It is announced that the Conference is to commence its
sittings on the 12th of April, but there is a hitch somewhere still. Den- mark had accepted a proposal to confer upon the basis of the Treaty of 1852, but it was known that this would be rejected by the Diet. Her Majesty's Government therefore agreed to a Con- ference without bases, and to this proposition Denmark has not yet consented. To accept is to relinquish the Treaty of 1852, and give up the guarantees for King Christian as well as for Den- mark. Indeed, the French Government, it is said, already declares that the fate of Schleswig involves a question of nationality, and can be decided only by universal suffrage. Should that idea find favour the casting vote will rest with the Frisians, and the doctrine of nationalities will have been employed to produce this result : Hungarians are sent to kill Danes in order that Frisians may declare themselves Germans! Is not that a triumph of political logic ?
