Inclosure in No. 109:

Report.

(Translation.)

THE United Committees (those of Execution and for the Constitutional Affairs of Holstein) proposed to the Diet to decree as follows:

1st. To declare that the Royal Patent of September 25, 1859, and all Ordinances derived from it,* concerning the Budget of the Duchies of Holstein and Lauenburg, are to be considered as void, as long as they have not obtained the consent of the Constituted States of those Duchies.

2nd. To summon the Royal Ducal Government to give a positive declaration whether they will fulfil the prescriptions of the Federal Decree of 8th March, 1860, concerning the establishment of a "Provisorium" for the said Duchies.†

3rd. To fall back upon the Federal Decree of 12th August, 1858, in case the Royal-Ducal Government does not give a satisfactory declaration of that nature within six weeks.

The Assembly resolved upon voting these Propositions on the 7th February. Remarks. There has been no mention made in the proposition of the "Definitivum." The Report preceding them, however, points out that the RoyalDucal Government remains at all events, even when fulfilling the conditions about a Constitutional Provisional State, under the obligation to arrange the constitutional condition of the two Duchies, according to the Conventions made in 1851 and 1852, between Denmark on the one side, and Austria and Prussia, and the Confederation on the other, in a definitive manner.

(Extract.)

No. 110.

Mr. Jerningham to Lord J. Russell.-(Received January 28.)

Stockholm, January 16, 1861.

HAVING inquired of Count Manderström if he could give me any information as to the present state of the Danish question, his Excellency acquainted me with what had lately passed on that subject between Her Majesty's Government and that of Prussia, praising the attitude of the former, and expressing a hope that the latter would not be sufficiently ill-advised to push their Schleswig pretensions to the arbitrament of war, which would probably ensue were German troops to cross the Eider.

Count Manderström further stated to me that he had not failed, in conformity with your Lordship's opinion and advice, to recommend caution and conciliation to the Danish Government towards Germany.

No. 111.

M. Hall to M. de Bille.-(Communicated to Lord J. Russell by M. de Bille,

Monsieur,

January 28.)

Copenhague, ce 19 Janvier, 1861.

IL serait inutile d'entrer dans les détails d'un incident qui a présent est passé dans le domaine de l'histoire. Dans sa dépêche du 8 Décembre dernier à Mr. William Lowther, Lord John Russell a donné, il est vrai, soit au caractère général soit à la portée de plusieurs points des propositions Danoises, une interprétation qui n'était ni dans mes pensées ni dans mes paroles à Mr. Paget. Pourtant je ne regrette pas cette méprise, d'autant moins que le Cabinet de

* Including the Financial Law of July 3 for Holstein and Lauenburg, concerning the common expenses of the monarchy, and the shares of those Duchies to cover them.

+ No. I, c 1 and 2 of the Decree of March 8, 1860:

"c1. That for all affairs concerning the Duchies of Holstein and Lauenburg, only the Royal Notification of January 28, 1852, is to be considered as decisive.

"c 2. That all motions for laws regarding common affairs of the monarchy, especially financial ones, which are brought before the Reichsrath, shall be laid also before the States of the Duchies, and must have their approval. The Diet shall consider any laws given in contradiction to these conditions as illegal for the Duchies."

Berlin ayant repoussé même dans ces suppositions la base que l'Angleterre lui avait soumise, il est devenu évident à tout le monde que la Prusse ne veut pas que cette malencontreuse affaire se vide d'une manière pacifique.

Je vous ai déjà invité, Monsieur, à témoigner à sa Seigneurie notre reconnaissance de la bonne volonté qui l'a conduite à essayer cette tentative. Mais plus encore, le Gouvernement du Roi doit au Cabinet Britannique ses remerciments sincères de la manière ferme et précise dont il a fait connaître à M. de Schleinitz ses vues sur les prétensions mises en avant par l'Allemagne à l'égard du Slesvig.

C'est avec une bien vive satisfaction que je constate le parfait accord qui existe à ce sujet entre nos deux Cours.

Bien que l'Acte Final qui termine et résume les négociations de 1851 ne contienne aucun mot relativement au Slesvig, il n'en est pas moins vrai que dans la correspondance précédente le Gouvernement du Roi avait déclaré que le Slesvig conserverait sa législature et son administration pour ses affaires provinciales. S'il n'y a pas là, à proprement parler, d'engagement formel, il y a pourtant des intentions déclarées qui tiennent de la nature d'une transaction internationale, et le Gouvernement du Roi se croira lié en honneur à les respecter, tant que de son côté l'Allemagne ne se dédit pas de ses promesses. Aussi le Gouvernement s'est abstenu scrupuleusement de porter la moindre atteinte à l'autonomie accordée au Slesvig.

