The Danish Armistice

[Neue Rheinische Zeitung, No. 97, September 8, 1848]

Cologne, September 7.

“What is to become of Germany if Prussia no longer stands at its head, if Prussia’s armies no longer shield Germany’s honour, if Prussia’s power and influence as a great power are submerged in the fantastic power of an imaginary German central authority!”

So boasts the Prussian party, the party of heroes with “For God, King and Fatherland”, the counter-revolutionary knighthood of Hinterpommern and the Uckermark.

Well, Prussia has stood at the head, Prussia has shielded Germany’s honour – in Schleswig-Holstein!

And what was the result? After a series of easy, inglorious victories over a weak enemy, after a conduct of war paralysed by the most cowardly diplomacy, after the most disgraceful retreats before a defeated army, finally – an armistice so dishonouring for Germany that even a Prussian general found a reason not to sign it.

The hostilities and the negotiations began anew. The Imperial Regent gave the Prussian government full powers to conclude the armistice; this authorisation was not countersigned by any of the Imperial ministers and therefore had no validity whatsoever. It recognised the first armistice, however with the following modifications: 1. The members of the new government of Schleswig-Holstein were to be agreed upon before the conclusion of the armistice “in such a manner that the existence and the prosperous efficacy of the new government should appear guaranteed”; 2. all laws and decrees issued by the provisional government up to the conclusion of the armistice were to retain full validity; 3. the troops remaining in Schleswig-Holstein were all to remain under the orders of the German commander-in-chief.

If one compares these three conditions with the stipulations of the first Prusso-Danish project, their purpose is very clear. They by no means secure everything that victorious Germany could demand; but while they concede much in form, they save much in substance.

The first condition was supposed to guarantee that in the new government the Schleswig-Holstein (German) orientation would have the ascendancy over the Danish one. What does Prussia do? It agrees that the chief of the Danish party in Schleswig-Holstein, Karl Moltke, becomes head of the new government, that Denmark gets three votes in the government against two Schleswig-Holstein ones.

The second condition was to secure recognition, if not of the provisional government itself, which had been recognised by the Federal Diet, at least of its activity to date. Its decisions were to be upheld. What does Prussia do? Under the pretext that Denmark also abandons the illusory decrees issued from Copenhagen for the duchies – decrees that never received a shadow of legal force, except on the island of Als – under this pretext counter-revolutionary Prussia agrees to annul all decisions of the provisional government.

The third condition, finally, was to secure provisional recognition for the unity of the duchies and their incorporation into Germany; it was to thwart the Danes’ attempt to smuggle the Schleswigers serving in the Danish army back into Schleswig, by subordinating all troops remaining in Schleswig and Holstein to the German commander-in-chief. And Prussia? Prussia agrees to separate the Schleswig troops from those of Holstein, to withdraw them from the supreme command of the German general, and simply to place them at the disposal of the new government, which is three-quarters Danish.

Moreover, Prussia was empowered only to conclude a three-month armistice (Art. I of the original draft) and, of its own sovereign authority, concluded it for seven months; i.e., it granted the Danes an armistice during the winter months, when the Danes’ main weapon, the fleet, would be useless for blockading the German and Schleswig coasts and when the frost would allow the Germans to cross the ice of the Little Belt, conquer Funen and confine Denmark to Zealand.

In short, Prussia has trampled its authorisation underfoot on all three points. And why not? It was not countersigned after all! And did not Herr Camphausen, the Prussian envoy to the central authority, in his letter of September 2¹ to Herr Heckscher “Excellency”(!!), say outright that the Prussian government had “declared itself empowered, on the basis of that authorisation, to conclude without reservation”?

That is not enough. The Imperial Regent sends “his” Under-Secretary of State Max Gagern to Berlin and thence to Schleswig, to supervise the negotiations. He gives him an authorisation which, again, is not countersigned. Herr Gagern – we do not know how he was treated in Berlin. The negotiators are in Malmö. He learns nothing. In Lübeck the ratifications are exchanged. Herr Gagern is notified that this has taken place and that he can now quietly go home again. The unfortunate Gagern, together with his non-countersigned authorisation, can naturally do nothing but return to Frankfurt and complain of the shabby role he has played.

Thus was the glorious armistice born, which ties the hands of the Germans during the best time for war, which dissolves Schleswig-Holstein’s revolutionary government and democratic constituent assembly, annuls all decrees of this government recognised by the Federal Diet, which delivers the duchies to a Danish government under the leadership of the hated Moltke, which tears the Schleswig troops from their regiments, withdraws them from the German supreme command and delivers them to the Danish government, by which they can be dissolved at its discretion; which forces the German troops to retreat from the Königsau as far as Hanover and Mecklenburg and which delivers Lauenburg into the hands of the old reactionary Danish government.*

Not only Schleswig-Holstein, but all Germany, with the exception of Old Prussia, is indignant at this ignominious armistice. And the Imperial Ministry, to which Herr Camphausen communicated it, at first trembled but finally did accept it. What else could be done? Herr Camphausen seems to have made threats, and for the cowardly, counter-revolutionary Imperial Ministry official Prussia is still a power.

But now the National Assembly came. Its approbation was necessary, and however edifying this Assembly is, Herr Heckscher “Excellency” was ashamed to come forward with this document. With a thousand scrapes, with the most humble requests for calm and moderation, he read it out. A general storm followed. Even the right centre, indeed a part of the Right, Herr Dahlmann himself, fell into the most violent anger. The committees were ordered to report within 24 hours. It was resolved that, on the basis of this report, the retreat of the troops be halted immediately. The decision on the armistice itself has not yet been taken.

The National Assembly has for once passed an energetic resolution, although the Ministry declared it would resign if the resolution went through. This resolution is not the annulment, it is a breach of the armistice. In the duchies it will provoke not only agitation but open resistance to the execution of the armistice, against the new government, and will lead to fresh complications.

We have, however, little hope that the Assembly will reject the armistice itself. Herr Radowitz needs only to pull over nine votes from the Centre, and he has the majority. And is he not likely to succeed in this during the few days the matter rests?

If the Assembly resolves to uphold the armistice, we have proclamation of the republic and civil war in Schleswig-Holstein, the subjugation of the central authority under Prussia, universal contempt from all Europe for the central authority and the Assembly, and yet just enough complications to crush every future Imperial Ministry under insoluble difficulties.

If it resolves to drop the armistice, we have a European war, a breach between Prussia and Germany, new revolutions, the disintegration of Prussia and the real unity of Germany. Let not the Assembly be intimidated: at least two-thirds of Prussia hold with Germany.

But will not the representatives of the bourgeoisie in Frankfurt rather swallow every indignity, will they not rather place themselves under Prussia’s bondage, than venture a European revolutionary war, than expose themselves to new storms which endanger their own class rule in Germany?

We believe they will. The cowardly nature of the bourgeoisie is too powerful. We have no confidence that the Frankfurt Assembly will redeem in Schleswig-Holstein Germany’s honour, already forfeited in Poland.

* This stratagem was accomplished as follows: The old government was dissolved; thereupon for the new one Denmark elected one member, Prussia the second, both together re-elected the third member of this old government.

¹ Camphausen’s letter was written on September 3, 1848.