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. Count Bernstorff. SCHLEINITZ No. 81.-Lord J. Russell to Mr. Paget. SIR, You will observe that I have stated in this despatch the engage ments which, in the opinion of Her Majesty's Government, His Danish Majesty is bound in honour to fulfil. "He is bound," I have stated," "not to incorporate Schleswig with Denmark; to maintain in Schleswig representative States; and to protect the German and Danish nationalities in the Duchy of Schleswig." It appears to Her Majesty's Government that whatever may be the binding force of the engagements entered into with Austria and Prussia, the King of Denmark is bound in honour to fulfil these conditions. He proclaimed them publicly; he made them known, not only to his subjects but to the Representatives of foreign Powers; nor is their fulfilment less his interest than his obligation. His German subjects in Schleswig ought to feel that they enjoy, under his rule, equality of rights with their Danish fellow-subjects. They will then feel a loyal attachment to the Danish Monarchy, and a sincere desire to preserve it unimpaired. If, on the contrary, the education of their children at the common schools, and their worship at their parish church, is trammelled with vexatious regulations, and the Government appears to be animated by a desire to depress the nationality of subjects of German origin, unhappy consequences may follow. Should the German Diet proceed to enforce its resolutions of March last, the neighbouring Duchy of Schleswig is sure to be the scene of agitation, perhaps of tumult and revolt. In such an emergency, the King of Denmark will feel the value of having made such concessions to the German inhabitants of Schleswig as shall raise him above all suspicion of bad faith, and all charges placing an intelligent and industrious portion of his subjects in a position of odious inferiority. You will read this despatch, together with that to Mr. Lowther, to M. Hall, and give him copies of them. &c. J. RUSSELL. I am, A. Paget, Esq. SIR, No. 82.-Lord J. Russell to Mr. Lowther. Foreign Office, December 8, 1860. HER Majesty's Government have carefully considered the despatch of Baron Schleinitz to Count Bernstorff, of the 8th ultimo, of which a copy is herewith inclosed for your information. The first remark I would make upon that despatch is, that the Prussian Government appear to misunderstand the position of Her Majesty's Government in respect to the memorandum delivered to the Court of Berlin. The propositions therein contained are the propositions of the Government of Denmark. Her Majesty's Government have not recommended them for acceptance; they have not even said that they might form the basis of a settlement; all that they have said is, that they hoped an opening for negotiation might be found in them. A further remark I have to make is, that Her Majesty's Government by no means understood that the Holstein contribution proposed by Denmark was to be taken from Holstein without any power of inquiry as to its appropriation. On the contrary, they would have thought a demand on the part of Prussia that the contribution of Denmark to general and common expenses should be also a fixed sum, and that the States of Holstein should enjoy, to an equal extent with the "Reichsrath," a power of examining the the appropriation of this sum, and to remonstrate against any malversation, would be a demand quite in conformity with the Danish memorandum. It is obvious that Denmark being an independent State must maintain its Monarchy, its army, and its navy, in a manner befitting its rank and position as such; nor can it be in principle unreasonable to ask that the States of Holstein and Lauenburg should contribute to maintain the Monarchy, the army, and navy of the Kingdom. Having endeavoured to remove this misapprehension, I will proceed to define the position of Denmark and that of Her Majesty's Government in relation to this correspondence. It has been the desire of Denmark to show a willingness to conciliate, without admitting a right of intervention in the affairs of Schleswig on the part of the German Confederation. The Danish Government have argued that as Great Britain could not be suspected of claiming any such right, it was more consistent with the position of Denmark to convey to Prussia their intentions in regard to Schleswig through the official medium of Great Britain, and if possible with her support, than to make concessions directly to the German Confederation. The British Government, on their part, have not adopted the Danish propositions as their own, nor recommended them to the naked acceptance of the Prince Regent of Prussia and the German Confederation; but they confess that they take an interest in the integrity of the Danish Monarchy, and should be sorry to see the force of Denmark, which is not considerable, weakened or impaired. With this view Her Majesty's Government would have been glad to see all parts of the Danish Monarchy fairly represented in a Parliament at Copenhagen. If that is unattainable, they would have been glad to see Denmark and Holstein assume an equitable portion of the burthens necessary to be borne for the maintenance of Danish independence. The despatch of Baron Schleinitz of the 8th of November appears to reject this scheme of settlement, just as the former scheme of equal representation had been before thrown aside. There remains to be considered the position of Denmark as regards the German Confederation. The Duchies of Holstein and Lauenburg are German Duchies, and form part of the German Confederation. The laws of the German Confederation are applicable to them, and it will be for the Diet and the Duke of Holstein-Lauenburg to decide together what those laws require, and what should be their future destiny. But with regard to the Duchy of Schleswig, it is a Danish Duchy. The memorandum of the Court of Berlin, communicated to Her Majesty's Government on the 8th of July last, in giving the substance of an annex to the Vienna despatch of the 26th December, 1851, says: "The Imperial Government