that His Majesty has thought proper to express to his subjects his opinion concerning eventual cases of succession. As it has not been made known to His Royal Highness that His Majesty bad, previous to the publication of his letter patent, come to any understanding with the different Chiefs of the special branches appertaining to the collective House of Oldenburg, and certainly, at least, no steps have been taken having any reference thereto with His Royal Highness the Grand Duke of Oldenburg, who, according to existing Treaties, is the representative of the chief SchleswigHolstein-Gottorp line in Germany. His Royal Highness can therefore, with respect to the declaration published without his co-operation, recognise only one view of His Majesty the King; but at the same time the conviction is impressed upon him, that he, as chief of his house, is in duty bound to uphold the eventual rights of the same against all consequences prejudicial to his subsisting rights or those of his house in any way deducible from that declaration. No. 4.-Protest of the Duke of Augustenburg against the Royal Danish Rescript of July 8, 1846. (Translation.) Augustenburg, July 30, 1846. His Majesty Christian VIII, King of Denmark, has issued a letter patent, dated Sorgenfrey, the 8th July, 1846, drawn up by his High Privy Council, which imposes upon me, as the head of my collective house, the obligation of defending my rights, as well as those of my successors, and of my collective house. His Majesty the King, in his letter patent, expresses his conviction that, in the Dukedom of Schleswig, the succession of the Danish Lex Regia exists in full force and validity, and intimates the existence of a similar one with regard to separate parts of the Dukedom of Holstein. In the said letter patent His Majesty the King merely expresses his high conviction to his faithful subjects collectively, consequently the high letter patent, either according to its form or to its contents, can as little affect the rights of my collective house, as the fundamental rights of the Dukedoms of Schleswig and Holstein; still I must consider it necessary solemnly to guard all my rights, not for fear of any unfounded interpretation of my silence, but to make known my firm purpose of fulfilling the duties imposed by God upon me. The agnatic hereditary rights of my house can only perish through particular, express, and legally-constituted renunciations. So long, however, as these have not been executed, the cognate succession, upon this ground, cannot exist, according to the Danish Crown Law, in full force and validity, either in the Dukedom of [1850-51.] 4 M Schleswig, or in any single part of the Dukedom of Holstein; more particularly since the unlimited Monarch himself cannot alter an established succession. I must therefore, hereby oppose, for myself, my successors, and my collective house, every claim of succession to the prejudice of my own, my successors, and my collective house's appertaining hereditary right to the Dukedom of Schleswig, or to the Dukedom of Holstein, that may be derived from the Danish Crown Law, or from any other source; and I do hereby assert, for the present and the future, all and every of my own, my successors, and collective house's rights, as well in general as in particular, in the most solemn manner that can and may occur. Authentic under my princely signature and seal. C. AUGUSTUS, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein. No. 5-Declaration of Right of the Duke of Augustenburg. (Translation.) Augustenburg, August 11, 1846. High Assembly of the Confederation! THE Undersigned sees himself placed in the necessity, through the letter patent of His Majesty the King of Denmark, dated Sorgenfrey, the 8th July, 1846, of submitting the herewith annexed "Declaration of Right." His own agnatic hereditary rights, and those of his collective house, rest upon too firm and too secure foundations, and are too well known, for him to deem it necessary, without being especially called upon, to lay those foundations severally before a high Assembly of the Confederation. The letter patent issued by His Majesty the King of Denmark interferes too seriously with the agnatic rights of the junior royal line of the House of Schleswig-Holstein, of which the Undersigned is the head, for him to be able to look on in silence. He has transmitted to His Majesty the King of Denmark a "Declaration of Right," dated the 2nd August of the present year, of precisely the same tenor, and thinks he ought not to rest contented with that step, in the fulfilment of the duties incumbent him. With reference to the protection which the High Confederation after the dissolution of the German Empire, afforded both to the internal and external rights of the German Confederated States, and also to the Agnatic hereditary rights attached thereto, and in a memorable case, guaranteed the Agnates of the Ducal House of Nassau; the Undersigned must consider it necessary to recommend to the High Assembly of the Germanic Confederation the preser upon vation of the rights of himself and of his collective house, under the especial consent of his Serene Highness Duke Charles of SchleswigHolstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, head of the junior line of the House; and the Undersigned accordingly begs the High Assembly of the Germanic Confederation will insert the annexed" Declaration of Right" of the 30th July of this year, in the Protocol of the High Assembly of the Confederation. C. AUGUSTUS, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein. No. 6.