2nd of July last, be ready to take a part in the negotiations to be opened on the subject; but notwithstanding the observations which I made, to prove that the European complications likely to arise, if the principle of the integrity were not affirmed, as was done by the Protocol, would be much more dangerous to Prussia and Germany than those which the connexion of a part of the Danish dominions with Germany might produce, his Excellency insisted that Prussia could not, as matters now stand, pronounce herself beforehand in the sense of the Protocol. Baron Schleinitz added, that on one occasion he had shown M. de Reedtz a project by which the union of the 2 Duchies should have been established under a personal union only with Denmark, and by which Prussia should engage to assist in maintaining the integrity of the Danish Monarchy, but that the Danish negotiator had declined to entertain the plan. I have, &c. Viscount Palmerston, G.C.B. SIR, HENRY HOWARD. No. 50.-Viscount Palmerston to Mr. Howard. Foreign Office, August 13, 1850. WITH reference to your despatch of the 1st instant, reporting the language held by Baron Schleinitz upon the question of the Succession to the several States now united under the sovereignty of the King of Denmark, I have to observe that this information is important, as proving that which the conduct of Prussia has long given strong reason to suspect, though it never has hitherto been openly avowed by the Prussian Government, namely, that the object of Prussia in regard to the Schleswig-Holstein question has been to dismember the Danish Monarchy, by separating the States which are now united under the sovereignty of the King-Duke. But this is a policy which, though it may suit the separate and special views of Prussia, would not be conducive to the general interests of Europe, or to those of Great Britain in particular. H. Howard, Esq. I am, &c. PALMERSTON. SIR, No. 51.-Viscount Palmerston to Mr. Howard. Foreign Office, August 13, 1850. WITH reference to my despatch of the 6th instant, inclosing copies of the Protocols on the affairs of Denmark which were signed at this office on the 2nd instant, I have to desire that you will urge the Prussian Government to instruct their Representative here to sign them also. H. Howard, Esq. I am, &c. PALMERSTON. SIR, No. 52.-Viscount Palmerston to Sir J. Milbanke. Foreign Office, August 13, 1850. WITH reference to your despatch of the 28th ultimo, reporting the substance of a conversation which you had had with the Bavarian Minister for Foreign Affairs, relative to the Conference held at this office on the 4th of July, on the affairs of Denmark, I have to instruct you to say to M. von der Pfordten, that it is not proposed or intended that the Conference of London should interfere with the arrangements which the King of Denmark may make in the order of Succession in his Royal House, with a view to maintain the political union of the States which are now under his rule; all that the proposed Protocol says on that matter is, that the parties to the Protocol approve of the intention of the King of Denmark to make such arrangements, and propose to give to those arrangements, when and after they shall have been made, an additional pledge of stability, by an European acknowledgment. Sir J. Milbanke. I am, &c. PALMERSTON. No. 53-Count Moltke to Count Reventlow.-(Communicated to Viscount Palmerston by Count Reventlow, August 14.) M. LE COMTE, Copenhague, le 8 Août, 1850. J'AI exactement reçu des mains du Comte F. de Moltke les expéditions importantes dont votre Excellence avait bien voulu le charger pour nous. Vous aurez sans doute pressenti, M. le Comte, le vif intérêt avec lequel nous avons recueilli cette bonne nouvelle, que je m'empresserai de porter à la haute connaissance du Roi notre auguste Maître. La signature du Protocole de Londres, en effet, est un événement de la plus haute conséquence. Cet acte établit une expression collective de la ferme volonté des Grandes Puissances de maintenir à la fois l'intégrité de la Monarchie Danoise et la paix générale, qui, nous aimons à l'espérer, exercera une salutaire influence sur l'œuvre de la pacification et sur la situation politique de nos affaires en général. Plus il est nécessaire que toutes les Puissances se réunissent pour obtenir ce but, plus nous devons regretter que le Cabinet de Vienne ait hésité encore à s'associer à une entreprise tout aussi conforme aux droits de Danemarc, aux principes que proclame et que défend l'Autriche, que dictée dans l'intérêt bien entendu de toute l'Europe. Nous n'abandonnons pas l'espoir que cette Puissance y donnera plus tard son adhésion et lui assurera par là un succès plus complet. L'accord existant pour cet effet entre les Puissances amies, et nommément entre la Grande Bretagne et la Russie, l'une comme Puissance Médiatrice, l'autre comme Puissance amie intervenante, s'est manifesté maintenant de manière à faire sentir à la partie adverse la nécessité de renoncer à des prétentions inadmissibles, à inspirer à ceux qui poussent en Allemagne au renouvellement des hostilités avec le Danemarc, des dispositions réellement pacifiques et à fortifier le courage de ceux des sujets du Roi dans les Duchés qui se trouvent jusqu'à l'heure qu'il est, sous le coup du régime de la terreur qui pèse sur ces malheureuses contrées. Bien que je sache, M. le Comte, que vous trouverez dans votre conscience intérieure la plus belle récompense des services que vous venez de nouveau de rendre à la patrie, je ne saurais cependant pas omettre de vous offrir ici l'expression de notre reconnaissance, avec nos sincères félicitations d'être par vos efforts infatigables, auxquels se sont réunis ceux de Messieurs vos collègues, parvenu à obtenir la signature du Prtocole. J'approuve entièrement la rédaction de ce document, je le trouve en tout point conforme à nos intérêts, et je vous invite à saisir la première occasion qui se présente, pour vous rendre auprès de Lord Palmerston l'interprête de notre sincère reconnaissance de cette nouvelle preuve de l'intérêt et de l'amitié de cet illustre homme d'état pour le Danemarc, et de son désir sincère de nous procurer les garanties dont nous avons besoin, que nous avons le droit d'exiger, et qui sont nécessaires pour ne point compromettre les fruits de la longue et épineuse médiation dont la Grande Bretagne a bien voulu se charger. Je prie également votre Excellence de vouloir offrir à chacun de Messieurs vos collègues qui ont appuyé vos efforts de leurs concours, nos sincères remercîments pour la manière distinguée dont ils ont accompli les instructions de leurs Gouvernements. Le Comte Reventlow. J'ai, &c. MOLTKE. No. 55.