ha, though deftitute of liberty herself, (and perhaps at present incapable of it), would, notwithstanding, be the only power which would interfere in such a cause, and to whom the Germanic body might owe the prefervation of its inde pendence and liberties.

The extinction of the male William line of Bavaria in the perfon of the late Elector, opened a new scene in the affairs, and may poffibly mark an interefting period in the history, of Germany. At least this event has opened the way to claims and pretenfions which had not been before generally thought of, and in a great measure withdrawn the veil from political views and defigns of the greatest importance to the Germanic body, and which otherwise might for fome time longer have been referved in darkness.

Maximilian Jofeph, the late Elector of Bavaria, died, of the small pox, at Munich, on the 30th of December 1777, in the fifty-first year of his age. The death of this prince without iffue, totally extinguished the male Guillelmine or Ludovician line of Bavaria, which had been in poffeffion of that duchy for near five hundred years. This prince was fucceeded, both in the electoral dignity and his domini ns at large, by his general heir, Charles Theodore, the Elector Palatine of the Rhine. The large allodial estates of Bavaria, with feveral particular territorial acquifitions, which were obtained at different times, and held by different tenures from that of the grand fief, were also open to feveral claimants, whose titles were to be difcuffed, and rights legally determined, according to the general laws and conftitutions of the Empire.

The Elector Palatine, at the time of his acceffion to the Bavarian dominions, was newly entered into the fifty-fourth year of his age; and having no issue, the large poffeffions of the double electorate, with the dignity appertaining to one, were in the expectation of his apparent heir, the Duke of Deuxponts, who was the nearest relation in the male Palatine line. The present Elector is much celebrated for the liberality of his fentiments and difpofition; for his affection to learning and the fine arts; and for that happy fate of freedom and ease, in which men ot genus of all kinds, and of all countries, have for many years, amidst the Lof taunty and pleatures of his elegant

court at Manheim, forgotten all the inequalities of fortune and condition. The particular circumstances of fituation, the temper and difpofition we have defcribed, with the habits of life confequent of them, will ferve to explain some parts of his fubfequent conduct, and account for that flexibility with which he seemed to facrifice his rights to the love of ease, and defire of tranquillity.

As the course of the fucceffion to Bavaria had been fettled for ages, was known to every body, and had been even prepared for by the late prince, the Elector found no difficulty in taking poffeffion of that duchy with the Upper Palatinate, and of receiving the willing homage of his new fsubjects. But before he could feel his new fituation, he unex pectedly found, that he had a rival of fuch superior power and greatness to encounter, that all competition on his fide would not only be futile, but that the disparity was fo great, as to render ali appearance of oppofition even ridiculous. He had scarcely arrived in his new capital of Munich, before the Austrian troops, who had been evidently stationed on the frontiers for the purpose, and only waiting for an account of the event of the late Elector's death, poured on all fides into the Lower Bavaria, and seized upon every place they came to. In the mean time, another strong body advanced on the fide of Egra to the Upper Palatinate, where the regency in vain pleaded the laws of the Empire, and the rights of fovereignty, against the entrance of foreign troops.

We have observed, that it was not in the character of this prince to enter willingly into the animofity of conteft. He accordingly submitted to the neceffity of the times, with a facility for which he has been blamed, as committing an act which was injurious to his heirs, as well as to himself. He has fince juftified his conduct, on the ground of that neceffity which he states to be invincible, in a letter to his kinsman and heir-apparent, the Duke of Deuxponts. He could yet have no knowledge of what fupport he might receive, or indeed whether he would be at all fupported. He faw, that instead of lofing a part by compromise, a fruitless oppofition to the court of Vienna would insure the lofs of the whole fucceffion. But that was not the only ftake that was at hazard. He was threaten ed with an army of 60,000 men, though he

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he was not able to refift the force which was already seizing his territories. If things were carried to the utmost extre mity, the loss of his old dominions might speedily follow the lofs of his new; and life would be fspent before he could have a hope of redress. At any rate, he knew that no act of his could in any degree injure the rights of his fucceffors; that a more favourable opportunity than the present might occur for establishing them; and that, unless the constitution of the Empire, and the Germanic syftem, were entirely overthrown, fuch a violence must fooner or later be redreffed.

A convention was accordingly concluded, and ratified, before the middle of January, between the court of Vienna and the Elector, by which the latter gave up the better half of his new poffeffions, and left claims open which might have swallowed a great part of the remainder. The articles of this convention were indeed of an extraordinary nature; and it may be doubted, whether any public inftrument has appeared for many years, which carries in its own face more glaring marks of violence and compulfion. In a word, it bore a com plexion of such a cast, as if it had never been intended to come under any other cognifance than that of the contracting parties.

