union with the other parts of the Monarchy will not be lost sight of; but it is still asserted that an equality of rights, and an independence of each party, such as they were put forward for the first time in the conclusion of the Report, cannot be derived, in the opinion of the Government, either from the Royal Patent of the 28th of January, 1852, or from the Resolution of the Diet of the 29th July of the same year; and in this respect the Government of the King must especially refer to the contents and terms of the said Acts.

As to the demand expressed in the Report of the Committees that the Royal Patent of the 28th of January, 1852, should be decisive during the provisional arrangement for fixing the separation of the common affairs from those special to Holstein, the Government of the King would not have hesitated to accede to this point, if it had been put forward in the form of a separate proposal, the less so that in every essential particular it coincides with the arrangement in regard to it made by the Patent of the 23rd of September of last year. But the Government of the King regrets its inability formally to adopt this point of the conclusions as it presents itself as an integral part of the whole.

Lastly, if the note of the 2nd of November last year has not, as the Report of the Committees observes, made mention of the Duchy of Lauenburg, the reason is simply that this part of the Monarchy, both in its historical development and in its special relations, lends itself more easily to the preservation of the distinct position which it occupies in several respects in the Monarchy, and which also is, doubtless, in conformity with its desires. There were besides still fewer motives for mentioning this Duchy in the said note, since there was every reason to believe that on this point the views of the Government explained at a former time had been recognized as satisfactory and perfectly explicit by the High Diet (see the Report of the Committee, dated July 29, 1852, Protocol, p. 940). The Envoy may then confine himself, for the moment, to calling the attention of the Diet to the explanation given on that occasion.

Although the Government of the King, in accordance with what has been explained, cannot accede to the conclusions of the Report of the Committees, it nevertheless considers itself justified in expressing the hope that the High Diet will not decide on interfering in a manner which will impede and disturb the quiet development of relations which cannot be put into a satisfactory state without the exercise of the greatest prudence and of a scrupulous regard to circumstances. Since the different constitutional arrangements attacked by the Resolution of the Diet of the 11th of February, 1858, have been abrogated as far as concerns the Duchies of Holstein and Lauenburg by the Royal Patent of the 6th of November, 1858, the Government of the King has been constantly occupied with the task, so difficult under present circumstances, of entirely re-establishing the Constitutional Union between the Duchies of Holstein and Lauenburg and the rest of the Monarchy. The deliberations with the Holstein States, notwithstanding the incontestable efforts of the Government of the King, not having ended in the desired result, it was decided to take measures to make a new and, as there was every reason to believe, a more fortunate attempt. If, however, the High Diet considers it its duty to oppose it, His Majesty, as has been said above, is disposed, when in the course of the year new elections have taken place in Holstein, to enter into new discussions with the States on the project of a revised Constitution. This is the path by which the Government believes that it can arrive at the understanding so sincerely desired, whilst paying attention to legal bases and recognized rights, and whilst maturely weighing its own rights and duties. But in pointing out this path, the Government might, as far as concerns the executory proceeding anew brought forward by the Report, abstain for the moment from a fuller explanation of the protest made by its vote of the 12th of August, 1858 (Protocol, p. 995), against the legitimacy of such a proceeding, the more so that since that time the state of things, in consequence of the abrogation of the constitutional arrangements which were attacked, is essentially changed, so that, for that very reason, an execution could be now even less justified by Federal law. Whilst thus confining itself, for the moment, to a general reservation of its rights according to the Federal Legislation, attention must be called to the scrupulous appreciation of circumstances with which the Diet has proceeded in other questions of this nature, although indubitably the solution of these latter presented much fewer difficulties than the organization of a Monarchy, the most considerable part of which is out of the Confederation.

