Government. It is highly instructive that we should know
what effect that produced in the system and policy of Her Majesty's
Government. Immediately--almost the day after the receipt of that
dispatch--the Secretary of State wrote to the Swedish Minister:

Her Majesty's Government set the highest value on the
independence and integrity of Denmark.... Her Majesty's
Government will be ready to remind Austria and Prussia
of their treaty obligations to respect the integrity and
independence of Denmark. (No. 2, 137-8.)

Then on September 29--that is, only nine or ten days after the receipt
of the French dispatch--we have this most important dispatch, which
I shall read at some little length. It is at p. 136, and is really
addressed to the Diet. The Secretary of State says:

Her Majesty's Government, by the Treaty of London of
May 8, 1852, is bound to respect the integrity and independence
of Denmark. The Emperor of Austria and the
King of Prussia have taken the same engagement. Her
Majesty could not see with indifference a military occupation
of Holstein, which is only to cease on terms injuriously
affecting the constitution of the whole Danish monarchy.
Her Majesty's Government could not recognize this military
occupation as a legitimate exercise of the powers of the
Confederation, or admit that it could properly be called
a federal execution. Her Majesty's Government could
not be indifferent to the bearing of such an act upon
Denmark and European interest. Her Majesty's Government
therefore earnestly entreats the German Diet to
pause and to submit the questions in dispute between
Germany and Denmark to the mediation of other Powers
unconcerned in the controversy, but deeply concerned in
the maintenance of the peace of Europe and the independence
of Denmark. (No. 2, 145.)

My object in reading this dispatch is to show that, after the
indication of the change of feeling on the part of France, the
policy--the sincere policy--of the Government was not modified. The
Secretary of State writes thus on September 30, to Lord Bloomfield at
Vienna:

Her Majesty's Government trusts that no act of federal
execution to which Austria may be a party, and no act of
war against Denmark on the ground of the affairs of
Schleswig, will be allowed to clash with this primary and
essential treaty obligation. Her Majesty's Government,
indeed, entertain a full confidence that the