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CHAP.

III.

1852-59.

coalition.

Grand Duke of Mecklenburg and his Chambers, as also in those between the King of Hanover and his Assemblies; but in neither case was the intervention of much avail.

Wurzburg The formation of a coalition of the Middle States which received the name of the Wurzburg Coalition, in which Bavaria and Saxony took the most active part, should be mentioned. The object of this coalition was to secure to the Middle States a more independent position, and so form a bulwark against the pretensions of the two great Powers on the one hand, and the demands of the people on the other. The interests were too diverse, and the jealousy too great, however, to allow of this coalition exercising the influence which its promoters anticipated.

National
Union.

The defeat of Austria in 1859, the want of cohesion among the German States, and the success of the French arms caused alarm in many minds in Germany. This alarm produced the formation of a society whose aim was to render Germany united and free, and consequently strong and independent with regard to foreign nations. The chief promoters of it desired to thoroughly reform the Constitution of Germany, and to restore, as far as possible, that settled by the Frankfort Parliament, of which many of them had been members. The first meeting was held at Eisenach in July 1859, and it was resolved that the society should receive the title of the National Union. It was also resolved that Prussia

should take the lead in the management and reform of German affairs, as Austria was composed of too many different elements to be called thoroughly German. The permanent seat of the union was to have been Frankfort-on-the-Main, but the Senate of this town feared to have the Diet and its declared opponent holding sittings in such proximity; the place of meeting was therefore removed to Coburg.1

CHAP.

III.

1861.

political

between

Elector of

Hesse and

There were three questions agitating political Three great minds in Germany: 1. The differences between the questions. Elector of Hesse and his Chambers. 2. The position of the Confederation towards Denmark with regard to the Duchies of Slesvig and Holstein. 3. The Reform of the German Constitution. The Difference first of these questions would have remained a private one between the Elector and his Chambers his subjects. had not the latter appealed to the Diet. The Chambers demanded the restoration of the Constitution of 1831 and the repeal of that of 1851; the Prince constantly refused, and although the Diet took the part of the Chambers, years passed away and no satisfaction was given. Prussia at last took the matter up warmly, and was joined later by Austria. The former threatening the Elector with force, he promised to meet the demands of his subjects—a promise which, however, he found means of evading, when greater events occupied the attention of Germany.

1 In 1862 the great Germans formed a German Reform Union in opposition to the National Union and its programme.

CHAP.

III.

1863. SlesvigHolstein

To enable my readers to gain some idea of the second question, I must carry them back to the year 1834, and then give a short sketch of the events which had happened in the Duchies since that year. question. King Frederick VI. of Denmark had in 1834 established separate Provincial Assemblies for Iceland, Jutland, Slesvig and Holstein; the latter duchy, as is well known, forming part of the German Confederation. Frederick died in 1839. In 1846 his successor Christian VIII. published a letter by which he extended the Danish law of the succession of the cognates to the Duchies, and thereby excluded the agnates, who were then represented by Duke Christian of Augustenburg. The Assemblies of the Duchies protested, and that of Holstein appealed to the Diet, who decided (September 17, 1846) that the rights of the Duchies as well as the law of the agnatic succession must be preserved. The Danish Government gave an evasive answer, saying that they did not intend to change the status quo; but the letter was not withdrawn, and the matter remained in doubt until 1848, when Christian VIII. died, and was succeeded by Frederick VII.

On January 28, 1848, Frederick VII. granted a Constitution for the whole of Denmark (including the Duchies), by which he hoped to satisfy Slesvig and Holstein by the liberal concessions he made in it. But the Duchies declined to accept this Constitution, and their two Assemblies uniting themselves, declared that Slesvig as well as Holstein should

CHAP.

III.

1863.

enter the German Confederation as one State. As Menzel justly remarks, this was an act of open rebellion against Denmark, since there were no just grounds for Slesvig to demand incorporation. The Duchies established a provisional Government, with the Duke of Augustenburg at its head, their proceedings being highly approved of by Prussia and the Diet, the former promising to aid the Duke of Augustenburg'in maintaining his undoubted right of succession.' The representative of Slesvig-Holstein was allowed to take his seat in the expiring Diet at Frankfort. Hostilities broke out by the Danes defeating the Ducal troops, but the tide was .soon turned by the advance of the Prussian troops under Wrangel and of the Hanoverians under Halkett. The war was brought to a conclusion by Malmoe an armistice signed at Malmoe, August 20, 1848. By this instrument Denmark agreed to a common Government for Slesvig and Holstein, half of whose members should be named by Denmark and half by the German Confederation. Denmark demanded that all acts of the Provisional Government should be declared invalid, and the troops of Slesvig and Holstein should be separated, each remaining in their respective countries. These were agreed to, as also the proposal that neither party was to be bound by the conditions of the armistice in the future treaty of peace. This armistice was at first rejected by the Frankfort Parliament, but as the movers of the rejection were unable to form a ministry, and as a

armistice.

III.

1863.

Fresh outbreak of hostilities.

CHAP. prosecution of the war appeared to be impossible without the assistance of Prussia the armistice was eventually accepted. In the spring of 1850 Holstein declared war of its own accord against Denmark, owing to the exactions which were practised on the inhabitants of Slesvig by the Danes. And, although the Ducal troops were defeated at Idstedt, the capture of Düppel by the Federal troops led to the signature of another armistice, followed by a protocol signed in London, July 2, 1850, by England, protocol of Russia, France, Prussia, Austria, Sweden, and Den

London

1860.

Treaty of 1852.

mark, in which the integrity of the possessions actually united under the Crown of Denmark was recognised, as also the wisdom of the King of Denmark in desiring to regulate the succession. This protocol was ratified by the resuscitated Diet on September 30.

The question of the succession was first actively mooted by Russia, who declared in favour of Prince Christian of Glücksburg. Prince Christian's mother was sister of the cognate heir, Prince Frederick of Hesse. A conference was held in London, and a treaty was concluded May 8, 1852, in which the necessity of the preservation of the unity of Denmark was again affirmed, and the succession to the throne secured to Prince Christian of Glücksburg. Denmark was further to prescribe a common Constitution for the whole of the kingdom, due regard being had to the privileges and rights of the Duchies. This treaty was not submitted to the Diet, Austria

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