THE NEW DUKE OF SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN.

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Ar the time when the Germans still condescended to jest about the pestilent Danish embroglio, which is now occupying the columns of our papers, they had a habit of saying that only one man ever thoroughly comprehended the Schleswig-Holstein affair, and that he incontinently became a raving maniac. Not wishing to expose our readers to such a terrible risk, we have resolved not to say anything on the subject-at rate, until the first shot has been fired in anger, which may the gods avert. Still the matter must not be passed over sub silentio, for it is one which, if not speedily knocked on the head, may introduce lamentable dissensions into our royal family. As matters at present stand, it is generally assumed that her Majesty has been inspired by her brother-inlaw, the Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, who is the most German of Germans, and gave the pretender-pace tanti viri, we must call him so, even though his claims are as legitimate as those of Charles Edward were-a shelter at his court. Moreover, it must be borne in mind that this pretender is married to a half-sister of the Queen. Next, we find the Crown-Prince of Prussia an intimate friend of the pretender, and backing up his cause strongly as against Herr von Bismark, who is popularly assumed to have a desire to play the part of the lawyer in the fable, and appropriate the duchies for Prussia. Of course the crown-princess, as an obedient wife, accepts the views of her husband, and will be full of enthusiasm for the new duke. On the other hand, we have the Prince and Princess of Wales quite as naturally Danes in spirit, and their view is supported by most Englishmen, not because they understand a word of the matter, but because they like pluck, and want to back up brave little Denmark in making a stand against an overgrown bully. Surely these are seeds of contention, which every exertion should be made to destroy. But who is this pretender, who threatens to upset the peace of royal families, and runs a risk of involving Europe in a war of which no one can see the end? We will let the Garten Laube, a German journal of very large circulation, inform us, premising that this paper is one of the most virulent supporters of the pretender, and carefully avoiding any endorsement of its peculiar opinions. Still, though we may not share them, a perusal of them is valuable, as showing what the really educated Germans think of this momentous matter.

On the basis of an arbitrarily-written sheet of paper, which was ostensibly intended to ensure the equilibrium of Europe, but, in reality, was only drawn up for the interests of Russia, Prince Christian of Glücksburg has ascended the throne of the Danish monarchy. In the name of the old princely and national right, which are in this instance synonymous, Prince von Augustenburg has opposed him as Duke Frederick VIII. of Schleswig-Holstein for the German half of his territories.

A Danish state with Schleswig under a prince and a constitution, with Holstein attached under one and the same prince-such is the watchword there.

Schleswig-Holstein a state for itself, and Denmark a state for itself,

there Frederick VIII., here Christian IX. wearers of the crown: for in the duchies the male branch of the Oldenburger reigns-such is the warcry in our camp.

There a diplomatic intrigue, here the right, the interest, the will of the German nation, which sees its property, and, what is more, its honour, imperilled more than ever before since it has had a voice in these affairs. Let us hope, let us act, that this voice may penetrate. Our honour, our future, in truth, is menaced, and not merely the clear right of our race and its prince.

In the meanwhile, we will take leave to offer our readers a sketch of the man who, as true duke, has given the impulse to the new movement on behalf of Schleswig-Holstein, and, in his proclamation to his people, has for the first time again announced officially that the good old right of the duchies still lives, for the first time again raised its banner and unfolded it for his army to collect under.

Duke Frederick of Schleswig-Holstein, up to the death of Frederick VII., Prince of Augustenburg, is the eldest son of Duke Christian of Augustenburg, and was born July 6, 1829, at the castle of Augustenburg, on the Schleswig island of Alsen. He passed his youth partly at the place of his birth and its pleasant neighbourhood, partly at Gravenstein, another possession of his father, which, situated in Sundewitt, not far from the well-known Düppeler Heights and the beech-crowned Eckensunde, with its beautiful park and fertile neighbourhood, was equally adapted to rouse in the boy's mind love for his home. His education was a very careful one, his teacher, and also his younger brother Christian's, being a Herr Stephenson, who at present holds a professorship in Basle.

