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

Opening of the Danish Parliament,

We have received the full text of the speech of
the King of Denmark, read at the opening of the
Rigsraad on Saturday, by the President of the
Council. It was as follows :
We, Christian IX., send to the Rigsraad our
royal salutation. The critical situation of the coun•
try and the extraordinary expenses which the war
has already entailed, and which its continuation
may yet farther require, have imposed upon us
the necessity of convoking the Rigsraad, in order
that you may approve of the steps which our
Goverment has taken, end that you may give
your consent to the measures intended to cream
the resources which are indispensable. It is nut
we who have provoked war. Our conscience tells

us that we have done all that was in our power to
avoid it. We have been attacked by a superior
enemy, under the pretext that we have not observed
the arrangements of 1851 and 1852. Before the
commencement of hostilities our adversaries refased

to accept a conference to consult in a friendly way
with the other signitaries of the London treaty, and
it was not until they had seized the greater part of
the peninsula that they consented to its meeting,
but declaring even then that they did not regard
themselves as bound by the transactions of 1851
and 1852. During the short time that our reign
has lasted we have learnt by bitter experience how
little the clearest rights now weigh in the political
balance of Europe, and how a king and his people
may be abandoned to themselves in the most unequal
contest. Therefore it is that when England, sup-
ported by all the neutral powers which sat in the
Conference of London, demanded of us to renounce
altogether the portion of territory belonging to the
Danish monarchy situated to the south of the Schlei
and Dannewerke, we resigned ourselves to submis.
sion to a sacrifice which was so grievous to us.
This sacrifice has not been accepted by the
German powers. We cannot sacrifice more. To
the exhortations which have been made to us we
have responded by a negative, in the firm convic-
tion that our refusal is that also of the Danish
people. May God change the dispositions of the
powers that hold the destiny of Europe in their
hands ! May He at least grant that the sympathy
of one amongst them be transformed into efficacious
co-operation ! Hereupon we assure the Rigsraad of
our royal favour.
The reading of the Ring's message was received
by the members of bath houses with loud cheers.
At the sitting• of the Lower House in the evening
Director :Brix requested explanations from the
Ministry of the state of negotiations at the Confer-
ence. The President of the Council replied :
I consider it quite natural that the house should
desire to receive as soon as possible such caplana.
tions as it is in my power to give, but I should not
be justified in yet communicating what has taken
place at the earlier meetings of the Conference. 1
must reserve that until I cm able to bring up the
records of the procHdings. At present I must con-
fine myself to recounting the state cf the negotia.
tions at the latest sdvices, The situation lust Satur-
day was as follows. Tne enemy persisted in their
demand that Holstein and Lauenburg, with that
portion of Schleswig south of a line drawn from
Apenrade to Mier, shou'd be deprived of all per-
sonal connection with Denmark, to form a separate
state under a separate sovereign. The Danish
plenipotentiary had declared that his Majesty would
not oppose a cession of territory, provided not only
peace but the entire independence of the rest of the
country would be thereby secured. They proposed
Eckernferde, the Dannewerke, and Frederickstadt
as the frontier line calculated to offer the necessary
military and commerciol security. These two
propositions had been made after Earl Russell, in
conjunction with the other neutral powers, had
brought forward a plan placing the line of demarca-
tion south of the Schlei and the Dannewerke, at the
sitting of the Conference on May 28. The Danish
plenipotentiaries had been empowered to accept this
proposition as an ultimatum, as well as to consent
to a prolongation of the suspension of arms for a

fortnight, provided they were assured Lord Russell
would adhere firmly to the proposal put for.
ward by the English Government, and supported by
the three neutral powers. After the Danish plenid
potentiaries had communicated these instructions to
Lord Russell, the English Minister promised "that
he would net himself bring forward, nor support
any motion brought forward by another party, which
should be more unfavourable to Denmark than that
of the 28th May, unless the Danish Government
should itself consent." After this declaration the
Danish plenipotentiaries consented to a prolonga-
tion of the suspension of arms until the 25th inst.
This was the situation up to Saturday last (the 18th),
but at the sitting held that day, Lord Russell came
forward with an entirely new proposition, accord-
ing to which only the line of Apenrade to Hoier
should be secured to us, while it should be left to
the good offices of a neutral power to decide how
large a portion of the territory lying between this
line and Eckernforde should be given to Denmark.
The minor details of this last turn of the negotia-
tions are not yet exactly known to me, and I am
unable to explain how far this last proposal—to
which the Government of the King has undoubtedly
not agreed—is reconcileable with the declaration
made by Lord Russell to the Danish plenipoten-
tiaries. lam only as yet able to state that the red
presentative of the King rejected the proposition at
the sitting of Wednesday, and that the hostile
powers accompanied their acceptance of it with such
reserves and limitations as to leave the general im.
pression, at the Conference, that their assent was
rather to be regarded as a refusal. lam unable to
give any intelligence as to the result of to-day's
sitting, but as no order of the day had been settled,
I assume this meeting was the last. I cannot ex-
press any opinion as to the turn political relations
will take after the termination of the Conference
and the resumption of the war, for they will not
begin to develop themselves—especially in England
—until after these events have taken place.

PRESIDENT LINCOLN AT HIS STORYTELLING
AGAIN.—The representatives of the Union League
waited on President Lincoln at the White House on the
oth inst,, to congratulate him on his renomination by the
Baltimore Convention. Mr Lincoln made the following
reply :—" Gentlemen,—l am very grateful for the renewed
confidence which has been accorded to me,
both by the Con-
vention and the National League. lam not insensible at
all to the personal compliment there is in this, yet I do not
allow myself to believe that any but a small portion of it is
to be appropriated as a pomonal compliment. The Conven-
tima and the nation, I am assured, are alike animat• d by a
higher View of tilt) interests of the country for the present
and the great future, and the part I am (-Willed to appro-
ibt, opinion of the Convention and of the
hproiladte
ofasasabecioung3pliment is only that part which I may lay
League, that 1 aw not unworthy to be entrusted with the
place I have occupied for the last t hree years. I have not
permitted myself, gentlemen, to conclude that I am the
best man in the country; but I am reminded, in this con-
nection, of a story of an old Dutch farmer, who remarked to
a companion once that 'it was not best to swop horses when
crossing streams.' "

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