The Express.
London, England, 1863-12-24 00:00:00

THE SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN QUESTION.
GREAT MEETING AT FRANKFORT.

0110111 OM OWN

FRANKFORT, Dsc. 21

Michael (the German John Bull), after having
rubbed his eyes for a long time, is now decidedly
on his legs. He takes up his cudgel, and looks
out for a foe. The Dane is not big enough for him ;
be wants a bigger. He is not in a mood to stand
any nonsense just now ; his patience has been
taken for apathy ; and he wants to prove that he
is the same fellow who stopped Mongols and Turks,
and who has fought in all the continental wars
since the days of Charlemagne. When he lives in
a village, Michael is scholar enough to read his
newspaper, and he knows all about history and
When
eulinegiisiatha
the citizen oaf a
town,
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e
he has bad provocation enough. He knows that
geography.reads
French l‘a.
he has no Algeria or Mexico to watch, no colonies
to guard, no fleet to man ; all his resources are
available and ready for a continental war. Michael
has not fired a shot for the last fifty years ; he has
applied all his energies to science and art, to inno-
vations and improvements ; and he finds now
that he has lost his credit abroad, and that
brute force is still considered by some lead-
ing organs of the press as the only test
of national worth ; and now, when his own terri-
tory and his race are at stake, he does not mean to
stand idle any longer.
This mood of the German people found its ex-
pression at the meeting of German deputies held
here yesterday. 520 members of the various Ger-
man chambers were present. They all spoke and
acted as men of one and the same country ; all
local differences disappeared. The following rase«
lutious were voted unanimously :
The only guarantee for the rights of Germany in Schleswig-
Holstein is to be found in the separation of the Duchies
from Denmark. The demise of Frederick VII. has severed
the link connecting them with Denmark. The London
treaty of March 8,1852, not having been ratified by the re.
preeentatives of the people of the Duchies, or by lawful
agnate, or by the German Diet, it cannot confer the right of
succession in the Duchies upon Christian IX. Frederick
of Augustenbarg is the lawful heir. By asserting his right,
that of Germany is equally asserted. It is, therefore,
I the duty of the German people to make every
sacrifice foe its honour, for its oppressed brethren
and their lawful duke. The deputies here present
engage, therefore, to use all legal means for the acknow-
ledgment of Duke Frederick by the Princes and the Diet,
and for the separation of the Duchies from Denmark, so
as to secure their independence and connexion against
foreign interference. They engage to support such govern-
menta as ant with energy for the right of the Duchies, sod
to oppose by all legal means those who sacrifice in this
question the honour of Germany.
The Assembly appoints a committee of 36 members as •
central agency for the efforts of the German people to
maintain the eights of the Duchies.
The Assembly declares that the right of the German =-
tic's to • general parliament can, under present circum-
stances, be no longer denied, and they solemnly express the
necessity for its speedy convocation.

There were only a few demurrers on the second re-
solution audit wasurged that the governmentamight
take umbrage at such a committee acting independ-
eutly of them, and that to preserve unanimity it
would be better to have some regard for those who
could nut go so far. But this was overruled,and half
&dozen deputies left the assembly. The speeches
were to the effect that Denmark would
fulfil new promises no better than old cues ; that
the people must be prepared for a European war,
and standup for their rights ; that a really deter-
mined war was preferable to a sham war ; that the
pressure of foreign governments should be disre-
garded, and allowed to exercise no influence on the
decisions of the Diet; and that the people must stow
on this occasion not only love for liberty, but deep
hatred, after so many provocations; that the people
in the Duchies having been compelled in 1851 to lay
down arms by the Diet, must now regain those
arms through the German people; and that &central
committee must be appointed, because the people
had no confidence in the governments, and used
only its 000stitutional rights by the press, by meet-
ings, and by associations, to carry out its views; that
aright of which no use was made was no right at all;
and that the people meant to fight their enemies in
and out of the country, &c.
These are gallant words, and no doubt the deeds
would correspond, if the energy of the people were
not hampered by the governments, which, after
all, will come to terms between each other ;
and though no immediate revolution is to be ex-
pected, a great amount of discontent will prevail,
and a heavy blow will be struck at the already tot-
tering structure of the Dint. Public spirit is ou
the alert in this country, and for a long time the
ulterior development of it will be of paramount in-
terest. Meanwhile those governments which want
to remain popular do their best to screen their re-
spousibility for au unpopular decision of the Diet.
Thus the Duke of Oldenburg told a deputation
that he had nothing more at heart than the cause
of Schleswig-Holstein, and that now or never was
the time to stand for German rights. Saxony states
in a circular note that Austria and Prussia were
only entitled to negotiate about Schleswig-Holstein
in accordance with the rules of the Coufederacy,and
that by contesting the rights of the Diet peace
would not be secured, but fresh dangers be added
to those already existing. Still there is no doubt
that at the cost of much unpopularity the great
powers will carry their ends in the Diet, and that
until the next European war Schleswig-Holstein
might be kept by Denmark, if Danish democracy
is nut at the eleventh hour omnipotent at Copen-
hagen.