The young prince was also enlightened at an early age about the political contests which were preparing at the time of his birth, and which, breaking out about the year 1835, divided the Danish monarchy into two camps. The Duke of Augustenburg was in these struggles from the outset, as a patriot and a defender of his own rights, one of the most active and dauntless combatants for the well-known three fundamental rights of the duchies, and opposed the intrigues of the two Danish parties -the statesmen who wished to incorporate the whole of Schleswig-Holstein, and the Eider Danes, who wanted Schleswig to become a Danish province. The sons frequently heard in the family circle those fundamental decrees by which the duchies were states divided from Denmark, like Norway from Sweden or Hungary from Austria; by which, further, they were intimately connected together; and by which, lastly, only the male branch of the house of Oldenburg could reign in them-variously discussed. The princes, when boys, repeatedly accompanied the duke when he proceeded to the city of Schleswig in order to take his seat in the Estates, and speak against the tricks of the Danes; and thus both in their youth inhaled that atmosphere, which rendered the conviction of the rights of the duchies and the will to maintain them a second nature with all thinking Schleswig-Holsteiners.

Thus arrived the year 1848, and Prince Frederick and his brother were just on the point of proceeding to the University of Bonn, when suddenly a travelling dealer brought to Augustenburg Castle news of the March revolution in Copenhagen, of the formation of a provisional government

in Kiel, and of the arrival of their father's brother, the Prince von Noer, in that town. The war of words had become a war with weapons. The ducal family were aware of what threatened them, and the princes knew what their duty henceforth was, and where their post must be.

Captain Tscherning, appointed minister of war by the insurrection of Copenhagen, had been residing in the neighbourhood of Augustenburg during the year 1845, and had been introduced into the duke's house. On one occasion the conversation turned on the Schleswig-Holstein question, and the guest took occasion to allude to the dangerous position into which the duke would bring himself and his family, unless he resolved to surrender his hereditary rights. If he refused to do so, it was almost certain that he and his would share the fate of the Stuarts; in any case, the Danish government would find itself compelled to persecute him and his family in every possible way, and render them harmless. Shortly after the issue of the "open letter," the duke received a special warning from a friend in Copenhagen, and the princes were aware that the policy of the Danish court did not shun violent measures, from the treatment of their grandfather, who, elected heir to the throne by the Swedes, was surrounded by men-of-war at Alsen by his royal cousin, Frederick VI., who would himself have gladly accepted the Swedish crown, and thus made a state prisoner.

The Duke of Augustenburg did not happen to be at home at this time. He had hastened to Berlin to implore help for Schleswig-Holstein from the King of Prussia. The princes, however, were in imminent peril of being carried off by the Danes, and removed to a fortress as hostages or prisoners of state. The news arrived on the afternoon of March 25. In the night of the 26th, the young gentlemen were awakened by their mother and told that they must depart without delay. All preparations were rapidly made for their flight, and at daybreak on the next morning, accompanied by their tutor, they left the island in an open boat, with the intention of proceeding to the mainland. The duchess soon after followed them with her two daughters.

It was high time. Six-and-thirty hours later and it would have been too late.

On March 28, a Danish man-of-war steamer came round the south of Alsen and sent a boat ashore at Kekenis Point. A horseman was handed a letter addressed to Bishop Hansen, who had for years been known as the head of the Danish propaganda on the island. The steamer then put into Flensburg bay, signalled to the town, and hastened back to Alsen, where it lay to at the Sonderburg ferry. Captain DirckinkHolmfeld commanded it. Bishop Hansen was at hand. Danish partisans flocked up in masses; while other bands marched to Hardeshoi, the second crossing place of the island. The captain's first question was after the Duke of Augustenburg; the second, after his family. He learnt that he had arrived just too late. The intention had been to take the duke and his family prisoners and convey them to Christiansoe. What awaited them, however, is told us by the analogy of Griffenfeld, in Munkholm, and the four relatives of Čzar Ivan IV. at Horsens, in Jütland. As matters stood, the Danish invaders of Augustenburg must content themselves with injuring the property of the duke to the best of their ability. It is well known how they behaved with his stud stables,

his plate and revenues, and how this dirty plundering was continued even during the armistice.

Even greater atrocities ensued. It was proved by statements in open court, that the now deceased King of Denmark, during a visit to Sonderburg at the beginning of September, 1848, declared at a great audience which he granted to the farmers and other inhabitants of the neighbourhood: "The Duke of Augustenburg is an outlaw."

We do not know what political decree had been previously issued by the responsible Danish government, on which this statement of the king could be based. But such words from such lips are a direct appeal to murder.

