No. 16.
Mr. Geo. H. Yeaman to Mr. Fish.
Sir: Referring to my dispatch No. 253, it appears that the Marquis de Cadore has not yet been formally and officially presented to the King or to the Danish government, though he has had several interviews. And if he has either accomplished or proposed anything definite there is no means of knowing it, while there is much evidence that he has not.
The opinion is receiving confirmation here that this is only to be explained, by the considerations suggested in my last dispatch, and by the additional fact that the early and brilliant victories counted upon as an aid to French diplomacy have not occurred.
Public opinion here is entirely adverse and hostile to Prussia. It is as belligerent as it can be without actually pushing armies and marines into the contest. In Danish political circles the obvious criticism is made upon the government’s declaration of its neutrality, that neutrality seems rather the incident than the object of the document; a criticism invited by its form, though probably not sustained by the fact; for the government seems to be really in earnest, and recent events in the field may dampen public ardor, or at least check its expression.
The leading journals, in their discussions of the subject, have taken the position, not very assuring to the cabinet of Berlin, if technically true that, neutrality is at most only a state of peace—that is, not actual war; that it depends on circumstances, and, like peace, may be abandoned when circumstances, interest, policy, or duty indicate war as the better course.
For the immediate present there seems no danger that the government will abandon its policy of neutrality and become a party to the war.