DENMARK. 



former session, both with respect to the amount 

 of the sum to be granted for purposes of de- 

 fense, and to the manner in which it should 

 be raised. The ministry replied, declining to 

 entertain any further consideration of the sub- 

 ject upon the basis of the method of defense 

 approved by the Folkething; stating that they 

 regarded the imposition of new taxes as un- 



THE THOBWALDSEN MUSEUM AT COPENHAGEN. 



necessary; that they judged that the usual 

 surplus of revenues would afford sufficient 

 means not only for the purposes of defense, 

 but also for other objects, as for the improve- 

 ment of the means of communication ; and re- 

 marking that the difference between the ap- 

 propriation asked by the Government and 

 that voted by the House only amounted to the 



EXCHANGE, COPENHAGEN. 



inconsiderable sum of 3,000,000 crowns. In 

 answer to this the committee remarked that 

 its views on both points of difference were un- 

 changed. With regard to the subject of the 

 method of raising the money, it was true that 

 the sums needed could be provided out of 

 funds in the Treasury ; but, if provision was 

 made in this manner, the questions of reform 



in the taxes and of other reforms important to 

 the country which affected the Treasury would 

 have to be postponed. With regard to the 

 amount to be expended in the works, the com- 

 mittee were of the opinion that 30,000,000 

 crowns was the maximum sum which the coun- 

 try would be willing to allow to be applied to 

 this purpose. The statements of the minis- 

 try gave no guarantee 



r- : ' g That their expenditures 



would stop with the 33,- 

 000,000 crowns which 

 !H they now asked. It was 

 apprehended that this 

 would be only a part of 

 much larger sums which 

 would be demanded in 

 the future to complete 

 works once undertaken. 

 The committee then ad- 

 dressed several questions 

 to the ministers : Did 

 they consider the sum of 

 33,000,000 crowns suffi- 

 cient for the completion 

 of the extraordinary 

 works of defense which 

 they thought desirable? 

 Had the ministry defi- 

 nitely given up the com- 

 pletion of the works for- 

 merly proposed, which 

 were not included in the drafted bills, which 

 were to provide for the security of Copenhagen 

 by means of fixed forts on the side of the land 

 as well as of the sea? If this were the case, 

 would the ministers lay before the committee 

 the grounds on which they could assure them 

 that the application of the designated sum 

 of 33,000,000 crowns would be made most 

 judiciously in the manner prescribed in the 

 bill, if these works were no longer regarded 

 as parts of a greater whole, but as complete 

 in themselves, and requiring no further addi- 

 tions? The committee asked also to have com- 

 municated to them the reports which the mili- 

 tary experts had made upon the plans of the 

 Government. To these questions the ministry 

 replied that the appropriations designated by 

 the Chamber, if applied upon the plan of de- 

 fense favored by it, would, no less than the 

 sum demanded by the Government, and applied 

 upon its plan, demand supplementary appro- 

 priations; on the other hand, the plan of the 

 Government could be quite as well regarded 

 as a completed whole as that adopted by the 

 Folkething, that it would be found entirely 

 useful even if no further defenses were added 

 to it, and that the ministry were constrained 

 to adhere to their plans in any event. The re- 

 ply was regarded as evasive, but the -commit- 

 tee construed it as an answer in the negative 

 to their questions. The committee reported 

 their correspondence to the Folkething, with 

 a review of some of the details of fortifica- 

 tions, which they regarded as needful, and 



