DENMARK <# s 



the urgent problem of national defence and of the findings of the Defence Commission, 

 and a Defence bill was introduced in the Folketing on the i2th of that month, the day 

 following the national celebrations commemorating the 25oth anniversary of the un- 

 successful Swedish attack on the Copenhagen fortifications. The Premier followed on 

 the whole the advice of the military experts both as to the upkeep and the extension of 

 the defence works of Copenhagen on sea and land. The old political war cry of the Left, 

 "no land defences around Copenhagen," was thus surrendered, the Premier himself 

 admitting that he viewed the defence question in a totally different light since forming 

 his Cabinet in the previous autumn. A split in the .Government bloc was the inevitable 

 result, this showing itself when the final vote took place on the second reading of the 

 Defence bills. The Premier gathered round him his own little group of nine Moderates, 

 14 Conservatives and 14 of the 57 members of the Left Reform party. The Left Re- 

 form leader, the ex-Premier J. C. Christensen, found 35 members to support his opposi- 

 tion proposal for limiting the fortifications to the sea approaches to Copenhagen, while 

 seven of the Left, 10 Radicals and 24 Socialists, were firm opponents of both these pro- 

 posals. The issue was now referred to the electors, a general election to the Folketing 

 taking place on May 25. The result showed an increase of the Conservative and Radical 

 parties, both capturing seats from the Christensen party; some 27 members followed the 

 latter, as against the 47 supporters of the Neergaard scheme, with the 24 Socialists and 

 1 6 Radicals. An attempt to compromise on the defence bills proved unavailing, as 

 M. Christensen remained obdurate, and the latter had the best of an intricate political 

 situation owing to the indirect help given him by the Radicals and Socialists. 



Having concluded a national loan of 2,240,000 with a French syndicate, the Neer- 

 gaard Cabinet was obliged to resign at the end of July, the Premiership falling to a 

 former leader of the Left party, Count Holstein-Ledreborg (1839-1912). In spite of 

 public protests and addresses to the king, M. Christensen was appointed Minister of 

 Defence, and M. Neergaard and Count Ahlefeldt-Laurvig (b. 1860) agreed to serve in 

 the new Cabinet, retaining their portfolios of Finance and Foreign Affairs respectively. 

 M. Christensen was finally able to get the defence bills through the Rigsdag during the 

 ensuing special summer session, being aided by the various sections of the Left party and 

 by some of the Conservatives, the latter fearing to postpone the solution of this national 

 question any longer. The existing land fortifications of Copenhagen were left intact, 

 but without the necessary supplementary works strongly insisted on by the military 

 experts, the Rigsdag being left to decide in 1922 whether these land forts should be dis- 

 mantled or not. The chief points in the Defence acts were some new Naval forts out- 

 side Copenhagen, coast defence works at various parts of the coast of Zealand, and an 

 increase of the strength of the Danish Navy, chiefly as regards destroyers and sub- 

 marines. 890,000 was voted for Naval and Coast Defence works, 350,000 for the 

 increase of the Navy and 509,440 for various Army purposes, besides an increase in 

 the annual Army budget amounting to 139,000. 



On October 18 M. Christensen resigned the Ministry of Defence, and a few days 

 later, a vote of censure having been carried by a Conservative-Radical-Socialist com- 

 bination, the Holstein Ministry gave way to the first Radical Government formed in 

 Denmark, that of M. Carl Theodor Zahle (b. 1866). He could only rely on the 44 

 members of the united Radical and Socialist parties out of the total membership of 114 

 in the Folketing, so M. Zahle announced his intention of postponing the introduction of 

 the Radical programme, and any question of altering or annulling the Defence Acts, 

 until the voice of the electors had been heard. On one vital point he was able to secure 

 a majority, viz. the proposal to prosecute before the Special Parliamentary Court, the 

 " Rigsret," the two ex-Ministers, M. Christensen and M. Sigurd Berg (b. 1868), the 

 latter a former Home Secretary, for neglect of their Ministerial duties in regard to Al- 

 berti. M. Christensen was charged with having furnished Alberti with a loan of 82,500 

 (i million kroner) out of the Exchequer a few months previous to his arrest, at a time 

 when the then Minister of Justice was the object of ever-increasing attacks in the Press 

 and in the Rigsdag. M. Berg was accused of grave neglect of duty owing to his refusal 



