§ MR. G. SANDARSbegged to ask the noble Lord the Secretary for Foreign Affairs if it were true that the Danish Government had refused to renew the armistice of the 10th July last; and if so, whether the noble Lord considered, as a natural consequence, that there would be a renewal of the blockade of the Prussian ports of the Baltic and the Elbe? He had seen a statement in the public papers, since he had placed his notice on the Paper, to the effect that the Danish Government had consented to a renewal of the armistice on certain terms. He wished to know whether that statement was correct; and if it were, whether the noble Lord would state the nature of the conditions upon which Denmark had consented?
§ VISCOUNT PALMERSTONpresumed the House would remember that the convention of armistice between Denmark and Prussia was to last for six months, and terminated in January last. Her Majesty's Government proposed to the two parties to continue that armistice for six mouths longer. There was objection made to it in the first place on both sides; but on the 16th of this month, he received a communication from the Danish Minister here, transmitting a despatch from the Danish Government, intimating their willingness to consent to the proposal, upon condition that all the parties concerned should concur in acknowledging that armistice, and that the conditions of the armistice should be faithfully carried into execution. There had been differences between the two parties as to the detailed execution of some of the conditions of the preceding armistice, which differences had never been adjusted up to the moment when it expired. The parties the Danish Government required to be consenting to the prolongation, he apprehended, would be the Prussian Government and the Central Power at Frankfort. There might be some difficulty, he was apprehensive, with respect to the latter; but he had instructed Her Majesty's Ministers at Berlin and Frankfort to recommend the prolongation of the armistice. Sufficient time 971 had not yet elapsed to enable him to state the determination of the parties; but the armistice virtually continued, though the specific period for which it was contracted had expired. Hostilities could not he resumed without six weeks' notice; and he certainly had no reason to suppose that there was on either side an intention, at present at least, so to announce the commencement of hostilities. The proposal to which the Danish Government had consented, was for a renewal for six months; it might perhaps he desirable to extend the armistice Still further; and he believed the Danish Government would be willing to Continue it to the end of the year.