276 



DENMARK. 



stitutional question to an issue by an address to 

 the King expressing lack of confidence in the 

 ministry. The Landsthing adopted counter- 

 resolutions; and deputations of both Houses 

 waited on the King. The address of the 

 Folkething reminded the King that the min- 

 istry, since its constitution, had been unable to 

 obtain the assent of the legislature to any meas- 

 ure of importance except the annual budget ; 

 that in 1877 the expenditures for a part of the 

 year were met by the assumption by the Gov- 

 ernment of unconstitutional powers, and those 

 of 1881-'82 by occasional grants without a 

 regular finance law ; that the Government 

 had dissolved the Folkething four times, and 

 in each election an increased majority had 

 confirmed the position taken by the Opposi- 

 tion ; and that the country suffered great 

 detriment from the stagnation of public busi- 

 ness resulting from this never-ending conflict. 

 The vote of censure was carried in the Folke- 

 thing by a majority of 72 to 20, while the vote 

 of confidence in the Landsthing was supported 

 by 40 against 10. The King received the ad- 

 dresses of both Houses, and in his answer re- 

 buked the Folkething for defeating the legis- 

 lative efforts of the Government and rejecting 

 the plans for national defense, while he in- 

 formed the Landsthing that he would maintain 

 the constitutional order against the attacks of 

 the Opposition. To a deputation representing 

 a mass-meeting of 18,000 persons which sought 

 audience with the King in May, he replied that 

 only the legislative representation, by which 

 he understood both Chambers, could speak to 

 him in the name of the people, and reaffirmed 

 his right to choose his own ministers. All 

 through the year popular meetings were held 

 to protest against the attitude of the ministry. 

 The Government, which upheld the same doc- 

 trine of the royal prerogative that is advanced 

 by the German Government, though against no 

 such pronounced and general popular dissent 

 as is manifested in Denmark, attempted to 

 strengthen their position, which was growing 

 more and more untenable, by imitating the 

 tactics of Prince Bismarck. In the session of 

 the Rigsdag which opened Oct. 1st, the minis- 

 try brought in a bill to provide a system of old- 

 age insurance for the poorer classes after the 

 Folkething had tabled thirty ministerial meas- 

 ures. A scheme of superannuation annuities 

 was inaugurated twenty years before by Min- 

 ister David r but was afterward abandoned. A 

 Government refuge for the aged already exists. 

 The present proposition provides for the accu- 

 mulation of a fund by weekly voluntary pay- 

 ments, to be repaid in the form of annuities, 

 generally not exceeding 200 crowns, after the 

 age of fifty-five, or returned in other cases with 

 interest compounded at 2 per cent., the state 

 furnishing the guarantee and defraying the ex- 

 penses of administration. The Folkething did 

 not reject this bill off-hand as it did the others, 

 but debated it, referred it to a committee, and 

 finally voted against it on its merits. 



Socialist Congress. The German Social-Demo- 

 crats, while enjoying in the Reichstag the free- 

 dom of speech which the German Constitution 

 insures, and commanding a degree of attention 

 which is more than commensurate with their 

 numerical strength in the legislature, are 

 hunted by the police out-of-doors, and refused 

 every right of assembly, speech, and printing, 

 which would enable them to communicate 

 with their constituents and consult upon party 

 action. They not only dare not assemble in 

 Germany, but through the influence of the 

 German Government an asylum is likely to be 

 refused to them in the neighboring countries. 

 In 1883 they planned in secret to hold their 

 annual convention in Copenhagen, while the 

 German police and the public were led to sup- 

 pose that it would take place at Zurich. They 

 arrived unobserved and registered under as- 

 sumed names in the hotels. There were fifty- 

 six delegates, representing sixty districts of 

 Germany, among them the entire Social-Demo- 

 cratic delegation in the German Parliament 

 with two or three exceptions. There were 

 representatives also of the German Socialists 

 in England, France, and Switzerland. The 

 Danish police discovered the character of the 

 gathering on the second day, and warned them 

 to take a speedy departure. They closed their 

 three- days' session April 2d, and returned to 

 Germany. The deputies Von Vollmar and 

 Frohme were apprehended on landing at Kiel 

 by the German police, and their detention was 

 the subject of a discussion in the German Par- 

 liament. The Copenhagen Congress discussed, 

 among other party matters, the position to be 

 taken in the elections of 1884, and decided to 

 oppose out and out the socialistic legislative 

 projects of Prince Bismarck. 



German Conscription of Sehleswig Danes. Among 

 the difficulties which followed the high-handed 

 disposal of the Schleswig-Holstein -question by 

 Prussia, is the anomalous position of that por- 

 tion of the inhabitants of the annexed prov- 

 inces who elected under the treaty to remain 

 Danish subjects. A considerable proportion of 

 the more substantial Danish farmers in North- 

 ern Sehleswig availed themselves of the option, 

 crossing the frontier and residing in Denmark 

 long enough to preserve their rights of nation- 

 ality according to treaty, and then returning 

 to their homesteads. Their children are Dan- 

 ish subjects by birthright. This class now 

 numbers from 20,000 to 30,000 in North 

 Sehleswig, and is increasing. In some dis- 

 tricts one quarter or one third of the popula- 

 tion are Danish subjects by option, or descend- 

 ants of such. Disturbed at the increase of the 

 Danish community, the Prussian Government 

 issued a decree in January requiring the sons 

 of Danish subjects to embrace the German 

 nationality, and, as an indication of their in- 

 tention of becoming naturalized, to report 

 themselves for military service or to emigrate 

 on pain of forcible banishment. This order 

 created much excitement in Sehleswig and 



