direction of the policy requisite to be followed for the honour and interest of Germany. The Danish law of succession, as laid down by the London protocol, has never been submitted to discussion by those most nearly concerned-the popular representation of the Duchies and the agnates of the House of Oldenburg, and the German Federal Diet. Thus, already void in its foundation, the London protocol has further entirely ceased to be binding upon the participating Powers after the Danish Government upon its part has broken all the engagements at that time made. Prussia and Germany are accordingly in duty bound to recognize the hereditary right of Frederick VIII., to restore the union and independence of the Duchies, and to free German Federal territory from the presence of Danish troops. No other German State is more nearly concerned than Prussia in executing this duty rapidly and effectually. Our brave army gained its first victories since the War of Liberation upon the soil of the Duchies, and thereby pledged its honour for the eventual triumph of the cause it defended with fame but without result. The oppression of the Duchies since 1850 was the first and necessary consequence of the ill-omened Convention of Olmütz, the disastrous bearing of which upon the internal relations of Prussia and the position of the power of Germany-bitterly felt by every patriotic heart-will not be extinguished except with the liberation of the Duchies. The Chamber of Deputies, therefore, sees with deep regret the Royal Government operating in a direction which threatens, as a consequence, not the removal, but the restoration and strengthening of the settlements of 1851 to 1852. Those settlements, however, stipulate for the Duchies the tearing asunder of the ancient legal community, and therewith the defencelessness of the German element in both countries. From their very commencement they have possessed no other European importance than seriously to imperil especially Prussian State interests, so that all Prussian activity in their favour must be called an act of self-destruction. While definite defence of the rights of Schleswig-Holstein would rally all Germany under the leadership of your Majesty, maintenance of the settlements of 1851 to 1852 has placed our State in open contradiction to the majority of the German Governments, and to the unanimous opinion of the German nation. The Government of your Majesty has employed the entire influence of Prussia, in conjunction with Austria, to carry a resolution, contradictory in itself and unclear in its whole bearing, through the Federal Diet, which exposes the independence of the Duchies, and with it the highest interests of Germany, without avoiding the danger of foreign complications. The Chamber of Deputies addresses itself to your Majesty in order to avert from itself the heavy responsibility of not having made every effort to change a policy which threatens to injure the country for a long period. Almost alone among all the German representations of the people, it finds itself placed in the painful position of not being able to give that energetic expression

to the most ardent wishes of the people which unanimity of feeling between Government and the representatives of the country alone can bestow. The Chamber of Deputies, equally with the Prussian nation, is paralyzed by the consciousness that the present system of Government is altogether unable to create a secured position of right, and that the means of the State would not be applied in the hands of the present Ministers either for the benefit of the country and the Crown, or in the interest of Germany and the Duchies.

"Most Gracious King and Sire, -Your Royal Majesty has formerly solemnly declared that not a foot of German ground should be lost. The right of the Duchies to indivisibility and independence coincides with the hereditary right of the Augustenburg family. We, therefore, pray your Majesty respectfully and urgently to withdraw from the London Treaty, to recognize the Hereditary Prince of Schleswig-Holstein-Augustenburg as Duke of Schleswig-Holstein, and to endeavour to induce the German Diet to render him effectual assistance in taking possession of and liberating his hereditary lands. The Chamber of Deputies has not a more heartfelt wish than to place all its means joyfully at the disposal of such a policy, openly expressed and harmonizing with the will of the whole nation."

The Government had applied for a loan in order to be prepared for the possible necessity of war arising out of the complication of the Schleswig-Holstein question, but they refused to adopt the violent course of withdrawing from a treaty which the King of Prussia had solemnly signed in 1852, and the Chamber was unwilling to grant the loan except upon that condition. The Committee on the loan agreed to the Address by a majority of 16 to 5 votes. The dissentients wished simply to refuse the Ministerial demand altogether. M. Bismark hinted that a refusal of the loan by the Chamber would facilitate the course of the Government on other questions besides that of Schleswig-Holstein, which was intended as a threat to intimidate the members into submission by holding over their heads the probability of a prorogation or dissolution of the Chamber.

M. Bismark said-"Were our policy that which is imputed to us, we might from the first have stood upon the ground of the London Treaty, and have said, 'A treaty is a treaty, and we stand firmly by this one;' we should not have kept open the gap by which we may detach ourselves from it. Were such our policy, we must rejoice at the rejection of the Loan Bill, since we then could tell the Diet that, for want of means, Prussia was unable to fulfil her Federal obligations. Our policy is different; it is that of His Majesty, that no foot's breadth of German land, that no fraction of German right, shall be sacrificed. The way we follow to this end seems to you wrong; as far as human insight goes, the Government alone is able to select the right way, since it alone is fully acquainted with the position of the affair.

Things are in that state that we may have war at any moment that we wish it; but war cancels all treaties, that of London not excepted. Should the latest news, whose official confirmation is certainly still wanting, be confirmed, we shall perhaps have to ask you sooner than we expect for a much larger grant than this loan for the means for a war whose consequences would be incalculable. This Schleswig-Holstein question has its two sides, the Federal and the international; the demand as yet made corresponds only with the first side. If we name Schleswig, which we hitherto have not named, the international side of the question comes into play, and at the same time arises the necessity to demand 50, or even 100 millions. The period of such warlike complications can now be calculated by none; every debatable point on the Federal frontier towards Schleswig may any day, without reference to former violation of right, bring on a state of

war.'

