reason to suppose that their proposal would be of a different character.  We were told, however, upon authority so high as to be almost official, that there was an intention on their part to propose what was called a personal union; and that personal union was to be of this nature—­that the whole Duchy of Holstein and the whole Duchy of Schleswig were to be united; they were to have a separate army and navy from those of Denmark; that they were to have complete self-government; and, in fact, that the King of Denmark was to have scarcely any influence over the two Duchies.  In one of the last meetings of the Conference, M. Quaade, one of the Danish Plenipotentiaries, declared that if that personal union had ever been proposed, it would have been impossible for the Danes to agree to it.  Indeed, it was likely that, with the disposition which prevailed in Germany, German agitation would have produced a declaration of separation on the part of the two Duchies, and German arms would then have supported the Duchies in that wish for separation.  Therefore, though nominally maintaining the integrity of Denmark, and though nominally adhering to the Treaty of 1852, the proposition of a personal union would have been, in fact, a separation of the Duchies from Denmark under a very thin transparent disguise.  That, however, was not the exact proposal of the German Plenipotentiaries.  In the meeting of the 17th of May the first Plenipotentiary of Prussia declared that—­

What the Austrian and Prussian Governments wished was a pacification which would assure to the Duchies absolute guarantees against the recurrence of any foreign oppression, and which, by thus excluding for the future any subject of dispute, of revolution, and of war, would guarantee to Germany that security in the North which she requires in order not to fall again periodically into the state of affairs which brought on the present war.  These guarantees can only be found in the complete political independence of the Duchies and their close connexion by means of common institutions.—­Protocol, No. 5.

Now, this declaration on the part of the two Powers is not a little remarkable.  Your Lordships will observe the phrase, ’guarantee against foreign oppression.’  That oppression meant the oppression of the Government of the King of Denmark.  But he was Duke of Holstein de facto and de jure, his title had never been disputed, and his government, if it was oppressive, could only be a domestic oppression.  The two Powers, therefore, of Austria and Prussia, to whom Europe had a right to look for respect for the faith of treaties, declared at once that the government of the Danish Duchies was of the nature of a foreign oppression.  At the same time, the declaration ’for a security against any subject of dispute, war, and revolution’, was so ambiguous that none of the Plenipotentiaries could tell what its meaning was.  The Russian Plenipotentiary