The Sun.
London, England, 1861-07-13 00:00:00

SCHLESWIG HOLSTEIN.

Sir H. VERNEY rose to call the attention of the house
to the correspondence in the affair of Denmark and Holstein
of 1860 and 1861. He thought that the subject, as bearing
on the preservation of the peace •of Europe, was one of
great importance to this country. In this country there
was no feeling of hostility to the Danish Government, and
the British Government was called on to mediate, and
perhaps it was snore in the power of the noble lord than
of any other man to bring this question to a settlement.
He ventured to assert that the difference in Schleswig-
Holstein arose from the weakness of a political party in

Denmark. The war of 1849 and 1850 was terminated by
the German Bund, which restored to the King of Denmark
his duchies, while the King in his turn conceded a great
deal to the people of the duchies. He complained, how-
ever, that the promises then made had been repeatedly
broken. The hon. gentleman proceeded to quote at length
from the Blue Book in support of his statement. He
thought he had shown that great oppression had been ex-
ercised by the Spanish Government towards the German
population of Holstein. In the debate which took place
some nights ago on the subject, it was plain that the Treaty
of London was not considered binding, but he hoped the
noble lord, in replying to his remarks, if he should reply to
them, would favour the house with his opinion on that
point. It certainly was stated—and that, too, very de-
cidedly—that the Treaty of London had been abrogated as
between England, France, and Russia, in consequence of

the Russian war. As the effect of the treaty would be to
place a Russian prince on the throne of Denmark, in the
event of the death of its present possessor, he hoped the
noble lord would not lose sight of that, because such a re-
sult would be very injurious to all German interests, and
could not be beneficial to us. (Hear, hear.)
Lord H. VANE was not about to defend the conduct of

the Danish Government in all respects, but, looking to the
general question, he thought the house would take a dif-
ferent view of it from that taken by his hon. friend who
had just sat down. His hon. friend might rest assured that
he was mistaken in supposing that the Treaty of London
was no longer valid. The war might abrogate the treaty
as regarded Russia, but not as regarded the other parties to
the treaty. His hon. friend was not perhaps aware that
Denmark had a guarantearom this country for her possess -
sions. In 1720 such a guarantee was given by this country,
and also by France, but under it Schleswig and Holstein
were guaranteed to the throne of Denmark. Seeing that
Denmark held the keys of the Baltic, it had been thought
advisable to make the succession descend unbroken rather
than that Schleswig and Holstein should be separated from
it. He believed it was the opinion of all parties that the
settlement should be preserved.
[At this part of the hon. member's speech, there were
only twenty-one members present. A motion was made to
count, but a sufficient number of members was obtained to
make up the requisite forty.
Lord H. VANE went on to say that he thought the

time might again come when Germany would find it neces-
sary to appeal to the national feeling, but it was unwise on
her part now to raise a question that might lead to an inter-
vention against which she might find it difficult to contend.
He hoped the noble lord would be able to inform them
that a disposition existed on the part of Germany to make
such moderate concessions as would lead to a settlement of
this long agitated question.
Sir M. PETO said there was no part of Germany in which
greater liberty existed than in Holstein. He believed that
the Government of Denmark was anxious for the good
offices of their country in order to bring about a settlement
of every difference in the matter.
Lord J. RUSSELL said, though he had spoken before on
this subject, he hoped he should be allowed to answer the
appeal of the hon. member for Buckingham. He should
confine himself to the present state of the case. The German
Confederation had come to resolutions by which they de-
clared that if the provinces would not submit in a certain
time, they would take action. He was glad to hear that it
was likely the King of Denmark would make propositions,