The Sun.
London, England, 1862-04-18 00:00:00

the Danish Government in order to be able to
maintain that foundation for the negotiations
which the despatch of December 26 ha, placed in
question.
"The despatch of December 26 admits in a mea-
sure that the (on the Danish side) ontemplated
separate position of the Duchy of Ho! tein, which is
to be made the foundation of ulterior developments,
would not accord with the basis of 1851-52. This
fact is not disputed, it is only attempted to be ex-
plained; nor is it denied that the transactions of
1851.52 essentially turned upon the Duchy of
Schleswig, and particularly on the position of that
duchy in the collective Danish Monarchy as well as
on the relation of the nationalities comprised with-
in the country. Nevertheless, the despatch declines
all discussion as to Schleswig in the present nego-
tiations, and declares the introduction of this sub-
ject in the discussion to be something new and un-
justifiable. The despatch further eludes the decla-
ration by us as to how the definitive regulation
should be brought into unison with the basis of
1852. It avoids reference to the negotiations of
1851 52, and where these are mentioned it refers to
a correspondence which took place in 1860, which
in truth bore very closely upon the gist of the pend-
ing differences, and consequently, also, on the nego-
tiations having for object the solution of those
differences.

" On our part we did not intend to refer to that
correspondence, because we did not wish to treat
views expressed on an incidental question as em-
bodying the well reflected and decisive opinion of
the Danish Government. Besides, the assertion of
the Copenhagen Cabinet had encountered at once
a decided protest on the part of both German
Powers, and we might hope that our detailed and
thorough refutation of those assertions would not
have been without effect. We could not, therefore,
believe that the Copenhagen Cabinet would again
renew assertions having for object to deny the
existence of any binding engagement whatever
concerning the Duchy of Schleswig. It might for
a moment have been overlooked at Copenhagen that
not only the evacuation of Holstein and full resto-
ration of the a►uthority of the Sovereign in that
duchy, but also the participation of the German
Powers in European transactions on which the
Danish Government laid a great weight, were
made to depend on the binding form of a decla-
ration made by order of his Majesty the King of
Denmark,' as stated in the despatch of the Aus-
trian Cabinet, dated December 26, 1851; and that
the Danish Minister at the time, in his reply of
January 29, 1852, stated that he communicated by
authority of his Majesty the declaration, which
both generally as also specially, in so far as the non-
incorporation of Schleswig into the kingdom was
concerned, agreed with the views of the German
Powers.'

"When now, however, the Danish Minister refers
to these assertions they certainly acquire an in-
creased importance, and, when taken in connection
with the whole of the contents of the despatch of
December 26, they place the German Powers under
the necessity of addressing in the first place to the
Danish Government the question whether it really
has expressed in the cited correspondence of 1860
its final opinion, and intends to adhere to it ; or,
whether it still recognises the binding character of
the promises made in 1851-2, and also in respect to
the Duchy of Schleswig, and will make such a
recognition the basis of ulterior negotiations with
the German Powers.

" In addressing to the Danish Government this
question both the German Powers are conscious that
they thereby restore the question to its true and
simple stand point. Only by the reciprocal recog-
nition of existing obligations can a sure foundation
for an understanding be laid.
" You will please bring this communication to the
knowledge of Minister Hall, and give him a copy
of the same."

The following is a translation of a despatch from
the Prussian Minister of Foreign Affairs to the
Prussian Minister at Copenhagen, dated Berlin,
Feb. 14, 1862 :

" The projects of law submitted by the Govern-
ment of his Majesty the King of Denmark to the
Reichsrath, which met on the 25th of last month,
have been made public by the journal of the Reich-
srath, and we have thus become acquainted with
them.

" These projects of law, 'which concerned a change
in several paragraphs of the constitution law of
October 2, 1855, in respect to the Reichsrath, could
not escape our attention.
" Far from wishing to interfere in the internal
affairs of the Danish monarchy, or to judge of the
acts of the Government, in so far as these alone
bore upon internal affairs, we have here to take into
consideration, in the first place, that through these
projects of law, and also in consequence of the com-
position of the Reichsrath being limited to only one
part of the monarchy, the relations of the Duchy of
Schleswig to the kingdom are essentially affected.
" Secondly, that the relations of the Duchy of
Schleswig to the Kingdom of Denmark were fixed
in 1851-2 by an international transaction between
Prussia and Austria, acting on behalf of the Ger-
manic Confederation on the one side, and Denmark
on the other, and which transaction was sanctioned
by the Confederation.
" These facts place us under the obligation of re-
minding that one-sided legislative acts, in whatever
form they may take place, cannot, in a legal man-
ner, alter stipulations that rest on agreements hav-
ing an international nature.

" We deem it expedient in this place to cite
verbally those points of the aforesaid agreements
which come principally under consideration.
" By the communication of the 29th January,
1852, the Copenhagen Cabinet acknowledged as
binding on the Government of his Majesty the King
of Denmark the five points contained in the appen-
dix to the despatch of the Vienna Cabinet of the
26th of December, 1851.