The proposal for the loan was, however, ultimately rejected by the Chamber.

CHAPTER III.

DENMARK AND THE SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN QUESTION.

Composition of the Danish Monarchy-Brief Narrative of the Schleswig-Holstein dispute-Proclamation of March 30 regulating the Government of Holstein and Lauenburg-Offence taken by Germany - Representation of the Danish Envoy to the Federal Diet-Views of the Swedish Government-The state of things in Schleswig-New Constitution or Charter of November-Death of Ferdinand VII., King of Denmark-Christian IX. succeeds to the Throne-Prince Frederick of Augustenburg claims to be Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-His Address to the Inhabitants-The Treaty of London, May 1852-King Christian's Proclamation addressed to Holstein - Question in the Federal Diet of Execution or OccupationFederal Commissioners appointed-Letter from the Prince of Augustenburg to the French Emperor, and the Emperor's Reply-Views of the British GovernmentMessage from the King to the Rigsraad-The Federal Commissioners and German Troops enter Holstein-Evacuation of Holstein by the Danes-Change of Ministry. THE Schleswig-Holstein question, which has long been looming in the distance "with fear of change perplexing" Monarchs and Nations, assumed this year a definite and practical form, and led to a hostile occupation of Holstein by the troops of the Germanic Confederation, with the probable prospect of a war between Denmark and the whole military strength of Germany. It is not necessary to go far back into the history of the dispute, which would lead us into the dark fog of German politics some four centuries ago, but we will give a rapid summary of the events which led to the present position of affairs, and endeavour to show how untenable in point of law and fairness are the demands which the German Diet is attempting to enforce upon Denmark at the point of the sword. That gallant kingdom has our warmest sympathy in the struggle, for we believe that she has right on her side; and England can never view with indifference a small and friendly State overborne by numbers and deprived of a part of her dominions to favour antiquated pretensions which German Jurists have raked up from the dust of their libraries, and which ill conceal the real object that German statesmen have in view, namely, the possession of Kiel as a port in which some German Navy to be created hereafter may ride at anchor.

The Danish Monarchy consists of four principal parts, namely, the Kingdom of Denmark-Proper, the Duchy of Schleswig, the Duchy of Holstein, and the Duchy of Lauenburg. The Kingdom and Schleswig form together the original Danish realm, whose southern boundary is the river Eyder, whilst Holstein and Lauenburg are German territories acquired since, and known as the

"German Duchies" of the King of Denmark, for which he is a member of the Germanic Confederation.

The Kingdom of Denmark-Proper is the principal part of the Monarchy. It consists of the Danish islands and North Jutland, and has an extent of about 14,730 English square miles, with a population, according to the census of 1860, of 1,600,551 inhabitants of purely Danish nationality. The Duchy of Schleswig, or South Jutland, covers 3530 English square miles, with 409,907 inhabitants, who belong to three different nationalities, Danish, Frisian, and German; more than one-half being Danes, the others German or Frisians. Schleswig has never been acquired by Denmark, as is the case with Holstein and other possessions, but was originally a part of the Danish province of Jutland. From this it was detached in the middle ages (1232), and became then a fief of the Danish Crown. In 1459 it escheated to the Crown, but was maintained as a separate fief, and was soon afterwards divided between the three principal branches of the House of Oldenburg: the Royal Danish, the Gottorp, and the Söndenborg branches. The share of the Duke of Gottorp was for a short period almost separated from Denmark. King Frederick IV., however, recovered it, and obtained at the same time guarantees from England, France, and other Powers, for the quiet possession of the Duchy in future times. The whole Duchy was then "reincorporated into the Crown," and again made an integral and inseparable part of the Danish State, by letters patent of August 22, 1721, and the subsequent homage of the inhabitants, September 4.

The Duchy of Holstein comprises 3280 English square miles with 544,419 inhabitants of purely German nationality. It was a fief of the German Empire until 1806, and has been in connexion with Denmark ever since 1460, when it was acquired by King Christian I., on the occasion of the reversion of Schleswig, the last Duke having possessed also Holstein. The descendants of Christian I. divided it between themselves, just as they divided Schleswig; the Royal branch obtaining the Glückstadt division, the Gottorp branch the Kiel division, and the Söndenborg branch the Plöen division. The Danish Kings, however, bought back the Plöen division, and regained in 1773 the Kiel division by a treaty of exchange with the then reigning Duke of Gottorp, who afterwards ascended the Russian throne. At the dissolution of the Empire, Holstein was declared allodial, and united to the body politic of the Danish Monarchy by letters patent of September 9, 1806.

The Duchy of Lauenburg, which contains 402 English square miles, with 50,147 inhabitants, was acquired in 1815, and "for ever incorporated into the Danish Monarchy," by letters patent of December 6, 1815, and the homage of the Estates, October 2, 1816'.

The Act of Incorporation of 1721, by which the Duchy of Schleswig was made an integral part of the Danish Kingdom,

See "Denmark and Germany since 1815." By Charles Gosch, London: Murray. 1863.