On the 14th September, Earl Russell received from Lord A. Loftus, from Berlin, the following despatch addressed by Count Bernstorff to the Russian representative in Denmark on the Schleswig-Holstein question in answer to a despatch of M. Hall:

"We have hitherto delayed giving our opinion on the communication which the Danish cabinet made to us in the despatch of the 12th of March. We were obliged earnestly to consider whether, and to what end, a continuation of a correspondence could be useful, which, from the Danish Government refusing to express themselves respecting their final intentions, seems destined to widen, rather than to narrow, the difference between the parties. Once more, on the present occasion, they have avoided answering the simple question as to whether they recognize the binding nature of the engagements taken in 1852, more especially as regards Schleswig, and whether they mean to adopt these as a basis for all further negotiations, by explanations and assertions which are partly of a general and undefined nature, and partly stand in contradiction to each other. For if M. Hall, in the beginning of his despatch, acknowledges that the negotiations have the equally privileged position of the Duchies of Holstein and Lauenburg as their object, a question which, from the very nature of the circumstances, cannot be settled without reference to the positions of the other parts of the monarchy, and if he further expresses his satisfaction that Prussia holds fast to the engagements of 1852, and points out that it is self-evident that Denmark will fulfil these conditions, and yet if, notwithstanding these admissions, he considers the introduction of the Duchy of Schleswig into the present negotiations as superfluous, we confess that we are at a loss to reconcile such contradictions. Hence, to our deep regret, we are unable to discover in the communication of the 12th of March a single onward step towards an understanding, and we can refrain from entering further into the contents of this communication, as we consider it unnecessary to explain oft-repeated assertions, and to disclaim reproaches whose want of foundation we look upon as recognized. The latter applies particularly to the assertion now again repeated, but we hope for the last time, that the German Confederation wished to extend the sphere of its Federal competency over a country which does not belong to it. The Danish Government will not succeed in declining, under this pretext, all negotiations with the Diet concerning Schleswig, including those based on previous formal agreements, and bearing an international character.

We will, however, not give up all hope of a prosperous result of these negotiations.

As the Danish Government has not, as yet, entered upon the material contents of the convention of 1852, and has not announced to us their views as to the proper measures to be taken for its execution, we will endeavour to approach this object by explaining more fully the contents of that convention, and by showing the claims which, according to our ideas, arise therefrom, and which are of a clear and simple nature.

We will only advert here in the simplest terms to what was agreed upon, and to the main principles and conditions which are to be deduced from this agreement and which are involved in its fulfilment. We cannot look upon it as our duty to make proposals respecting the fulfilment of the agreement itself. We hold fast, however, to our indubitable right of testing whether the fulfilment given or desired by the Danish Government corresponds with the principles agreed upon. The convention of 1852

promises an independent and equally privileged position for the various parts of the monarchy in regard to their separate affairs; and at the same time ordains for their common affairs an organic and equal union of them into a whole, in which no portion shall be incorporated into another, or made subservient to another. Hence it follows incontrovertibly that the Duchy of Schleswig cannot be brought into a closer union with the Kingdom of Denmark than with the Duchy of Holstein, and that no arrangement can be made by which the Government or the representation of the kingdom would obtain influence in the internal and special affairs of Schleswig. It can, moreover, be shown that the right and proper influence of Holstein in common affairs cannot be withdrawn from her, and her ticipation in them cannot be limited to certain portions of the legislature, or to the voting of certain quotas, but that her title, as regards the settlement of the common budget, as well as with regard to all common laws and measures, must be the same as that of the other portions of the country.

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This also applies to the Duchy of Schleswig, and we are, therefore, entitled by the text of the convention (apart from the indirect influence which the position of Schleswig must exercise upon the position of Holstein) to give validity to this demand as regards the Duchy of Schleswig. It further necessarily results from the above principles that in the institutions from which an organic community is to result and be maintained, every principle must be excluded which, like that of the mere number of the population, destroys the independence of the provinces as such, and transfers the decision to a numerical majority, which would be just and proper in an united country. Of whatever kind the constitution may be, it must always maintain a character by which the separate provinces can be protected against harm from a majority of persons who are strangers to them. The same principles are to be applied to the central executive. The Government must stand in the same relation towards the kingdom as towards the duchies, and be no less responsible to the latter than to the former. The Austrian despatch of December 26, 1851, has already pointed out the evils which the duchies would suffer from the Danish Ministry being invested with a two-fold position; and we must call attention to the fact that it runs counter both to the nature of the circumstances and to the spirit of the convention in question, that one of the portions of the monarchy should be either not represented at all in this central executive, or should be so by an organ not belonging to it either by virtue of its position or personal interests, as has now for a long time been the case in regard to Holstein and Lauenburg.

