204 



DENMARK. 



the Government had a scheme that was not ex- 

 actly the same as the one favored by the majority 

 of the Landsthing. The first project introduced 

 by the Government caused the revolt of 9 Agrarian 

 Conservatives in the Landsthing. A plan elabo- 

 rated by a committee of the Folkething was more 

 favorable to agricultural interests, and this im- 

 pelled the Government to turn about completely 

 and offer a project nearer than this to the desires 

 of the element on which it relied for political sup- 

 port, though still not satisfactory to the Agra- 

 rians, who were encouraged by the reversal of the 

 Government policy to enlarge their demands. The 

 result of the elections was an overwhelming de- 

 feat for the Conservatives, and especially for the 

 ministers, who were defeated in their own districts 

 and had not more than 5 adherents left. The 

 Radicals were increased from 63 to 75, and the 

 Socialists from 12 to 14, while the Moderate Lib- 

 erals were reduced from 21 to 15 and the Right 

 from 16 to 8, and the 2 Independents were re- 

 elected. Although the passions aroused by the 

 determination of the Conservatives to retain 

 office and of the King to keep them at the helm 

 when they had a hopeless and dwindling minority 

 in the popular chamber abated w r hen the Govern- 

 ment ceased to spend large sums arbitrarily on 

 fortifications, the Opposition still held firmly to 

 the principles of parliamentary government as 

 they are understood in most countries. The King 

 and his Conservative advisers always based their 

 refusal to confide the reins of government to the 

 Radicals on the possession of a Conservative ma- 

 jority in the Landsthing. The upper chamber is 

 elected by the people as well as the Folkething. 

 It represents especially the highest taxpayers, and 

 it has always claimed equal constitutional rights 

 with the popular chamber elected by broad popu- 

 lar suffrage. The succession of the Agrarians to 

 the Radicals, of the most aristocratic section of 

 the Conservatives, left the Sehested ministry with 

 a majority of only a single vote in the Lands- 

 thing. The Conservative party has been dissolv- 

 ing ever since the modus Vivendi was brought 

 about between the two chambers by Estrup in 

 1894 after a deadlock of nine years, during which 

 the Government carried out, in spite of the pro- 

 tests of the Folkething, the fortifications around 

 Copenhagen that cost 40,000,000 kroner. After 

 the elections the Minister of the Interior offered 

 his resignation, and then M. Sehested proposed 

 a change of ministers to the King, who consulted 

 Radical politicians and found suitable candidates 

 for two or three of the posts, but no acceptable 

 Prime Minister. The Conservative ministers were 

 therefore persuaded to hold on longer. On July 

 16 they resigned in a body to enable a ministry 

 to be formed in time to prepare bills to be laid 

 before the Rigsdag when it assembled early in 

 October. A Radical Cabinet was constituted on 

 July 23, as follows : Prime Minister and Minister 

 of Foreign Affairs, Prof. Deuntzer; Minister of 

 Justice, M. Albert! ; Minister of Public Instruc- 

 tion, Christensen Stadil; Minister of Finance, C. 

 Hage; Minister of Public Works, M. Horup; Min- 

 ister of Agriculture, O. Hansen; Minister of Ma- 

 rine, Admiral Johnke; Minister of War, Col. 

 Madsen; Minister of the Interior, M. Sorensen. 

 Prof. Deuntzer was not an active politician. M. 

 Stadil was the acknowledged leader of the Radical 

 party, and M. Alberti and M. Hage were promi- 

 nent in its councils. M. Horup was the leader 

 of the extreme wing of the Radicals, who formed 

 the alliance with the Socialists, and on that ques- 

 tion lost his seat in the Rigsdag to M. Alberti in 

 892; who had been a persistent assailant of the 

 King; and who put forward the claim, abandoned 



by the Radicals when they compromised with 

 Estrup in 1894, that the authority of the Folke- 

 thing was absolute, that of the Landsthing and 

 that of the Crown never superior or even con- 

 current. The Cabinet thus united all the sec- 

 tions of the great Radical party. As Minister of 

 Agriculture, whose chief duty it is to preserve 

 the high standard of rural produce exported to 

 Great Britain to the amount of 200,000,000 kroner 

 a year, a practical farmer of known ability .was 

 chosen. The Radicals of all the districts of the 

 country sent deputations on Sept. 1 to thank the 

 King for the change of policy and of system. The 

 Socialists, who saw no reason to thank the King 

 because he had been beaten after thirty years of 

 struggle, rejoiced in the Radical triumph as a 

 step toward their own ultimate triumph. They 

 remained true to their electoral alliance with the 

 Radicals in by-elections for the Landsthing, and 

 put forward demands for lessened military ex- 

 penditures, social reforms, and universal suffrage 

 in communal elections. This last proposal, which 

 once had been a part of the Radical program, 

 they urged with insistence because in the present 

 drift of opinion it promised to make them the mas- 

 ters in the country districts as they were in 

 Copenhagen, and bring their day of triumph when 

 the farmers who had snatched the power from the 

 aristocrats must hand it over to the laborers, and 

 the Left be succeeded by the Social Democracy. 

 The Conservatives accepted the transfer of power 

 to the Radicals as a political necessity. Answer- 

 ing the great Radical deputation, which met with 

 no greeting from the socialistic suburbs or the 

 Conservative center of Copenhagen, the King 

 said that in calling the new ministers to office in 

 compliance with the wishes of a great majority 

 of the Danish people he had perfect confidence 

 in the ability and patriotism of the ministers, and 

 relied on the people to give them the same support 

 in their difficult task as responsible leaders of 

 the Government that they had given them as 

 leaders of the Opposition; thus the change would 

 bring about peace and unity for the good and 

 prosperity of the country, and usher in a period 

 of fruitful labor. The program of the new min- 

 istry included loans for public works, the tax- 

 reform bill, a judicial reform bill, some changes in 

 the tariff, the sale of the Danish Antilles to the 

 United States for 16,000,000 kroner, and self-rule 

 for Iceland. The administration of justice must 

 be conducted with the participation and under 

 the eyes of the people, in public oral proceedings 

 free from troublesome forms, and cases of crime 

 and political offenses must be tried by jury so as 

 to guarantee an administration of justice in har- 

 mony with the popular conscience. Military ex- 

 penditure could not be immediately reduced, be- 

 cause the pay of non-commissioned officers must 

 be increased and field-guns purchased. The Cabi- 

 net hoped to carry out the demand for universal 

 suffrage. The Rigsdag was opened on Oct. 5, fox 

 the first time since 1884 by the King in person. 

 Law reform, army reform, a just distribution of 

 the burdens of taxation, improvement of indus- 

 trial conditions, ecclesiastical reform, and meas- 

 ures for the development of communal affairs 

 were promised in the speech from the Throne, but 

 there was no mention of the sale of the West In- 

 dian islands. 



Iceland. Since Aug. 1, 1874, Iceland has had 

 home rule. The legislative power is vested under 

 the King in the Althing, composed of two cham- 

 bers, the lower one containing 24 members elected 

 by the people, the upper one having 12 members, 

 of whom 6 are appointed by the King and 6 are 

 chosen by the other chamber. The King is repre- 



