474 



LONDON CONFERENCE. 



LONDON CONFERENCE. Upon the invi- 

 tation of the Government of England, the 

 plenipotentiaries of England, France, Russia, 

 Austria, and Prussia, Denmark, Sweden, and 

 the German Diet, met in conference in London 

 on the 25th of April, for the purpose of at- 

 tempting a peaceable solution of the Schleswig- 

 Holstein question, which had already led to a 

 war between Denmark and the two great Ger- 

 man powers, Austria, and Prussia. The first 

 endeavor of the conference was to obtain from 

 the belligerent powers a suspension of hos- 

 tilities for one month. This was agreed to by 

 their representatives in the sitting of the 9th 

 of May. 



On the 12th of May Earl Russell called on 

 the plenipotentiaries of Austria and Prussia to 

 explain the motives which induced their Gov- 

 ernments to occupy a large portion of the 

 Danish territory, and to make known the in- 

 tentions of their courts with a view to the re- 

 establishment of peace. In reply to this ap- 

 peal, the first plenipotentiary of Prussia de- 

 clared that the German powers considered the 

 ground of discussion as entirely free from any 

 restriction resulting from engagements which 

 might have existed before the war between 

 their Governments and Denmark; that, how- 

 ever, they did not mean to exclude any combi- 

 nation which might tend to effect a solid and 

 lasting peace, without prejudicing acquired 

 rights. The explanations given by the pleni- 

 potentiaries of the German powers in the sit- 

 tings of May 12th and 17th brought to light 

 a complete divergence of opinion existing 

 among the members of the Conference with 

 regard to the validity of the Treaty of London 

 of 1852. The plenipotentiary of Great Britain 

 maintained that, although war may put an end 

 to a treaty between two powers which have 

 become belligerents, yet it cannot release those 

 powers from their obligations to the other 

 powers who joined in the signature of the same 

 treaty. They were of opinion that the aban- 

 doning of an agreement ought to be justified* 

 by satisfactory means, and it ought to be under- 

 stood what was intended to take its place. 

 The plenipotentiaries of Russia and Sweden 

 expressed themselves to the same purpose, 

 while the French ambassador asked the Ger- 

 man plenipotentiaries if in case the arrange- 

 ments of 1851 and 1852 should not admit of 

 being maintained, it would not be possible in 

 their opinion to substitute for them a fresh 

 combination without departing from the circle 

 traced out by the stipulations of the treaty. 

 The Danish representative insisted that the 

 treaty of 1852 was still in force, while Baron 

 de Beust, the representative of the Frankfort 

 Diet, observed that its validity had never been 

 recognized by the German Confederation. 



In the sitting of May 17th. Count Bernstorff, 

 the Prussian plenipotentiary, announced the 

 bases of pacification which the courts of Aus- 

 tria and Prussia proposed to submit to the 

 Conference. He demanded, in the name of 



Prussia, " the complete political independence 

 of the duchies and their close connection by 

 means of common institutions," while Count 

 Apponyi, the Austrian ambassador, said the 

 question of succession remained open, and fu- 

 ture complications could only be avoided by 

 the complete autonomy of the duchies with 

 common institutions and entire independence 

 in their political and administrative relations." 

 Baron de Beust insisted that the German Diet 

 would never consent to the restoration of a 

 union between the duchies and Denmark. 



In the sitting of the 28th of May the pleni- 

 potentiaries of Austria and Prussia brought 

 forward a plan which had for its object to de- 

 mand a complete separation of the Duchies of 

 Schleswig and Holstein from the Kingdom of 

 Denmark, and their union in a single state, 

 under the sovereignty of the hereditary Prince 

 of Schleswig-Holstein, Sonderburg-Augusten- 

 burg. The ambassador of Russia expressed his 

 dissent from this proposition, and stated ex- 

 pressly that when the question of the succession 

 of Holstein came to be considered, the Prince 

 of Augustenburg would not be the only one 

 who had claims to assert, and, as the plenipo- 

 tentiary of Russia, he considered it especially 

 his duty to present the claims of Oldenburg. 

 The plenipotentiaries of Denmark declared that 

 " if the Danish Government considered the pro- 

 posal of the preceding sitting inadmissible, so 

 much the more was it impossible for them to 

 discuss this one." 



In order, if possible, to meet this conflict of 

 views Lord Russell read the following declara- 

 tions proposing, in the name of Great Britain, 

 a division of the duchies in accordance with 

 the principles of nationality : 



The plenipotentiaries of Great Britain hav seen 

 with deep regret that the last sitting of the Confer- 

 ance has not resulted in the establishment of the 

 bases of an agreement between Germany and Pen- 

 mark. In our opinion the elements of a solid and 

 durable peace can neither be found in the engage- 

 ments of 1851, which during twelve years have borne 

 no other fruit than dissensions and troubles, nor in 

 the analysis of an obscure and complicated law. But 

 unless it is possible to lay down the bases of a solid 

 and durable peace, it is not competent for the neutral 

 powers to renounce the solemn treaty by which they 

 recognized the integrity of the Danish monarchy, 

 neither could they concur in a new arrangement 

 which would be "insufficient for Germany, or humilia- 

 ting for Denmark. The elements of a solid and 

 durable peace must therefore be sought elsewhere. 

 For many years a lively sympathy for their brethren 

 who are subject to the King of Denmark has animated 

 the Germans of the Germanic Confederation. The 

 Danes, on their side, are inspired by the love of 

 independence and the desire of maintaining their 

 ancient monarchy. These sentiments on either side 

 deserve the respect of Europe. In order to prevent 

 a future contest, and to satisfy Germany, it would 

 be necessary, in our opinion, entirely to separate 

 Holstein, Lauenburg, and the southern part of 

 Schleswig from the Danish monarchy To justify so 

 vast a sacrifice on the part of Denmark, and to 

 maintain the independence of the Danish monarchy, 

 it is desirable, in our opinion, that the line of the 

 frontier should not be drawn more to the north than 

 the mouth cf the Schlei and the line of 



