DENMARK. 



313 



tion, therefore, still disposed of 63 votes. The 

 Folkethiug met on January 31st, and, after 

 reflecting its former President, Krabbe, began 

 with the examination of the elections. The 

 Left attempted to declare the elections invalid 

 for those districts which the Right had gained 

 from them. It began with the election of 

 Dahl in Slagelse, which Tauber had formerly 

 represented, and, in spite of the large majority 

 of Dahl, his election was declared invalid by 

 62 to 82 votes. In February the Folkething 

 demanded of the Government an explanation 

 of Article V. of the Treaty of Prague and its 

 abrogation, as well as of the position of Den- 

 mark toward the foreign Powers. (See GEB- 

 MANY.) The Government thereupon declared 

 in the Landsthing that it would give to the 

 Rigsdag all explanations with regard to Article 

 V. of the treaty which had now been repealed 

 by Germany and Austria, without being re- 

 quested to do so by the Rigsdag, and as far as 

 was compatible with the public interest; but 

 that it would not permit a discussion on this 

 subject in the Chambers. In the beginning of 

 March, the Left in the Folkething proposed 

 measures to relieve the distress among the 

 lower classes of the population caused by the 

 prostration of all industries. As the Gov- 

 ernment holds fast to the principle that the 

 communes and not the state should provide 

 for the poor, and that only if the former were 

 not able to do so should they call upon the 

 Government for help, the Left proposed that 

 600,000 crowns be set aside by the Govern- 

 ment for the purpose of loaning them to com- 

 munes 'for the relief of people without work. 

 In 1877 a million crowns were set aside for 

 the same purpose, but only 240,000 crowns 

 were borrowed. As the Folkething did not 

 pass the budget by April 1st, the beginning of 

 the new financial year, the Government as in 

 preceding years submitted a temporary one in 

 which the expenses up to May 15th were esti- 

 mated on the basis of the budget of the pre- 

 ceding year, which was sanctioned by the 

 Chambers. In the latter part of April the 

 Government submitted a bill giving to those 

 inhabitants of Frederikstad, on the island of St. 

 Croix, who had suffered by the negro rebellion 

 of last year, 65,000 crowns, and loaning to 

 them 50,000 crowns. In May the Folkething 

 passed the budget as reported by the leader 

 of the opposition, Berg, by 08 votes to 6. Six 

 Krupp cannons demanded by the Government 

 for the sea-forts were granted by 63 to 39 votes, 

 while the demand for two new war- vessels, an 

 ironclad and a corvette, was denied by 66 to 

 80 votes. The provisional financial law, which 

 expired on May 15th, was extended to June 

 15th; and on June 14th the Chambers ad- 

 journed. 



The new Chambers were opened on October 

 6th. In November the Minister of War in- 

 troduced a bill for the reorganization of the 

 army. His proposal was that the military 

 forces of the country should be divided into 



the line, the reserve, and the landwchr, the 

 last named forming two classes. The line ia 

 intended for active operations, the reserve and 

 the first section of the landwehr for the de- 

 fense of fortified places, and the second section 

 of the landwehr for coast defense. The line 

 is to consist of ten regiments, each having 

 three battalions of infantry and the guard, the 

 regiments being formed into brigades by groups 

 of two each. The cavalry of the line is to 

 consist of four regiments, each with four 

 squadrons, a squadron of escort, and cavalry 

 school. The artillery is to be made up of four 

 regiments of field artillery, with three batteries 

 of eight guns and a train company, and of two 

 regiments with four battalions for the defense 

 of fortresses. There are to be ten companies 

 of engineers, sappers, and miners, two com- 

 panies of telegraph-men, one of railway-men, 

 and one for pontoon- work. The reserve is to 

 be made up of one battalion of the guard; 

 four reserve battalions for Copenhagen, five 

 regiments each, with three battalions for the 

 provinces ; four field batteries and four fixed 

 batteries, two of which are to be at Copen- 

 hagen. The first section of the landwehr is to 

 comprise old soldiers under forty-two years of 

 age, and the second section those between 

 forty-two and fifty. The field officers in the 

 landwehr are to be nominated by the Crown, 

 and the others elected by the troops. The 

 preamble of the bill gives a sketch of the plan 

 proposed for defending the country from in- 

 vasion, from which it appears that the Gov- 

 ernment would not attempt to protect the 

 whole of the territory, but would concentrate 

 their defense upon Copenhagen and the island 

 of Seeland, abandoning Jutland and the rest 

 of the country to the enemy. The whole of 

 the army would bo concentrated in Seeland, 

 covered by the fleet; and, in order to facilitate 

 operations, it is proposed to complete the rail- 

 way system of Seeland, and to fortify the capi- 

 tal both seaward and inland. 



On June 16th the Superior Court of Jus- 

 tice gave judgment in a political trial, which 

 in Denmark had become a cause ceUbre. On 

 June 3, 1877, a manifesto was published in the 

 "Morgenbladet," signed, by nine of the leading 

 members of the Radical party in the Lower 

 House, in which, without actually preaching 

 treason, the Cabinet Ministers were, among 

 other things, charged with having, " know- 

 ingly and with malice aforethought, kept the 

 King in ignorance of, or wickedly misrepre- 

 sented to his Majesty, the true political feeling 

 in the country," as well as with having vio- 

 lated the Constitution. The Premier, M. Es- 

 trup, on behalf of himself and his colleagues, 

 prosecuted the nine signatories of the mani- 

 festo, among whom were M. Berg and Count 

 Holstein-Ledreborg ; and the judgment con- 

 demned each of the defendants to three 

 months' imprisonment, without the option of 

 a fine. 



On June 4th the four hundredth anniver- 



