separation of Holstein, is at once evident to an unprejudiced eye. But the adoption of the present propositions of Denmark would implicitly include, at the same time, an approval of the continuance of the Reichsrath; and it is not easy to foresee when the interim state, founded in this way, will be brought to a close. But however the propositions of Denmark may be considered, the Confederation, at all events, cannot, as the London Cabinet appears to assume, feel itself empowered to agree with Denmark on the settlement of affairs upon this basis, and Prussia also is therefore not in a position to act in this sense at Frankfort, in accordance with the wish of Lord John Russell. The question here is that of the rights of the States, which it is not in the province of the Confederation to settle. Upon this the Danish Government may enter into negotiations with the States. If it have their assent there will not be anything to say against it on the part of the Confederation. But the propositions do not appear to be of a nature such that the Confederation could use its influence with the States for their assent, and it could not admit the validity of any arrangement which the Government might make in accordance with these propositions so long as the assent of the States should be withheld from them. As your Excellency will see by the conclusion of the Memorandum, the Copenhagen Cabinet thinks it may further an understanding upon the question of Holstein by the offer of certain concessions in respect of Schleswig. We may abstain from going into a detailed consideration of the value of the measures put forward, because the hypothesis with which they were, as an essential condition, connected, is, we are convinced, entirely inacceptable by the Confederation. No right of intervention in the affairs of Schleswig is thereby granted to the German Confederation. All concessions to be made to that Duchy are exclusively understood as emanating from the free will of the Government of Denmark, and are not interpreted as an admission of the authority of the Confederation in reference to Schleswig. To this the Confederation will never agree. It is certainly quite correct-and this we have always admitted-that the Duchy of Schleswig does not appertain to the body of the German Contederation, and thus it is so far not subject to the authority of the Confederation. But it is, nevertheless, quite in consistency with this that the King of Denmark, as Duke of Schleswig, has contracted, for the sake of the settlement of the debated claims of Holstein, certain international obligations towards the German Confederation in respect of Schleswig, and is bound to fulfil them. In regard to this I may refer to our detailed Memorandum of last June, which, at the time, your Excellency also brought to the knowledge of the English Cabinet. The spirit in which England has so frequently in other places laid its weight in the scale, where it was available in obtaining for peoples liberties against their Governments which until then did not belong to them according to law, and the principles respecting national rights which recently dictated the despatch of Lord John Russell on the 27th of last October to Sir James Hudson in Turin, will not permit us to doubt that, in the case between Denmark and Germany, in which the question now is to defend the well-grounded and documented liberties of the States, Great Britain will have no hesitation to use its whole influence with the Cabinet of Copenhagen for obtaining what is right. Your Excellency is authorized to acquaint Lord John Russell with the contents of this despatch, in reply to the Memorandum communicated to us. My Lord, Mr. Manley to Lord J. Russell.-(Received November 15.) Copenhagen, November 12, 1860. THE trial of the persons who signed a revolutionary address in Schleswig in the month of February last, was brought to a conclusion a few days ago, the result being that the parties who were proved to have been concerned in it were in sums varying from 200 dollars (221.) to 5 dollars each, the originator of fine the address being sentenced to pay the larger sum. Although the sentence was milder than was generally expected, it is said that the whole of the convicted parties intend to appeal against it to a higher Court. My Lord, Mr. Ward to Lord J. Russell.-(Received November 17.) Hamburgh, November 15, 1860. THE Duchy of Holstein has lately been occupied with the election of the members of a new Diet of the States of that Duchy, which, it is understood, will be convened in the month of January next. The number of electors who have exercised their right of voting has been smaller than usual, owing partly to the inefficient and inconvenient character of the Electoral Law, and partly owing to a feeling of hopelessness in regard to political improvement which has taken possession of many men's minds. But so much appears certain, that the result of these elections, which are now very nearly terminated, will be decidedly unfavourable to the policy of the Danish Government, and that the new Diet will be as little disposed as its predecessor to entertain any proposals inconsistent with the rights of the Duchy, or of the States. The Danish Government notified to the Federal Diet at Frankfort, in the month of March last, its intention to submit to an Assembly newly elected of the Provincial States of Holstein the Project of a revised Constitution for the common affairs of the Monarchy. The details of this Project of the Government have not yet been made public, but so much may be asserted beforehand with regard to it, that if it proceeds upon the principle of a Corporate State, like that of the abolished Constitution of October 2, 1855, it has not the slightest chance of being adopted, and scarcely of being heard by the new Diet. In fact, while the whole question of the position of Holstein is pending before the Federal Diet of Germany, the Danish Ministers cannot seriously believe that they can satisfy the States of Holstein by conceding to them any rights short of those which, through the intervention of the Federal Diet, they must ultimately obtain. I have conversed on this subject with several intelligent persons residing in the Duchy-among them with Baron Scheel-Plessen, who