713 



DENMARK. 



DENMARK. 



Haraldskjaer, of the manufacture of iron-wares, next to the metropolis. 

 Linens are made at Kiong and Holsteinborg, and in most parts con- 

 stitute the occasional employment of the cottagers for the purpose of 

 supplying their own wants. Straw hats, sail-cloth, glass, eoap, leather, 

 saltpetre, gunpowder and arms, plated goods, china and earthenware, 

 beer and spirits, thread, paper, refined sugar, soda, and potashes are 

 among the productions of Danish industry. Brandy distilleries and 

 breweries are numerous. The making of wooden shoes is an important 

 branch of industry in various parts of Jutland. The peasants' families 

 make their own woollen clothing in general, which is composed of a 

 coarse stuff termed wadmel ; and indeed there are few articles of 

 domestic use, whether utensils or for apparel, which are not made by 

 their own hands. 



Probably no country in Europe is better adapted or more favourably 

 situated in many respects for commerce than Denmark. It is the key 

 of the Baltic, and possesses peculiar advantages for a ready and cheap 

 intercourse with all the maritime nations of Europe. Copenhagen is 

 the central point of the Danish foreign trade, but Altona appears to 

 be making greater progress at present. Navigation, in which above 

 50,000 hands are employed, is a great source of profit to the country. 

 The Danes navigate their vessels on cheaper terms than many of their 

 competitors, and are excellent mariners, on which account they are 

 the carriers for other countries, particularly to the Mediterranean and 

 Levant. The trade between the mother country and the West India 

 ii's is quite free ; the busiest traffic is carried on with the island 

 Thomas. The value of the native produce and manufactures 

 'ly exported to all parts in 1851 was 1,654,338?.; the imports 

 in the same year amounted to 3,165,161t Both in the exports and 

 imports a much larger portion of the commerce is with Great Britain 

 than with any other single state. The imports from England in 1851 

 were 596,165<., and the exports to England were 680,8492. The trade 

 with Sweden and Norway is the next in importance, the total value 

 of both exports and imports amounting to about three-fourths of tli3 

 British trade. Hamburg and America also share somewhat largely in 

 the trade of Denmark. Among the articles of exportation are grain, 

 butter, cheese, brandy, salted and smoked meats, horned cattle, horses, 

 skins and hides, whale and train oils, eider-down, woollens, fish, tallow, 

 bristles, Ac. The imports are wines, salt, silk, wools, cotton, 

 cotton manufactures, timber, coals, colonial produce, brandies and 

 spirits, glass, flax and hemp, drugs, and other articles of domestic 

 consumption. There is a brisk intercourse by sea between the several 

 ports. The chief places of trade are Copenhagen, Altona, Kiel, 

 Koersoer, Helsingor, Oclensc, Viborg, Handera, Flensburg, Schleswig, 

 Aalborg, Rendsburg, Tondern, Aarhuus, Gliickstadt, Neustedt, and 

 Itzehoe. 



Inhabitants. The people of Denmark, with the exception of a few 

 thousand Jews, resident in Copenhagen, Altona, and other towns, are 

 of German descent, but of five distinct racs : The Danes, who 

 inhabit Siacland and the circumjacent islands, Jutland, and a small 

 portion of Schleswig, were the Normans of former times ; they use 

 a dialect of the German, and number probably somewhat under 

 1,500,000 : the pure Germans, who inhabit the duchies of Holstein 

 and Lauenburg and the greater part of Schleswig, and whose num- 

 bers are about 700,000 : the Frieslanders, who dwell along the 

 western coasts of Schleswig and on the small islands in the North 

 Sea : the Angles, who live between the Bight of Flonsburg and the 

 Schley on the Baltic, whose united numbers are nearly 80,000 : and 

 the Normans, who people Iceland and the Faroe Islands. The popu- 

 lation of Denmark, its duchies, and the adjacent islands in 1820 was 

 1,662,000; in 1840 it was 2,194,950; and in 1850, as already 

 mentioned, it was 2,296,597. 



The Dane is of a strong, well-knit, muscular make ; his features 

 are regular, his eyes blue, and his hair commonly light. " The gift 

 of the Dane," says Kothe, a native writer, " is strength, where others 

 have inherited liberty. He is susceptible of high, strong, and 

 enduring feelings, but he is not easily roused ; he has more common 

 sense than wit, and being of a patient disposition looks at every side 

 of a question, and requires much time for deliberation." The 

 peasantry are industrious and generally of a contented disposition ; 

 their highest ambition being to obtain possession of a small piece of 

 land. This universal desire, and the facilities afforded for carrying it 

 into effect, has led to a remarkable subdivision of the land. It is 

 said that half the soil of Denmark is possessed by petty proprietors. 

 The consequence is that the farms are commonly of small size, and 

 though cultivated with great industry seldom worked with sufficient 

 capital. There are, besides the small landholders, a large number of 

 labourers who rent houses wilh small pieces of land attached, for 

 which they pay rent by a certain number of days' work, on the 

 'lyer' system. 



The population of Denmark is collected in 98 towns, 45 market- 

 towns (all in the three duchies), and 4985 villages, besides isolated 

 farm a and dwellings!. 