Relying on the preceding declaration, and on the well-known state of affairs,

the Government of the King will conclude by having recourse to the impartial appreciation of the High Diet for the best means of obtaining the most salutary arrangement for all parts of the Monarchy, and especially for the true well-being of the Duchies, and of thus avoiding a complication so dangerous and so deplorable in every respect. On the occasion of the approaching vote also, the Envoy of the King is instructed expressly to reserve the ulterior rights and decisions of His Majesty, by referring to his former declarations and protests, and by specially invoking Articles 33, 56, and 57 of the Final Act of Vienna.

My Lord,

No. 10.

M. de Bille to Lord J. Russell.-(Received March 26.)

Légation de Danemark, Londres, le 25 Mars, 1860. J'AI l'honneur, par ordre de mon Gouvernement, de communiquer à votre Excellence la ci-jointe traduction de la déclaration que le Représentant de Danemark présenta dans la séance de la Diète Germanique du 8 Mars, lors du vote sur les propositions relatives aux Duchés de Holstein et de Lauenbourg, qui avaient été soumises par les Commissions réunies, chargées de cette question.

Mon Gouvernement m'a en même tems chargé de signaler à l'attention de votre Excellence la gravité de l'état actuel de cette question, et combien les prétentions exagérées et injustifiables de la Diète menacent l'indépendance du Danemark comme Etat Souverain; Etat n'ayant d'autres obligations envers la Diète que celles qui découlent des liens Fédéraux des deux Duchés de Holstein et de Lauenbourg avec la Confédération Germanique.

Je me réserve à cet égard de présenter verbalement quelques observations à votre Excellence, et j'ai en conséquence l'honneur de prier votre Seigneurie de vouloir bien m'accorder une entrevue à cet effet.

My Lord,

Danish Legation, London, March 25, 1860.

I HAVE the honour, by order of my Government, to communicate to your Excellency the inclosed translation of the declaration which the Representative of Denmark presented during the session of the German Diet of the 8th March, on the occasion of the vote on the propositions relating to the Duchies of Holstein and Lauenburg which had been submitted by the united Commissions entrusted with that question. I am at the same time instructed by my Government to direct the attention of your Excellency to the actual state of that question, and to the extent to which the exaggerated and unjustifiable pretensions of the Diet threaten the independence of Denmark as a sovereign State-a State having no other obligations towards the Diet than those which flow from the Federal ties of the two Duchies of Holstein and Lauenburg with the Germanic Confederation.

On this point I propose to offer some verbal remarks to your Excellency, and I have in consequence the honour to beg your Lordship to be so good as to grant me an interview for that purpose.

Communication made by the Danish Envoy at the Frankfort Diet, March 8, 1860. [See Inclosure in No. 9.]

My Lord,

No. 11.

Mr. Paget to Lord J. Russell.-(Received April 2.)

Copenhagen, March 27, 1860. THE sittings of the Schleswig Diet were brought to a close on the 19th instant.

In addition to the Address to the King inclosed in translation in my despatch of the 16th of February, which was voted by the majority of the Assembly other motions for petitions to His Majesty, relative to an alteration in the law regarding the use of the German and Danish languages, the freedom of the press, the right of public meeting and of petition, were likewise carried during the past session, which has been remarkable for the bitterness of feeling and warmth of discussion which prevailed between the contending parties.

In a recent conversation with M. Hall I asked his Excellency whether it was the intention of the Danish Government to recommend His Majesty to give a favourable consideration to the wishes expressed by the majority. Without giving a direct answer to this inquiry M. Hall spoke of the general difficulties which surrounded the Danish Government in regard to the Duchy of Schleswig.

He said in the first place that the majority of the Schleswig Diet did not represent the feelings of the Duchy; that majority was, and always must be, composed, so long as the present electoral law was in force, of delegates of the nobility and clergy who all belong to the German party. The Diet was elected for six years, and the Government, he said, had no power to dissolve it.

M. Hall further continued that if it was mercly a question of acceding to the demands set forth in the various motions which had passed the Diet, it would be folly on the part of the Danish Government not to comply with them; but experience had proved that any efforts of the Danish Government towards conciliation on these points would be useless, because the aim and object of the party who mooted them was to set aside the fundamental laws of the Monarchy. as at present established, and to return to the state of things which existed before 1848.

