During this interview, M. Hall spoke much, and in the most earnest manner, of his ardent desire to terminate this controversy, and to re-establish the relations between Denmark and Prussia on the same cordial footing which formerly existed; and said that if once this question could be set at rest, he would make many sacrifices on points relating to the Duchy of Schleswig which were now impossible. I have only to add, with reference to the present arrangement being proposed as temporary, that I have no doubt whatever the Danish Government would make it the permanent one if it was so desired by the Confederation. The Memorandum inclosed in my despatch of the 21st instant explains the reasons of the Danish Government for only proposing it as a temporary one in the first instance. Sir, No. 51. Lord J. Russell to Mr. Paget. Foreign Office, August 29, 1860. IN reply to your despatch of the 16th instant, I have to state that I entirely approve the language you used to M. Hall, in your conversation with his Excellency respecting the concessions which it is desired that the Danish Government should make to the Duchies of Schleswig and Holstein, and I trust that the question of the languages to be used in the public schools of those Duchies will not prove a difficulty. No. 52. 1 am, &c. My Lord, Mr. Paget to Lord J. Russell.—(Received September 17.) Copenhagen, September 12, 1860. YOUR Lordship will have probably heard from Frankfort that before the separation of the Diet for the holidays, the Representative of Oldenburg presented a motion to the effect that the Danish Government having published the Budget for the Monarchy, without having previously submitted that part of it which concerns Holstein to the vote of the States of that Duchy, had infringed the Decree of the Diet of the 8th of March of this year, and that, consequently, there were grounds for a Federal execution. This motion was referred to the Committee for the Affairs of Holstein, who recommended that explanations on the subject should be required from the Danish Government, through the medium of the Representatives of Austria and Prussia at Copenhagen; and instructions to demand these explanations have, in consequence, been recently received and carried out by the Prussian Minister and the Austrian Chargé d'Affaires. M. Hall has not as yet replied to their communication, but, in speaking on the subject with me, his Excellency observed that although the amount to be contributed by Holstein is specified in the general Budget of the Monarchy, alluded to by Oldenburg, nevertheless the financial measures relating to the Duchy were promulgated by Royal Patent dated the 24th of September, 1859, and cannot, therefore, be construed into an infraction of a Decree of the Diet issued several months later. On further examination of M. Hall's Memorandum respecting the temporary arrangement to be proposed for Holstein (inclosed in my despatch of the 21st ultimo) in connection with the Decree of the Diet above alluded to, I am under some apprehension, notwithstanding the engagement undertaken that any further sum beyond that which is now put down as the contribution of Holstein towards the general expenses of the Monarchy is to be subject to the vote of the States of the Duchy, that difficulties may arise from the fact of any amount being positively fixed by the Danish Government as the share of Holstein, without the previous sanction of those States. It might, therefore, be desirable for the Danish Government to consider some means for meeting this objection. YOUR despatches of the 21st and 23rd instant, relative to the concessions which the Danish Government are willing to make to the Duchies of Schleswig and Holstein, have been received and laid before the Queen. Her Majesty's Government are far from being satisfied with the concessions made in respect to Schleswig, which might have been made in a more large and generous spirit. Her Majesty's Government will, however, communicate these terms to the Government of the Prince Regent of Prussia, and they hope that the Prussian Government may find in them, if not the conditions of a settlement, yet the means of making some approach to a reconciliation between the Diet of the German Confederation and Denmark. Her Majesty's Government are persuaded that the fear entertained in Germany that Schleswig is to be incorporated in Denmark, and the fear entertained in Denmark that Germany wishes to separate Schleswig from Denmark, and to absorb it in the Confederation, are the repelling influences which prevent a cordial understanding between Prussia and Denmark. If these two projects were unequivocally disavowed, and practically laid aside, the mutual interests of Germany and Denmark ought to produce a cordial friendship and permanent alliance. I am, &c. I INCLOSE herewith copies of two despatches which have already passed through your hands, under flying seal, from Her Majesty's Minister at Copenhagen,* reporting the concessions which the Danish Government are prepared to make to the Duchies of Schleswig and Holstein. I likewise inclose a copy of the reply which I have addressed to Mr. Paget ;† and I have to instruct your Lordship to communicate to M. de Schleinitz the proposals of Denmark, and to state that Her Majesty's Government hope that the Prussian Government may find in these proposals, if not the conditions of a settlement, yet the means of making some approach to a reconciliation between the Diet of the German Confederation and Denmark. My Lord, Lord Bloomfield to Lord J. Russell.