e two Houses as had
hitherto obstructed the legislation. This was afterward done. It was
proposed that, whenever no agreement could be secured respecting the
appropriations, the amount should be the same as that of the foregoing
year. This, however, was not approved by the House of Delegates. The
same disagreement occurred as at the previous sessions, intensified now
by the increased demands of the Government on account of the threatened
war in Schleswig-Holstein. A loan of twelve million thalers was
proposed; but the House refused utterly to authorize it unless it could
be known what was the use to be made of it. This information Minister
Bismarck would not give. The dispute grew more and more sharp. The old
causes of discussion were increased by the fact that Prussia, in
reference to the disputed succession in Schleswig-Holstein, set itself
against the popular wish to have the duchy absolutely separated from
Denmark and put under the rule of the prince of Augustenburg. In fact,
in this particular, whatever may be thought elsewhere respecting the
merits of the war which soon after broke out, the policy of the
Government was nearly as odious to most Conservatives as to the
Liberals. They said, the king should have put himself at the head of the
national, the German demand for the permanent relief of their fellow
Germans in Schleswig-Holstein; he should have taken the cause out of the
sphere of party politics; thus he might have regained his popularity and
united his people. This is quite possible; but it is certain that he did
not take this course. He seemed to regard the movement in favor of
Prince Frederick's claims to the duchy as a democratic movement. It was
so called by the more violent Conservatives. The king, after failing to
take the lead, could not now, consistently with his determination to be
independent, fall in with the crowd; this would seem like yielding to
pressure. Besides, he felt probably more than the Prussian people in
general the binding force of the London treaty. Yet, as a German, he
could not be content to ignore the claims of the German inhabitants of
the duchy; there was, therefore, no course left but to make hostile
demonstrations against Denmark. The pretext was not an unfair one. The
November constitution, by which Denmark, immediately after the accession
of the protocol prince, the present king, Christian IX., proposed to
incorporate Schleswig, was a violation of treaty obligations. The Dan