The Sun.
London, England, 1864-10-25 00:00:00

The Schleswig-Holstein Question,

FRANKFORT.ON.THE•MAINE, Oct. 22.
A meeting of the Committee of the Assembly of
Members of German Diets took place on the 16th at
Weimar, to receive the political and financial report
of the managing subcommittee, and.ttake into con•
sideration the present position of the Schleswig.
Holstein question. The meeting was attended by
delegates from Bavaria, Brunswick, Coburg, Franks
fort, Gotha, Hamburg, Hanover, Hesse-Darmstadt,
Prussia, Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein, Weimar, and
Wurtemberg.
The report laid before the meeting entered first
into details of financial matters possessing no gene-
ral interest, and passed then to a recapitulation of
the course of the committee since the last meeting
(April 9 and 10). It entered upon a statement of
the success of the chief measures advocated by the
Committee, and concluded by detailing the steps it
recommended to be pursued. The following report
of the subsequent proceedings, and the views ex-
pressed by the Committee, are furnished by the Sep•
retaries of the Assembly :
" In the debate which ensued the Committee had
first to take into consideration the progress of the
movement up to the present time in view of the re•
suit to be attained by the impending conclusion of
peace. When, after the death of Frederick VII.,
the entire German people demanded with unanimity
hitherto unexampled, war for the separation of the
Duchies from Denmark, and institution of the legi•
timate heir to the throne, the great German Powers
declared at the sitting of the Federal Diet of the
28th of November last year, that they considered
themselves bound by the Treaty of London, and
would require nothing more from Danmark tha❑
the fulfilment of the obligations undertaken by that
treaty. Faithful to this declaration they sent their
troops some weeks afterwards to Schleswig, not to
wage war against Denmark, but to take the duchy
in pledge upon the basis of the London arrange•
ments. In the meantime the national movement
had found common expression of the unanimous
will, based upon the union of all patriotic parties,

iu the resolutions of the Assembly of Members of
the German Diets which met in Frankfort on the
21st Dec., ns well as some organisation in the com-
mittee of 36 chosen by the Assembly, and abo!it 700
Schleswig-Holstein associations connected there-
with. Through the moral pressure they first exer-
cised upon the middle States, and by the help of the
latter also upon the two great German Powers, they
succeeded, aided by the blind obstinacy of Denmark
and the valour of the Austro-Prussian troops, in
driving these two great Powers further and further
past their original limit, so that at last the loose tie
of personal union was all with which they attempted
to hold fast to the London Treaty.

" In the Easter meetings held throughout the
whose of Germany, nearly 300 to number, the na-
tion once more solemnly and decisively declared its
will in regard to the impending Conference of the
European Powers. When therefore this Confe-
rence met, the protest signed by 1,388 members of
German Diets was issued and laid before it. This
document alluded to tho solution rtquired by right
and the will of the people, and contained a solemn
protest iu the name of the assembled nation aguinet
every settlement of the future of the Duchies with-
out, and in opposition to, their own wish. Shortly
afterwards followed the protest against the arbi-
trary division of Schleswig, to which nearly 400
associations, almost all the Diets then sitting, and
two large popular assemblies in the Duchy,
gave in their adhesion. These different ma-
nifestations have assuredly not been with.
out influence upon the German and foreign
Powers, of which theverbal and written expressions
of English statesmen alone give sufficient proof.
The campaign recommenced after the failure of the
Conference finally led to the entire prostration of
Denmark and the conclusion of the preliminaries.
The simultaneous appearance of the Oldenburg
candidate called forth a further protest, in which
the immediate recognition and institution of Duke
Frederick were demanded. The position of the
Schleswig-Holstein question has since undergone no
further material change, nor has any great and
universal expression of the popular will taken place.
" The Committee estimated at its fall value the
greatness of the result gained for Germany by the
liberation of the Duchies. The nation has the greater
reason to appreciate this success with satisfaction as
it has been mainly owing to the newly strengthened
power of the national mind, and the national will,
that the victory is due. This satisfaction, at the
same time, must not go so far as to lead us to easy
security and tame resignation in all that may hap-
pen. The separation of Schleswig.Holstein from
Denmark was merely the first half of the national
programme, and we must not forget that even this
was only attained by a course diametrically opposed
in more than one direction to that desired by the
nation and marked out by right. The second and
not less important part of the problem—the constia
tution of an independent State of Schleswig-Hol-
stein under its legitimate Prince elected by the
people—has not even yet found its accomplishment.
It has still to contend with serious difficulties; the
national interests bound up with it may still be in-
jured in the greatest degree, and it is especially the
guides of the policy of the two great Powers
whose proceedings constantly challenge anew the
distrust of the nation. As they declined to allow
the people of Schleswig-Holstein to partici-
pate in the conflict, as they subsequently refused
it a voice in debating the terms of peace, so they
still withhold from it the execution of its right to
participate in the decision of the internal future of
the country.

" The committee was, therefore, unanimously of
opinion that the movement should be continued
with all possible energy, and that in particular the
committee itself, as organ of the assembly of mem-
bers of the German Diets which replaces the Par-
liaments not yet attained, should not cease its
action until the national programme in the Schles-
wig Holstein matter should be thoroughly el/lied
out. Up to that time the union of all patriots formed
for the settlement of a cruse removed from party
strife should be unalterably upheld.
"It is especially important to dwell upon the
hitherto disregarded and still threatened right of
determining their own future accruing to the
Schleswig Holstein people. This right demands,
above all, the immediate convocation of the Met
elected according to the fundamental law of Sept.
15, 1818, and the final recognition and institution

of Duke Frederick, This righ~ further demands
free determination of the new relations of the coup•
try towards Germany, based solely upon German
interests and its own; of the question whether any
and what treaties shail be concluded with Prussia ;
of the adhesion of Schleswig Holstein to the Zion-
vcrein, advocated alike by its own interests and
those of Germany ; and, lastly, of the entrance of
Schleswig into the Germanic Confederation, an
enent alrocAy pravickil. for by the constitutional

law, and equally inevitable by Schleswig and the
whole of Germany.

" We are firmly convinced that the Schleswig.
Holstein people will as hitherto faithfully fulfil its
duty towards itself and Germany, and not falter in
adherence to its internal freedom, and that it will
in especial manfully defend its constitution against
all attempts at attack. No alteration of the same
that may be required must take place save in the
way laid down by the constitution itself. We hope
not less assuredly that the entire German nation
will stand unhesitatingly beside its Northern
brothers in their struggle for their rights and liber-
ties. The more it finds common political action im-
peded by the faults of the collective German con-
stitution which have been so clearly displayed in
the course of the past year, and so long as its
righteous claim for a German Parliament and an
improved central power is not conceded, the more
incumbent is it upon the Diets and upon every
single citizen not to abandon this great national
cause until it has been brought through all diffieul.
ties and hardships, and the right of Schleswig-
Holstein has been happily led on to victory. If
we all do our duty, this object will be as certainly
attained as the results gained by the nation up to
the present time.—By order of the Committee,
" Dr. S. MULLER and G. Fr. KOLB."