§ MR. PEACOCKEsaid, he rose to ask the First Lord of the Treasury, Whether, after the answer of the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs to a question put to him by the hon. Baronet the Member for Buckingham (Sir Harry Verney), he is prepared to abide by or to withdraw a statement to the following effect:—
We propose that a Protocol, which is equivalent to a Treaty, should be signed in London by the representatives of England, France, Austria, Prussia, Russia, Sweden, and Denmark, and that by that Protocol Denmark should promise to take the earliest steps for revoking the Constitution of November; that time should be given her; that England, France, Russia, and Sweden should be, as it were, pledges to Austria and Prussia for the fulfilment of that condition; and that Austria and Prussia should accept that Treaty guarantee in lieu of the territorial guarantee which they demand.And, in the event of his wishing to abide by it, to ask him what was the nature of the guarantee? The statement of the Under Secretary to which he referred was as follows:—Her Majesty's Government could, of course, give no guarantee that the Rigsraad, which was a constitutional assembly, would revoke the Constitution; that, of course, would remain for the Rigsraad to decide. What the Government proposed was, that a Protocol should be signed in London between the Powers who were parties to the Treaty of 1852, by which the Danish Government should undertake to call together the Rigsraad for the purpose of submitting to them a proposal for the withdrawal of the Constitution.
§ VISCOUNT PALMERSTONI think, Sir, we seem to be getting very much into special pleading. I adhere entirely to the statement which the hon. Gentleman has read, and I adhere to the plain grammatical meaning of the words of that statement. What we proposed was that there should be a Protocol signed in London, in which Protocol Denmark should give a diplomatic engagement which might be more satisfactory to Austria and Prussia than the direct promises to them which they appeared to think were not sufficiently strong—that in that Protocol Denmark should give a diplomatic engagement to Austria and Prussia, taken in the presence of the other Powers, to revoke the Constitution as soon as the Rigsraad could be assembled and the proposal could be made. We proposed that, England, France, Russia, and 500 Sweden being witnesses to that engagement, Austria and Prussia should accept that diplomatic security in lieu of the territorial security that they wanted to obtain. We gave no guarantee. [An hon. MEMBER: You said so.] England gave no guarantee other than being a witness to the engagement, which would have been more binding upon Denmark than a simple assertion made on her part to Austria and Prussia. We thought that a reasonable proposal, and we thought that a very sufficient security; but Austria and Prussia, being bent upon obtaining great renown and great military glory, and thinking that that was to be most easily got by attacking the little State and small army of Denmark, declined that proposal and said that it was too late, as their troops had marched. I never said that England was to give any other guarantee than the security which Austria and Prussia would have obtained by the formal and diplomatic engagement of Denmark, made in the presence of the other Powers, who were witnesses to it, and the consequent greater moral obligation on the part of Denmark to make it good than would otherwise have existed.
§ Lord ROBERT CECILBefore going to the Orders of the Day, I desire to ask the noble Lord at the head of the Government, if he can give the House any information concerning a statement which has appeared in a paper usually supposed to be well informed, that an Armistice has been proposed by the English Government on the evacuation of Schleswig, barring the island of Alsen, by the Danes. I wish to know if such a proposal has been made?
§ VISCOUNT PALMERSTONHer Majesty's Government, in concert with France, Russia, and Sweden, and with the concurrence, I believe, of Austria, have suggested such an arrangement to Prussia—we do not know with what success.