No measures, added M. Hall, proposed by the Danish Government will be accepted by this party which do not tend to bring about SchleswigHolsteinism.

Whatever value is to be attached to this assertion it is impossible to deny the reality of some of the facts complained of, and until the Duchy of Schleswig is placed on a more equal footing with the rest of the Monarchy in regard to freedom of the press, the right of petition and public meeting, and a greater amount of liberty is allowed to individuals as to the education of their families, there is little hope of the agitation which exists there ceasing, or of more loyal feelings towards the Danish Government being exhibited by a certain portion of the population.

I have, &c.

IT is much to be desired that the Danish Government should take some steps to conciliate the German Powers. A liberal and separate Constitution for Schleswig would, it appears to Her Majesty's Government, conduce to this end.

If a conciliatory plan were proposed, fulfilling all that the Danish Government have promised, Her Majesty could be advised to recommend it to the Diet with some prospect of success.

I have, therefore, to instruct you to speak to M. Hall in the above sense, informing him that Her Majesty's Government earnestly desire the termination of this struggle, which grows in bitterness in proportion to the length of its duration.

We trust that Denmark will go the utmost length in the way of conciliaE

tion. The interests and feelings of the German inhabitants of Schleswig are deeply concerned in the settlement of this question.

No. 13.

(Extract.)

Lord Bloomfield to Lord J. Russell.—(Received April 30.)

Berlin, April 28, 1860.

A PETITION having for its object, "to call upon the Government for an inquiry as to whether the conditions agreed to in the negotiations with the Danish Government of the years 1851 and 1852 in respect of the Duchy of Schleswig, have been fulfilled, and if not fulfilled to solicit the Government to take the necessary measures to obtain this fulfilment," comes on for discussion next week in the House of Representatives.

A question more pregnant with important consequences, both as regards the external policy of Prussia in particular, and that of the German Confedera tion at large, could hardly, at the present moment, have been brought before the forum of the only popular Assembly deserving the name in Germany.

Hitherto the negotiations respecting the fulfilment on the part of Denmark of the engagements entered into by the Danish Cabinet towards the Confederation have been restricted to the Duchies of Holstein and Lauenburg. This restriction of the question to territories forming integral portions of the Confederation has necessarily confined it within the limits of a German question only, of a home question in fact, with which the other members of the European family were only indirectly concerned.

On the other hand, the engagements taken by Denmark towards the Confederation, as regards the Duchy of Schleswig, though not less clear and binding in their nature than those taken as regards the other two Duchies, have necessarily assumed the nature of an international compact, and any measure taken by the Confederation to obtain the fulfilment of those engagements, with respect to a country not forming part of the Confederation, must, from an equal necessity, assume an international character. Probably reckoning upon this fact, and upon the proverbial incapacity of the German Diet to carry on any active foreign policy of its own, trusting withal to the sympathy which, in the former phases. of this conflict, Denmark has received from other European Powers, the Danish Cabinet has been at little pains to keep up even the appearance of a fulfilment of their engagements, and it is unfortunately a notorious fact that none of the guarantees given to Germany to respect the German nationality in Schleswig, to place the two races in that Duchy upon a footing of equality, and to keep intact all the bonds not of a political nature which united that Duchy to Holstein, have been respected by Denmark.

The patriotic spirit which undoubtedly characterized the struggle of the Danish Monarchy against the Confederation in 1848 has, as is. too generally: the case where different races are brought into a forced political contact, manifested itself since the Peace in a spirit of systematic hostility against the German element in a Duchy which, from the point of view taken by the political party in power at Copenhagen is, or at least must eventually become, a Danish dependency, and the energy and passion which, when opposed to an overpowering antagonist, could not but command, independently of the political merits of the question, admiration and sympathy, have, since they have been directed against a weak and comparatively helpless minority, degenerated into a persecution for which the Danish Cabinet can hardly claim, on the part of Europe, the sympathy which was before bestowed upon it.