-(Received September 24.) Berlin, September 22, 1860. WITH reference to your Lordship's des patch of the 19th instant, directing me to communicate to Baron Schleinitz the proposal of Denmark for arriving at an understanding on the affairs of Holstein and Schleswig, copies of which were inclosed in Mr. Paget's despatch of the 21st ultimo, I have the honour to inform your Lordship that at an interview which I had this + No. 53. Nos. 49 and 50. morning with his Excellency I read those two papers to him. He asked me to leave them with him in order that he might examine them carefully, and prepare an answer to them for communication to your Lordship. I said I was not authorized to deliver copies of these documents to his Excellency, as they were confidential communications of the Danish Government, but that I would request your Lordship's authority to meet his wishes, and I therefore beg you to inform me whether I am at liberty to deliver copies of these papers to him. Baron Schleinitz made objections to some passages in these documents, particularly in that concerning Schleswig, but he said that until the papers were before him, he could say nothing worth repeating to your Lordship. He would, however, assure Her Majesty's Government of his desire to meet these proposals in the most friendly spirit, adding, that if the Danish memorandum was delivered to him, the communication would be considered as perfectly confidential. Mr. Paget to Lord J. Russell.-(Received at Coburg, October 2.) My Lord, Copenhagen, September 26, 1860. I OMITTED to mention to your Lordship at the time, that when I was urging M. Hall to adopt the views of Her Majesty's Government with regard to Schleswig, I imparted to my Swedish colleague in what those views consisted, and invited him to give them his support. I did this because of the intimate relations existing between the Governments of Sweden and Denmark, and because, therefore, any advice coming from that quarter is usually well received here. Count Wachtmeister complied with this request, and has since received the approbation of his Government for having done so. In this despatch, which was shown to me by Count Wachtmeister, Count Manderström expresses much regret that the Danish Government did not see fit to comply with the suggestions of Her Majesty's Government, which, in his Excellency's opinion, might have been carried out with the greatest advantage. His Excellency adds further, that he has instructed Count Platen to communicate with your Lordship on this subject, and to express a hope that Her Majesty's Government will still persevere in their laudable endeavours to bring about an understanding between Denmark and the German Confederation. (Extract.) Mr. Paget to Lord J. Russell.-(Received at Coburg, October 2.) Copenhagen, September 26, 1860. I HAD a further interview with M. Hall on Monday last, the 24th instant, after the receipt of your Lordship's despatch of the 19th instant, and I thought it advisable, in order to put his Excellency in complete possession of the views of Her Majesty's Government, to read that despatch to him. After expressing his acknowledgments to Her Majesty's Government for undertaking to communicate the proposals to the Prussian Government, M. Hall said that all he could hope was that the Prussian Government would take them as a basis for negotiation, for he felt convinced that no terms whatever could be presented by the Danish Government which would be deemed at once satisfactory by Prussia. His Excellency said that he entirely concurred with your Lordship as to the repelling influences which prevent a cordial understanding being come to on the questions in dispute ; but in so far as he himself and the present Government in Denmark was concerned, he could give me the most solemn assurance that nothing was further from their wish or intention than to incorporate Schleswig into the Monarchy. He considered that it would be neither a beneficial nor a desirable arrangement in any respect. I replied that I gave his Excellency every credit for good faith in the assurance which he had just made on the part of himself and his colleagues, and which I should not fail to report, in the hope that its repetition in the proper quarter might be useful; but, I said, what would be attended by far more beneficial result, would be some practical proof of the sentiments of the Government, which should bear out their assertions. What people in Germany complained of, I said, was, that by underhand means the Danish Government were bringing about the very result which they professed not to have in view. M. Hall said that he contended, and always would contend, that no international engagement had been taken in regard to the nationalities; that everything which bore upon this point was to be found in the Royal Patent of January 1852 only, which was a spontaneous act on the part of the Sovereign towards his subjects. He did not deny that it was binding on this account, and he was willing to do his utmost to give it full effect. In regard to the question of the languages, for instance, his Excellency observed that the present arrangement had been made by Count Charles Moltke, himself a Holsteiner; that it was received as satisfactory at the time, and had only been objected to subsequently. In