These cities could only have attained unity by means of anhereditary royal authority.But this authority in Germany lay inthe hands of the princes， who， in order to avert restraints upontheir own arbitrary rule， and to keep both the cities and the minornobles in subjection， were interested in resisting theestablishment of an hereditary empire.
Hence the persevering adherence to the idea of the ImperialRoman Empire amongst German kings.Only at the head of armies werethe emperors rulers； only when they went to war were they able tobring together princes and cities under their banner.Hence theirprotection of civic liberty in Germany， and their hostility to itand persecution of it in Italy.
The expeditions to Rome not only weakened more and more thekingly power in Germany， they weakened those very dynasties throughwhich， within the Empire， in the heart of the nation， aconsolidated power might have grown up.But with the extinction ofthe House of Hohenstaufen the nucleus of consolidated power wasbroken up into a thousand fragments.
The sense of the impossibility of consolidating the heart ofthe nation impelled the House of Hapsburg， originally so weak andpoor， to utilise the nation's vigour in founding a consolidatedhereditary monarchy on the south-eastern frontier of the GermanEmpire， by subjugating alien races， a policy which in the northeastwas imitated by the Margraves of Brandenburg.Thus in thesouth-east and north-east there arose hereditary sovereigntiesfounded upon the dominion over alien races， while in the twowestern corners of the land two republics grew into existence whichcontinually separated themselves more and more from the parentnation； and within， in the nation's heart， disintegration，impotence， and dissolution continually progressed.The misfortunesof the German nation were completed by the inventions of gunpowderand of the art of printing， the revival of the Roman law， theReformation， and lastly the discovery of America and of the newroute to India.
The intellectual， social， and economic revolution which we havedescribed produced divisions and disruption between the constituentmembers of the Empire， disunion between the princes， disunionbetween the cities， disunion even between the various guilds ofindividual cities， and between neighbours of every rank.Theenergies of the nation were now diverted from the pursuit ofindustry， agriculture， trade， and navigation； from the acquisitionof colonies， the amelioration of internal institutions， in factfrom every kind of substantial improvement， the people contendedabout dogmas and the heritage of the Church.
At the same time came the decline of the Hanseatic League andof Venice， and with it the decline of Germany's wholesale trade，and of the power and liberties of the German cities both in thenorth and in the south.
Then came the Thirty Years' War with its devastations of allterritories and cities.Holland and Switzerland seceded， while thefairest provinces of the Empire were conquered by France.Whereasformerly single cities， such as Strasburg， N黵nberg， Augsburg， hadsurpassed in power entire electorates， they now sank into utterimpotence in consequence of the introduction of standing armies.
If before this revolution the cities and the royal power hadbeen more consolidated -- if a king exclusively belonging to theGerman nation had obtained a complete mastery of the Reformation，and had carried it out in the interests of the unity， power， andfreedom of the nation -- how very differently would theagriculture， industry， and trade of the Germans have beendeveloped.By the side of considerations such as these， howpitiable and unpractical seems that theory of political economywhich would have us refer the material welfare of nations solely tothe production of individuals， wholly losing sight of the fact thatthe producing power of all individuals is to a great extentdetermined by the social and political circumstances of the nation.
The introduction of the Roman law weakened no nation so much as theGerman.The unspeakable confusion which it brought into the legalstatus and relations of private individuals， was not the worst ofits bad effects.More mischievous was it by far， in that it createda caste of learned men and jurists differing from the people inspirit and language， which treated the people as a class unlearnedin the law， as minors， which denied the authority of all soundhuman understanding， which everywhere set up secrecy in the room ofpublicity， which， living in the most abject dependence and livingupon arbitrary power， everywhere advocated it and defended itsinterests， everywhere gnawed at the roots of liberty.Thus we seeeven to the beginning of the eighteenth century in Germany，barbarism in literature and language， barbarism in legislation，State administration and administration of justice； barbarism inagriculture， decline of industry and of all trade upon a largescale， want of unity and of force in national cohesion；powerlessness and weakness on all hands in dealing with foreignnations.
One thing only the Germans had preserved； that was theiraboriginal character， their love of industry， order， thrift， andmoderation， their perseverance and endurance in research and inbusiness， their honest striving after improvement， and aconsiderable natural measure of morality， prudence， andcircumspection.
This character both the rulers and the ruled had in common.