The question was now once more the subject of international debate; but the situation was no longer so favourable to the Danish view. The Crimean War had crippled Russia, and Nicholas I. was dead. France was prepared to sell the interests of Den mark in the duchies to Prussia in return for "compensations" to herself elsewhere. Great Britain alone sided with the Danes; but the action of British ministers, who realized the danger to British supremacy at sea of the growth of German sea-power in the Baltic, was hampered by the natural sympathy of Queen Victoria and the prince consort with the German point of view'. The result was that the German diet, on the motion of Bismarck, having threatened federal intervention (July 29), Frederick VII. abol ished the general constitution so far as it affected Holstein and Lauenburg, while retaining it for Denmark and Schleswig (Nov. 6).
Though even this concession violated the principle of the "indissoluble union" of the duchies, the German diet, fully occu pied at home, determined to refrain from further action till the Danish parliament should make another effort to pass a law or budget affecting the whole kingdom without consulting the estates of the duchies. This contingency arose in July 186o, and in the spring of the following year the estates were once more at open odds with the Danish Government. The German diet now pre pared for armed intervention; but it was in no condition to carry out its threats, and Denmark decided, on the advice of Great Britain, to ignore it and open negotiations directly with Prussia, and Austria as independent Powers. These demanded the restora tion of the union between the duchies, a question beyond the competence of the Confederation. Denmark replied with a refusal to recognize the right of any foreign Power to interfere in her relations with Schleswig; to which Austria, anxious to conciliate the smaller German princes, responded with a vigorous protest against Danish infringements of the compact of 1852. Lord John Russell now intervened, on behalf of Great Britain, with a proposal for a settlement of the whole question on the basis of the independence of the duchies under the Danish Crown'. This 'See Queen Victoria to Lord Malmesbury, May 1, i858, in Letters (pop. ed., 5908), iii. 280. Compare the letters to Palmerston of June 21, 1849, ii. 222, and June 22, 1850, 279, with Palmerston to Russell, June 23, 185o, and Queen Victoria to Russell, ii. 25o.
was accepted by Russia and by the Lierman great powers, arm Denmark found herself isolated. The international situation, how
ever, favoured a bold attitude, and she met the representations of the powers with a flat defiance. The retention of Schleswig as an integral part of the monarchy was to her a matter of life and death; the German Confederation had made the terms of the protocol of 1852, defining the intimate relations between the duchies, the excuse for unwarrantable interference in the internal affairs of Denmark; and on March 3o, 1863, a royal proclamation was published at Copenhagen repudiating the compacts of 1852, and, by defining the separate position of Holstein in the Danish monarchy, negativing the claims of Germany upon Schleswig'.
The "Protocol-King," Christian IX., who now ascended the throne, was in a difficult position. The first act he was called upon to perform was to sign the new constitution. To sign was to violate the terms of the very protocol which was his title to reign; to refuse to sign was to defy the sentiment of his Danish subjects. He chose what seemed the remoter evil, and on Nov. 18 signed the constitution. The news was received in Germany with violent manifestations of anger. Frederick, duke of Augustenburg, son of the prince who in 1852 had renounced the succession to the duchies, now claimed his rights on the ground that he had had no share in the renunciation. In Holstein an agitation in his favour had begun from the first, and this was extended to Schles wig on the terms of the new Danish constitution becoming known. His claim was enthusiastically supported by the German princes and people, and in spite of the negative attitude of Austria and Prussia the federal diet decided to occupy Holstein "pending the settlement of the succession." On Dec. 24 Saxon and Han overian troops marched into the duchy in the name of the Ger man Confederation, and supported by their presence and by the loyalty of the Holsteiners the duke of Augustenburg assumed the Government under the style of Duke Frederick VIII.