The Sun.
London, England, 1866-04-12 00:00:00

The Austro-Prussian Dispute.

- -
BERLIN, April 9.
The following Notes of earlier dates than those
recently published show the grounds of complaint
Prussia conceives herself to have against Austria in
Holstein, and the line of defence adopted by the
latter :
COUNT VON BISHARK TO BARON WERTHER.
" Berlin, Jan. 26, 1866.
" In my despatch of the 20th inst. I have concisely
alluded to the state of affairs in Holstein, for ac-
quaintance with which my other communications
have afforded your Excellency ample material ; and
I requested you to leave no doubt in Count Mens-
dorff's mind as to the effect of the eventsin Holstein
upon the general character of our relations in Aus-
tria. Recent intelligence from Altona obliges me to
return to this point. It must be admitted even in
Vienna that the assembly held at Altona of Schleswig
Holstein clubs and brothers-in-arms no longer forms
a mere individual link in the chain of apparently in-
significant occurrences of whichwe have long had to
complain, but that it marks a decisive turning-point
at which the character the Vienna Cabinet intends to
impart to its relations with us must be displayed.
" This assembly is indeed an appearance, for the
admissibility of which within the scope of Austrian
rule in Holstein, we could not be prepared even
after former events. A mass demonstration intended
to agitate, partly for objects which the Land Go-
vernment had shortly before declined by the express
desire of the Governor, partly expressedly and directly
against Prussia—this demonstration, at first pro-
hibited by the police, then permitted by the Land
Government upon an understanding with the com-
mittee that if only no resolutions were passed the
widest scope might be given to speeches of the most
exciting character ; and, lastly, the assembly visited
by leading Democrats from other German coun-
tries, exactly* in the same manner as at Frankfort,
and for the same object.
" The plan of this assembly shows the sense in
which the declarations of the Land Government and
of the Governor upon the agitation for its convoca-
tion were accepted and understood by the country,
and the permission to hold the meeting unfortu-
nately proves that this understanding was correct.
It seems almost incomprehensible that matters
should have arrived at this point when we look
back to the days of Gastein and Salzburg. I was
able at that time to suppose that his Majesty the
Emperor of Austria and his Ministers understood
the common enemy of both Powers—the Revolution
—as clearly as we did, and we believed ourselves
agreed upon the necessity and plan of campaign
against that enemy. Stipperted by this conviction,
we made the proposal in Vienna of proceedings at
Frankfort, to which the Imperial Cabinet assented,
but which it soon endeavoured to frustrate, and
whose effect, therefore, resulted in nothing. This
conduct was well calculated to make us hesitate ;
but we were nevertheless able to ascribe this luke-
warmness and reserve to a certain passiveness and
the reaction of former traditions. Although this
experience warned us to be cautious in future, we
were still able to abstainfrom drawing more alarm-
ing conclusions.
" The present attitude of the Imperial Govern-
ment in Holstein bears a different character. We are
compelled to characterise it plainly as aggressive ;
and the Imperial Government does not hesitate to
bring us exactly the same means of agitation as it
had been willing to combat in union with us at
Frankfort. What is the difference between that
mass assembly, aided by democratic leaders from
Hesse, Frankfort, and Bavaria, and those meetings
concerning whose admission Austria herself com-
plained, with us, at Frankfort ? At most, in the fact
that the Imperial Governor possessed more efficient
remedies in the Holstein laws than the Frankfort
Senate had at command ; that the agitation in Hol-
stein has a more definite and tangible object, and
is even more directly and hostilely employed against
Prussia, but just as hostilely against Prussia's and
Austria's common right of sovereignty in the
Duchies. Nothing but the use intended to be made
of the hostile feeling against Prussia called forth by
such demonstrations can explain the oversight at
Vienna of the fact, that all these attacks upon the
right of Prussia affect the rights of his Majesty the
Emperor of Austria in an equal degree, and render
it possible to understand how the destructive effect
can be ignored which is produced throughout the
country by the favoured and constituted system of
agitation ; how it can be permitted that South Ger-
man agitators summon Holstein meetings to refuse
payment of the taxes. I have already stated to
your Excellency upon former occasions, that if this
transformation of a people hitherto distinguished
for their conservative sentiments into a focus of re-
volutionary efforts can be quietly surveyed from
Vienna, we, upon our part, dare not and are
determined not to do so. By the Gastein Conven-
tion each of the two Duchies is as it were a pledge
for the loyalty of the co-possessor. We hope to
arrive at a further agreement, and we are entitled to
demand that until this agreement is achieved the
object itself shall be maintained in statu quo. We
cannot and will not permit such deterioration
as this agitation effects. The surrender of all
authority, the permission of open disregard and con-
tempt of orders it has itself given, the non-applica-
tion in principle of existing laws, and the dispute of
their validity by the Imperial Government—all these
are serious injuries of the moral principle we con-
sider ourselves in duty bound to uphold in the
countries that have passed under our protection by
a war waged at heavy sacrifice.
" I leave to your Excellency to consider what an
impression such proceedings of his ally in war now
make in peace upon his Majesty the King our most
gracious master; how painful it must be to him to
see revolutionary tendencies hostile to every throne
developed under the protection of the Austrian
double eagle ; and how such impressions must con-
duce to shake and weaken the feelings of the coali-
tion
of the two German Powers, so long and
willingly cherished by his Majesty.
" It is by the King'soox Mot: command that I re-
quest your Excellency
t
this plainly to Count
Mensdorff, and to beg him to bring it to the know-
ledge of his Imperial master.
" The King's Government asks the Imperial
Cabinet to put an end in the interest of both parties
to the injury suffered by the monarchical principle,
the sense of public order, and the union of both
powers by the system now practised in Holstein.
It believes that it would be easy—if the laws of the
country, as to the existence of which no serious
doubt can obtain, were put in practice—to make an
end of the disgraceful abuse in the Press and in
associations against an ally and co-possessor, and to
render impossible in future the influence of the so-
called Court
of Kiel upon the country, which con-
stitutesa Perpetual protest and attack against the
rights of
Austria as well as of ourselves. We de-
mand no concession no surrender of any Austrian
rights in the Duchies, but only the preservation of
the common sight_ nothi - owes
as much to her ovul)ng but what Austria
but what the Imperial°4 ition as to ours ; also nothing
Government is able to carry
out at any moment, Nyithi
any sacrifice or injury
to her interests whatever. Although this common
right may possess but scanty value
for Austria, its
establishment and execution are
Prussia vital
elements of the present Government
of his Majesty
the King, inseparable from its total
Policy
" A negative or evasive answer to 0.
would afford us the conviction that the e request
ImPerial
Government is not inclined to go with us the
same course in the long run ; but that tendencies
averse to Prussia, a traditional antagonism to
Prussia we had hoped overcome, which have now
chosen the territory of the Duchies as the field ei
their activity, are stronger within her than the sen.
timent of coalition and of common interests. This
would be to the King's Government, but above all
to his 'Majesty the King, a painful circumstance we
wish and hope to be spared. But to bring clearness
into our relations is a prime necessity to us. Should
the intimate community of the general policy of the
two Powers we have sincerely striven for not be
realised, we must gain full liberty for our entire
policy, and make of it such use as we may consider
compatible with the interests of Prussia.
," I request your Excellency to leave Count Meus-
uoiB:n no doubt upon this subject. The moment
4,
selious, and recent events,ivhich can no longer