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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 December 2010
I believe I may with truth state, that up to the present moment little of any importance has been concluded at the Conference, excepting recording that agreement respecting the Affairs of Holstein, which was in fact settled at Ollmutz [sic].
1 Dresden Conferences, 23 December 1850–15 May 1851. These were attended by representatives from all members of the German Confederation to discuss the future political and economic organization of Germany.
2 The Olmütz Punctation was signed by Austria and Prussia on 29 November 1850 and called for the dispatch of federal commissioners to Holstein and the settlement of the crisis on the basis of the laws of the Confederation. The ultimatum set by the commissioners to end all hostilities was accepted by the Statthalterschaft on 11 January 1851.
3 In 1851, the British government was headed by Lord John Russell (prime minister since 1846), and followed a general reformist programme.
4 According to the Federal Act of 1815, the ‘Limited Council’ (Engerer Rat) of the Federal Diet consisted of seventeen representatives, with Prussia and Austria having one each; in the Plenum – whose responsibilities included the admission of new members, military affairs, and any alterations or interpretations of the Federal Act and the Confederation's institutions – each member state had at least one vote and additional votes depending on size (Austria and Prussia having four each).
5 Ernst II.
6 The Great Exhibition of 1851 opened on 1 May in London.
7 Maria Anna.
8 Enclosures not included in FO 68/81; a note in the volume reads: ‘a Letter, and its translation from Mr. Eberhardt, Head of the Police in Saxony, concerning the Plots of the Refugees in London, and giving Extracts of Papers seized here – copy of this Encl to Home Office May 5/57’.
9 Forbes refers to FO 33/131: George Lloyd Hodges to Viscount Palmerston, No 68, Hamburg, 19 September 1851 (not included in this volume).
10 Austrian and Prussian notes of 9 August 1851; the Hamburg senate answered on 15 September 1851. For the Hamburg Constitutional Question, see n. 11 in Hamburg section.
11 Julius Gottlob von Nostitz und Jänkendorf.
12 The Hanoverian constitution of 1833 was repealed on 1 November 1837. For the constitutional conflict of 1851 see n. 11 in Hanover section.
13 Earl Granville, in his circular dispatch of 13 January 1852 to the Earl of Westmorland, George Hamilton Seymour, George Sulyarde Stafford Jerningham, and Richard Edwardes, assured these governments that while the British government could not ‘propose to change the laws of England’, it would consider any ‘attempts on the part of the foreign refugees in England to excite insurrection against the Governments of their respective countries [. . .] as a flagrant breach of the hospitality which those persons enjoy’.
14 Forbes refers to Louis-Napoleon's coup d'état of 2 December 1851.
15 In December 1851, Earl Granville succeeded Viscount Palmerston as Foreign Secretary.
16 A meeting of the governments of the Darmstadt Coalition (see n. 10 in Prussia section) was held in Munich from 17 to 19 September 1852.
17 Prussian note of 30 August 1852.
18 See n. 9 in Frankfurt section.
19 Dresden uprising of May 1849.
20 Forbes refers to the failed kleindeutsch unification project of 1849–1850, also known as the Erfurt Union after the seat of the union's parliament. The Erfurt Union was provisionally continued by the Fürstenkollegium (college of princes) from June to November 1850.
21 Prussia re-entered the Federal Diet on 14 May 1851; its first representative was Theodor Rochus von Rochow.
22 The Austrian government invited representatives of all the German states to a conference at Vienna, which began on 4 January 1852. It dealt with the Austrian proposals for a general German customs association, with or without Prussia.
23 The Berlin General Conference of the Zollverein lasted from April until September 1852, but was without result. Hanover's representative was Otto Carl Klenze.
24 János Libényi attempted to assassinate Emperor Franz Joseph on 18 February 1853. The emperor suffered a wound to the back of the head.
25 The insurrection, which was prepared by Giuseppe Mazzini, took place on 6 February 1853 (Carnival Sunday). However, the plan to seize the arsenal and incite a popular uprising failed.
26 During the insurrection at Milan, two proclamations were posted: one called for a general uprising throughout Italy in the name of the ‘Italian National Committee’, signed by Mazzini; and the other, signed by Kossuth, was directed to the Hungarian soldiers in the Austrian army in Italy.
