The Sun.
London, England, 1864-06-28 00:00:00

to take place if the King of Denmark had persisted in re-
voking the patent, in point of fact that patent had been re-
yoked before the troops entered Holstein, and consequently
that entrance was unjust in itself, although founded on a
plea which, if that plea had held, would have rendered. it a
justifiable act. (Hear.) Well, those troops having entered
upon the distinct understanding to compel the King of Den-
mark to revoke the patent, those proceedings took place
which led to the supercession of the King of Denmark, and
a declaration in favour of the Duke of Augustenburg. Then
came the question of the constitution of November, uniting
to a certain degree, as we were compelled to admit, Schles-
wig with Denmark. Her Majesty's Government felt all
the evils ariiing from that occupation. I should say the
Germans contended that, although the Government of Den-
mark had engaged to act on the suggestion of England, and
I believe of other Powers, to take the earliest means con-
stitutionally possible to revoke that constitution—the Ger-
mans determined to enter into and take possession of
Schleswig as a material guarantee for the performance of
that engagement, We proposed that some diplomatictrans-
action, some engagement on the part of Denmark, taken in
the presence of the other Powers parties to the treaty,
should be accepted by the Germans as a sufficient security
that the engagement should be fulfilled. But this was not
accepted, and the German troops entered Schleswig. When
the Federal troops entered Holstein, the Danish Govern.
meat, partly from advice and partly from considerations of
prudence, refrained from offering any resistance te
the entrance of the Federal troops, and there
was no war arising out of that occupation. When
the German troops entered Schleswig the feelings of the
Danish nation were too strong to admit of a similar course
being pursued, and resistance—an obstinate and heroic re-
sistance—was made against the very superior numbers
which Germany brought to bear on that occasion. Up to
that time all the parties who had signed the Treaty of 1852
continued to admit its validity and to be bound by its en-
gagements as far as they related to the acknowledgment of
the right of the King of Denmark, and that all the terri-
tories held by the King should be maintained. Up to that
titee even Prussia did not dispute the binding nature of
that treaty, But it is fair to say that she intimated that if
resistance should arise, and different events should take
place, then possibly the German Powers might have to
reconsider the engagements of the Treaty of 1852. Well,
now, sir, not to trouble the house with the recital of mili-
tary operations, with which all are familiar, the course of
the war led to the occupation by the Germans of the whole
of Schleswig, and euen parrs us lILIMIU alunatsilt fit
to occupy. In that state of things it occurred to the Powers
who were parties to the treaty, and who were not engaged
in that war, that it was desirable that a Conference should
assemble of the plenipotentiaries of the belligelents and the
four neutral Powers, England, France, Russia, and Sweden,
to consider the means of re-establishing peace upon a solid
and permanent footing. That proposal was agreed to, and
on the 25th of April the Conference met. It continued its
labours until last Saturday. The first proposal made in
the Conference was for a suspension of hostilities, because
it was felt by what 1 shall now and henceforward call the
neutral Powers, that until fighting should cease there was
no fair prospect of coming to an amicable conclusion. We
had wished suspension of arms should precede the Confer.
ence, but that it was found impossible to obtain. Well, after
some delay and a good deal of discussion, a suspension of
hostilities was agreed to, to take place on the 12th of May
and last for a month. The next thing was that the belligerent
Powers were asked upon what condition they wore respect.
ively willing to put an end to the war and come to a mutual
agreement. The Germans,of course, were the parties to whom
that question was addressed. There was some delay in ex-
tracting from the German powers what their conditions were
They first proposed that, still maintaining the principles of
integrity of the Danish monarchy as defined by treaty of
1852—at least not departing from it in words—they pro-
posed, or in substance were thought to do so, that there
should be a political and legislative union between Schles-
wig and Holstein, and that the connection of that united
duchy with Denmark should be the link simply of the crown.
But they coupled that with another condition, that this
arrangement should be reserved for the approbation of the
Diet, and there was some reason to suppose that under the
reservation it was intended to give a discretionary power to
the Diet to determine whether Schleswig should continue
to be united to Denmark, or whether the claims of some
other Pretender should be set up. Well, that proposal was
rejected by the Danish Government, They then proposed
a different mode, but one still objectionable, namely, that
Schleswig and Holstein should be separated from the Danish
monarchy. Of course the Danes could not agree to that.
The neutral Powers conferred among themselves, and saw
that Schleswig and Holstein were in possession of an over-
poweting force—that it did not meet the views of France or
Russia to take any steps to dislodge them. Denmark alone
was unable ; and I need not say that England was not wil-
ling to enter singly into that undertaking—(cheers from the
Ministerial side)—the neutrals agreed to propose to Den-
mark the separation of Holstein from the Danish ground,
together with such a partition of the southern part of
Schleswig as might be agreed upon. The line proposed by
the neutral Powers was a line running from the Schlei to
Frederickstadt. Well, that proposal, coupled with other
conditions which I shall not trouble the house with, was
accepted by Denmark. Denmark said, however reluctant
to make a territorial concession, she was willing to
agree to that. (Cheers from both sides of the house.)