In the mean while, the two princes with Stephenson had escaped all peril, and, after landing safely at Holnis, in Angeln, they hastened to join their father at Rendsburg. Here, following the example of the other educated youths of the country, they at once entered themselves as volunteers in the small Schleswig-Holstein army, which was forming at the time in the south of the duchies. Duke Frederick, now nineteen years old, first found employment on the staff of his uncle, the Prince of Noer, who, in the campaign of 1848, held the supreme command over the SchleswigHolsteiners, and in this position was present at all the actions of this year, and especially at the battle of Schleswig. In the following year he was transferred to the staff of Bonin, who was summoned to lead the army of the duchies, which had, in the mean time, been largely augmented and better drilled, and fought, during the newly opened campaign, in all the battles where his countrymen came under fire. The battle of Kolding alone did not see him with the army, because during it he was in Frankfurt, in order, in the name of the vice-royalty, to deliver to the Reichsverweser the flag of the Danish ship-of-the-line, Christian VIII., which had been blown up by the German batteries at Eckernförde. The day of the unfortunate battle of Fridericia was his twentieth birthday. A friend was just offering him congratulations, when the Danes suddenly issued from the gates of the fortress. very short time he was under fire, and a bullet was only prevented by his scabbard from wounding him dangerously in the knee.

In a

The campaign of 1850 also saw the youthful prince among the combatants for the right and honour of Schleswig-Holstein. Attached to General Willisens's staff he was present at the battle of Idstedt, and a few weeks later at the great skirmishing action at Missunde, and he did not leave the service until the Austrians and Prussians penetrated into the country in order, as the euphemistic expression of the diplomatists ran, to pacify the country, but, in truth, to hand it over fettered to Danish tyranny.

Two

There was now nothing more left for the patriot to do, and hence the two brothers left the land of their birth and proceeded first to Bonn, to complete their studies, which had been interrupted by the war. years later, Duke Frederick entered the Prussian army. In 1856 he retired with the rank of major, purchased the estate of Dolzig, in Prussian Lusatia, and married Princess Adelaide of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, a lady equally distinguished by her beauty and her goodness of heart. He is at the present time father of one son and two daughters.

He spent the last seven years quietly on his estate, in no way seeking

publicity, but, faithful to the cause of his country, awaiting the change of the time which would permit him again to draw the sword in the face of the world for the right of his people and his house. His father surrendered his claims to the Danes, as far as he was personally concerned, but neither Duke Frederick, his next heir, nor the other members of the house of Augustenburg have done so. The death of King Frederick VII. called the former hereditary prince to the throne of Schleswig-Holstein, and he did not hesitate to make a resolute use of his rights. The London protocol did not affect him, nor could it affect any prince who respects the right of his people and wishes it to be respected by mightier foes. It the less affected him, because it was not recognised by the German nation, and because that nation, which has the last word to say in the business, will never recognise it, no matter what its diplomatists may say at present or hereafter.

Duke Frederick is both in mind and in person a true type of the worthy race at whose head he placed himself by his proclamation of November 16, 1863, a thorough Schleswig-Holsteiner. An earnest, manly temper, firmness and soberness in his resolutions, cool blood, sharp sense, punctuality and unweariedness in business, obstinate perseverance, combined with a tall, stately form and well-turned features, make altogether the man whom the difficult position requires. Expressly recognising the rights of the people, and holding them equally high with his hereditary right, he deserves and also possesses the confidence of the SchleswigHolsteiners; and we do not doubt for a moment but that if a general election was held in the duchies between him and his opponent in Copenhagen, and sun and wind were equally divided between the parties, an enormous majority would give him the crown of the duchies.

It is a simple calumny that Duke Frederick is inclined to the feudal tendency. In his proclamation from Dolzig Castle, he swore, in accordance with the fundamental state law of 1849, "to observe the constitution and laws of the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein, and to maintain the rights of the people," and this constitution, these rights and laws, know nothing of a preference granted to the feudalists over the other members of the nation. He is accustomed to listen to good advice, and among the men whom he has collected round him since his removal to Gotha, faithful, long-tried friends of the duchies and the house of Augustenburg, he has ample opportunity to hear good advice. Lastly, he has passed through the school of misfortune, and seen life in a way which is rarely granted to a prince. When raised to the inherited throne by the enthusiasin of the German nation, if the princes do not prevent it on behalf of their own interests, he will indubitably reign in a national sense, and quite as assuredly in a liberal one.

We are very probably marching into a difficult and sanguinary war under the blue, white, and red banner. But honour summons us, and if honour is lost, everything is lost, says a German proverb. No German will in future be able to look at a foreigner without a blush on his cheeks if he now indolently neglects the opportunity to avenge his honour, which was insulted in 1851. As the augurs of the later Roman times smiled at each other when they met, the Germans would only have the smile of ridicule and contempt left when a countryman attempted to speak to them about the greatness and grandeur of their nation. When in 1856 the