La protection dont jouirait la langue et la nationalité Allemandes dans le Slesvig ne fut pas mentionnée dans la correspondance diplomatique, mais elle a été promise dans l'Ordonnance Royale du 28 Janvier, 1852. Cette Proclamation adressée aux sujets ne perd pas son caractère de disposition intérieure parce qu'elle a été portée à la connaissance des Puissances étrangères qui, par l'intérêt qu'elles avaient voué au développement de nos affaires, avaient bien acquis le droit d'être instruites d'un si importante mesure. Pour la Diète de Francfort la communication de cette Ordonnance n'a d'autant moins pu créer un droit international quelconque de s'ingérer dans les affaires intérieures du Slesvig et d'exercer un contrôle insupportable sur son administration, que le Ministre du Roi, en lui communiquant cette pièce, ajouta expressément que la Diète y apprendrait nommément la position que le Gouvernement du Roi se proposait d'accorder au Holstein dans l'organisation de la Monarchie. Mais le Roi n'est pas moins lié en honneur par la foi sacrée de sa parole à l'égard du Slesvig, ne fût-elle jamais portée qu'à la connaissance de ses sujets. Seulement l'Allemagne, dont l'action et l'intervention s'arrêtent là où le territoire Fédéral finit, n'a aucun droit de se faire le juge de l'accomplissement de cette intention Royale, moins encore de vouloir l'arracher par la force, soit ouvertement dans une guerre, soit de la manière plus détournée d'une Exécution Fédérale.

C'est ce que sa Seigneurie a parfaitement exprimé dans sa dépêche :— "Ni dans la forme ni dans la substance ces promesses, telles que le Gouvernement de Sa Majesté les comprend, n'ont donné à l'Autriche et la Prusse ou à la Confédération le droit de s'ingérer dans les détails de l'Administration de ce Duché Danois du Slesvig. Si le Slesvig était incorporé dans le Royaume, s'il était privé de sa constitution séparée, l'Allemagne pourrait prétendre au droit d'intervenir. Mais si le réglement des affaires de toute église et de toute école dans le Slesvig pouvait donner lieu à l'intervention de la Confédération Germanique, il est évident que les droits de Souveraineté du Roi n'existeraient plus que de nom."

Mais tout en se félicitant de cette reconnaissance puissante de son droit, le Gouvernement du Roi n'oubliera pas non plus l'obligation que lui imposent et la promesse donnée par le Roi à ses sujets et l'intérêt supérieur de la Monarchie qui recommande de ne pas laisser à l'esprit factieux un terrain favorable dans le Slesvig.

J'espère que Lord John Russell aura vu comment le Gouvernement du Roi, même dans les circonstances actuelles et vis-à-vis des prétentions Prussiennes reproduites avec d'autant moins de réserve que l'Angleterre les a énergiquement désapprouvées, a poursuivi la voie toute de modération et de conciliation qu'il s'est tracée. Je vous prie, Monsieur, d'expliquer à sa Seigneurie le contenu des deux Patentes que le Roi a publiées dans le Slesvig, et lui communiquer les observations qui se tronvent dans la dépêche Danoise que je vous adresse aujourd'hui. Sa Seigneurie saura par là que ces mêmes modifications que j'ai expliquées dans mes entretiens avec Mr. Paget, le Gouvernement du Roi les a

adoptées, quoique la Prusse ait si péremptoirement repoussé les ouvertures qui lui ont été faites relativement au Holstein. Si le Gouvernement n'a pas pu réaliser ses intentions relativement aux sociétés, je crois avoir assez clairement démontré que dans les circonstances peu rassurantes du moment le relâchement des dispositions existantes amenerait facilement des conséquences dont sa Seigneurie ne méconnaîtra pas le grave danger.

Lord John Russell sait que le Gouvernement du Roi est tout disposé à suivre dans les autres parties de la Monarchie les mêmes principes libéraux qu'il met en pratique dans le Royaume, et à s'attirer par là les esprits de tous ses sujets; seulement il faut qu'il agisse graduellement et en choisissant le moment favorable. Ce Ministre, qui a si bien compris "qu'il n'y eût jamais une question qui demandât plus impérieusement des considérations calmes, ou dans laquelle un commencement de lutte serait plus défavorable à tous les intérêts engagés," il reconnaîtra qu'il faut laisser les mains libres au Gouvernement du Roi, qui joint à sa bonne volonté la parfaite connaissance des circonstances et des esprits, et il comprendra que plus le Gouvernement sera assuré contre l'ingérence insupportable de l'Allemagne, plus il se verra à même de travailler vers son but.