27 Ferdinand von Zschinsky.
28 ‘My dear friend, I hope that you do not attach any importance to what occurred between us a short while ago – we consider you to be our friend, as your personal feelings are perfectly known to us.’
29 Forbes is alluding to the First Schleswig-Holstein War of 1848–1851.
30 In a letter to Baron Brunnow dated 9 December 1851, Count Nesselrode had suggested that Russia would restrict the entry of British citizens as a result of the Refugee Question, citing the precedent of British measures taken against American citizens in 1848. He also entered into negotiations with the governments of Austria and Prussia regarding the possibility of simultaneous measures.
31 Franz Seraphim Graf von Kuefstein.
32 For the continuation of the Zollverein and the Austro-Prussian commercial treaty, see n. 90 in Württemberg section and n. 5 in Bavaria section.
33 Bergbauakademie in Freiberg, founded in 1765.
34 Clarendon wrote that, following the breakdown of negotiations at Constantinople (owing to the Russian demand to become the protector of Orthodox Christians throughout the empire), Britain and France had urged the Ottoman Empire not to accept the Russian ultimatum, and ordered their fleets to the Dardanelles. While admitting that the situation was grave, Britain hoped that Austria's similar desire to maintain the integrity of the Ottoman Empire and stability in Europe could lead to a peaceful solution. As a result, envoys were instructed to use ‘every proper opportunity of urging the Government to which they are accredited to use all the influence they possess in favour of moderate and pacific counsels’.
35 Russia had intervened in Wallachia and Moldavia during the revolutionary events of 1848. The Convention of Balta Liman of 1 May 1849 resulted in the joint occupation of the principalities by Russian and Turkish troops, who remained until 1851.
36 Circular dispatch of the French foreign minister, Drouyn de Lhuys, dated Paris, 25 June 1853.
37 Russia justified these claims by referring to the Treaties of Kuchuk Kainarji (1774), Bucharest (1812), and Adrianople (1829).
38 Forbes is alluding to the revolutionary events of 1848–1849.
39 The Third Protocol of London was adopted by the protecting powers on 3 February 1830. This established religious toleration and guaranteed the privileges of the Roman Church in the newly established Greek state.
40 Prince George.
41 Friedrich Wilhelm and Augusta.
42 Maria Anna.
43 Prince George, divisional commander in the British army since February 1854, was on his way to Constantinople and the Crimea; on his journey to the theatre of war he was to deliver a letter from Queen Victoria to Emperor Franz Joseph in Vienna.
44 Gustav.
45 Johann succeeded Friedrich August II as King of Saxony on 9 August 1854.
46 Dresden uprising of May 1849.
47 Carola.
48 Andrei Andreievitch Schreder.
49 Mercenaries from Germany were recruited for the British German Legion on the basis of the Enlistment of Foreigners Act of 1854 (see n. 23 in Hanover section). The 14,000 men of the ‘Foreign Legion’ (which also included the Italian and Swiss Legion) were not actively involved in the Crimean War and were dismissed after its end.
50 The Times, 6 January 1855.
51 The Siege of Sevastopol by British and French troops lasted from 8 October 1854 to 9 September 1855.
52 Alexandre, baron de Forth-Rouen.
53 The Dresdner Journal was founded in 1846 and became an official government organ in 1850.
54 See n. 28 in Hanover section.
55 Beust was most probably alluding to Gervinus’ Einleitung in die Geschichte des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts (Leipzig, 1853).
56 Göppingen.
57 Forbes is alluding to the Erfurt Union of 1849–1850 (see n. 4 in Hanover section).
58 First Schleswig-Holstein War, 1848–1851.
59 The first Hoftheater, completed in 1841 (burned down in 1869), and the Gemäldegalerie, completed in 1854. Both were designed by Gottfried Semper.
60 The Fallschwert was introduced in Saxony in 1853. Württemberg adopted it in the same year, and Bavaria the next.
61 During the Sepoy Uprising, Delhi was held by Indian rebels from May 1857 until its recapture by British troops in September.
62 Metternich had taken refuge in England in 1848, following the Vienna March Revolution.
63 The Italian nationalist Felice Orsini had attempted to assassinate Napoleon III in Paris on 14 January 1858.
64 Between 1697 and 1763, the Wettins had been Kings of Poland as well as Electors of Saxony. The 1807 Treaties of Tilsit had placed the newly created Duchy of Warsaw in a personal union with Saxony under Friedrich August I, which lasted until the dissolution of the duchy in 1813.
