Mr. Haldeman to Mr. Seward.
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge receipt of despatch No. 34, of December 1. I enclose notice of the establishment of a new light called Haradskiür.
The-all absorbing question here is the federal execution in Holestein. This government is making strenuous efforts to curb the warlike impulse and natural sympathy of the Swedes and Norwegians for their imperilled kingdom in Denmark, beseeching aid. They assume the position that the quarrel now pending between Denmark and Germany concerned the London treaty of 1852, and Sweden cannot separate herself from the other powers who signed that treaty, they having equal responsibility to enforce its observance. Should the execution extend to Schleswig, Danish territory, and not a part or member of the Germanic confederation, this government must and will yield to the demand of the peoples, for their unanimity will be similar to the great uprising of the north, succeeding the first hostile shot at Fort Sumter. As evidence of the public pulse, you read in the non-official papers statements like this: “The King has taken a decided resolution with regard to Schleswig Holstein, and notes were despatched to the great powers yesterday, informing them of his intentions.” Again: “Twenty-two thousand Swedes are coming, the King accompanies them in person”—placing the government in the awkward fix of denying the truth of these statements in the official papers. There is no doubt the King is with the nation, and they well know his intense desire to “flesh his maiden sword.” Military zeal, ambition, and ardor are rampant. Great activity prevails in all the Swedish military establishments. These northmen, slow to anger, when once aroused are not easily pacified; their great fear is not of danger, but the cost of war. The north is poor comparatively, and dreads debt.
It was thought at first that England would be more prompt in espousing the cause of Denmark, and no doubt it is owing to the pressure and influence of England in Stockholm and Copenhagen that the position has been assumed that federal execution in Holstein—a part of the Germanic confederation by [Page 357] order of the Diet—is not of itself a “casus belli;” and in accord with this phase or understanding, I have no doubt the Danish troops will fall back, and withdraw from Holstein as the corps of execution enter.
I remain your obedient servant,
Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State, Washington, U. S. of A.