[Footnote 783: Bain, Scandinavia, Chap. 16;
Cambridge Modern History, XI., Chap. 24
(bibliography, pp. 961-962); Lavisse et Rambaud,
Histoire Generale, X., Chap. 18; C. F. Allen,
Histoire de Danemark depuis les temps les plus
recules jusqu'a nos jours (Copenhagen, 1878).]

*613. The Problem of the Duchies.*--Following prolonged (p. 558)
international conferences, there was issued, January 28, 1852, a new
constitutional decree by which it was provided that the kingdom proper
and Schleswig, Holstein, and Lauenburg should have a common
constitution for common affairs, but that each of the territories
should enjoy autonomy in the management of its separate concerns. An
ultra-conservative constitution which had been worked out by the
Rigsdag in consultation with the Landtags of the duchies, was
promulgated October 2, 1855. No sooner had the instrument been put in
operation, however, than stubborn opposition to its provisions arose,
both from the duchies themselves and from the interested powers of
Germany. November 28, 1858, the Danish Government yielded in so far as
to consent to the withdrawal of the constitution from Holstein and
Lauenburg. Through several years thereafter the question of the
duchies overshadowed all else in Danish politics and in Danish
diplomatic relations. March 30, 1863, a royal decree recognized the
essential detachment of Holstein from the monarchy and vested the
legislative power of the duchy solely in the king and the local
estates. Later in the year, however, the premier Hall proposed and
carried through the Rigsdag a constitution which contemplated again
the incorporation of Schleswig with the kingdom. To this instrument
the Council of State, November 13, gave its assent, and, five days
later, with the approval of the new sovereign, Christian IX., it
became law. So far as Denmark was concerned, the solution of the
question of the duchies was now at hand. In the name of Prussia and
Austria, Bismarck demanded summarily that the November constitution be
rescinded. War ensued, and by the Treaty of Vienna, October 30, 1864,
Denmark, in defeat, yielded all claim to Schleswig, Holstein, and
Lauenburg. After continuing for a time a bone of contention between
the leading German states, these territories were incorporated,
subsequent to the Austro-Prussian war of 1866, in the kingdom of
Prussia.