65 Alexandre, baron de Forth-Rouen.
66 Malmesbury's circular of 8 March 1858, issued shortly after his appointment as foreign secretary, set out the general principles of British foreign policy in conciliatory terms. Among other things, it stated ‘that no surer guarantee for peace is to be found than in the maintenance and extension of commercial and social intercourse between nations’.
67 In February 1858, Palmerston's government collapsed over his handling of the Orsini Affair, leading to the formation of a minority Conservative government under the Earl of Derby.
68 Bernhard von Rabenhorst.
69 Rabenhorst's declarations of 19 May to the first chamber and 4 June 1866 to the second chamber.
70 The Allgemeine Deutsche Credit-Anstalt was founded in 1856 in Leipzig on the model of the French Société Générale de Crédit Mobilier, which had been chartered by presidential decree in November 1852 as a joint-stock company and quickly dominated French finance and infrastructural development.
71 Mathilde Freifrau von Beust.
72 For the Austro-Sardinian Crisis see nn. 53 and 57 in Frankfurt section.
73 Article 47 of the Vienna Final Act of 15 May 1820.
74 Austrian troops invaded Sardinia on 29 April 1859, following the rejection of the Austrian ultimatum of 19 April demanding the immediate cessation of Sardinian mobilization. France then entered the war under the terms of its alliance with Sardinia of 10 December 1858.
75 See n. 65 in Frankfurt section.
76 Alexandre, baron de Forth-Rouen.
77 First Empire under Napoleon I (1804–1814/1815).
78 On 20 April 1859, Prince Regent Wilhelm ordered that the three army corps of the Prussian federal contingent be placed on a war footing (Kriegsbereitschaft).
79 Proclamation by Queen Victoria, 13 May 1859. It stated that Britain would ‘abstain altogether from taking any part, directly or indirectly’ in the Austro-Sardinian War, and would ‘maintain a peaceful and friendly intercourse’ with the belligerent powers. It then commanded all British subjects ‘to observe a strict neutrality’.
80 For the Bamberg Coalition see n. 9 in Bavaria section.
81 On 13 May 1859, Hanover proposed that the Federal Diet place a corps of observation on the Rhine. Prussia filed an ‘explicit and emphatic’ protest against this proposal on the same day.
82 On 5 and 14 May 1859, Schleinitz and Prince Regent Wilhelm stated that the main points of Prussian policy were: the restoration of peace; the defence of the security of Germany; the promotion of national interests; and the maintenance of the European equilibrium.
83 For the constitutional question of Hesse-Cassel see n. 79 in Frankfurt section.
84 Murray refers to the effects of the debates in the Prussian House of Deputies (3 and 4 May 1860) on three petitions, which requested the non-incorporation of Schleswig with the Danish kingdom, the equal rights of Schleswig as part of the Danish monarchy, and the equality of German and Danish nationalities.
85 At the time of the dispatch, Garibaldi had declared himself Dictator of Sicily in the name of Vittorio Emanuele II; the ‘Expedition of the Thousand’ had landed in Sicily (11 May 1860) and won its first battle against Neapolitan troops.
86 When the Wars of Italian Unification threatened the Pope's temporal authority over the Papal States, a battalion of around 1,300 volunteers was raised in Ireland to support the Papal forces.
87 Francesco II, King of the Two Sicilies, had fled to the coastal fortress of Gaeta in September 1860.
88 Joseph Matthews and Uriah Brunt.
89 On 11 July 1856, the Foreign Office announced in the London Gazette that British subjects employed in manual professions (‘as Railway Labourers, Miners, Engineers, &c’) in foreign countries were ‘not considered by Her Majesty's Government to be entitled to relief as British subjects, or to be sent back to this country [Great Britain] at the public expense’. British consuls were instructed ‘not to afford relief in such cases’.
90 January Uprising against Russian rule in Poland, 1863–1864.
91 For the Nationalverein see n. 71 in Frankfurt section.
92 As a consequence of the three partitions (in 1772, 1793, and 1795), the effects of the Napoleonic era, and the Congress of Vienna, Polish territories were held by Prussia (Duchy of Posen), Austria (Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria and Grand Duchy of Cracow), and Russia (Congress Kingdom of Poland).