Lord John Russell a parfaitement bien saisi tout ce que la question Dano-Allemande, apparemment d'un caractère intérieur, renferme dans son sein. 11 a compris que l'Allemagne, lorsqu'elle cherche à intervenir dans les affaires de la Monarchie Danoise, soit au sujet de la position du Holstein dans l'organisation. générale, soit en prétextant l'oppression de la langue Allemande dans le Slesvig, vise à un but incompatible avec l'intégrité de la Monarchie. J'aime à fonder sur cette juste appréciation un grand espoir de trouver dans ce différend un appui énergique chez le Cabinet Britannique; car cette intégrité de la Monarchie Danoise, dont Lord John Russell dit dans sa dépêche qu'elle intéresse à un grand degré le Gouvernement Britannique, l'Europe et avant tous l'Angleterre l'a hautement proclamée dans le Protocole et le Traité de Londres comme un principe permanent de l'équilibre Européen.

Je vous prie, Monsieur, de faire lecture à Lord John Russell de cette depêche et de lui en laisser copie.

(Translation.)

J'ai, &c. (Signé) C. HALL.

Sir,

Copenhagen, January 19, 1861.

IT would be useless to enter into the details of an incident which has now become matter of history. In his despatch of the 8th of December last to Mr. William Lowther, Lord John Russell gave, it is true, either to the general character or to the tendency of several points of the Danish proposals, an interpretation which was neither in my thoughts nor in the words I used to Mr. Paget. Nevertheless I regret this mistake the less, inasmuch as the Cabinet of Berlin having declined to accept, even according to these suppositions, the basis which England had submitted to it, it has become evident to everybody that Prussia is not desirous that this untoward affair should be settled in a peaceable manner.

I have already invited you, Sir, to express to his Lordship our acknowledgments of the goodwill which led him to make this attempt. But the Government of the King owes to the British Cabinet its thanks still more for the firm and precise manner in which it has made known to M. de Schleinitz its views on the pretensions put forward by Germany with regard to Schleswig.

It is with a very lively satisfaction that I bear record to the perfect understanding which exists on this subject between our two Courts.

Although the Final Act which terminates and resumes the negotiations of 1851 does not contain a word relative to Schleswig, it is not the less true that in the preceding correspondence the King's Government had declared that Schleswig should preserve its legislature and its administration for its own provincial affairs. If this does not constitute, properly speaking, a formal engagement, it nevertheless implies declared intentions which are of the nature of an international transaction, and the King's Government will consider itself bound in honour to respect them, as long as Germany on its part does not retract its promises. Accordingly the Government has scrupulously abstained from infringing in the least degree upon the self-government accorded to Schleswig.

The protection which the German language and nationality enjoy in Schleswig was not mentioned in the Diplomatic correspondence, but it was

promised in the Royal Ordinance of January 28, 1852. This proclamation, addressed to subjects, does not lose the character of a domestic arrangement by the fact of its having been communicated to foreign Powers, who by the interest they had taken in the development of our affairs had well acquired the right to be informed of such an important measure. To the Diet of Frankfort the communication of this Ordinance can still less have given any international right to interfere in the internal affairs of Schleswig, and to exercise an insufferable control over its Administration, inasmuch as the King's Minister in communicating this document expressly added that the Diet would learn from it the position, in the organisation of the Monarchy, which the King's Government proposed to grant to Holstein.

But the King is none the less bound in honour by the sacred faith of his promise with regard to Schleswig, even if it had never been communicated to any one but to his subjects. Germany, however, whose action and intervention stop at the point where the Federal territory ends, has no right to constitute herself the judge of the accomplishment of this Royal intention, still less to wish to extort it by force, either openly by war, or by the more indirect means of a Federal Execution. That is what his Lordship has perfectly expressed in his despatch :

"Neither in form nor in substance, as it appears to Her Majesty's Government, do these promises give a right to Austria and Prussia, or to the German Confederation, to interfere in the details of administration in the Danish Duchy of Schleswig. If Schleswig were incorporated with Denmark, if Schleswig were deprived of its separate Constitution, Germany might claim a right to interfere. But if the regulation of each church and each school in Schleswig were to be the subject of interference by the German Confederation, it is clear that the sovereign rights of the King of Denmark would exist only in name.

But while congratulating itself on this powerful recognition of its rights, the Government of the King will not forget the obligation imposed upon it both by the promise given by the King to his subjects and by the paramount interests of the Monarchy, which render it advisable not to leave the spirit of faction any favourable ground in Schleswig.