fully acknowledges the competence of the King to annul the former union between Schleswig and Holstein, as relates to administration and justice, and also this principle-that the authority of the Federal law, and, therefore, also the competence of the Confederation, which arises from that alone, cannot have any force over a land not appertaining to the Confederation, and consequently not over Schleswig." There appears here a distinct renunciation, on the part of Austria and Prussia on behalf of the German Confederation, of any competence to extend the Federal law over Schleswig. Nevertheless, the Prussian Government now claims a right to interfere in Schleswig, in virtue of certain promises made by the King of Denmark in 1851. Let us first remark the form of these promises, and next their nature. In their form, the promises of the King of Denmark were made, in the first instance, to his own subjects. But the despatch of the Court of Vienna of the 6th of December, 1851, and the reply of the Danish Minister of Foreign Affairs, together with the nearly simultaneous proclamation of the King of Denmark, tend to invest these promises with the value, though not the exact form, of an engagement. The Imperial Minister defines the meaning of the programme. of the King of Denmark; asks for "the binding form of a declaration made at the command of His Majesty the King," and ends with a voluntary offer, upon those terms, to lay aside the mandate of Austria and Prussia, as representing the German Confederation, and to provide for the evacuation of Holstein. On the 29th of January, 1852, the Danish Minister for Foreign Affairs made, "in furtherance of the authority conferred upon me from the highest quarter, the declaration that the King our Master acknowledges, as being in coincidence with his own, that interpretation of the supreme intentions communicated to the Courts of Berlin and Vienna, which is given in the despatch of the Imperial Court of Vienna of the 26th of December of last year, and the annex thereto," &c. Next, as to the nature of the promises made. These are: 1. The King of Denmark promises that there should be no incorporation of the Duchy of Schleswig with the Kingdom, nor should any measure tending thereto be adopted. 2. The Proclamation of the 23rd of January, 1852, promises a constitutional development of the State of Schleswig, and that the law to be framed for that object will especially contain the necessary provisions for procuring a perfectly equal settlement, and effectual protection to the Danish and German nationalities in the said Duchy. There can be no doubt, in the opinion of Her Majesty's Government, that these promises constitute an engagement which His Danish Majesty is bound in honour to fulfil. He is bound not to incorporate Schleswig with Denmark; to maintain in Schleswig representative States; and to protect the Danish and German nationalities in the Duchy of Schleswig. But neither in form nor in substance, as it appears to Her Majesty's Government, do these promises give a right to Austria and Prussia, or to the German Confederation collectively, to interfere in all the details of administration in the Danish Duchy of Schleswig. If Schleswig were incorporated with Denmark—if Schleswig were deprived of its separate Constitution-Germany might claim a right to interfere. But if the regulation of each church and each school in Schleswig were to be the subject of inter ference by the German Confederation, it is clear that the sovereign rights of the King of Denmark would exist only in name. Her Majesty's Government will always, on their part, use any influence they may possess with the Court of Denmark to secure the protection of the German inhabitants of Schleswig. But when the Prussian Government refers to the sentiments recently expressed by Her Majesty's Government in behalf of Italian nationality, the Prussian Government must be reminded that there are in the Duchy of Schleswig 140,000 Danes, and that the remaining population is not purely German; while neither in the States of the Church, nor in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, was there any mixed population of any other race with Italians. In fine, whether we regard the form of the engagements taken by the King of Denmark towards Austria, Prussia, and the German Confederation, or whether we regard the susceptibilities of the Danish Government, the mixture of races in Schleswig, and the just regards due to Germans and Danes alike, Her Majesty's Government are persuaded that there never was a question which more imperatively demanded a temperate consideration, or on which a beginning of strife would be more injurious to all the interests concerned. I am, &c. W. Lowther, Esq. J. RUSSELL. No. 83.-M. Hall to M. de Bille.-(Communicated to Lord J. Russell by M. de Bille, December 10.) MONSIEUR, Copenhague, le 20 Novembre, 1860. PLUSIEURS fois le Ministre des Affaires Etrangères est revenu dans ses dépêches à Mr. Paget sur les procédés des autorités locales du Slesvig, nommément en affaires électorales. D'après l'Article XIX, No. 3, de la Constitution du Duché de Slesvig une des conditions dont dépend le droit d'être inscrit sur les listes électorales est, que l'individu ait la réputation intacte:"Celui contre lequel on aura intenté un procès criminel, sans qu'il en ait été complètement déchargé, sera donc retranché des listes. Il en sera de même de ceux auxquels le Roi aura fait grâce en supprimant l'instruction et la punition des délits commis par eux, moins qu'il ne plaise à Sa Majesté par un Acte Spécial de sa grâce de les réintégrer dans leurs droits électoraux." A en croire les journaux Allemands qui selon leur habitude déclament avec le plus grand emportement contre tout ce qui se fait dans le Slesvig, sans règler un peu leur animadversion sur ce qu'ils voient tous les jours dans leurs propres pays, d'un côté l'administration se servirait de cette disposition comme d'une arme pour frapper tous ceux dont les opinions politiques ne seraient pas en parfaite harmonie avec les principes qui guident le Gouvernement, |