93 The Alvensleben Convention of 8 February 1863, in which Prussia agreed to cooperate with Russia in the suppression of the Polish rebellion.
94 ‘Ucalegon burns next’ (Virgil, Aeneid, II, 311), meaning that the house of one's neighbour is on fire.
95 The Leipziger Zeitung (established 1660; an official organ of the Saxon government until 1850, and semi-official from 1854) was under the direction of Cäsar Dietrich von Witzleben, who was both the newspaper's chief editor and a senior civil servant (Regierungsrat and Königlicher Commissär).
96 See n. 97 in Frankfurt section.
97 Würzburg Conference of 18–19 February 1864 (see n. 73 in Bavaria section).
98 Dresdner Journal.
99 Würzburg Conference of 18–19 February 1864 (see n. 73 in Bavaria section).
100 The letter of 15 February 1864 from King Wilhelm to King Johann was delivered by Edwin von Manteuffel. During his mission to Dresden from 15 to 17 February, Manteuffel requested that the Saxon and Hanoverian troops in the Duchies of Schleswig and Holstein be placed under joint Austro-Prussian command, threatening military consequences otherwise. For the Second Schleswig-Holstein War see n. 103 in Frankfurt section.
101 The Schleswig-Holstein Committee in Dresden, which supported the right of succession of Prince Friedrich von Augustenburg in Schleswig-Holstein, was founded on 21 November 1863.
102 Public meeting of the Dresden Schleswig-Holstein Committee, 5 June 1864.
103 Wilhelm Michael Schaffrath.
104 The address of the Sächsische Gesamtausschuß für Schleswig Holstein to Friedrich Ferdinand Freiherr von Beust of 10 May 1864 argued that the resolutions reached at the London Conference (see n. 106 in Hanover section) were not binding as the German people were not represented in the Federal Diet.
105 Ludwig Hermann Lindner.
106 Beust took part in the London Conference (see n. 106 in Hanover section) as the representative of the German Confederation.
107 The Deutsche Sängerbundesfest, which included a general meeting of the deputies of the German choral societies, took place from 22 to 25 July 1865.
108 For the Nationalverein see n. 71 in Frankfurt section.
109 Murray refers to the meeting of Leipzig city deputies (Collegium der Gemeindevertreter) of 6 May 1866, who argued in favour of the maintenance of peace as more conducive to the commercial interests of Leipzig. They objected to military preparations, including the drafting of recruits and the purchasing of weapons and horses.
110 Gustav von der Schulenburg-Priemern.
111 In a dispatch of 27 April 1866, Bismarck linked the demand for a cessation of armament with a threat of possible military action against Saxony. On 5 May, Saxony applied to the Federal Diet requesting a declaration from Prussia that it respected the federal peace as ascribed in Article 11 of the Federal Act of 1815. Prussia reacted to a conforming resolution of the Diet on 9 May by renewing the demand that Saxony cease its armament.
112 Dresdner Journal.
113 Imperial Constitution of 27 March 1849 and Imperial Electoral Law of 12 April 1849, both passed by the Frankfurt National Assembly.
114 See n. 111 in this section.
115 Hermann Schreck.
116 Notwithstanding Beust's assurances, the Saxon representative in the German Diet had already been instructed to agree to the Austrian proposal for the mobilization of federal troops against Prussia. See n. 119 in this section.
117 The Austrian minister president, Richard Graf von Belcredi.
118 Dresden was occupied by Prussian troops on 18 June 1866; on 25 June, General von der Mülbe, the Prussian military governor, imposed martial law.
119 The war originated with a federal resolution on 14 June 1866 to mobilize the federal troops against Prussia. There was no Austrian declaration of war, as the Austrians regarded the conflict as a Bundesexekution (federal execution, see n. 99 in Frankfurt section) against Prussia for violating federal territory in Holstein. Prussia declared war on Austria on 21 June.
120 The Prussians had in fact taken Pirna on 19 June 1866.
121 Saturday Review of Politics, Literature, Science and Art, a weekly newspaper established in London in 1855.
122 The fabricated order of General Benedek of 17 June 1866 was published in numerous German and European newspapers, including The Times (22 June). The name of the author, a Prussian agent, is not traceable.