might be repaired, that hope is now extinguished: if the matter is now to be taken up, it can only be by England herself. There is now no possibility of mistake on any point; the statement of the case, which appeared so incredible when first made, is now re-echoed from every quarter.*

* "Lord Clarendon's declaration in the Upper House is here [Berin] declared to be utterly false. He stated that 'the Emperor of Russia had acceded to the London Treaty settling the Danish Succession without bringing forward the slightest undue pretension.' The state of the case is exactly the reverse of what Lord Clarendon stated. By the London, as well as by the Warsaw Protocol, the whole of the Danish dominions are menaced with falling under the Russian sceptre. Germany may look forward to see Russia a member of the German Confederation in respect to the Duchies of Holstein and Lauenburg. It is wonderful how people can shut their eyes to anything so evident."-Aachener Zeitung, June 24th.

So much for Berlin: now for Vienna:

"No man can shut his eyes to the tendency of the reigning House of Russia to introduce itself into the Germanic Confederation in its quality of Sovereign of the Duchies of Holstein and Lauenburg, over which it pretends that it will have to exercise power after the death of Prince Christian of Glücksburg. The danger for the future fortune of Prussia is consequently imminent, and that is the reason why the Cabinet of Berlin would be most unwise to remain neutral in the Eastern question." (!)—Wanderer of Vienna, 24th June.

The Allgemeine Zeitung, June 23d, has the following:"There appears to be a settled resolution at Copenhagen to despatch all the pending questions as rapidly and sine strepitu as possible. The royal message has indeed been read for the first time at the second meeting, in spite of the opposition of Lindberg. The former prime minister, A. W. Moltke, has actually adopted the motion formerly brought in by Oersted. But there is considerable scruple as to its effect; hence in fact that motion will not settle anything, for the Danish Diet is but a provincial diet; it cannot resolve for Schleswig, nor for Holstein either, and the Succession will not be settled for the collective Monarchy any more than for the Duchies. The Treaty of the 8th of May will step in with all its difficulties and embarrassments. There is in fact no doubt that England has of late attended very seriously to the Sound, and although David Urquhart is not properly to be considered as an agent of the Administration, yet you may rely upon his being the representative of no inconsiderable share of public opinion on the

The Danish nation has just spirit enough left to pretend to assume as its own will, the violence it suffers, and thus loses the only chance of that support on which in their hearts they yet rely. "Surely England will at last see to what she is bringing us," said one of the leading men in a conversation which had commenced with the stout assertion that the Treaty was an excellent measure and calculated to heal the wounds of Denmark. The answer to this melancholy avowal and pitiable appeal, could only be: "England acted when she was ignorant: now she is informed, but committed; three Administrations and five Foreign secretaries are partners in the deed." The Danes too are committed. Terrible word is that "committed"-dead lock of a political mechanism, possessed of functions and destitute of ends.

other side of the German Ocean. The new English minister, Mr. Buchanan, arrived at Copenhagen on the 15th inst., and he is understood to have very decided instructions. An English squadron is expected in the Baltic. In consequence of all this, Count Charles Moltke is said to entertain a desire of resigning as minister for Schleswig. It is supposed, and no doubt the supposition is founded in fact, that the measures which for upwards of a year have been showered down upon the Duchies, and the almost desperate complaints which are echoed back to the capital will only tend to embitter and to alienate the minds, and will necessitate the Government to fall back upon Russia. The late prime minister, all but in plain words, proclaimed this dependence upon Russia, in his place in the Diet."

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CHAPTER VI.

The position of Austria in the North and in the South, as affected by the Treaty of the 8th of May.

AUSTRIA, above half a century ago, exchanged the Netherlands for a position on the Adriatic; from the North, where the increasing consistency of an Extrinsic Power closed the door to ambition, she turned to the South and East, hoping to reap in the expected dissolution of a great Empire a harvest of maritime power and military strength.

Her retreat from the North has enabled Russia to extend over Germany a controlling influence, and her advance on the South has brought her into collision with Turkey, now perceived to be possessed of great and increasing strength.

