ings_ (Leipzig, 1850); Cartellieri, _Karlsbad als
Kurort_ (Karlsbad, 1888); Friedenthal, _Der Kurort Karlsbad
Topographisch und Medizinisch_ (Karlsbad, 1895).

CARLSBAD DECREES (_Karlsbader Beschlusse_), the name usually given to a
series of resolutions (_Beschlusse_) passed by a conference of the
ministers and envoys of the more important German states, held at
Carlsbad from the 6th to the 31st of August 1819. The occasion of the
meeting was the desire of Prince Metternich to take advantage of the
consternation caused by recent revolutionary outrages (especially the
murder of the dramatist Kotzebue by Karl Sand) to persuade the German
governments to combine in a system for the suppression of the Liberal
agitation in Germany. The pretended urgency of the case served as the
excuse for only inviting to the conference those states whose ministers
happened to be visiting Carlsbad at the time. The conferences were,
therefore, actually attended by the representatives of Austria,
Prussia, Saxony, Bavaria, Wurttemberg, Hanover, Baden, Nassau and
Mecklenburg; at the fourth conference (August 9th) Baron von Fritsch,
minister of state for Saxe-Weimar, who "happened to be present" at
Carlsbad on that day, attended by special invitation. Prince Metternich
presided over the conferences, and Friedrich von Gentz acted as
secretary.

The business to be discussed, as announced in Metternich's opening
address, was twofold: (1) Matters of urgent importance necessitating
immediate action; (2) Questions affecting the fundamental constitution
of the German Confederation, demanding more careful and prolonged
discussion. To the first class belonged (a) the urgent necessity for a
uniform system of press regulation in Germany; (b) the most urgent
measures in regard to the supervision of universities and schools; (c)
measures in view of the already discovered machinations of the political
parties. To the second class belonged (a) the more clear definition of
article XIII. of the Act of Confederation (_i.e._ state constitutions);
(b) the creation of a permanent federal supreme court; (c) the creation
of a federal executive organization (_Bundes-Executions Ordnung_) armed
with power to make the decrees of the diet and the judgments of the high
court effective; (d) the facilitation of commercial intercourse within
the confederation in accordance with article XIX. of the Act of
Confederation (_Beilage A. zum ersten Protokoll_, Martens, iv.