The Lutheran is the predominant, religion, but every other is 

 tolerated. The members of other religious communities are but 

 iratively few in number. The affairs of the national church are 

 under the superintendence of the eight bishops of Siseland, Laaland, 

 Fiinen, Kibe, Aarhuus, Viborg, Al, and Aalborg. The bishoprics are 

 in the gift of tho crown. There are twelve religious communities in 



Denmark Proper and the duchies ; a missionary college at Copenhagen, 

 called the ' Collegium de cursu evangelii promoveudo,' founded in 

 1714 ; and a seminary for approved candidates in divinity in the 

 same city. 



Much has been done for the education of all classes in Denmark. 

 By law every child between the ages of 7 and 14 years must attend 

 some school ; and free schools are provided for all children whose 

 parents are unable to pay for their education. There is in the 

 ministry a department of public worship and instruction ; and 

 ministers who have the superintendence of those matters are 

 appointed for the several duchies as well as for the kingdom. The 

 masters are appointed, and the course of study regulated in the 

 public schools, by the ministers of public instruction. Besides tho 

 primary schools there are several seminaries for educating teachers ; 

 between 30 and 40 gymnasia, or grammar-schools ; and two univer- 

 sities one in Copenhagen, founded in 1478, and attended by about 

 1000 students ; and the other in Kiel, founded in 1665, and attended 

 by about 300 students. There are also schools for the deaf and 

 dumb, and various special schools ; as well as several public libraries, 

 and various societies for scientific and national purposes, which arc 

 noticed under the head of COPENHAGEN. The number of periodical 

 journals published in Denmark is very large when compared with 

 the population ; but the press is under a somewhat strict 

 censorship. 



Goremment, Finance, etc. Denmark was an absolute and hereditary 

 monarchy, founded on three fundamental laws the Act of Sovereignty 

 of 1661, the King's Law (Konge Lowen) of 1665, solemnly ratified 

 by the whole nation, and the Native Subjects' Law(Ind Fotts Retten) 

 of 1776. In 1848 however Frederick VII., shortly after his succession 

 to the throne, promulgated a new constitution, by which Common 

 States were appointed, to consist of 52 delegates (of whom the king 

 named eight), who were to be elected by the votes of the deputies of 

 the provincial assemblies, and of the clergy, prelates, and landed 

 nobility of the duchies, and the consistories of the universities of 

 Copenhagen and Kiel, and assembled at fixed periods. They have the 

 right to discuss and to decide upon all new laws affecting the common 

 interests of the monarch, and the control over all matters of finance. 

 By this constitution nothing was changed in the general ordinances 

 of 1831 and 1834 respecting the provincial assemblies noticed below. 

 As Duke of Holstein and Lauenburg, the king is a member of tho 

 German Confederation, and furnishes a contingent of 3600 men to 

 the confederate army. The sovereign must be of the Augsburg 

 Confession of Faith, and must uphold its ascendancy in his dominions. 

 He attains his majority on reaching his 14th year. The sovereign 

 fixes the allowances to be made to the members of the royal family 

 of his own free will. By a general law of May 28, 1831, and a decreo 

 of May 15, 1834, the kingdom was divided into four electoral 

 districts, each of which has at present its provincial assembly : these 

 districts are the Danish Islands, Jutland, Schleswig, and Holstein. 

 The four provincial assemblies must be called together at least once 

 in two years : their consent is necessary to all alterations in laws 

 affecting persons or properties, public imposts, or requisitions for tho 

 national service ; and they are allowed to propose laws for the sove- 

 reign's adoption, and to lodge complaints agaiust any of the public 

 authorities. 



The privy council is the highest board in domestic affairs : it is 

 composed of the king, as president, a vice-president, and eight 

 members. The ministry consists of a minister for home affairs, a 

 minister for the finances, &c., for foreign affairs, for justice and police, 

 for the duchies of Schleswig, Holstein, and Lauenburg, for the war 

 department, for naval affairs, and for public worship and instruction. 

 There is a governor for Laueuburg ; and the West Indian Islands 

 have a governor also. A land-vogt, or lieutenant, governs the Faroe 

 Islands, and a stifts-amtmann, or high bailiff, is at the head of the 

 public authorities in Iceland. 



The supreme court of justice holds its sittings at Copenhagen, 

 and there are royal courts in the duchies and lower courts in tho 

 various towns. All civil cases must in the first instance be carried 

 before a ' Court of Conciliation,' composed of persons selected from 

 the vicinity, on account of their position, character, or intelligence. 

 Their decision is registered, and has the force of a legal decree in 

 cases where both parties to the suit have signified their readiness to 

 abide by the judgment; otherwise the suit maybe carried for decision 

 into the proper courts. From all the lower courts appeals are allowed 

 both in civil and criminal cases to the supreme courts. 



The state of the finances will be best shown by the following 

 official statement of the estimated receipts and expenditure for thu 

 entire monarchy for the year 1853-4 : 



Receipts, 185 3-1. 

 General. For the whole Monarchy. 



Surplus from the Domains 



For the Kingdom of Denmark . . . 



For the Duchy of Sehles\vi(f ..... 



For the Duchy of Holstein 



For the Duchy of Laucnlnir>; 



For the West Indian Colonies 



Carried forward 



40,777 

 40,725 

 7G.U39 

 34,GSO 

 1,061 



lJ,8Si 



