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

II Rill.,

DENMARE: AND GERMANE

ne following is. a translatifsn of s. despatch from
Cr Junt BernatorfY. to M. de '!:salan, Prussian Minister
'et Copenhagen., dated P,erlin, Feb. 8, 1862 :
__

" Yon are 'already acquainted with the despatch
-which Minister H'4.11 addressed on the 26th Decem-
ber last to M. Af,ade. As an answer to the inquiry
we had made for the purpose of obtaining a sure
foundation r.or judging the Danish proposals, this
reply had : been looked forward to in the hope that
an °Per./ and unreserved declaration of its intentions
on se part of the Danish Government would greatly
promote the bringing about of an understanding.
"This expectation has not been realised.

" irhe Danish Cabinet wants to limit the negocia-
tio' as to regulating provisionally the position of Hol-
st As an answer to our inquiry the despatch of
'Dec. 26 refers to the past, and gives, at the same
time, an account of the course events have hitherto
taken, with the object of bringing an accusation
against the Germanic Confederation of having ren-
dered impossible the establishment of a common

constitution for the whole Danish monarchy. Minis-
ter Hall declines every explanation concerning the
affairs of the Duchy of Schleswig and avoids any
definitive declaration as to the sense in which the
Danish Government understands the negotiations
and transactions of 1851-52.

g, It is plain that the present negotiations are
thereby deprived of their only sure foundation. Lcd
by the wish of coming to an understanding, we
will, nevertheless, once more try to replace the ne-
gotiations on that foundation. In order to do so it
is, however, absolutely necessary to keep distinctly
in mind the character and object of the present ne-
gotiations.

" For wher4 the Danish Minister grants the nego-
tiations to be directed towards a provisional solu-
tion of the question, 'in what manner the Federal
resolv.tion of March 8, 1860, can be carried oat,' this
neit:fier responds to the clear and simple meaning
of that resolution, nor to the relation in which the
'two German Powers stand to it. The resolution of
March 8, 1860—in which the Federal Diet for the
first time, and in consequence of a communication
made by the Royal Ducal Government in reference
to certain provisional measures that had been

adopted, took into consideration the question of a
provisional state of things—established the condi-
tions under which such a provisorium could be al-
lowed to the Royal Ducal Government. The reso-

lution insisted at the same time anew, however, on
.steps being speedily taken for the bringing about
of the definitive regulation prescribed by the reso-
lution of Feb. 11, 1858. Means were thus offered
the Royal Decal Government for staying the carry-
ing out of the Federal measures which had already
been initiated, How, then, can these conditions
be new ma'.e the subject of the present negotia-
tions ? These conditions are simple ;to comply
with 'them is in the power of the Danish Govern-
mezt, and no new negotiations are necessary for
tb.at purpose. We need not, therefore, concern
ourselves further with the remark made in the
Danish despatch, that the present negotiations
must be terminated with a fixed period.' We should
otherwise be obliged to retort to this remark, that
if, on the expiration of the period indicated by Mi-
nister Hall, the Danish Government should take
upon itself to transgress the beforesaid conditions,
and interfere with the present provisional state of
things, the Confederation would, of course, be placed
in the position of letting those Federal proceedings
take their course which were initiated for the pur-
pose of carrying out the resolution of Feb. 11, 1858.
"If the Danish Government, instead of simply
complying with the conditions of the aforesaid Fe-
deral resolution, would negotiate on the subject of
another provisoriurn, it would thereby call in ques-
tion the premises on which that resolution was
based. To those premises belonged, as Minister
Hall in another part of his despatch remarks, the
maintenance of the Reichsrath. The Federal Diet
could, in anticipation of a speedy definitive regula-
tion, and under certain conditions, allow the Reichs-
rath to exist ; but as legally existing the Diet
could not
.acknowledge it, being in contradiction
with the agreements of 1851-52, which stipulated a
uniform connection of all the different parts of the
monarchy and the avoidance of any steps tending
to an incorporation of Schleswig. If the Danish
Govo:nment had, in its propositions of October 26,
38`:41, placed as co-ordinate with the Holstein Es-
tates, instead of the Reichsrath, the separate repre-
sentations of the other parts of the monarchy—
that is to say, the Parliament of the kingdom and
the Estates of Schleswig—and endowed them with
the same attributes as those which have been con-
ceded to the Estates of Holstein, the two im-
portant and integral parts of the agreements
of 1851 and 1852 would, at any rate, have
been carried out, and there would have been a pos-
sibility of negociating on the subject of the pro-
posals submitted for a provisional organisation cal-

ciliated to last for a longer period, and leaving to
future developments the bringing about of an un-
derstanding as to the definitive organisation of the
union of the different parts of the monarchy.
"Should the Danish Government however not be
able to make up his mind to do so, the German
Powers would the more imperatively be bound to
endeavour to bring about an understanding as to a
definite regulation of the constitution question in
all its bearings and on its international basis, The
German Powers having already declared themselves
ready to do so, and having openly explained their
position in reference to that basis, the next step re-
quired is a decided declaration of the Danish Go-
vernment as to its own intentions in this respect,
and as to its own position to the aforesaid basis
from the years 1851-52. The German Powers, un-

fortunately, cannot conceal from themselves that to
insist on this requirement, which had already been
set forth in their first reply, has now, in view of
the contents of the despatch of Dec. 26, become
even a still more imperative and unavoidable duty
on their part.

" At this point must be specially noticed the his-
torical retrospect of the course of events, in which,
according to a remark of Minister Hall, we are to
find the explanation to our inquiry. To submit in
its details this retrospect to eritieism, or to defend
the Confederation against the imputation con-
tained in it, that the Confederation had ren-
dered a definitive re-establishment of a common

constitution impossible, would not comport with
the dignity of the two German Powers. It
Is notorious from what quarter the separation of
Holstein from the bonds of a common union is
Pressed. But the German Powers mast protest
against the moderation and patience with which
the Confederation has acted being perverted into an
accusation against it. We must remind the Copen-
hagen Cabinet that as early as June, 1856—that is
to say, shortly after the promulgation of the com-
mon constitution,—the Cabinets of Berlin and
Vienna did not fail in the friendliest manner to call '
the attention of the Danish Government to the cir-
cumstance that this common constitution did not,
either in form or
execution, conform to the princi-
ples established in 1851-52. They expressed at the
e
hope that th
time the Danish Government would
in the conetitution itself II
-na the means of correct-
ing its fault! by a quiet development of the provi-
sions it contained; while We, on the other hand, did
not conceal from the Danish Government that if
done the German
this were not Confederation
would be placed in the necessity of insisting on the
accomplishment of the engagements that had beon
contracted. Now it is brought as an
accusation
that it has
against the Confederation postponed so
long making those demands, that it has had the
patience to wait for years in
' the hop' 'f "Pine the
Copenhagen Cabinet acting upon the friendly advice'
given it.
" But we will not follow the example of the
Danish despatch by entering into recriminations
and a fruitless polemic on the subject of the past.
We will not, for that reason, recur to what was
remarked in our first communication on the conduct
of officials in the I)achy of Schleswig. Minister
Hall will he able to tell himself that statements
made on facts that are notorious and accredited
by public documents cannot be controverted by a
merely general appeal to impartial justness and
mildness of rule. We will not at present, by any
further reference to this gaping wound, increase the
difficulties of the negotiations. We will rather at
once declare what we at present must expect from