has repeatedly officiated as President of the States-and they all concur in thinking that the further agitation, in the sense proposed by the Government, of Const'tational questions before the Holstein States, can be of no utility, and will merely renew the irritation and excitement of former years. The best and wisest course for the Danish Cabinet to pursue would seem to be, as regards Holstein, to submit itself without reserve to the Resolutions of the Federal Diet, which is the competent legal tribunal for settling these long-pending disputes between the King-Duke and his German subjects in Holstein and Lauenburg. The States of Holstein may probably take up some minor matters in the way of reform, such as a revision of the Electoral Law, the restoration to the inhabitants of the right of petition, and the liberation of the press from the restrictions imposed on it; but all these questions will be treated as subordinate to the leading one of the Constitutional position of the Duchy within the Danish Monarchy. With respect to the case of the Duchy of Schleswig, it has given rise to much discussion and agitation, both in the Duchy and in Germany, since the dissolution of the Assembly of the States of Schleswig in the early part of this year. The ground taken by the Prussian Minister, the Baron de Schleinitz, in the despatches subsequently addressed by him to Copenhagen, is already known to your Lordship, viz., that Denmark is bound to fulfil the engagements entered into by her with Austria and Prussia in the years 1851 and 1852 as the conditions of the Peace, and to make good the promises held forth by the King-Duke to his German subjects in the Royal Proclamation issued on the 28th January, 1852. The non-fulfilment of these engagements and promises as regards Schleswig, although that Duchy does not lie within the limits of the Germanic Confederation, may, at any time, be declared by Austria and Prussia (assuming they have full powers from the other German States) to be a casus belli, and the war renewed. Whether Prussia (to say nothing of Austria) will eventually proceed to the length of hostilities on this account, will probably depend a good deal on the degree of pressure exercised upon the Prussian Government by public opinion in Germany; but the mere possibility of such a crisis shows that the Schleswig question, so long as it continues unsettled, threatens no less danger than that of Holstein, to the general interests of European peace. Until within the last few months, the language of the Constitutional leaders in both of the Duchies has been, "We claim the fulfilment by Denmark of the engagements made by her to us and to the German Powers in the years 1851 and 1852, as the conditions of the Peace." And in various former despatches which I have had the honour to address to your Lordship and to the Earl of Clarendon, I have humbly supported the Constitutional view of the case, and have submitted that Denmark ought to be compelled to make good her engagements to Schleswig not less than to Holstein. Of late, however, and since the grievances of Schleswig have become more flagrant, I have observed a disposition in the more zealous advocates of the cause of the Duchies to change their tone, and to say, "It is useless to insist any longer on the Danish engagements of 1851 and 1852: Denmark has neglected and violated those engagements. The conditions of the peace are therefore no longer binding on us or on the German Powers. We will think of them no more, but will demand the ancient Constitutional rights of the Duchies of Schleswig and Holstein, which are independent, and inseparably united with each other. We will have the political union of the two Duchies, and no other connection with Denmark than the personal union of the Kingdom and the Duchies under the same Sovereign." Such language is used, for instance, by M. Busch, in his pamphlet which I have transmitted to your Lordship in another despatch of this day's date. This disposition to abandon the conditions of the Peace, and to go for more, is at all events significant of an increased irritation in the public mind of the Duchies and of Germany, and is the consequence of the unfortunate obstinacy with which the Danish Government has for nearly ten years refused to carry out the stipulations on which the Peace was based. Whatever course Prussia may take in this long-pending contest, I fear there is little hope of the Danish Crown recovering the lost respect and affection of its German subjects. I have, &c. Lord Bloomfield to Lord J. Russell.-(Received November 19.) My Lord, His Excellency said that, in consequence of Count Bernstorff's continued indisposition, Count Brandenburg had communicated to your Lordship the Memorandum of which he had spoken last week, and that as your Lordship had expressed a wish to have a copy of it, he had authorized its being delivered to you. lead I then inquired of Baron Schleinitz if this communication was likely to to any concessions on the part of Germany, with reference to the confidential communication which I had made to his Excellency some time ago; but I regret to say that his answer was most unsatisfactory, for he gave me to understand that the result would probably be a communication to the Diet, and the adoption by Assembly of a resolution calling on Denmark to fulfil the engagements that which she contracted with Prussia and Austria as the condition of the retirement of occupation from the territory of Denmark. of the German Denmark, said his Excellency, had not fulfilled her engagements, and it would be for the Diet to decide what was to be done. That meant, I observed, a Federal execution. and the military occupation of Holstein by order of the Diet; a measure, I added, which might be attended with danger to the peace of the North of Europe. Baron Schleinitz explained that this need not be so; it was an affair connected with the internal arrangements of Germany, and if the occupation were decreed by the Diet, it would not, of course, be extended to the Duchy of Schleswig. I replied that this intelligence would not be welcome to Her Majesty's Government, who had hoped for a more favourable answer to their endeavours to conciliate matters between Denmark and Germany, and who certainly would see in the possible adoption of the violent measures to which he had alluded, danger to the general peace, and that I hoped some means would yet be devised to prevent the application of force at the present moment. Baron Schleinitz insisted that the course which the Diet was likely to adopt was not calculated to cause alarm to Europe, and was amply justified by the pertinacious refusal of Denmark to fulfil her engagements. I have, &c. My Lord, Mr. Manley to Lord J. Russell.