-Resolution of the Germanic Diet respecting the Affairs of the Duchy of Holstein. (Traduction.) Francfort, le 17 Septembre, 1846. Sa Majesté le Roi de Danemare, Duc de Holstein et de Lauenbourg, ayant déclaré au Protocole du 7 de ce mois au sujet de la pétition adressée à la Diète en date du 3 Août par les Etats du Holstein, qu'il n'était jamais entré dans sa pensée de porter atteinte ni à l'indépendance du Duché de Holstein, ni à sa constitution, ni aux autres rapports quelconques consacrés par les lois du pays et fondés sur ses us-et-coutumes, ni de les modifier arbitrairement ; Sa Majesté ayant en outre donné l'assurance que dans ses efforts pour régler les rapports de succession du dit duché, elle n'avait point l'intention de léser les droits bien fondés des agnats, et ayant manifesté en même temps la résolution de maintenir intact le droit constitutionnel de pétition des Etats, la Diète se trouve fortifiée dans la confiance et dans l'attente que Sa Majesté, en amenant la solution définitive des questions dont fait mention la lettre patente du 8 Juillet de cette année, respectera les droits de tous, et particulièrement ceux de la Confédération Germanique, ceux des agnats appelés à la succession et ceux de la représentation légale du pays. Tout en se reservant, comme organe de la Confédération, de faire valoir, le cas échéant, sa compétence, telle que les lois fondamentales de la Confédération l'exigent, la Diète déclare qu'elle ne peut voir dans les Etats du Duché de Holstein les représentans légaux de cet Etat Fédéral, vis-à-vis de la Confédération, mais seulement les représentans des droits que leur confère la constitution du pays, et qu'elle ne trouve pas fondée la plainte de ces Etats au sujet d'un changement illégal apporté à la constitution du Holstein; par contre, quant à l'ordre donné par Sa Majesté à son Commissaire près l'Assemblée des Etats sous la date du 8 Juillet, 1846, de ne plus recevoir de pétitions ni de réclamations relatives à la question de la succession, la Diète ne le trouve point d'accord, dans ce sens absolu, avec les termes de la Loi du 28 Mai, 1831.* • Vol. XVIII. Page 1292. 2. La Diète se plaît à rendre justice aux sentiments patriotiques qui se sont manifestés à cette occasion dans les Etats composant la Confédération Germanique, mais elle regrette les accusations haineuses et les provocations qui ont eu lieu à ce sujet, et elle attend avec confiance que les Gouvernements Fédéraux sauront mettre un terme à ces manifestations passionnées. Elle ne doute pas que Sa Majesté le Roi de Danemarc ne s'empresse d'agir à cet égard avec la plus entière réciprocité. 3. M. l'envoyé de Danemarc pour les Duchés de Holstein et de Lauenbourg est invité à porter cette résolution à la connaissance de sa cour. No. 7.-Proclamation of the King of Denmark to the Inhabitants of the Duchies of Schleswig, Holstein, &c. (Translation.) Plön, September 18, 1846. WE, Christian VIII, by the grace of God, King of Denmark, of the Vandals and Goths, Duke of Schleswig, Holstein, Stormarn, Ditmarschen, Lauenburg, and Oldenburg, to all our loving and true subjects send our special favour and greeting: We have looked forward with pleasure, after the lapse of many years, to spend this anniversary of our birthday in the duchies, in the midst of our faithful subjects. We have prayed the Almighty that this day may be one of peace and blessing. With this end in view, we, as father of our people, hereby declare to all loving and true subjects, whom it has been too much the endeavour to mislead in regard to the true meaning of our letter patent of 8th July last, that our intent neither was nor could be, by means of it, to violate the rights of our duchies, nor of any single one of them in particular. On the contrary, we have given assurance to the Duchy of Schleswig that it shall continue in its hitherto existing connexion with the Duchy of Holstein; whence it also follows that the Duchy of Holstein shall not be separated from that of Schleswig. And just as little could we, in issuing the aforesaid letter patent, meditate any change in the undoubted, and therefore in the same document .unmentioned, relations which the Duchies of Holstein and Lauenburg, as States belonging to the German Confederation, bear to the German Diet; and the expressions contained in the letter patent in reference to Holstein are consequently only to be understood in this way, that we entertained firm reliance that, by means of the recognition of the inseparability of the Danish monarchy, there will be secured to our independent Duchy of Holstein perpetual union with the other territories subject to our Crown, and, by necessary consequence, its own integrity also. With the blessing of the Almighty this will come to pass; and we confidently trust that our faithful subjects will not misunderstand the scope of our paternal intentions, which have no other object than their welfare. It is only by means of confidence in its Prince that the land can securely enjoy peace and tranquillity, and God will bless the bond of union that entwines both. Given at our Castle of Plön, September 18, 1846. C. VON MOLTKE. CHRISTIAN R. No. 8.-Letters Patent of the King of Denmark announcing his Accession to the Throne. (Translation.) Copenhagen, January 20, 1848. WE, Frederick VII, by the grace of God, King of Denmark, of the Vandals and Goths, Duke of Schleswig, Holstein, Stormarn, Ditmarschen, Lauenburg, and Oldenburg, do hereby make known: That whereas it has pleased the Almighty to take unto himself the revered monarch of our country, our dearly beloved father, His Majesty King Christian VIII, we have accordingly ascended the throne of our forefathers. While deeply moved and keenly affected by the severe blow which has fallen on us, as son, we at the same time share with our loyal people in the general grief for the great loss which has befallen our unhappy country, looking for consolation in our firm reliance on the support of the Almighty, and in the consciousness of our upright and earnest wish to promote the welfare of our beloved people. It shall be our first and chiefest aim to follow the elevated example of our dearly beloved father, like him to unite gentleness with justice in the exercise of our government, to embrace with an equal paternal affection all the inhabitants of the various portions of the monarchy, and not only to continue the improvement in the administration commenced by him, but also to bring to a conclusion the arrangement of the public relations of the State contemplated by him, the final completion whereof has only been deferred by the illness and death of our dearly beloved father, and which has for its object to secure the common and mutual rights of all the citizens, to promote unity in our beloved country, and thereby to establish on a secure basis the strength and glory of the entire body politic. It is, moreover, our will, that all public business be carried on without interruption according to the prescribed regulations hitherto in force, and that all officials who have been appointed or confirmed by the late King of blessed memory shall, until further notice, continue in the discharge of their official functions, under the oath of allegiance formerly tendered by them. |