-Mr. Howard to Viscount Palmerston.-(Rec. August 16.) THE Austrian Minister here, Baron Prokesch, has shown me the copy of a despatch addressed by Baron Schleinitz to Count Bernstorff at Vienna on the 31st ultimo, on the subject of Prince Schwarzenberg's instructions of the 25th ultimo to Baron Koller, concerning the signature of the Protocol of London relating to the Danish Succession. In this despatch Baron Schleinitz takes the same view as he did in his conversation with myself, as reported in my despatch of the 10th instant; he admits that motives can be put forward, in an European interest, in favour of the maintenance of the integrity of the Danish Monarchy, but he observes that the complications of the Danish question in the latter years had arisen in great measure from the mixed composition of the dominions of the King of Denmark, and Prussia would therefore be unwilling to perpetuate such a state of things, by affirming beforehand the principle of the integrity. Baron Schleinitz then states that the engagement contained in the Secret Article of the 2nd of July last does not impose upon Prussia any obligation to sign the declaration in the Protocol of London in respect to the integrity; that Prussia had declined, in the negotiations for the Treaty, the proposition of the Danish Plenipotentiaries that she should declare her readiness to co-operate towards the re-establishment of a common order of Succession for all the States united under the sceptre of His Danish Majesty, and that by signing the Secret Article in its present form, she had adhered to the stipulations of the Preliminaries. M. de Bielke has confidentially communicated to me the despatches of the 10th instant, which he has received under flying-seal from the Danish Minister at Vienna, and from which it appears that Prince Schwarzenberg, whilst expressing himself very favourably for the maintenance of the integrity of the Danish Monarchy, is unwilling to accede to the Protocol, such as it was signed in London on the 2nd instant, considering that the wording of Article II does not contain a sufficiently distinct reservation of the rights of the Germanic Confederation, and objecting likewise to that of the Article expressing satisfaction at the conclusion of the peace. Viscount Palmerston, G.C.B. I have, &c. HENRY HOWARD. No. 56.-Mr. Magenis to Viscount Palmerston.-(Rec. August 17.) Nor having heard from your Lordship, and in the expectation that the messenger from Berlin may bring me instructions on the 12th instant, I have not thought it advisable to call on Prince Schwarzenberg, although I have learned from the newspapers that the Austrian Chargé d'Affaires in London had declined signing the Protocol of the Conference held at the Foreign Office on the 2nd instant. I have this moment, however, seen my Danish colleague, Count Bille-Brahe, who has just returned from a conference with Prince Schwarzenberg, and I learn from him that His Highness positively refuses to accept the wording of the end of Article II of that Protocol. He states that it is impossible for him to do so, because it had been said in that Conference that the wording of that Article as proposed by Austria "was too vague," and suspicion of the possible good faith of the German Confederation had been implied, which at a moment when Austria was using every endeavour to reconstitute that Confederation, he could not tolerate. His Highness likewise objected to the omission of the mention of the Duchy of Lauenburg in the Protocol, and said he could not agree to the felicitations expressed in Article III, on the conclusion. of a peace which had actually led to hostilities. He assured Count Bille-Brahe that the Austrian Minister at Copenhagen had informed him that the Danish Government agreed to and were perfectly satisfied with the project proposed by Austria, and he refused most explicitly to authorize Baron Koller to sign the Protocol agreed on and signed at the Foreign Office on the 2nd instant by the Plenipotentiaries of the other five Powers, as it stands at present. I think it right to acquaint your Lordship with these details as I have learnt them from my Danish colleague. The omission of the rights of the German Confederation to Lauenburg will probably necessitate an amended Protocol, in which those rights are mentioned; and it appears to me that an opportunity may thus occur, in which the Article in question may be so altered as to suit the views of the Austrian Cabinet, and by that means the unanimity of the Great Powers, which is so desirable on this important question, may be attained. Viscount Palmerston, G.C.B. I have, &c. ARTHUR C. MAGENIS. No. 57.-Mr. Magenis to Viscount Palmerston.-(Rec. August 19.) (Extract.) Vienna, August 13, 1850. AFTER, waiting nearly two hours this morning to see Prince Schwarzenberg, who was engaged in conferring with the various heads of his Departments on matters pending at Berlin and Frankfort, I was at last only able to see His Highness for a few minutes. He promised, however, to show me to-morrow the instructions which he proposed addressing to St. Petersburgh on the subject of the Protocol signed on the 2nd instant at the Foreign Office on Danish affairs; and I have in consequence decided upon keeping the messenger until to-morrow evening, when he will still be in time to catch the messenger from Berlin to Hamburgh. With reference to that Protocol, His Highness expressed himself to me this morning very much in the same sense which I had the honour to report to your Lordship, in my despatch of the 10th instant, he had spoken to the Danish Minister. He read over Article by Article the Protocol in question, observing pretty nearly as follows: with regard to Article I he said, that at the suggestion of Austria the expression "under the dominion of His Danish Majesty," had been substituted for "under the Crown," &c., and that he was satisfied. He said that Article II had been drawn up with great precipitation, that it omitted all mention of the Duchy of Lauenburg, which stood precisely in the same relation to the German Confederation as Holstein; he objected to the expressions "sans altérer les relations du Duché de Holstein avec la Confédération |