—(Received November 26.) Copenhagen, November 16, 1860. I HAVE the honour to inform your Lordship that in pursuance of your instructions transmitted in your Lordship's telegram of the 31st October, I left with M. Hall a copy of the Memorandum on the Question of the Danish Duchies presented to the Prussian Government by Lord Bloomfield. His Excellency expressed his satisfaction at the manner and tone in which it had been drawn up. I took the opportunity to ask M. Hall if he was aware whether anything had passed at the late meeting at Warsaw on this subject. His Excellency thought that little if anything had been said, but stated that Prince Gortchakoff had expressed his satisfaction to the Danish Minister at St. Petersburg, Baron Plessen, that Her Majesty's Government had offered their good offices with Prussia to endeavour to bring about an arrangement, and the sincere wish of the Russian Government for the termination of the question. (Extract.) Mr. Manley to Lord J. Russell.-(Received November 26 ) Copenhagen, November 21, 1860. WITH respect to the principal question under dispute in Schleswig, namely, that of the language in the Mixed districts, your Lordship will perhaps allow me here to state that of the three parts into which, as your Lordship is aware, that Duchy is divided, namely, the Danish, the German, and the so-called Mixed districts, the first or Danish portion consists of 117 parishes; the German portion of 110; and the so-called Mixed districts, the territory at present under dispute, of 47 only, and containing a population of some 50,000 sculs, and consequently forming but a very small part of the whole Duchy. In the German portion, which comprehends the more southern part of South Schleswig, from the town of Schleswig and Husum downwards, nothing but German is spoken, and no other is employed either for schools, church service, &c., &c. In the Danish portion, which extends over the whole of Northern Schleswig, down to Flensburg, the language is, on the other hand, entirely Danish. In the Mixed districts, which form the portion between the two, the general language of conversation of the peasants and poorer classes is a kind of patois, consisting of a mixture of Danish, German, and Frisian, though they generally possess a good knowledge of both German and Danish, as the two languages are taught in all the schools in those districts; the latter, however, being invariably employed as that of education. The only alteration, I believe, that has taken place in the division within these last ten years is that two of the Mixed districts or parishes have been added to the Danish portion on account, as it was stated, that their language had become almost entirely Danish, and could, therefore, not be counted any longer as Mixed districts. I think there is but little doubt, with regard to the languages themselves, there would be but little or no difficulty offered against the adoption of your Lordship's plan of again dividing these last-named disputed districts into a German, Danish, and Mixed portions, and by this means confining the latter districts within as small a space as possible: but the difficulty, I apprehend, will be to induce the Danish Government to consent to the measure. No. 76. My Lord, Mr. Manley to Lord J. Russell.-(Received November 26.) Copenhagen, November 22, 1860. I HAVE just seen M. Hall, who informed me that he had had a telegram from M. de Bille, the Danish Minister in London, informing him that your Lordship had received the reply of the Prussian Government to the Memorandum presented by Lord Bloomfield to Baron Schleinitz. I told his Excellency that I was about to dispatch a messenger to England, and asked him if I could not give your Lordship some hopes of the Danish Government making some alteration in the proposed plans with regard to the contribution to the common expenses to be paid by Holstein which would place that Duchy more on an equality with the rest of the Monarchy, as I was aware that the plan, as it existed at present, was not considered as at all satisfactory by the Prussian Government. His Excellency replied, that Prussia did not show any desire to come to an understanding, and that, until he heard again from M. de Bille, he could not enter further into the question. I have, &c. (Extract.) Mr. Howard to Lord J. Russell.-(Received November 26.) Hanover, November 24, 1860. ACCORDING to the information which I have been able to collect here, it is the intention of the Prussian Government, to whom Austria has left the lead in this matter, to declare to the Diet, in their report, that they consider the publication of the Budget for Holstein to constitute an infraction of the stipulations of the Federal Resolution of the 8th of March of this year, and to propose that Denmark shall be called upon, under pain of incurring the Federal execution which had been suspended, to declare, within four weeks, that they will not publish any new laws for Holstein without the consent of the States of that Duchy, during the provisional state of things there established. the the I take this opportunity of stating that Count Platen, in speaking to me of certain concessions which he has learnt that the Danish Government, through medium of Her Majesty's Minister at Copenhagen, have offered to make to Duchies of Holstein and Schleswig, has observed to me that the Danish ernment ought to have been ashamed to render even the very partial redress the just grievances of the Schleswigers which they now propose, conditional upon the acceptance of a provisional arrangement for Holstein. His Excellency obli Of opinion that the Danish Government ought unconditionally to fulfil the gations they have undertaken towards both Duchies, and that the concessions GO of is |