburg in the diet, was appointed to examine and report upon the whole matter; but, before it was brought under discussion, the elector died, and his successor was inclined to follow more liberal views; at least, as the day approached on which the matter was to be brought under the consideration of the diet, the purchasers themselves made an application, praying for postponement, as there was reason to believe, that an amicable ar