of the 16th of
April 1816, by which the territorial disputes between Austria and Bavaria
were settled, the succession to the Baden Palatinate was guaranteed to
Maximilian I., king of Bavaria, in the expected event of the extinction of
the line of Zaehringen. As a counterblast to this the grand-duke Charles
issued in 1817 a pragmatic sanction (_Hausgesetz_) declaring the counts of
Hochberg, the issue of a morganatic marriage between the grand-duke Charles
Frederick and Luise Geyer von Geyersberg (created Countess Hochberg),
capable of succeeding to the crown. A controversy between Bavaria and Baden
resulted, which was only decided in favour of the Hochberg claims by the
treaty signed by the four great powers and Baden at Frankfort on the 10th
of July 1819. Meanwhile the dispute had produced important effects in
Baden. In order to secure popular support for the Hochberg heir, Charles in
1818 granted to the grand-duchy, under article xiii. of the Act of
Confederation, a liberal constitution, under which two chambers were
constituted and their assent declared necessary for legislation and
taxation. The outcome was of importance far beyond the narrow limits of the
duchy; for all Germany watched the constitutional experiments of the
southern states. In Baden the conditions were not favourable to success.
The people, belonging to the "Celtic fringe" of Germany, had fallen during
the revolutionary period completely under the influence of French ideas,
and this was sufficiently illustrated by the temper of the new chambers,
which tended to model their activity on the proceedings of the Convention
in the earlier days of the French Revolution. On the other hand, the new
grand-duke Louis, who had succeeded in 1818, was unpopular, and the
administration was in the hands of hide-bound and inefficient bureaucrats.
The result was a deadlock; and, even before the promulgation of the
Carlsbad decrees in October 1819 the grand-duke had prorogued the chambers,
after three months of sterile debate. The reaction that followed was as
severe in Baden as elsewhere in Germany, and culminated in 1823, when, on
the refusal of the chambers to vote the military budget, the grand-duke
dissolved them and levied the taxes on his own authority. In January 1825,
owing to official pressure, only three Liberals were returned to the
chamber; a law was passed making the budget presentable only every three
years, and the constitution ceased to have any active ex