rights of sovereignty, guarantied by the compacts of the Confederation. 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. [30 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 confederacy. 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 United. States of America. § 52. The Constitution of the United States of America is of a very different nature from that of the Germanic Confederation. It is not merely a league of sovereign States, for their common defence against external and internal violence, but a supreme federal government, or compositive State, acting not only upon the sovereign members of the Union, but directly upon all its citizens in their individual and corporate capacities. It was established, as the Constitution expressly declares, by "the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defence, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to them and their posterity." This Constitution, and the laws made in pursuance thereof, and treaties made under the authority of the United States, are declared to be the supreme law of the land and that the judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any thing in the constitution or laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding. Legisla of the Union. § 53. The legislative power of the Union is vested in a tive power Congress, consisting of a Senate, the members of which are chosen by the local legislatures of the several States, and a House of Representatives, elected by the people in each State. This Congress has power to levy taxes and duties, to pay the debts, and provide for the common defence and general welfare of the Union; to borrow money on the credit of the United States; to regulate commerce with foreign nations, among the several wig and Lauenburg, with the port of Kiel, and the control of the canal from the German Ocean to the Baltic. Austria has Holstein, and receives 375,000l. for the surrender of Lauenburg. Yet the matter between the two powers is not entirely settled, and Prussia holds possession of Lauenburg. The only thing absolutely settled is, that the German Confederation is powerless against Prussia, and has little else remaining to it than a moral influence. From 1859 to the present time, the constitution of the German confederacy and of the Zollverein have been the subjects of frequent attempts at reconstruction. The states of the second order began the movement in 1859, countenanced by Austria, Saxony taking the lead. Their proposition, known as the Dresden Project, was declined by Prussia, and the Prussian proposal of a restricted confederation, under her own direction, was opposed by Austria and the minor powers in sympathy with her. In the Zollverein, it had been customary for Prussia to negotiate the commercial treaties with foreign powers, and to sign and exchange them; leaving the other members of the union to give their adherence afterwards. The attempt to introduce Austria into the Zollverein, and the growing reluctance of the minor States to leave the treaty-making power to Prussia, make the continuance, or at least the renewal, of the Zollverein a matter of no little doubt. Le Nord, Aug. 15, Aug. 31, Oct. 18, Nov. 1 and 21, 1862.]—D. States, and with the Indian tribes; to establish a uniform rule of naturalization, and uniform laws on the subject of bankruptcy throughout the Union; to coin money, and fix the standard of weights and measures; to establish post-offices and post-roads; to secure to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their writings and discoveries; to punish piracies and felonies on the high seas, and offences against the law of nations; to declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and regulate captures by sea and land; to raise and support armies; to provide and maintain a navy; to make rules for the government of the land and naval forces; to exercise exclusive civil and criminal legislation over the district where the seat of the federal government is established, and over all forts, magazines, arsenals, and dockyards belonging to the Union, and to make all laws necessary and proper to carry into execution all these and. the other powers vested in the federal government by the Constitution. § 54. To give effect to this mass of sovereign authori- Executive ties, the executive power is vested in a President of the power. United States, chosen by electors appointed in each State in such manner as the legislature thereof may direct. The judicial power extends to all cases in law and equity arising under the Constitution, laws, and treaties of the Union, and is vested in a Supreme Court, and such inferior tribunals as Congress may establish. The federal judiciary exercises under this grant of power the authority to examine the laws passed by Congress and the several State legislatures, and, in cases proper for judicial determination, to decide on the constitutional validity of such laws.31 The [31 Relations of the United-States Judiciary to the Constitution and Statutes. — The language of this clause may mislead foreign readers. There is no tribunal, under the Constitution, which has special and direct power to decide questions of constitutional law. The Supreme Court of the United States, like all the other courts, State or national, is simply a court of judicature, to decide controverted cases in law, equity, or admiralty, that are brought before it by actual litigants. It is not charged with any special function conservative of the Constitution, like the so-entitled Senate of the French Constitution of December, 1799. In cases before it, the Supreme Court has no other jurisdiction over constitutional questions than is possessed by the humblest judicial tribunal, State or national, in the land. The only distinction is, that it is the court of final resort, from whose decision there is no appeal. The relations of all the courts to the Constitution arise simply from the fact, that, being courts of law, they must give to litigants before them the law; and the Constitution of the United States is law, and not, like most European political constitutions, a collection of rules and principles having only a moral obligation upon the legislative and executive departments of the government. Accordingly, each litigant, having the right to the highest law, may |