property and the credit of the proprietor, the latter by diminishing the value of labor. We desire therefore to reduce both kinds of restrictions so far as the common well-being demands and accordingly ordain the following:

§ 1. Every inhabitant of our States is competent, without any limitation on the part of the State, to own or mortgage landed property of every kind. The noble may therefore own not only noble but also non-noble, citizen and peasant lands of every kind and the citizen and peasant may possess not only citizen, peasant and other non-noble, but also noble tracts of land, without in any case needing special permission for any acquisition whatever, although henceforth, as before, every change of ownership must be announced to the authorities. All privileges which are possessed by noble over citizen inheritances are entirely abolished, as well as the restrictions and suspension of certain property rights based upon the personal status of the holder.

Special laws shall still continue to regulate the right of those to acquire land who are by reason of their religious beliefs precluded from performing all the duties of citizenship.

§ 2. Every noble is henceforth permitted, without any derogation from his station, to engage in citizen occupation and every citizen or peasant is allowed to pass from the peasant into the citizen class or from the citizen into the peasant class.

§ 3. A legal right of pre-emption and of prior claim shall exist hereafter only in the case of superior proprietors, of the lessors of estates on perpetual leases or to copy holders, and of co-proprietary owners, and where a tract of land is sold which is confused with or surrounded by other holdings.

§ 4. The possessors of alienable landed property of all kinds, whether in town or country, are allowed, after due notice given to the provincial authority, reserving the rights of those holding mortgages and those enjoying rights of pre-emption (§ 3), to separate the principal estate from its appurtenances, and in general to alienate lands piecemeal. In the same way co-proprietors may divide among them property owned in common.

5. Every landowner, including those holding feudal or entailed estates, is, without any restrictions except the previous announcement to the provincial authorities, permitted to lease in perpetuity not only single peasant holdings, taverns, mills and other appurtenances but outlying

land (Vorwerks-land) as well, either entire or in parts. Nor shall the superior proprietor, the successors to the feudal or entailed holding or the mortgage holder be entitled to prevent this upon any grounds if the preliminary payments be applied to the payment of the first mortgage, or, in the case of feudal and entailed estates where no mortgage exists, it be applied to the entail or fee, and provided, so far as the unsatisfied claims of the mortgage holders are concerned, it be attested by the Provincial Government Law office or by the Provincial authorities that the leasing of the land is not disadvantageous to these.1

§ 6. If a landed proprietor finds himself unable to restore and maintain the several peasant holdings existing upon an estate which are not held hereditarily either on a perpetual lease or of copyhold, he is required to inform the authorities of the province, with the sanction of which the consolidation of several holdings into a single peasant estate or with outlying land shall be permissible so soon as serfdom shall have ceased to exist on the estate. The provincial authorities will be provided with special instructions to meet these cases.

§ 7. If, on the contrary, the peasants' holdings are hereditary whether in virtue of a perpetual lease or of copy hold, the consolidation or other change in the condition of the land in question is not admissible until the rights of the previous owner are extinguished, whether by the sale of the land to the lord or in some other legal way. In this case the provisions of § 6 shall apply as well to this species of holdings.

§ 8. Every possessor of feudal or entailed property is empowered to raise the sums required to replace the losses caused by the war by mortgaging the estates themselves and not simply the revenue from them, provided that the application of the funds is attested by the Landrath of the Circle or by the Direction of the District Department. From the close of the third year after the contracting of the debt the possessor and his successor are bound to pay off at least a fifteenth part of the capital annually.

§ 9. Any feudal connection not subject to a chief proprietor, any family settlement or entail, may be altered at pleasure or entirely abolished by a resolution of the family, as has already been enacted in regard to the Fiefs of East Prussia (except those of Ermeland) in the East Prussian Provincial Law, appendix 36.

§ 10. From the date of this ordinance no new relation of serfdom

1 This article is so technical as to render an accurate and clear translation almost impossible.

whether by birth or marriage, or by assuming the position of a serf, or by contract can be created.

§ 11. With the publication of the present ordinance the existing relations of serfdom of those serfs, with their wives and children, who possess their peasant holdings by inheritance, or in their own right, or by perpetual leases or of copy hold shall cease entirely together with all mutual rights and duties.

§ 12. From Martinmas, one thousand eight hundred and ten (1810) all serfdom shall cease throughout our whole realm. From Martinmas 1810 there shall be only free persons, as is already the case upon the royal domains in all our provinces, free persons, however, still subject, as a matter of course, to all obligations which bind them as free persons by reason of the possession of an estate or by virtue of a special contract.1

To this declaration of our supreme will everyone whom it may concern and in particular our provincial authorities and other officials are exactly and dutifully to conform and the present ordinance is to be universally made known,

Authentically under our own royal signature, given at Memel, October 9, 1807. FREDERICH WILLIAM,

Schrötter, Stein, Schrötter II.

THE DECREE UNITING THE PAPAL STATES TO THE FRENCH EMPIRE, MAY, 1809.

The re

The French had occupied the Papal States as early as April, 1808. lations between Napoleon and the Pope were very strained. The latter had, for example, forbidden the Bishops in the Legations to take the oath to their new ruler. After the battle of Aspern the Pope excommunicated Napoleon, who in his turn ordered the Pope to be arrested (July, 1809). February 17, 1810, the States of the church were, by a Senatus Consulte, formally annexed to France as two new departments.