In this respect also, Schleswig has the same rights as Holstein. Schleswig can just as little as Holstein assume the position of a Danish province-an expression the continually attempted repetition of which, in respect to the Dukedom of Schleswig, must be repudiated as totally inadmissible. We must further remind the Danish Government that the organic institutions to be called into life must be brought about by legal and constitutional means; that is, by the provincial assemblies of the Duchies of Schleswig and Holstein, by decrees of the Danish Reichsrath, and by the co-operation of the estates of Lauenburg (" Ritter und Landschaft.") Lastly, we must remind the Danish Government that the nonpolitical relations which the Duchies of Schleswig and Holstein have in common were expressly safeguarded in the negotiations (of 1852); that

special attention was paid to the position of the University of Kiel; and that equal rights and an effective protection were guaranteed to the German as well as to the Danish nationality.

The de facto close connection of Schleswig with the kingdom; the preponderating influence which is thereby accorded to the latter; the subordinate position in which Holstein is kept in respect to the common affairs of the monarchy, particularly in what concerns the budget; the systematic destruction of all natural and neighbourly relations between Schleswig and Holstein; the non-observance of engagements respecting the University of Kiel; the surfeiting of the Duchy of Schleswig with Danish employés in the administration, and with Danish clergy in the churches and schools, as well as the whole spirit of the administration in this duchy; lastly, the oppression of the German nationality and the violation of the real and actual relations by the maintenance of the edict respecting language,-are facts which are self-evident, and for which everybody can have proofs.

And what even formal legal status can be attributed to the common constitution of 1855, when it is remembered that the decision of the Danish Reichstag (which had rejected a former proposal) has been alone taken upon it, whilst the States of the three duchies, contrary to the agreement of 1852, have not been consulted, and when it is further called to mind that the paragraphs in the provincial constitutions having reference to the common affairs were expressly withdrawn from the discussion and decision of the States of the Duchies?

We have, therefore, a perfect right-a right which is conceded by mutual agreement-to demand of the Danish Government that it will take earnest measures to bring about a state of things in accordance with the above-mentioned outline, and that until this has been effected it will at least avoid or annul that which stands in direct opposition to it.

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In drawing up the following deductions from the agreement of 1852, we are indeed limiting ourselves to the lowest measure of that which we have a right to claim :-1. That the common constitution of 2nd October, 1855, which was called into existence by illegal means, that is, without the consultation of the States of Holstein and Schleswig, and without the co-operation of the Lauenburg Estates, shall be entirely, and therefore also as regards Schleswig, abolished. 2. That for the purpose of the re-establishment of an effective common constitution, a new project of constitution shall be submitted to the several representative assemblies of all parts of the monarchy for their assent, in which the unconditional principle of representation according to the numbers of the population, must be abolished. 3. That so long as one representative organ for the whole monarchy shall not have been formed in this manner, an equal degree of influence with regard to the common affairs shall be conceded to the several local assemblies, and that the central government shall be equally responsible to the several assemblies for the management of these affairs. 4. That for the preservation of the equality of nationalities in the Duchy of Schleswig, the status quo ante of 1848 with respect to language shall for the present be introduced until an agreement be arrived at by a law with the co-operation and sanction of the assembly of Schleswig.

In reply to this explicit and precise exposé, we shall expect to obtain at last a precise and explicit declaration.

M. Hall will not be able to reproach us with giving a value "to stray remarks in the correspondence," which only belongs to the agreement itself.

What we have now laid down is that which constitutes the agreement itself, and the spirit and object of the agreement not less than the text render this interpretation of it a necessary one.

This object was no other than to find an equivalent, acceptable to both sides, for the previous ancient state of things, the continuance of which did not seem compatible with the circumstances of modern times, and with the change from an absolute to a representative monarchy.

This ancient state of things was designated in the declaration of his Majesty King Christian VIII. of 7th September, 1846, as follows:-That both duchies (Holstein and Schleswig) shall, besides the social nexus of the Schleswig-Holstein knights, have in common all relations connected with public rights, and this by virtue of a common or similar legislation and administration, in so far as no constitutional peculiarities of either duchy stand in the way, with the exception always of Holstein's position as a member of the German Confederation, and of separate assemblies in the two duchies."