By these articles, the Elector acknowledges the claims and pretenfions of the house of Austria upon the Lower Bavaria, without knowing the 'titles, or feeing the documents, upon which these claims were founded. It is true, it was fuppofed in the treaty, that these material articles were to be afterwards produced; but we also find the Elector, long after, under a neceffity of applying to the diet of the Empire to obtain that fatisfaction. He agrees, that they shall take poffeffion of all the estates which composed the patrimony of Duke John of the line of Straubingen, who died early in the fifteenth century; and that they thall also be intitled to all thofe districts to which Duke John had even any doubtful claim. These articles, which contain claims founded on so remote and doubt ful a period, and which muft neceffarily refer to many facts and circumftances, which, at this distance of time, it must be equally difficult, if not impossible, either to afcertain or difprove, were accompanied with no specification, either

of the possessions which Duke John actually held, or of those to which it was supposed he might have claims.

A more extraordinary article (if poffible) still remained. It was agreed, that if the Elector should claim any particular district which he wished to retain, as not belonging to the Duke John, the proof of the negative should rest upon himself. Thus, besides a renunciation of the better part of his new dominions, the task was impofed upon him, of proving his title to, and juftifying the limits of the remainder, againft unknown claims, which might extend to any part, or to the whole, of his poffeffions. In the fame spirit, he acknowledged the rights of the court of Vienna to the county of Cham, and to fuch parts of the Upper Palatinate as had been fiefs of the kingdom of Bohemia: An undefined claim, which might take in any part or the whole of that country. Other claims were recognifed, with respect to the principality of Mindelheim, and to various other poffeffions, both fiefs and allodial estates. In a word, an inftrument under the name of a convention or treaty, was concluded, which seemed to leave nothing as a matter of right or certainty to one of the contracting parties, but to throw him entirely on the grace, moderation, or favour, of the other. Such are fome of the confequences, whether in public or private life, of living in the neighbourhood of the great and powerful.

It could fcarcely be supposed, and probably was not expected, that in fuch a republic as that of the Germanic body, the proceedings of the court of Vienna could pass without difcuffion, if not oppofition. The dismemberment and spoil of two great electorates, including a number of adventitious poffeffions, and involving many foreign claims and titles, and this done without any attention to the ufual forms established in fuch cafes, without waiting for any legal fanction or determination, and without taking the sense of their co-estates, the hereditary confervators and judges of all rights, and more particularly those of fucceffion, could not fail of ferioufly alarming all the princes of the Empire. Their tenures were all involved in the darkness, uncertainty, and frequent violence, of early ages; their titles were to be fought for amidst all the rubbish of ancient jurisprudence, still more perplexed and confounded by local usages, particular conventions,

conventions, and family - fettlements, which it would be now found difficult, if not impoffible, to trace; and all the rights of a family, excepting those derived from prescription, which were now thewn to afford no fecurity, might depend upon a fingle record, buried in some unknown repofitory, and in vain fought for, until its discovery perhaps became ufelefs. Nor were the claims upon which these proceedings were founded, by any means, even in the most favourable point of view, of that clear nature, which might serve to palliate any irregularity or violence in the proceedings.

Befides this general effect, the Duke of Deuxponts, and the Electoral house al of Saxony, were deeply and materially affected in their respective interests by these transactions; as the Dukes of Mecklenburg also were, but in a lesser degree. The Electress-dowager of Sa xony, as only fifter, and as the nearest relation and heir of the late Elector of Bavaria, claimed a fole, and what was reprefented as an indifputable right in the fucceffion to all the allodial estates in that duchy. Though this claim took in very confiderable territorial poffeffions, it was rendered of still greater importance, by its comprehenfion of the purchafe-money which had been paid by (the House of Bavaria, for the Upper Palatinate. For that territory was maintained to be in actual mortgage to her for the thirteen millions of florins which Maximilian had paid for it to the House of Auftria; the money being not only to be fpecifically confidered as an allodam, but its being also settled by the contract of fale with Ferdinand II. in the year 1628, that it should be reimbursed to the allodial heirs. As this princess ceded all her right in the allodal eftates, to her fon, the present Eicdor of Saxony, he of course became the acting party upon that claim in this conteft. The claims of the princes of Mecklenburg, which were probably founded upon the rights of fucceffion to a feparate fief, distinct from the familycompacts of the Palatine line, were confood to the landgraviate of Luchten burg.

The Prince of Deuxponts loft no time in protefting against the prefent proceedings, as well as against the late convention between the court of Vienna and L'e new Elector of Bavaria; and in calling upon the princes and states that

compose the diet, both in their original character, and as guarantees of the treaty of Westphalia, to interfere in the prefervation of his rights. Though the general voice of the Empire feems, fo far as it could be known, to be on this fide of the question; yet it would have been little heard, and less attended to, had not one louder, and more aweful, than the rest united, in fome degree commanded regard.

