4LT. 22.] AND SCANDINAVIA. 127 



tiousness, prohibits under the highest penalties expres- 

 sion against government or monarchy in general, and 

 in fact destroys at once the liberty of speech and writ- 

 ing ; but as every one knows that it is done to serve 

 an end, people openly turn up their noses at it. Mean- 

 time a prosecution has been entered into against the 

 editor of an obnoxious journal, but he is expected to 

 get off, or at most to pay a trifling fine. 



The criminal jurisprudence is mild in the extreme. 

 There are, indeed, no juries, but the judges proceed 

 with the greatest caution and inquire into the circum- 

 stances in the minutest manner possible. The sentence 

 is not valid till ratified by the king, who cannot make 

 it more severe. Sedition is punished by imprison- 

 ment or a gentle fine. Murder and treason only are 

 capital: the former happens not once in two years; the 

 latter not since the time of Struensee, who was uni- 

 versally esteemed the victim of a party, and all the 

 world sided with Matilda. For other offences, the 

 punishment is confinement with labour, and wearing 

 chains. One sees several of these half-prisoners walk- 

 ing about in Copenhagen. The Danes think it does 

 good in the way of example, a thing which admits of 

 doubt in this case. 



There are two courts of justice: one civil, called 

 the Under Court, which is private, and does all busi- 

 ness in writing; the other is open, and takes cog- 

 nisance of criminals. The taxes are well levied, and 

 easily for the people ; they amount to 1 J million a- 

 year, which does not come to more than Is. in 20 

 at a medium, chiefly on consumption. 



