The Sun.
London, England, 1864-01-20 00:00:00

SECOND EDITION.

SUN OFFICE, HALE-PAST 4 o'CLocK.

PRUSSIA.

BERLIN, Jan. 19.—The lireutz-Zeitung states
that Prince Charles Frederick will leave Berlin
with his staff on the 20th. The King of Hanover
has only consented to allow the Prussian troops to
pass through his States, on the most pressing re-
presentations of his Ministers.

Banquet of King Christian to the Danish
Rigsdag.

COPENHAGEN, Jan. 15.
King Christian entertained the members of the
Rigsdag yesterday at the Castle of Christiansborg.
The President of the Lower House proposed his
Majesty's health in the following words :
" Your Majesty will comprehend that it is with
a feeling of sadness the members of the Danish
Rigsdag are met for the first time under your Ma-
jesty's roof, and see your Majesty occupying the
high position they have hitherto been accustomed
to see occupied by your late lamented predecessor,
King Frederick VII., who gave his people freedom.
and awoke in them new and self-conscious political
life. Nor truly can your Majesty be less painfully
afiected at receiving for the first time the members
of the Rigsdag from that place to which the late
lamented King, with the assent of the Danish
nation, appointed you to succeed.
" Your Majesty has ascended to your high posi.
tion in difficult and dangerous times. Because the
country to which your Majesty has succeeded is of
little extent, and because we Danes are few in num-
bers, it has been thought possible to attempt not
only to deprive your Majesty of a portion of your do-
minions, or, in spite of solemnly contracted treaties,
to cast a doubt upon your Majesty's good right, but
also to demand of your Majesty yourself to loose the
tie that connects independent Danish territories
with your Majesty's kingdom. Yet, although your
Majesty's country is little in extent, it is a well-
developed country. Although we Danes aro few
in numbers, we are a nation fully determined to be
both now and in future a free and independent
people,—a nation thoroughly convinced that in
offering itself faithfully and devotedly for the
right of its King it defends at the same time its own
right to exist as an independent nation.
" A speech addressed to your people after your
Majesty's ascent to the throne, demanded that they
should place confidence in your honest intentions.
Your Majesty has already received direct assurances
from the population of numerous districts which de-
monstrate sufficiently the loyalty and devotion
which the Danish people have felt for their King
from ancient times, and upon which no stain has
rested in the history of ages. Your Majesty has
lately visited in person the Danish army, assembled
now at the old Dannewirke, and has been able to
see for yourself that the privations and sacrifices

required when so many sons of the country are sum-
moned from their hearths and homes, as well as the
hardships of life in the field, are looked upon as
trifles in the presence of the one idea by which all
are animated—that they are in arms for the right
of your Majesty and of the nation.
" Your Majesty sees in the Danish people a
faithful and devoted nation, that looks up to your
Majesty with reliance. We remember that when,
sixteen years ago, tumult met your predecessor
upon his accession to the throne, your Majesty never
hesitated, but stood ready upon the spot whither
fidelity to the King and the fatherland called. We
know that your Majesty will remain true to your
word, and will respect our laws and oar rights. We
see at your Majesty's side, in your illustrious Queen,
a Princess of the old Danish Royal stock, born and
bred in the land, who from childhood has regarded
Denmark with love as her country. We behold
your Majesty and your illustrious Queen surrounded
by a promising and blooming offspring, two of
whom have already passed to foreign lands, where
they have been received as the hope of the future.
As your Majesty was enabled to see last year how
heartily the Danish people participated in your joy
at the lofty position your eldest daughter went to
assume, so are we now delighted to share in the joy
of your Majesty and the Queen at the happiness
which has just befallen her.
" The Danish people hope that Providence will
keep the eye of your Majesty clear and open to per.
ceive the right path for the maintenance of your own
and their inseparable rights; that Providence may
give your Majesty strength to meet the shocks of
fortune, and may ever extend over your Majesty's,
head its protecting hand.
" Long live his Majesty King Christian IX. 1"
The President's speech was received with thnt
dens of applause and cheering. His Majesty re
plied
" I thank you, Gentlemen, for your cheers. I
beg you to accept the assurance that no one more
deeply feels the loss of our late lamented King than
I do."
At a later period of the evening his Majesty said t
"It affirds me extreme pleasure to welcome the
Danish Rigsdag from this place, and in this hall,
which has so often witnessed the exchange of proofs
of fidelity and devotion between the representatives
of the people and the Kings of the country.
" In difficult times the Danish Rigsdag has been
a protection for the right of Denmark and of the
Danish Crown. I count upon it, Gentlemen, that
now, when a storm seems again to threaten, you
will afford to me and to the Crown the same sup-
port as to my predecessors. (' Yes! yes 1')
" For my part, I promise always to uphold the
freedom, independence, and self-dependence of Den-
mark and the right of the Crown; and I hope that
Heavenly Providence, which has now extended its
protecting hand for many centuries over our
country, will still preserve it in the time to come.
" I drink to you as representatives of the people.
Long live the Danish Rigsdag!"