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96 POLITICAL CONSEQUENCES(1634,) ceased to be a mere From this timespectator.Sweden ranked among the first powers of Europe, and thefamous treaty of toWestphalia appearedsecure it in thisplace, by the important possessions in Germany which wereby it assignedto the Swedes.It has been often questionedwhether Gustavus Adolphus,had he lived, would not have been fully as dangerousan enemy to the freedom of Germanyas Austria was. Theanswer to this will be easy,if we suppose what, in the caseof such a prince,we surely mayviz. that he would haveobeyed the dictates of sound policy. There was only onecharacter by adhering to which Sweden could maintainitself in the superiority which it had attained that of thehead of the Protestant party in Germany. As head of thisparty, it had obtained the most decided influence over theaffairs of Germany. As such it still stood forth as the statewhich opposed Austria. As such it was the natural ally ofFrance; and, as such a consequence of all these advanittages maintained its rank among the first powers ofEurope. If such a supremacy as this which might doubtless be oppressiveto more than one state of the Germanempire, since every thing depended upon the mode in whichit was exercised if this, I say,is to be termed the annihilation of the freedom of Germany, it must necessarily havebeen included in the scheme of Gustavus Adolphus. Butif he aimed at more than this, he himself marred the gloriouscharacter he had undei^taken, and sought that which he couldnot long have held. The dominion of the weaker over thestronger, which temporary causes produce, maylast for awhile, but it is against nature that it should be of long duration. It was impossible that Germany should have beenreduced into a province by Sweden.The peace of "Westphalia put an end to both the Germanwar and that in the Netherlands. This peace was prizedmore than any ever was before, and that often beyond itsdeserts. It caused, undoubtedly, three important results;since, in the first place, it secured the constitution of Germany, and with it the existence and the rights of both parties. In the second,itproduced a recognition of the independence of the republic of the United Netherlands. Andm the third, it determined the relation in which Sweden