A curious correspondence has passed between the Duke of Augustenburg,
the pretender to the ducal throne of Schleswig- Holstein, and the Emperor Napoleon, wherein the latter contrives with some skill to reflect on the obstinacy of England for declin- ing a Congress which, even if the Danish difficulty were the only one to come before it, would be almost the sine quci non of a pacific solution. This remark is the more telling, as the English Cabinet are understood now to recant their own strongly expressed disbelief in the use of discussing again in conference a question which was settled eleven years ago, only to be a cause of trouble and unsettlement ever since ; and to have demanded a Conference of the signitaries to the treaty of 1852. For the rest, the Emperor does not give the Duke of Augustenburg any very definite answer. He professes himself favourable to the cause of nationality in Schleswig-Holstein as in Poland, but does not define what he con- siders that cause to be, and does say that, "if Denmark wefe op- pressed by powerful neighbours, public opinion in France would incline towards her." The young Duke of Augustenburg claims sympathy with his Majesty on the ground of having, like him, long " struggled against an adverse fate." The imperial letter will not do much to chase away the shadows of his " melancholy reminiscences."
Previous page