1 These general provisions abolishing serfdom were so vague as to be misunderstood. The King therefore issued an official explanation later (Publicandum relating to Silesia and Glatz of April 8, 1809; Gesetz-Sammbung 1806-10 pp. 557 ff.) which serves to enlighten us upon the exact nature of the personal dependence of the serf. This consisted, for example, in the right of the lord to demand three years' service from children of his serfs, and to control them in later life in the matter of occupation and marriage. The former serf is permitted by the new law to engage in any industry he may choose and to leave the manor, if he wishes, without demanding the consent of the lord.

From the Correspondance de Napoléon 1er. No. 15,219, Vol. 19. Napoleon, Emperor of the French, King of Italy, Protector of the Confederation of the Rhine, etc., in consideration of the fact that when Charlemagne, Emperor of the French and our august predecessor, granted several counties to the Bishops of Rome he ceded these only as fiefs and for the good of his realm and Rome did not by reason of this cession cease to form a part of his empire; farther that since this association of spiritual and temporal authority has been and still is a source of dissensions and has but too often led the pontifs to employ the influence of the former to maintain the pretentions of the latter, and thus the spiritual concerns and heavenly interests which are unchanging have been confused with terrestrial affairs which by their nature alter according to circumstances and the policy of the time; and since all our proposals for reconciling the security of our armies, the tranquillity and the welfare of our people and the dignity and integrity of our Empire, with the temporal pretentions of the Popes have failed, we have decreed and do decree what follows;

ARTICLE 1. The Papal States are reunited to the French Empire. ARTICLE 2. The City of Rome, so famous by reason of the great memories which cluster about it and as the first seat of Christianity, is proclaimed a free imperial city. The organization of the government and administration of the said city shall be provided by a special statute.

ARTICLE 3. The remains of the structures erected by the Romans shall be maintained and preserved at the expense of our treasury.

ARTICLE 4. The public debt shall become an imperial debt.

ARTICLE 5. The lands and domains of the Pope shall be increased to a point where they shall produce an annual net revenue of two millions.

ARTICLE 6. The lands and domains of the Pope as well as his palaces shall be exempt from all taxes, jurisdiction or visitation, and shall enjoy special immunities.

ARTICLE 7. On the first of June of the present year a special consultus shall take possession of the Papal States in our name and shall make the necessary provisions in order that a constitutional system shall be organized and may be put in force on January first 1810. Given at our Imperial Camp at Vienna, May 17th, 1809. NAPOLEON.

INTRODUCTORY BIBLIOGRAPHY.

Sloane, William M., Napoleon Bonaparte. 4 vols. Century Co. An elaborate and impartial treatment of Napoleon's life; beyond a doubt the best for the student except perhaps Fournier's shorter treatment mentioned below, giving full lists of authorities at end of fourth volume.

Lanfrey, Pierre: History of Napoleon. 4 vols.

the French.)

Macmillan. (Translated from

This work was interrupted by the author's death, and reaches only to the close of 1811. The treatment of Napoleon is harsh. While the writer makes constant use of the best historical source, Napoleon's own letters, his attitude is unfair, and the motives ascribed for Napoleon's policy are always the lowest. The work forms an excellent antidote to that of Thiers.

Thiers, History of the Consulate and Empire. Several editions of the English translation are available.

Thiers shows an unmistakable tendency, especially in the earlier half of his work, unduly to glorify the Napoleonic régime. The sources relied upon are, moreover, very rarely cited. The work is, nevertheless, important and is probably the most interesting history in twenty volumes ever written, the style and arrangement being a justifiable source of pride to the author.

Fournier, August, Napoleon der Erst. 3 vols. Leipsig and Prague. Two of the three volumns of this work may be had in a French translation. Excellent in every way, and contains the most complete bibliography of the period. Superior to Mr. Sloane's biography on account of the attention given to the important changes in Europe resulting from Napoleon's invasions. The German original costs but a dollar, bound, and the work is indispensible to students who can read German or French.

Taine, The Modern Régime. Chapters I and II.

The author gives us in a short space a most fascinating, brilliant and suggestive analysis of Napoleon's policy and genius.

Good short accounts of the history of Europe during the Napoleonic period are furnished by Fyffe, History of Modern Europe, Vol. I. Rose, J. H. The Revolutionary and Napoleonic Period.

This collection of Napoleon's letters, though far from complete, is of primary importance.

Memoires. Of these there are a great number.

Those of Miot de Melito and of Madame de Rémusat are to be had in English and are both trustworthy and interesting. The latter is especially to be recommended for the general reader. The Memoires of the Baron de Marbot (available in English) give good accounts of many of the most famous military episodes.

The Journal of Saint Helena, by Las Cases, as well as the more elaborate Memoires dictated by Napoleon during his exile, are sometimes suggestive, although inaccurate in the extreme, as is shown by a comparison with the Correspondance. The literature of Saint Helena deluded the world for a time, as Napoleon intended it should.

For farther information in regard to the vast literature of the subject, the student is referred to Fournier's excellent bibliographical appendices above noted.