The Sun.
London, England, 1864-05-07 00:00:00

DENMARK AND THE CONFERENCE.

Sir H. VERNEY rose to ask the Under-Secretary of State
for Foreign Affairs to state to the House whether he had
reason to believe that the States of Holstein formally thanked
the King of Denmark for what he had done in altering the
succession, and, if so, on what authority he entertained that
belief; whether the intimation, in despatches 709 and 784,
that the movement in the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein
in favour of separation from Denmark was not spontaneous,
rests on the authority of any agents of the British Govern-
ment; and if he would lay upon the table any documents or
despatches on these subjects. And to move an address for
copy of the answers received from the Governments to whom
invitations were addressed to attend the Conference now
sitting in London. The hon. baronet observed that no
change in the succession to the duchies of Schleswig and
Holstein could legally be effected without the consent of the
provincial Estates, but in the present instance that consent
had not been obtained. What was called the New Consti-
tution was indeed submitted to the Estates, but with the
express order that the first six paragraphs of the constitu-
tion of Holstein and the first four paragraphs of the con-
stitution of Schleswig should not be discussed. The Estates
of Holstein thereupon protested, by 40 against 5, that the
foregoing paragraphs would have no validity in the duchies.
He thought no one would venture to deny that the duchies
had a right to be consulted en the subject. Holstein and
Schleswig were in ancient times united in one common Diet,
and, in 1460, that Diet elected the head of the house of
Holstein-Oldenburg as their ruler. So the matter remained
until 1616, when the common Diet decided that the
future law in the two duchies should be primogeniture,
and in the main line, which law was in favour of the
Duke of Augustenbnrg. The last Duke of Augustenburg
(the old Duke Christian) received a sum of money, about
£340,000, for his estates, which were worth £600,000, and
be at the same time agreed not to interfere with any
ordinance of succession which the King of Denmark might
by legal means carry into effect. But Duke Christian was
the only member of the House of Augustenburg whose
consent was eased. The assent of the Estates was never
obtained, and the agnati, who were entitled to succeed in
the duchies, were not consulted at all, The alteration, he
might observe, was not made by the treaty of 1852, but by
the repeal of the lex regia in 1852 or 1853.
The lei regia,
however, could in no way affect the
duchies, as it related
only to Denmark proper. Ho denied altogether that the
existing state of feeling in the duchies had been brought
about by means of German agents, but the contrary opinion
was widely entertained, and that fact showed the necessity
of the Government giving information on the subject.
Sir F. GOLDSMID wished to make one remark with
regard to the spontaneity of the people before the Under-
Secretary rose to reply. It was not necessary to refer to
British agents for information upon the subject, when they
had it on the authority of Herr von Bismark and Count
Rechberg, that thirty or forty millions of Germans were
anxious for the annexation of the duchies. What, then,
became of the queetion of spontaneity ? He would not com •
pare the rule of the Danish Government in the duchies
with that of the English Government in Ireland at the
time of the penal code ; but what, he would ask, would be
the condition of Ireland in that day if she had been placed
close to France instead of England ? Would it not be ut-
terly impossible to ascertain whether any movement on the