Does the Danish Government believe that Germany will at one and the same time give up this long-established status, and the guarantees given as a compensation for it? Or can, by the dissolution of the closer alliance which until then had bound up the Duchies of Holstein and Schleswig with each other, any one of the rights which were independent of this connection be considered as abolished either in regard to the duchies themselves or to third parties?

Their position in the monarchy was indeed to be altered, but that it should not be altered for the worse, more especially in regard to the kingdom proper, lay in the very nature of the case; and permanently to safeguard this position was the end and object of the agreement of 1852.

Must we, lastly, once more particularly revert to the fact that the two great German Powers found for themselves in these guarantees a justification for their participation in international negotiations concerning the common succession to the monarchy, on which the Danish minister laid so much stress?

We have now only two more short observations to make.

With regard to the provisional state of things in the Federal Duchies of Holstein and Lauenburg, it is a matter of course that the decisions of the Diet of the 8th of March, 1860, and of the 7th February, 1861, remain obligatory, and that concerning these decisions no further transaction can take place, as indeed no further negotiations concerning their meaning and execution are necessary. Their sense is clear, and their execution remains in the hands of the Danish Government. An intervention of the Diet caused by a violation of them would, as universally admitted, act entirely on the ground of the internal competency of the Federal Constitution.

The other remark touches the reference made by M. Hall, at the end of his despatch of the 12th March, to our protest of the 14th of February. To this we have only to remark, that we maintain this protest-to which the Diet has given its adhesion-in all its force; and it must be understood that we shall continue to do so during the further prosecution of these negotiations.

Your Excellency will make known and give a copy of this despatch to the Danish Minister for Foreign Affairs.

On the 24th September, 1862, Earl Russell sent to Mr. Fane the following despatch :

"It appears from the accounts received from various quarters that the correspondence between Austria, Prussia, and Denmark, which it was asserted would lead to a settlement of the dispute so long subsisting between Germany and Denmark in regard to the obligations of Denmark in the affairs of Holstein, Lauenburg, Schleswig, and the common constitution of the Danish monarchy, has grown more and more bitter. The longer the lapse of time, and the further the negotiation is carried, the wider is the space which separates the two parties, and the stronger the language which they use towards each other.

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Upon considering, with pain and regret, this unsatisfactory aspect of the affair, and contemplating the unfavourable results which may be expected from further direct communications between Powers so adverse in their opinions, her Majesty has directed that you should be furnished with instructions which may, it is hoped, tend to the long-desired settlement. In framing these instructions it is advisable to throw out of the calculation, in the first place, those matters upon which controversy may be said to be exhausted. The first of these matters relates to the question whether any taxes can be imposed, or any laws enacted, in Holstein or Lauenburg without the express consent of the representatives of those duchies. question has been resolved in the negative by the German Confederation, of which the Duchies of Holstein and Lauenburg are members. Another question which need not be further discussed is the constitution of 1855. It is clear that whether a representation according to numbers of the kingdom, as well as the duchies, be a good or a bad constitution, yet, not having been accepted by the duchies, the constitution of 1855 has no force in Holstein, Lauenburg, or Schleswig. Neither is it necessary to discuss the rights of Denmark in reference to her Rigsraad. It is quite clear that Denmark can legislate for herself, and impose taxes to be levied upon her own people, without the consent of Holstein, Lauenburg, or Schleswig. Two questions of great importance remain. The first regards the Duchy of Schleswig; the second, the common constitution of the monarchy.

Schleswig was formerly in a position altogether anomalous. Unconnected with the German Confederation, it was yet connected with Holstein, which formed part of that confederation. Later arrangements have dissolved this inconvenient tie, and Schleswig is at present only connected with Holstein by non-political relations affecting the two com

munities.

There are, however, relations between Germany and Denmark in respect to Schleswig which have given rise to the present controversy. The obligations of honour contracted by Denmark towards Schleswig, and imparted to the German Confederation as such by the King of Denmark in 1852, chiefly regard two points. The first of these is the royal promise that Schleswig shall not be incorporated with Denmark. The second is, in substance, an engagement that the Germans in Schleswig shall be treated on an equal footing with persons of Danish or any other nationality.

The grievances of which Germany complains as violations of these promises are thus summed up in the recent Prussian note of the 22nd of August: The systematic destruction of national and neighbourly con

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