I hope that Lord John Russell will have seen how the Government of the King, even in the present state of affairs, and notwithstanding that the pretensions of Prussia have been reproduced the less unreservedly because England decidedly disapproved of them, has followed the path of moderation and conciliation which it traced out for itself.

I beg of you, Sir, to explain to his Lordship the contents of the two Patents which the King published in Schleswig, and to communicate to him the observations in the Danish despatch which I addressed to you to-day. His Lordship will see from them that these same modifications, which I have explained in my interviews with Mr. Paget, have been adopted by the King's Government, although Prussia has so peremptorily repulsed the overtures which were made to her relative to Holstein. If the Government has not been able to realise its ntentions relative to the societies, I think I have shown clearly enough that, the circumstances of the moment, which are by no means reassuring, the relaxation of existing regulations would easily bring about consequences the danger of which his Lordship will not misunderstand.

Lord J. Russell knows that the King's Government is quite disposed to follow in the other parts of the Monarchy the same liberal principle which it puts in practice in the Kingdom, and thereby to win the hearts of all its subjects; only it is necessary that it should act gradually, and choose a favourable moment. That Minister who has so well understood "that there never was a question which more imperatively demanded a temperate consideration, or on which a beginning of strife would be more injurious to all the interests concerned," will acknowledge that the King's Government, which unites with good intentions a perfect acquaintance with the circumstances and feeling of the country, ought to have its hands left free; and he will understand that the more the Government is secured against the insufferable interference of Germany, the more it will be enabled to make efforts for the attainment of its object.

Lord John Russell has perfectly well apprehended all that the Dano-German question, apparently domestic in its character as it is, comprises. He has understood that Germany, when she attempts to interfere in the affairs of the Danish Monarchy, either on the subject of the position of Holstein in the general

organization, or by alleging the suppression of the German language in Schleswig, aims at an object incompatible with the integrity of the monarchy. I flatter myself I can found on this just appreciation a hope that I shall find in this dispute an energetic support in the British Cabinet; for this integrity of the Danish Monarchy, which Lord J. Russell says in his despatch interests the British Government in a high degree, Europe, and before all England, has loudly proclaimed in the Protocol and Treaty of London, as a permanent principle of the balance of power in Europe.

I beg of you, Sir, to read this despatch to Lord J. Russell, and to leave him a copy of it.

I have, &c.

Abstract of a Despatch from M. Hall to M. de Bille, dated January 19, 1861.— (Communicated January 28.)

TWO Ordinances concerning instruction and confirmation in Schleswig have been published by the Danish Government under date of January 9th

last.

In regard to instruction, parents are no longer required to send their children to the public schools, but can, if they prefer, have them educated at home, without, as formerly, being obliged to obtain the permission of the authorities for that purpose; nor is it any longer required that private instruction should be given in that language, which happened to be the language of the public schools of the district.

It being an established principle, both in Denmark and Germany, that it is the duty of Government to attend to, that parents do not neglect the education of their children, the rule which has, in consequence, been adopted, that in case of private instruction the children so instructed are, at stated intervals, to be examined by the directors of the public schools, is a rule which the Danish Government has not thought fit to abolish; but it is, nevertheless, the intention of the Government not to enforce the rule, except in such cases where there is a well-founded suspicion that the parents, under pretence of having their children educated at home, neglect educating them at all.

In regard to confirmation, the new Ordinance does away with the obligation under which parents were hitherto placed of letting their children be confirmed in the church of the parish to which they belonged, and, consequently, also in the language there used. Parents living in a Danish parish are hence at liberty now to send their children to be instructed in religion and confirmed in a German parish, and vice versa.

A distinction is besides made between the rite of confirmation (viz., the vow, benediction, and communion), and the preparatory religious instruction or catechism.

In the Mixed Districts, where, hitherto, the Danish language was exclusively used in both respects, the rite of confirmation is now performed either in German or Danish, at the option of the parties.

The amnesty granted by the King to those implicated in the insurrectionary movement of 1848-50, did not, of itself, include a restoration of the political rights or elective franchise, it being required that those to whom the amnesty applied should petition the King on the subject if they wished to be politically rehabilitated, in which case their petition was never refused. It is, however, the intention of the Danish Government to do away with this requirement and to make the amnesty complete in every respect. But the Government deems it advisable not to adopt such a measure now, immediately after the election having taken place, when the restoration of the elective franchise would, for the moment, be without practical effect, and the measure, therefore, instead of giving satisfaction, be more likely to be treated with mockery by the German press.

If such an extension of the amnesty, on the other hand, be postponed to the next election in Schleswig, so as to be made available then, the measure would, probably, be better appreciated, and, at any rate, not be liable to the same criticism. The Danish Government, therefore, intends to postpone this completion of the amnesty until that period.