It was carried by eight votes to seven, and the Saxons had to obey.

The troops on their return home refused to march across Prussian territory; and from this time Beust and the King of Saxony must be reckoned among the determined and irreconcilable enemies of Bismarck.
The first of the rivals was removed; there remained Austria and the Prince.
Just at this time a change of Ministry had taken place in Austria; Rechberg, who had kept up the alliance, was removed, and the anti-Prussian party came to the front.

It was, therefore, no longer so easy to deal with the Prince, for he had a new and vigorous ally in Austria.

Mensdorf, the new Minister, proposed in a series of lengthy despatches his solution of the question; it was that the rights of the two Powers should be transferred to Augustenburg, and that Schleswig-Holstein should be established as an independent Confederate State.

The Austrian position was from this time clearly defined, and it was in favour of that policy to which Bismarck would never consent.