238 



DENMARK. 



osition for a special constitution of the island, 

 as made by the Danish Government. 



The railroads in operation in 1870 numbered 

 453.37 miles. The length of the telegraph- 

 lines in 1869 amounted to 1,215.62 miles, while 

 the length of the wires was 3,160.14 miles. 

 Number of telegraph-offices, 150 ; number of 

 internal telegrams, 218,832 ; foreign telegrams, 

 86,720; telegrams passing through the coun- 

 try, 108,071; in all, 513,623. 



'The plan to make Denmark a neutral state, 

 and to give to the kingdom the same guaranteed 

 position as enjoyed by Belgium and Switzer- 

 land, has been discussed in various places. It 

 seems that it was first mooted in the Moscow 

 Gazette, the well-known organ of the ultra- 

 Russian party. Mr. Katkoff, the editor of the 

 Gazette, discussed the question chiefly as con- 

 nected with the balance of power in the Bal- 

 tic, and strongly recommended the neutraliza- 

 tion of the Danish kingdom. Several German 

 papers (the Augsburg Gazette among the num- 

 ber) treated the measure as a solution for 

 which Denmark ought to be very grateful, and 

 to obtain which it would be worth its while 

 to renounce every right to be derived from 

 the fifth article of the Treaty of Prague (of 

 the year 1866) as to the restoration of Northern 

 Schleswig. The Danish press does not appear 

 to look upon the neutralization of its country 

 as a great boon, or as an unconditional advan- 

 tage. It takes the ground that the confidence 

 of the Danes in written treaties and European 

 guarantees has been greatly shaken, and that 

 a declaration of neutrality, even if acceded to 

 by all the neighboring states, would not en- 

 able Denmark to reduce in any sensible degree 

 its armaments on sea, or on land. Since the 

 war of 1864 every thing has been done to 

 bring up the means of defence to the highest 

 perfection. A new military law has entirely 

 reorganized the army; Remington guns of a 

 very perfect pattern have succeeded the differ- 

 ent sorts of u Brown Bess; " the efficiency of 

 the soldiers has been improved by yearly 

 camps ; and, if the immense cost of modern 

 plated ships has prevented Denmark from 

 keeping pace with the rapid development of 

 Prussia or Germany on the sea, all efforts have 

 been made to enable her to defend the Sounds 

 and inner waters. The 30,000 or 40,000 men 

 of all weapons who form the army, and the 

 dozen of small plated vessels which are all 

 that remain of the once so stately Danish Navy, 

 would still be necessary to defend, in case of 

 need, the threatened frontiers. Belgium and 

 Switzerland have not been able to disarm be- 

 cause their neutrality has been recognized by 

 the European powers ; neither would Denmark 

 be. On the other hand, the Danes regard the 

 fulfilment of the promise made by Prussia in 

 the Treaty of Prague as a condition for the 

 very existence of their country; and they see 

 therein only a real guarantee of their indepen- 

 dence. 



The session of the Danish Diet, the last of 



the triennial period, was closed on March 23d, 

 and new elections for the Folkething (Second 

 Chamber) took place throughout the kingdom 

 on September 20th. The interest taken in 

 them was livelier than usual, a, most intense 

 agitation having been carried on by the parti- 

 sans of the so-called u United Left." To the 

 efforts of what has hitherto been regarded as 

 the most radical party was added this year the 

 agitation of the socialistic elements which were 

 called into life by the Paris Commune, and 

 which organized themselves as a branch of the 

 International. In the beginning, these two 

 tendencies were kept very distinct, but, on the 

 eve of the election, there was a coalition of the 

 two parties in several districts. The result of 

 the election was a small accession of strength 

 to the " United Left," which gained a small 

 majority in the new House (consisting of 102 

 members). The three ministers sitting in the 

 Second Chamber were all reflected. On the 

 other hand, the " United Left " succeeded in 

 excluding several politicians of merit and abil- 

 ity ; foremost among these being Bishop Mon- 

 rad, the Premier from 1864, who has returned 

 from his voluntary exile at New Zealand to his 

 former bishopric, and had accepted an invita- 

 tion to stand for Roeskilde. This politician is 

 not exactly popular, and he is driven by a fe- 

 verish restlessness to strange vagaries ; but he 

 is a man of indisputable genius, endowed with 

 rare qualities of mind, and in the possession of 

 a truly miraculous power for working, and his 

 being vanquished by a peasant, without any 

 parliamentary ability at all, was looked upon 

 as a public scandal. On the whole, the most 

 deplorable phenomenon in the political life of 

 Denmark is the ever-sinking standard of abili- 

 ty in the representation, the great mass of 

 electors looking far more to the political creed 

 and aptitude for passive obedience of a candi- 

 date than to his insight, or experience, or elo- 

 quence. 



The Rigsdag was opened by the King, on 

 October 7th, in the presence of the Queen, the 

 hereditary Grand-duke, the princesses, and 

 the court. The royal speech described the 

 past year as one of happy progress, referred to 

 the splendid harvest, the Scandinavian Exhibi- 

 tion, scientific congresses, the joint Monetary 

 Commission, the birth of a prince, and spoke 

 of the King of Sweden's death with deep sor- 

 row, stating that he was Denmark's true 

 friend. A confident hope was expressed that 

 the cordial friendship between the two king- 

 doms would continue under King Oscar's en- 

 lightened reign. The foreign situation re- 

 mained unchanged. " The Schleswig ques- 

 tion," the royal speech said, " is still pending, 

 but the hope of a satisfactory solution is un di- 

 minished. Bills have been prepared for a re- 

 form of the public schools, in the direction of 

 a more popular system of education, and for 

 law reform. A revision of army law will also 

 be proposed." On October 9th the Rigsdag 

 was prorogued to December 2d. 



