inion over Bohemia, Hungary, Transylvania, Wallachia, Servia,
Styria, Carinthia, Carniola, the Tyrol, and all the rich and populous
States of the Netherlands. Naples, Sicily, Mantua and Milan in Italy,
also recognized his sovereignty. To enlightened reason nothing can seem
more absurd than that one man, of very moderate capacities, luxuriating
in his palace at Vienna, should pretend to hold dominion over so many
millions so widely dispersed. But the progress of the world towards
intelligent liberty has been very slow. When we contrast the
constitution of the United States with such a political condition, all
our evils and difficulties dwindle to utter insignificance.

Still the power of the emperor was in many respects apparent rather than
real. Each of these States had its own customs and laws. The nobles were
tumultuary, and ever ready, if their privileges were infringed, to rise
in insurrection. Military force alone could hold these turbulent realms
in awe; and the old feudal servitude which crushed the millions, was but
another name for anarchy. The peace establishment of the emperor
amounted to one hundred thousand men, and every one of these was
necessary simply to garrison his fortresses. The enormous expense of the
support of such an army, with all the outlays for the materiel of war,
the cavalry, and the structure of vast fortresses, exhausted the
revenues of a kingdom in which the masses of the people were so
miserably poor that they were scarcely elevated above the beasts of the
field, and where the finances had long been in almost irreparable
disorder. The years of peace, however, were very few. War, a maelstrom
which ingulfs uncounted millions, seems to have been the normal state of
Germany. But the treasury of Charles was so constantly drained that he
could never, even in his greatest straits, raise more than one hundred
and sixty thousand men; and he was often compelled to call upon the aid
of a foreign purse to meet the expense which that number involved.
Within a hundred years the nations have made vast strides in wealth, and
in the consequent ability to throw away millions in war.

Charles VI. commenced his reign with intense devotion to business. He
resolved to be an illustrious emperor, vigorously superintending all the
interests of the empire, legislative, judicial and executive. For a few
weeks he was busy night and day, buried in a hopeless mass of diplomatic
papers. But he soon became weary of th