Russia as a Guarantor Power of the Imperial Constitution under Catherine II

Abstract

Since 1648, the constitution of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation recognized the peculiar arrangement of the Guarantor Powers. This guaranteeS exercised by France and Sweden, was anchored in the Treaty of Westphalia. l It was intended as a guarantee of peace but was understood as a guarantee of the Imperial Constitution, as established by the Treaty of Westphalia. All peace agreements to which the Empire was a party during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries referred to the Treaty of Westphalia and indirectly renewed this guarantee for both powers.2 When France and Russia mediated the end of the Bavarian War of Succession with the Treaty of Teschen in 1779, the reference to the Treaty of Westphalia in article 12 automatically made Russia a guarantor of the constitutional order established by that treaty. The directions to Nikolaus Graf Romanzoff, the first Russian envoy to the Empire, stated that the Treaty of Teschen laid the basis for Russian influence in Germany and gave us [Catherine II] the right to participate in the political affairs of Germany directly and not merely through a third party.3 her instructions to her plenipotentiary in Teschen, Prince Nikolai Wassiljewitsch Repin, Catherine II explained why she placed such great value on becoming a guarantor of the Imperial Constitution as follows: In this manner, we will enjoy the respect of all Germany for achieving