[377] Even then the Roman pontiffs had lapsed into that scolding, anile tone (so unlike the fiery brevity of Hildebrand, or the stern precision of Innocent III) which is now seldom absent from their public utterances. Pope Innocent the Tenth pronounces the provisions of the treaty, 'ipso iure nulla, irrita, invalida, iniqua, iniusta, damnata, reprobata, inania, viribusque et effectu vacua, omnino fuisse, esse, et perpetuo fore.' In spite of which they were observed. This bull may be found in vol. xvii. of the _Bullarium_. It bears date Nov. 20th, A.D. 1648. [378] The Imperial Chamber (Kammergericht) continued, with frequent and long interruptions, to sit while the Empire lasted. But its slowness and formality passed that of any other legal body the world has yet seen, and it had no power to enforce its sentences. The Aulic council was little more efficient, and was generally disliked as the tool of imperial intrigue. [379] The 'matricula' specifying the quota of each state to the imperial army could not be any longer employed. [380] _Erbfeind des heiligen Reichs._ [381] Only the envoys of the several states were present at Utrecht in 1713. [382] Quoted by Ludwig Haüsser, _Deutsche Geschichte_. [383] The distinction is well expressed by the German 'Reich' and 'Kaiserthum,' to which we have unfortunately no terms to correspond. [384] So the Elector of Saxony proposed in 1532 that Albert II, Frederick III, and Maximilian having been all of one house, Charles V's successor should be chosen from some other.--Moser, _Römische Kayser_. See the various attempts of France in Moser. The coronation engagements (Wahlcapitulation) of every Emperor bound him not to attempt to make the throne hereditary in his family. [385] In 1658 France offered to subsidize the Elector of Bavaria if he would become Emperor. [386] Whether an Evangelical was eligible for the office of Emperor was a question often debated, but never actually raised by the candidature of any but a Roman Catholic prince. The 'exacta æqualitas' conceded by the Peace of Westphalia might appear to include so important a privilege. But when we consider that the peculiar relation in which the Emperor stood to the Holy Roman Church was one which no heretic could hold, and that the coronation oaths could not have been taken by, nor the coronation ceremonies (among which was a sort of ordination) performed upon a Protestant, the conclusion must be unfavourable to the claims of any but a Catholic. [387] 'The bold Bavarian, in a luckless hour, Tries the dread summits of Cæsarian power. With unexpected legions bursts away, And sees defenceless realms receive his sway.... The baffled prince in honour's flattering bloom Of hasty greatness finds the fatal doom; His foes' derision and his subjects' blame, And steals to death from anguish and from shame.' JOHNSON, _Vanity of Human Wishes_.