The Sun.
London, England, 1864-06-30 00:00:00

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Despatch of Baron Beust to Earl Russell,

[REUTER'S EXPRESS.] •
DRESDEN, June 27-
The following despatch has been published here :
"London, June 1.
" Monsieur le Comte—ln endeavouring to explain
at our meeting of yesterday the existing situation,
and to demonstrate to the Plenipotentiaries of the
neutral Powers the point of view at which it is
requisite they should place themselves: to arrive at
a just and equitable appreciation of the concessions
which the Germanic Confederation would make in
the interests of peace, it appeared to me that I pro-
duced a feeling of surprise. For this reason I oc-
cupy myself to-day, pen in hand, in once more
explaining my idea, and in resuming the thread of
my argument, so as to remove all misapprehension
from a discussion in which it is above all, necessary
that we should come to a good understanding.
"I believed it necessary to recall in principle the
fact that a different order of succession had been
considered, from all time and incontestibly, as
legally established in the Kingdom of Denmark
properly so called, and in the Duchies of Schleswig
and Holstein. I added that according to this same
order of succession the legitimate sovereign of Hol-
stein ought to be regarded as the legitimate sove-
reign of. Schleswig after the extinction of the
Royal branch of which Frederick VII. was the
last representative.
"In proof that the fact alleged in no way rested
upon a German hallucination, but had equally been
regarded in this light elsewhere, I quoted the note
upon which Lord Palmerston addressed on the 23d
May, 1848, to M. de Bunsen—a document, the draft
of which will easily be found among the records of
the Foreign Office, and from which I have the
honour to annex an extract. So far as lam aware
it is the note in which Lord Palmerston has taken
the initiative of suggesting a partition of Schleswig,
an idea now revived per tot diserimina rerum.
"I also called attention to the fact that the ques •
tion which now occupies us had already occupied
the Cabinet of Copenhagen in 1846, Christian VIII.
having attempted to solve it by his well known
patent, without, nevertheless, succeeding in so
doing. It is evident, thus, that in the eyes of the
Germanic Confederation, which has never accepted
the Treaty of 1852 (equally intended to solve the
problem unsolved by the patent of 1846), the Duke
of Holstein, whoever he might be, is ipso jure et
ipso facto Duke of Schleswig. So long as this
duchy was in the possession of a foreign Power, the
question whether the Confederation ought or ought
not to take up arms to assist the Duke of Holstein
establishing his rights to Schleswig was reserved
for the decision of the Diet. Bat now that this
latter Duchy is in the power of German troops,
this question is set aside and determined by facts ;
and public opinion, convinced as it is of the con-
stitutional inseparabLity of the two Duchies, would
scarcely understand how it would be possible to
give up non-Federal territory, but appertaining by
right to a member of the Confederation, in favour
of a foreign Sovereign. The plenipotentiary of the
Confederation must take public opinion, such as it
is, into account; his commission renders it impos.
Bible that he should ignore it ; and I should con-
sider myself deficient in good faith, and failing at the
same time in respect due to my colleagues, if I al-
lowed a doubt to exist as to the limits within which
my moderation and my desire to remove the exist-
ing difficulties find themselves necessarily conined.
"To arrive at a solid and lasting peace, the con-
cessions which I might be called upon to subscribe
ought to be presented in a form which the public
opinion of Germany Lean accept, in a form which is
not in direct opposition to the ideas which pervade
the Governments and the governed ; it cot, every
concession on my part would only be illusory, and
might justly be made the subject of reproach as a
lure when the Diet refused to cover my responsibi-
lity by its ratification. The frankness which is
my habit is, therefore, upon this occasion, a duty
I shall not fail to fulfil. I desire above all that we
sto ild not tegoing in two different directione at once.
If we take right for our basis, I cannot repeat suffi-
ciently often that in the eyes of Germany King
Christian IX. has not the shadow of a right to make
good to the Duchy of Schleswig, since the day when
the Confederation, es it has done, refused to recog-
nise him as Dake of Holstein. This Prince there-
fore would be unable to cede a portion of this Duchy
to the Confederation, or to any one whatever ; on
the contrary, it would be the Confederation, or one
of its members, which might be induced, in the in-
terest of European order, to give up to him a por-
tion of the territory at present occupied by the Ger.
man troops. For the better attainment of the end
we reciprocally desire—the arrival ultimately at a
solid and durable peace—Germany might consent
to give up the portion of Schleswig containing a
population the majority of whom are Danes. The
principle of nationalities is not among our tradi-
tions; it has not been put forward by us. But as
the Government of her Britannic Majesty, in concert
with the Imperial Government of France, has pro-
posed to consult the populations, I do not think
important reasons exist upon this occasion for Ger-
many to offer opposition. The wishes of the Ger-
man populations in the two Dachies are gained in
advance for the solution which Austria, Prussia,
and the Confederation have proposed in the Con-
ference; and the principle of the popular wish once
adopted, it will be right—l will go further, it will
be indispensable—to apply it to the population
calling itself Danish, and to have the boundaries
which may be judged suitable sanctioned by a vote
freely and loyally obtained.
"An agreement would thus be arrived at upon a
frontier which would leave the Danish element out-
side the new State, to which the Duchy of Lauen-
burg would be united as equivalent. I hasten to
add that, in the opinion of the Diet, the succession
question in Lauenburg may be considered as doubt.
ful, but in no way as decided in favour of his Danish
Majesty. As for the engagement not to interfere
in the internal affairs of the Kingdom of Denmark
when the line of demarcation is once fixed and
accepted, nothing prevents our subscribing this
agreement ; we shall do so with the more pleasure,
as we should consider such an engagement a gua-
rantee of peace and a means of cutting short all
future complications. But it is evident that an
engagement of this character would become either
impossible or illusory under an arrangement aban-
doning an entirely German population to Denmark.
"This is, M, le Comte, the order of ideas which I
endeavoured to set forth, and which must neces-
sarily guide me in the difficult negotiations with
which I am charged.
" Within these limits, traced out for me by the
logic of facts and the force of circumstances, you
will always find me ready to concur with you in
everything which might serve to remove the diffi-
culties of detail still opposing the work of pacifica.
tioo upon the basis accepted in principle by the
German plenipotentiaries.

(Signed)

" BEUST."

The following is the extract slluded to in the
above) despatch, of a note addressed by Lord Pal..
merston to Chevalier Bunsen, dated June 23,
1848:

"The future condition of the Duchy of Schleswig
shall be settled upon one or other of the two follow-
ing plans, according to the choice of the King-
Duke :

" First, the Duchy of Schleswig might be divided
into two parts, with reference to the German or
Danish nationality of its inhabitants, the Southern
and German pit being to be called the Southern
Duchy, the northern or Danish part being to be
called the Northern Duchy. The King would
then become a member of the German Confedera-
tion in his capacity of Duke of Southern Schleswig,
as well as in his capacity of Duke of Holstein, and
Southern Schleswig would, like Holstein, form part,
of the territory of the German Confederation, and