The Express.
London, England, 1866-10-05 00:00:00

LATEST INTELLIGENCE.

THE KING OF HANOVER'S PROTEST..

The address to the European Powers by the
King of Hanover, a brief passage from which has
appeared in one of Renter's telegrams, occupies
between two and three columns of the Viennese
journals. It is dated from " Hetzing, near Vienna,
September 23." •
The protest commences with the assertion that
previous to the outbreak of the war the Hanove-
rian government had used all its influence for the
preservation of peace, and by stating that, in full
confidence in the loyalty of the Prussian govern-
ment, the aid of Austria was declined. The
strictest neutrality was kept. If the Austrian
corps which had occupied Holstein went through
the country a Prussian corps did the same.
The Hanoverian army was ou the com-
pletest peace footing, and the greatest surprise
was felt when a demand was made on the 15th of
June that the King should renounce a portion of his
sovereignty and independence, only one day being
left for the consideration of the matter. The
Hanoverian ministry unanimously decided that the
propositions were unacceptable, while they expressed
a fervent trust that the friendly relations between the
two governments would not be interrupted. On that
very night the Prussian envoy responded by a de-
claration of war ; and the Prussian corps d'armde,
which was in the neighbourhood of Harbourg, on ,
its way, as was thought, to Minden, even took
up a hostile attitude some hours before the declara-
tion was made. The King submits this treacher-
ous conduct to the judgment of the civilised
world, who, his Majesty ,is convinced, will
recognise that the plan of taking pos-
session of Hanover had been pre-arranged,
and that the original proposition which had been
made to it to remain neutral was simply a device
to lull it into a delusive security. Unable to
oppose an effective resistance the Hanoverian
troops were centred near Gottingen, and negotia-
tions entered into for a suspension of arms;
but before the period agreed to had
expired the army was shamefully attacked,
and, despite a brilliant victory at the commence-
ment, was compelled to surrender. At the end of
the war his Majesty addressed a letter to the Prus-
sian King, which, contrary to the usage of sove-
reigns, was not accepted. An offer was then made
by him to abdicate in favour of his son ; but all
overtures were in vain, and the insidious
occupation of the kingdom was followed by
its incorporation with the Prussian States. The only
pretext, the right of conquest, supposes a war con-
formable to the law of nations. But there had
been no such war ; it would have been morally
impossible on the part of a near relative, a
sovereign friend, a German prince ; the case was
simply one of lawful defence against an unpro-
voked attack. The address concludes in the fol-
lowing terms :
In view of the facts recited we protest deeply and
solemnly against the unjustifiable invasion of our country,
which the corps dans& of the King of Prussia effected on
the 15th of June and the following days ; against the oc-
cupation of our kingdom by these troops; against the
usurpation of our rights and prerogatives which the
agents of Prussia have committed, and which they
may yet commit hereafter ; against the injury to
our property, our revenue, and chattels of every kind,
which we and our royal house have experienced from
Prussia, and which we may experience from it hereafter ;
against the spoliation which the public treasury of Han-
over has sustained under the Prussian aeministration and
may distain hereafter ; against the persecutions, losses,
and prejudice to which our faithful subjects have been
exposed in consequence of the unjust and illegal acts of
the administration of the King of Prussia, and to which
they may be exposed hereafter ; against the obstacles which
the avid administration has brutally opposed to the mani-
festations of our beloved subjects in favour of the main-
tenance of our dynasty and of the independence of Hanover,
whilst it excited and favoured, by the most disloyal ma-
noeuvres, manifestations in the opposite sense ; against the
ill-will of the King of Prussia, who repelled the measures
which we took, or ordered to be taken, with him or his
government in order to re-establish peace between us.
Finally, we protest above all, in face of the whole world,
against that taking possession of our kingdom, and its in-
corporation into Prussia, the definitive accomplishment o
which was announced on the 28th of September of this
year, as well as against all the consequences of that act,
declaring that this incorporation, or annexation, is an
infamous usurpation, a criminal and detestable spolia-
tion, a flagrant violation of the European treaties, of
all the principles of the law of nations, and
of the inviolability of states and crowns. This solemn
declaration, which we make also for our legal successor,
has ptincipalb for its object to repel eve': attack on the
rights of sovereignty which belong to us in virtue of the
right of inheritance, and which have been sanc-
tioned and guaranteed by all the European
powers. We invoke the aid of all the powers which
have recognised our sovereignty and the independence of
our kingdom in the conviction that they will never per-
mit that force override. law, as such a principle applied
now by Prussia would menace in the future the existence
of all the monarchies and all the legitimate states of the
world. We declare, in conclusion, that we will never re-
nounce the rights of sovereigntyover our country, and that
we shall always consider as illegal, null, and void, all the
acts which the Prussian government or its agents have ac-
complished, or may accomplish, in virtue of the usurpa-
tion, the responsibility of which we cast upon him
who is its author. Let ■ll who are interested
take this as a warning. We look to future
events with full confidence in the justice of our
cause, and are animated by the firm hope that Divine
Providence will not be long in putting an end to the per-
' fidious plots, to the injustice and the acts of violence, of
; which so many States and peoples have become the
victims with us and our brave Hanoverians.

(Signed) GEORGE, King.
(Countersined) COMA PLATEN HALLERRUND,

AUSTRIAN POLAND.

Count Goluchowski, the new Polish Governor of
Galicia, has been received in his journey to the
seat of his government with very great enthusiasm,
the people seeing in the fact of his appointment
the full promise, if not of its national in-
dependence, at least the right of self-develop-
ment, and of living its own life, with Polish laws,
manners, and language. The Russian press does
not conceal its vexation at seeing a propagandism
of Polish ideas so near the frontiers of the pro_
vinces which the Muscovite government is seeking
to make Russian.