The King of Pruffia, who has a jealous eye upon every thing which may aggrandize the House of Austria, and having no common interest, as in the cafe of the partition of Poland, to tolerate strong acts in favour of that House, undertook the fupport of the princes who supposed themselves injured, and the defence of the rights of the Germanic body. His public acts and memorials, whether at Vienna or Ratisbon, were, however, tempered with the greatest moderation, and bore every appearance of refpect and deference, as well to the head of the Empire, as to his august mother, whilft any hope of an amicable accommodation of the contest seemed to remain.

On the contrary, the court of Vienna was rather fupercilious in her manner, and affumed a high, haughty, and decifive tone. She knew her own rights; was the proper judge of them; and. shewed little difpofition to give any fatiffaction to others on the fubject. On the whole, though she did not entirely neglect to give answers to the strong memorials made against her, yet she was charged with placing rather more reliance on her power than her arguments.

In the first formal answer which was laid before the diet, April 10. 1778, to a memorial of the Pruffian minifter, the fubject of contest was treated merely as a private arrangement between the court of Vienna and the Elector Palatine, in which no other state was concerned: The latter having acknowledged the claims of the former, an amicable accommodation, relative to the fettlement and divifion of Bavaria, accordingly took place; which afforded no juft ground for the interference of any third power, in a business which only properly con. cerned the contracting parties: That as. this tranfaction did not bear the leaft shadow of dismembering a prince of the Empire by force, as had been reprefented by the Elector of Brandenburg, but

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decifion might put an end to a contestation which the court of Berlin had thought proper to excite.

In answer to this it was observed, that the court of Vienna was already in the violent and forcible poffeffion, which it abfolutely refused to relinquish, of all the objects of contention and that though a legal decifion is talked of, no competent tribunal is mentioned, to which it would submit the award; but that, on the contrary, that court had conftantly rejected with the utmost contempt every proposal of that nature; fo that if the expreffion of legal decision was intended to mean any thing, it must figbify that the Emperor was to be the judge in his own cause. It is eafily feen, that if the Prince of Deuxponts had fuffered his claims to lie dormant, until the Auftrian title to Bavaria and the Upper Palatinate was ftrengthened by length of poffeffion, and all its confequences, how futile his attempts of recovering them muft then prove.

Previous, however, to the delivery of this memorial, a negotiation was opened upon new ground; and attended with fome circumftances which feemed to afford room for hoping, that these differences might be terminated amicably. In the course of the difcuffion at Vienna and Ratifbon, and the great preparations for war which were made on both fides; the great force of the Austrian armies was collected in Bohemia and Moravia, which of course drew the Pruffian forces from the distant provinces to the frontiers of those countries. Thefe movements alfo drew the King of Prussia into Silefia, and the Emperor into Bohemia, about the fame time in the month of April. In this fituation, a direct correfpondence by letters was opened by the Emperor, and carried on between the two monarchs, with an apparent view to an accommodation.

A negotiation was accordingly opened at Berlin, under the conduct on one fide of Count Cobentzel, the Imperial miniker. The first proposals made by this minifter were simple and laconic: That the King should acknowledge the valicity of the convention which the Emprefs Queen had concluded with the Elector Palatine, and her legal title to those territories which she poffeffed in consequence of that treaty; and that he

they liked, whether they might relate to particular districts, or to the whole of the dominion of Bavaria. That it might not be supposed this useful compliance was to pass without due reward, the court of Vienna was to be bound, to favour the King's convenience and pleafure, in all things that related to the fucceffion of the House of Brandenburg, to the countries of Anspach and Bareuth, on the failure of issue-male in those two younger branches of his own family.

To pave, &c. [To be continued.]
An Anticombustible Cement.

N the 18th of October 1779, the Sieur de Domachnew, Chamberlain, and Director of the Imperial Academy of Sciences, made an experiment fimilar to that exhibited in London [38.615.], on the incombustibility of wood prepared after a particular manner. He had a wooden house erected, of a square form, twelve feet high, in the Wafily-Ostrow, behind the Petite Perspective, Petersburg. The fire which was lighted up therein was fo violent, that the heat was felt at a very confiderable distance; but, notwithstanding the fury of the conflagration, occafioned by the combustible materials with which it was covered on the outside and filled within, yet the partitions, the garret, the flooring, and a fmall staircase in the building, received not the least damage, during near two hours continuation of the fire, half an hour of which it raged with extreme violence, and then diminished gradually. One remarkable difference between the experiment made at Petersburg and that in London, and which is entirely in favour of Ruffia, is, that from the first mo. ment no mystery was made here of the fimple and cheap process ufed in the preparation of the wood which the fire leaves unburnt. It was very foon declared, that the compofition of this prefervatory cement is nothing more than a quantity of lime, sand, and hay, cut fmall, which may be laid on by any common carpenter. The Empress has ordered, that a particular detail of the exact method of preparing and using this aftonishing and useful cement, be inferted, for univerfal benefit, in a publication which appears at the beginning of every