Denmark. 15 September 1848

Denmark.
* The Danish papers go up to 9 September. An army order of 4 September makes the following arrangements: General Krogh assumes command in Jutland, headquarters Viborg. The garrison of Alsen receives a separate command for the duration of the armistice. The corps in the field is to be cantoned as far as possible in its recruiting districts and thus distributed across Jutland and the islands. Forty to fifty men per company remain under arms, the rest are furloughed home; the brigade commanders are charged with frequently inspecting their troops and preparing everything for a new campaign. Since, however, the King wishes to inspect the troops himself before they are furloughed, these provisions are for the moment not yet carried out, pending further orders. They will probably not be carried out either, for, as the postscript of the *Fädrelandet* of the 9th reports, the National Assembly’s resolution concerning the suspension of the retreat has just arrived in Copenhagen by private letters.

That the Danes can count fairly firmly on their troops recruited in North Schleswig is shown by the fact that it is precisely these army units that are moved right up to the Schleswig frontier, or rather, to Alsen.

The Liberal party in Copenhagen has drawn up its list of candidates for the coming elections. The citizen representatives, the editors of the *Fädrelandet* and other “men of the people” of the “constitutional monarchy erected on a democratic foundation” (the Danes copy the Germans so exactly) have assembled and drawn up the list. It consists of a bank director, a director of the life insurance company, two schoolmasters, a procurator, a lieutenant-colonel, a naval officer, two artisans and a “dispacheur” (!). One sees what kind of intellectual forces the “Hovedstad” has at its disposal.

Denmark. 15 September 1848

The Prussian government has no luck. It has once more managed, also in the Danish affair, to give Prussia a reputation for ambiguity that narrowly skirts treachery towards both sides. This ambiguity has, as is well known, always been the character of Prussian policy; recall the betrayal of the “Great” Elector against Poland when he suddenly went over to Sweden, the Peace of Basel, 1805, and most recently the duplicity by which the ministry lured the Poles into the trap. And now, in the Danish affair, the Prussian government has mishandled the interests of the German people and has not even earned Denmark’s thanks for it. One need only hear what the *Fädrelandet* says:

“According to the letter of the Prussian Prime Minister Auerswald, which we communicate below (to the provisional government in Rendsburg), it is clear that Prussia is playing a very ambiguous role. Firstly, it is highly astonishing that the Prussian government involves itself at all with the insurgent government in the duchies. Herr Auerswald has then, further, in more than one respect completely twisted the meaning of the armistice conditions. Although the armistice was in no way to provide any basis for the final peace, Herr Auerswald nevertheless says that it prepares a state of affairs that will bring about a favourable final solution. He speaks furthermore of the significance of the points: that the federal troops remain in Schleswig and the Schleswig-Holstein army corps continues undiminished, although the armistice stipulates that the Schleswig and Holstein troops are to be separated and the federal troops are to remain in Altona. Finally, he advances a similar untruth when he says that the legal situation in the duchies remains on its present basis, whereas the armistice states: both the decrees issued by the King of Denmark and those issued by the provisional government since 17 March are to be annulled. As regards the Central Authority, it has shown such a lack of firmness towards the Assembly in the negotiations over Limburg that one must truly be prepared for anything from that quarter.”