Placed by an internal distribution of a few Turkish soldiers at the mouth of the Cattaro, under the necessity of having to struggle to gain back, through external and compromising aid, the cession made to her formerly by France, she has discovered that the Ottoman Empire, instead of an inheritance to be divided, affords the basis on which to construct a system of defensive policy for the future.

The events of Poland, those more recent and alarming of Hungary, the usurpation of the Danube, and the habit of subverting Governments introduced amongst the Nations of the West, present so many additional reasons for seeking to escape from the control of her ally, and for looking in Turkey for friendship which will afford real support upon honourable conditions.

In a word, aggrandisement must be abandoned abroad, and

the doctrine of uniformity surrendered at home. Nor is this idea unfamiliar to the Austrian Cabinet. Prince Swartzenburg has told Germany that she "has nothing to fear from the strength of Austria, but much to apprehend from her weakness." Austria is only weak because her own subjects dread her doctrine of uniformity, and her neighbours her designs of aggrandisement.

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The Treaty of the 8th of May, 1852, for the Danish Succession, has now recast the relations of the Powers of Europe, by the prospective union of that Crown with the Crown of Russia, and indeed the fact of having used the Powers of Europe for effecting this arrangement, gives her a present ascendancy not far removed from possession. It is important, therefore, for Austria to consider, before it is too late, the consequences to herself of this change.

Like the Dardanelles, the aggressive Power of the Sound, from its possession by a weak or inoffensive State, has remained latent we have to look at that position now no less in its offensive than its defensive character.

The Russian frontiers springing across Prussia will be brought to the West of Berlin and Vienna, to within 400 miles of Paris, and two days by steam to the Thames. To these frontiers she will be able, by steam, to transfer in a couple of days, regiments and armies, which a few hours can bring by rail to Berlin, and a couple of days over the whole of Germany.

Possessing the Sound, the entrance of the Baltic will be practically and diplomatically closed. Her navy will then possess an internal Sea where it will be unattackable, and whence it may issue at pleasure.

This revolution touches Austria in the most sensitive point. Her reliance against France was on the maritime power of Britain: held in check, as England will now be, that security is withdrawn.

The conversion of the Baltic into a close Sea affects almost as immediately Stockholm as Copenhagen itself. Holding Denmark and the Baltic, she has in fact virtually incorporated

the Northern as well as the Southern Scandinavian Peninsula, and the North, in a block, falls into her hands.

It is not merely Denmark which she is to acquire, but also the Duchies of Schleswig and Holstein, which, even if Denmark had been singly inherited, might have afforded a check upon her the Treaty, declaring those to be inseparably united, places the whole in her hands.

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The Duchies, not Denmark, give her the Eyder, the mouths of the Elbe, and the position of Rensburg; in a word, the hold over the commerce of Germany by its main river arteries, and over the will of Germany by access to the railways, for the transfer of her troops.

It will be evident, that what may remain of independence in Prussia will now vanish, and that that government can be no more than a Subsidiary Office wearing the deceptive mask of a distinct existence.

If, then, Austria had prior and independent reasons for a change in her policy, there is every reason not to delay its adoption until the accomplishment of the Treaty of the 8th of May deprives her of all power of giving to that change effect; in that case the object to be attempted, and one presenting no great difficulty in its realization if undertaken at once, is the breaking of the Treaty. One generous word uttered to the Porte secures her in the rear; one well-adapted phrase gives her Germany, and then she can meet the common enemy on a favourable field; an able and incorruptible envoy in London brings at once the fall of the Treaty, and the co-operation of a secured and strengthened England. Unless Austria possess such a man, the attempt is of course impracticable.

If not, Austria and Turkey will mutually be involved in projects of dismemberment, and the one used to pull down the other. To them will be applied the injunction of the will of Peter in regard to Austria and France, namely, the in spiring of each with the design of universal dominion, by which such an amount of hatred shall be engendered between them as must finally destroy them.