This persecution which has of late, at the time of, and since the meeting of the Schleswig States at Flensburg, assumed a more violent form, has excited throughout Germany a strong feeling of resentment against the Danish Cabinet, and of sympathy for the sufferers, and the petition about to be discussed in the Prussian Chamber is the expression of this feeling.

As the petitioners have wisely limited themselves to a solicitation of an inquiry as to the bare and literal fulfilment of engagements solemnly entered into by the Danish Cabinet, there can be no doubt as to the position which the Government will assume towards the petitioners. The inclosed translation of the statement made by Baron Schleinitz in the Committee of the Prussian House of Representatives sufficiently indicates what that position will be.

Inclosure in No. 13.

Statement of Baron Schleinitz, in the Committee of the House of Representatives, respecting the Schleswig Petition.

THE Minister for Foreign Affairs then spoke to the following effect :The Government fully participate in the views and the sympathies expressed in the petition for Schleswig.

As regards the matter itself he must remark as follows:

The general result of the negotiations carried on in the years 1851 and 1852 between the Confederation and the Danish Cabinet, may be described under three heads::

1. The non-incorporation of Schleswig into Denmark.

2. The recognition of an independent position invested with equal rights ("Selbststandige und gleichberechtigte stellung") for the different parts of the Monarchy, consequently for Schleswig also, within the limits of the United Kingdom ("Gesammt Monarchie").

3. Equal rights for the German and the Danish nationality in Schleswig. These rightful claims have hitherto remained unfulfilled. The state of things actually existing in Schleswig in many respects approaches, as regards its practical results ("in seinen wirkungen"), to an incorporation, and the German nationality is notoriously less favourably treated than the Danish.

Consequently the Confederation has the right flowing from the negotiation above adverted to, to insist on the fulfilment on the part of Denmark of the promises given by her. That the Confederation has hitherto not taken this step, and that it has contented itself during the past years in drawing the question of Holstein and Lauenburg only before its forum, is a policy for which it is manifest that there were reasons of great weight; however, opinions may be divided as to the expediency of such a separation of the two questions.

The question, in so far as it was restricted to Holstein and Lauenburg only, stood upon the basis of German Dietal Law. The Confederation was here the arbiter, and the King-Duke was bound to give ear to its decrees. Every influence on the part of foreign Powers was excluded. In the question of Schleswig, on the other hand, the Confederation was a party concerned: here, it had to deal with Denmark as between State and State, and every difference on this field necessarily assumed an European character. The European Powers had in the matter of Schleswig been formerly very unfavourably disposed towards Germany. Induced by the conviction that a material difficulty in the way of a favourable arrangement of the relations of Schleswig lay in the former attitude of the Cabinets of the Great European Powers, the present Government of Prussia has from the first moment of its accession endeavoured to the best of its ability to remove this difficulty, and in these endeavours, which it has reason to believe have not remained altogether without result, it will unremittingly persevere.

What the Confederation may think right to do, it must itself decide. That, as far as the Prussian Government is concerned, in influencing a Federal decision it will be led by the sincerest sympathy for the weal of Schleswig hardly requires to be here specially promised.

No. 14.

Mr. Paget to Lord J. Russell.-(Received May 1.).

(Extract.) Copenhagen, April 24, 1860. THE messenger Grattan arrived here on the 14th instant, and delivered to me your Lordship's despatch of the 11th instant.

Your Lordship observes that it is much to be desired that the Danish Government should take some steps to conciliate the German Powers; that a liberal and separate Constitution for Schleswig would, it appears to Her Majesty's Government, conduce to this end, and that if a conciliatory plan were proposed, fulfilling all that the Danish Government have promised, Her Majesty could be advised to recommend it to the Diet with some prospect of success. Lordship instructs me to speak in this sense to M. Hall, informing him that

Your