254 



DENMARK. 



uf which is the National Bank of Copenha- 

 gen, established in 1818 ; is a bank of issue, 

 and baa a capital of 13,376,200 rigsdalers; the 

 Private Hank, established 1857, capital, 6,000,- 

 000 rigsdalers ; the " Peasants' Bank of Mort- 

 gage and Exchange," established 1871, capital 

 6,000,000. 



The Folkething, or Lower House of the 

 Danish Kigsdag, on March 31, adopted, by 65 

 against 84 votes, an address to the King, ex- 

 pressing want of confidence in the ministry, 

 which, the address says, acted according to 

 principles considered by the Folkething as in- 

 jurious to the prosperity of Denmark, and to 

 its relation to the people of South Jutland 

 (Northern Schleswig). The Folkething, there- 

 fore, asked the King to give to the country 

 another ministry. The president of the min- 

 istry emphatically protested against the opin- 

 ion 'that a ministry, in order to be constitution- 

 al, must be in harmony with the Folkething. 

 The Landsthing, on April 2d, adopted, in its 

 turn, an address to the King, by 44 against 

 6 votes, in which it claims entire independence 

 with regard to resolutions passed by the Folke- 

 thing. The King replied to these two address- 

 es, on April 4th, that if the second Chamber in- 

 tended to disregard the fundamental laws of 

 the Constitution, the necessary cooperation be- 

 tween the Government and the popular repre- 

 sentation wonld be greatly impeded, but that 

 he was determined to protect the best inter- 

 ests of the country. This called forth from the 

 I'nited Left," which constituted the majority 

 of the Folkething, a manifesto to their constit- 

 uents, in which they declare that, as guardians 

 of the law, they will continue the opposition 

 to a ministry which is unworthy of public 

 confidence. As to the question whether the 

 Folkething should refuse to vote the budget, 

 there was, however, a difference of opinion. 

 In the discussion of the financial law, a violent 

 attack was made by-Deputy Tauber on the 

 Minister of Public Worship, Hall, who was 

 charged by him to be the cause, when prime- 

 minister in 1863, of the loss of Schleswig, his 

 administration of that province having turned 

 the hearts of friends as well as enemies from 

 Denmark ; but, when the vote was taken, the 

 financial law of the ministry was adopted, by 61 

 against 39 votes. The provisions of the Scandi- 

 navian monetary convention were adopted by 

 the Danish Rigsdag as well as by the Swedish 

 Legislature; but they were not acceded to by 

 Norway, and will therefore, for the present, 

 go into operation for Sweden and Denmark 

 only. The Rigsdag was closed by the Presi- 

 dent of the Council of Ministers on May 21st. 

 The United Left, in a new manifesto to their 

 constituents, threatened, if, on the reassembling 

 of the Rigsdag, in October, the ministry should 

 till be in power, all the weapons which the 

 Constitution allowed wonld be used again-t 

 it. At a supplementary election, held on the 

 island of Funon, the candidate of the Left was 

 iuccessrol, which now numbered 54 out of 101 



members. The Internationals declared that, 

 in the conflict between the Government and 

 the Left, they would side with the hitter. 



The Scandinavian monetary convention was 

 ratified at Copenhagen on May 27t!i. The iu- 

 trodiiction of the new coins is to take pluce <>n 

 January, 1875. The names daler, mark, ami 

 skilling, will cease. The new monetary unit 

 will be called a "crown," which will be equal 

 in value to the preseutS-mark pieces (27 cents). 

 The crown is divided into 100 oere. mid there 

 is no intermediate piece. According to the 

 monetary law, there will be gold coins of 20 

 and 10 crowns, silver coins of 2 crowns, 1 

 crown, of 60, 40, 25, and 10 oere ; and bronze 

 coins of 5, 2, and 1 oere. The present principal 

 coins (2 dalers, 1 daler, and 8 marks) will be 

 lawful money until 1878; the smaller coins 

 will not be used after 1881. 



On May 27th a charter was given to the 

 Northern Telegraphic Compmiy for hiving a 

 submarine cable between the western coast of 

 Jutland or Faroe and France, as well as between 

 Jutland and Sweden. Both cobles were fin- 

 nishcd in August. 



On July 19th a postal treaty was concluded 

 with Sweden and Norway. 



The Althing (Diet) of Iceland petitioned the 

 King to appoint a Governor for Iceland, and its 

 three ministers should be exclusively responsi- 

 ble to the Althing ; and in case he should not 

 see fit to grant this petition, to confer upon the 

 Althing legislative powers and in particular 

 the right of voting the budget. The Althing 

 was closed on August 2d. Iceland will cele- 

 brate the thousandth anniversary of the first 

 settlement of the island in the course of the 

 year 1874. 



In March tho leaders of the Danish Social- 

 ists, Pio, Geleff, and Brix, charged with having 

 instigated on May 5, 1872, an armed resistance 

 to the Government, were sentenced to from 

 four to six years' detention in a house of re- 

 form. The plaintiffs appealed from this sen- 

 tence of the Criminal Court to the Supremo 

 Court, which, however, confirmed the sentence. 



On April 18th tho Japanese embassy arrived 

 at Copenhagen, and soon after was rcoeixed by 

 the King. 



A considerable change appears to have been 

 made in the course of the year 1873 in tho rela- 

 tions between Denmark mid Germany. On his 

 return from Sweden and Norway, the Crown- 

 prince of the German Empire, on August 17th, 

 met at Malmd the Crown-prince of Denmark, 

 who asked him to pay n visit to the royal court 

 of Denmark, where he would ho most cordially 

 welcomed. The German crown-prince, accor.l- 

 ingly, on August 17th, went to Elsinore, 

 where he was met by the King of Denmark. 

 He remained with tho royal family until the 

 19th, and received from the King tho order of 

 the Elephant. The organ of the Cov.Tninent 

 (Berlin'/ (riiiftfe), in commenting on this visit, 

 expressed a hope that the friendly intercom's-- 

 between the princes of Denmark and Germany 