She felt all the inconvenience of the perpetual disputes
between Denmark and Germany. She wished to be quit
of all interference by the Diet with her affairs, and, pro-
vided she had assigned to her a frontier which in a military
and commercial point of view was consistent with her
interests, she was willing to adopt and agree to that sug-
gestion, and to separate Schleswig and part of Holstein
from Denmark. The Germans objected to that arrange-
ment. They said that line would not include a sufficient
number of the German population, that there would still
be a large number of the German population under Danish
rule, and they wished that the great bulk of the German
population should be associated with Holstein. Now, the
fact with regard to Schleswig I believe to be, that the ex-
treme northern part is entirely Danish, and the extreme
southern is mostly German. Between the two is a district
of large extent, in which the population are mixed not only
by villages, but even by streets in those villages, so that it
is absolutely impossible to draw any line in the centre of
Schleswig that shall entirely separate the German popula-
tion from the Danish. Consequently the ground taken by
the Danish Government appeared to be a fair one, that the
line should be drawn—it being impossible that the line
could be drawn with reference to nationality—should be
drawn so as to give Denmark such a frontier as should be
susceptible of military defence, and secure her those com-
mercial advantages which she claimed. (Hear, hear.) The
Danish Government, I say, accepted the line from the
Schlei to Frederickstadt. The German plenipotentiaries
having handsomely given up—at least having given up—
(laughter)—the whole of Schleswig, they consented to a
partition drawn from Apenrade to Tondern, a place on the
west coast. Between those two lines lay a district of very
ccnsiderable extent, as compared with the extent of Schles-
wig—of course in a commercial, though not in a European,
point of view, a district of great importance to Denmark.
In the course of these negotiations the Prussian Plenipoten-
tiary, Count Bernstorff, stated on his own autherity that,
seeing the wide difference between the parties, he would
undertake to represent to his Government to depart from
the northern line at Apenrade, and to take a line to the
south, from Flensburg to the western coast. That recom-
mendation was not accepted, and he was obliged to disavow
it, and say that his Government and the Austrian Govern-
ment adhered to the line originally proposed, from Apenrade
to Tondern. But meanwhile, time pressing, the neutral
plenipotentiaries urged upon the parties a prolongation of
the armistice—a suspension of hostilities. I will not say
armistice, because a distinction is drawn between armistice
and suspension of hostilities. That was to expire on the
10th of June, and, by great difficulty, the Danes were per-
suaded to agree to an extension of that time. The German
Powers were willing, as might not unnaturally be expected,
to extend the armistice until the beginning of winter. (Hear,
and laughter.) The Danes, on the other hand, begrudged
every fortnight of the summer that was withdrawn from
their naval operations, and therefore they said they would
not prolong the armistice beyond a fortnight, unless in the
meantime some arrangement should be come to which
would lead them to suppose that the negociatlons would
end in a peaceful manner. The suspension was, therefore,
extended for a fortnight, which ended yesterday. I may
say in the whole course of these negotiations, as will be
shown by the protocols laid on the table, there was perfect
unanimity between the neutral Powers—between Eng-
land, France, Russia, and Sweden—(hear, hear)—and,
although my noble friend, Lord Russell, was chosen by
the Conference at the outset as president of the Conference,
and although it may have fallen to him to make several
proposals that were made, those must be considered as the
proposals of the neutral Powers, because they were the
neutral Powers before the proposals were made in the Con-
ference. (Cheers.) That is a very important matter. (Hear,
hear.) Well then, sir, it appearing that there was no pos-
sibility of bringing the Germans and Danes to agree upon
any middle line between the two lines which they respec-
tively stood upon—the Schlei and Frederickstadt on the
one hand, and the Apenrade and Tondern by the Germans
—a last attempt was made by the neutral Powers to induce
the belligerents to agree to refer the question in dispute to
arbitration, The dispute had really been narrowed to a
comparatively small end, It was no longer whether Hol-
stein should be governed in a peculiar manner ; it was no
longer whether Schleswig should bepolitically and adminis-
tratively united with Holstein under the crown of Denmark.
The Danes had consented to an alienation of territory; the
Germans would be content with that arrangement; and the
only question was whether that arrangement should be
c .rried out by dividing Schleswig in one part or by dividing
L. in another; and it appeared to the neutral Powers that
the ter. itory lying between those two lines was not so im-
portant to either party as to justify the resumption of war,
and that they might fairly, in accordance with the
recommendation of the Conference, submit the question to
tht arbitration of a neutral Power. (Cheers.) Accordingly
my noble friend, as the organ of neutral; Powers, did pro-
pose that arrangement to the plenipotentiaries. Each:party
naturally took time to refer that question to his respective
Government, and on Friday the answers were communi-
cated. The answer of the German Powers was that they
looked to the words of the Conference at Paris, which re-
commended the good offices of a friendly rover; WA that