407^ FROM THE MIDDLE OF THE I9TH CENTURY lOQ 



scite of the entire provinces. But the final report recom- 

 mended that the vote be restricted to the most northern 

 parts of the section whose retrocession was in question, or 

 the ehmination of Article V from the Peace Treaty alto- 

 gether.^^ During the discussions of December 20, Bismarck 

 announced that Article V was incorporated in the Peace 

 Treaty under pressure from France. Since it was there, 

 it could and should not be ignored, but " the obligations im- 

 posed will be carried out by us in a manner that will leave 

 no doubt about the voting, ... its spontaneity and inde- 

 pendence, and about the definite will expressed."^* 



Nevertheless, on December 24, 1866, the annexation of 

 all of Schleswig-Holstein was ratified. The exchanges of 

 notes between Denmark and Prussia continued without 

 result." 



Austria, in disregard of her former opposition to the 

 plebiscite, at first stood out for the fulfilment of Article V, 

 and on March 28, 1867, expressed her wish in this respect. ^^ 

 But on April i, 1868, the Austrian Government instructed 

 its representative in Berlin to the effect that "regardless of 

 the incorporation of the Prussian promise of retrocession, in 

 the Peace Treaty of Prague we harbor no desire to inter- 

 vene in this matter. . . ."'"'■' Bismarck in the North German 

 Reichstag had insisted that Prussia's obligation for the ful- 

 filment of Article V was one towards Austria and that no 

 one but Austria was entitled to demand the fulfilment of 

 that obligation, since the two were the parties who had con- 



^'^ Ibid., p. 27. 



"8 Quoted by Freudenthal, p. 28. On Sept. 24, 1867, Bismarck had 

 declared in the Reichstag: "If all Danes lived in a district on the 

 Danish frontier and all Germans on this side of it I would con- 

 sider it as wrong policy not" to solve this matter with one stroke by 

 the return of this district to Denmark. I would consider this return 

 as a plain requisite of the same national policy which we follow in 

 Germany. But with the mixed population the difficulty of the ques- 

 tion is that wc cannot give Danes to Denmark without giving Ger- 

 mans at the same time" (quoted by Stoerk, pp. 143-144). 



" Freudenthal, pp. 28-30. 



'''* Ibid., pp. 30-31. 



''^ Ibid., p. 23. 