order, however, to put an end, once for all, to all further meddling on the part of Germany in the internal affairs of his country, he would be disposed, provided it would really attain that object, to take this subject, as well as that relating to a greater extension of powers to the Schleswig Diet, into consideration, with a view to rendering them more conformable to the wishes of the German party in the Duchy. With regard to the incorporation, M. Hall said it had been so frequently mentioned in the correspondence between Denmark and Austria and Prussia in 1851, that it might almost be considered as an international engagement, although no formal Act had been signed, and that he should consider if it was ever attempted to carry it into effect, Germany would have a right to interfere to prevent it. M. Hall had no further time for conversation that day, having to attend upon His Majesty, who had just returned to the capital. There are to be several Councils this week, presided by His Majesty, preparatory to the meeting of the Danish Diet; and I understood from M. Hall that he would communicate with his colleagues on the subject of your Lordship's despatch, and would see me again in the course of a few days. No. 58. Mr. Paget to Lord J. Russell.-(Received at Coburg, October 2.) My Lord, Copenhagen, September 27, 1860. M. HALL alluded in conversation the other day to Baron Schleinitz' Circular to the Prussian Ministers in Germany, dated the 6th of June, relative to the attributes of the Diet in the internal affairs of the States composing the Confederation; and his Excellency expressed the wish that the doctrine of non-intervention therein laid down by the Prussian Minister for Foreign Affairs might be consistently adhered to with regard to the affairs of Denmark. I TRANSMIT herewith, for your information, a copy of a despatch from Her Majesty's Minister at Berlin,* stating that Baron Schleinitz has requested to be furnished with copies of the proposals of the Danish Government with regard * No. 55. M to the affairs of Holstein and Schleswig, as forwarded in your despatch of My Lord, Mr. Ward to Lord J. Russell.-(Received October 5.) Hamburgh, September 27, 1860. SINCE my arrival here, no events of any especial interest have occurred in the Duchies of Holstein and Schleswig; and I have therefore not had occasion to address your Lordship in regard to the long-pending question between the Duchies and the Danish Crown. I have taken for granted that the important correspondence which passed between the Cabinets of Berlin and Copenhagen in the months of May, June, and July last, arising out of the debates in the Prussian Lower House upon the peculiar grievances of the Duchy of Schleswig, has for some time past been in the possession of Her Majesty's Government. The ground taken by Prussia in this correspondence is considered good by the German lawyers; and it will be easy for Austria and Prussia, by obtaining new powers from all the other German States, to put themselves again in the same position in regard to Denmark as they were during the war which was terminated by the arrangements of 1851 and 1852. A Protest of the Grand Duke of Oldenburg has been made public, purporting to have been made in the Sitting of the Federal Diet on July 26, against the Financial Budget fixed by the Danish Government for the year from April 1, 1860, to March 31, 1861, for the Duchies of Holstein and Lauenburg, and issued without having been submitted to the States of those Duchies. This proceeding, which is considered by Oldenburg to be a breach of the condition imposed upon Denmark by the Resolution of the Federal Diet, dated March 8 last, will be deliberated upon by that Body when it meets, after the vacation, in the last week of October. If the Diet should determine that a breach of faith has been committed, it may proceed to executory measures under its Resolutions of February 11 and August 12, 1858. A Protest has also been published under the signature of the Prince Frederick-Christian of Schleswig-Holstein, eldest son of the Duke of SchleswigHolstein-Augustenburg, dated Dolzig Castle, January 15, 1859, against the succession to the Throne of the Danish Monarchy fixed by the Law of July 31, 1853, with the approval of the Great European Powers. Although this Protest may, at the present time, be of little moment, it may become of more importance whenever the elder Royal line shall become extinct, there being in the Duchies a large party who are dissatisfied with the Rule of Succession fixed in 1853, and who, if they could, would still make an effort to give the Ducal Crown to a Prince of the House of Augustenburg, notwithstanding the renunciation of it formerly made by the Duke of Augustenburg, the father, as the head of that House. The Danish Government having some months ago notified to the Federal Diet its intention of submitting again to the States of Holstein a renewed Project of a Constitution for the common affairs of the Monarchy, M. Renck, of Holstein, formerly a member of the Imperial Council, has put forth a pamphlet which has attracted some notice, offering some suggestions for the composition of a Legislative Body upon an entirely new principle. I have the honour to transmit herewith a copy of this pamphlet, together with a précis thereof, in which the reasons are stated why M. Renck's plan could not be expected to work successfully. I have, &c. (Signed) J. WARD. |