A kingdom in the north of Europe, limited in extent and population, but known in history since an early period of the Christian era. There is no authentic account of the origin of the name of Denmark, nor of the quarter from which the country received its early inhabitants. From the similarity of the Danish and German languages, as well as from the general course of migration in early ages, it seems probable that Denmark was peopled by immigrants from the southward; from Holstein, Hanover, and Saxony. There are no means of ascertaining whether natives of Denmark formed part of the formidable hordes which passed the Roman frontiers in the fifth and sixth centuries; but the attacks on this empire were probably made by tribes less remote, the expeditions of the Danes being in general maritime. For such expeditions they were remarkable as early as the eighth and ninth centuries, as was proved by their repeated invasions of England, their occasional descents on Scotland, and their conquest, followed by permanent occupation, of Normandy.
To cross a sea of three or four hundred miles in breadth was a bold undertaking for men unacquainted with the use of the compass; but the number of islands in Denmark early accustomed the inhabitants to navigation, and gave them a practical dexterity in it, similar to that acquired by the Dutch from their vicinity to arms of the sea, and to the mouths of great rivers. Both countries proved the advantage of a maritime position, for in those days neither France nor England were capable of sending forth a naval armament.
At the period in question, or rather somewhat later, viz. about the early part of the tenth century, commences the authentic history of Denmark. Till then the country, ill cultivated and thinly peopled, seems not to have been subject to one sovereign, but to have obeyed provincial or local rulers, like England during the Heptarchy. Alfred had, it is well known, various conflicts with those northern invaders; but he had the judgment eventually to suspend hostilities, and to assign to them a portion of his territories. He knew how small a part of England was cultivated, and he considered that there was ample room in the country for both Dane and Saxon. The establishment thus given to the Danes in England, and the subsequent arrival of bodies of their countrymen, joined to the talents of two of their princes, Swane and Canute, enabled the latter to acquire the crown of England. Canute completed the conquest begun by his father, and became king of England as well as of Denmark in the year 1017; he re-sided generally in this country, and left the crown to his sons Harold and Hardi-Canute. On the death of the latter, without male heirs, the Danish dynasty in England came to a close in 1041. After the eleventh century, we read of no invasion of England by the Danes, although a considerable proportion of the inhabitants of our eastern and northern counties were doubtless descended from Danish settlers.
The progress of society and the course of political events in Denmark resembled in several points those of our own country. The feudal system was introduced there in the twelfth century, which, as well as the thirteenth, were marked in Denmark, as in England, by contentions between the sovereign and the barons, and by concessions from the former in the style of Magna Charta. About the thirteenth century, the population of towns in Denmark, as in Germany and the central parts of Europe, though still very small, became such as to entitle them to obtain from the crown charters of incorporation, and an exemption from the control of the barons, in whom was vested almost the whole property of the land. A regular constitution began now to be formed in Denmark; and the towns sent deputies or representatives to the states or parliament, which, it was enacted, should meet once a year. It was also ordered that the laws should be uniform throughout the kingdom, and that no tax should be imposed without the authority of parliament.
It would be tedious and uninteresting to recapitulate the successive sovereigns of Denmark in the middle ages, of whom few were of distinguished ability. The names of most frequent occurrence among them in those early times were Canute, Valdemar, and Eric. Those of Christiern or Christian and Frederick were of later date. One of the most remarkable of the Danish sovereigns in the middle ages was Valdemar II., who succeeded to the crown in 1203, and some time afterwards proceeded to Livonia, in which his predecessors had endeavoured to introduce Christianity. He found no great difficulty in defeating bodies of men so little advanced in civilization as to be clothed in the skins of wild beasts; but a country in so barbarous a state presented little attraction in either a commercial or political sense; so that the Danes found little inducement to extend their settlements on the southern shores of the Baltic.
The chief mercantile intercourse of Denmark in these Lubeck times was with Lubeck and the north-west of Germany, and to the Baltic Lubeck was nearly what Venice was to the zic. Mediterranean, the earliest commercial town of consequence. There was also some traffic from Denmark to the mouths of the Vistula; the name of Dantzig or Dansvik (Danish town or port) indicating that a Danish colony, aware of the advantages of the situation, had established itself there. The more remote provinces of Courland and Esthonia were also an object of ambition with the Danes; but they did not find it practicable to keep settlements there. Holstein was more within their control, and much more advantageous, from the comparative civilization of its inhabitants.
At the time of which we are now treating, namely, the fourteenth century, the association of the Hans Towns had acquired considerable strength, and asserted strenuously the freedom of commerce in the north of Europe. Denmark, possessing the great entrance into the Baltic by the Sound, was the power most interested in laying merchant vessels under a toll or regular contribution; and the result was repeated contentions, followed at times by open war, between the Danish government and this powerful confederacy.
The most important event in the history of Denmark, or indeed of Scandinavia, in the middle ages, was the conjunct submission of Sweden, Denmark, and Norway to one sovereign, by the compact or union of Calmar, in the year 1397. The circumstances were as follows: Valdemar III., king of Denmark, having died in the year 1378, left two daughters, of whom the second, Margaret, was married to Haquin or Haco, king of Norway. On the demise of her husband the government of Norway remained in her hands; and afterwards, on the death of her son, who had been declared king of Denmark, the states or parliament of that country fixed this princess on the throne, on her consenting to extend and secure their rights and privileges. The states of Norway followed their example; so that Margaret, finding herself seated on the thrones of Denmark and Norway, directed her attention to that of Sweden, the succession to which would have fallen to her husband Haquin had he survived. The Swedes were divided into two parties, that of Margaret, and that of a Duke of Mecklenburg, who, though unconnected with the royal family of Sweden, claimed to be king by election. Margaret, a princess of great activity and ambition, was indefatigable in obtaining the support of the clergy and nobility of Sweden; an appeal to arms took place, and the result was favourable to the cause of the queen, her competitor being defeated and made prisoner. In 1397 the states of the three kingdoms were convoked at Calmar, a town centrally situated for such an assemblage, being in the south of Sweden. There they concurred in passing the well-known act called the Union of Calmar, the purport of which was, that the three kingdoms should henceforth be under one sovereign, who should, however, be bound to govern each according to its respective laws and customs. To guard against their separation, it was enacted, that if a sovereign should leave several sons, one of them only should be the ruler of the three kingdoms, the other holding fiefs under him; and in the event of the reigning king or queen dying without children, the senators and parliamentary deputies of the three kingdoms should jointly proceed to the election of another sovereign, that the union of the kingdoms might be maintained.
Such were the precautions taken by this vigilant and able princess, who has been called the Semiramis of the North, in order to banish war and political dissensions from Scandinavia. For a time they were successful, and peace and concord were maintained during the lifetime of Margaret and two of her successors. But the union, as regarded the Swedes, was far from being cordial; they submitted reluctantly to a foreign family, and considered themselves as obliged to act in subserviency to the political views of Denmark. They saw the chief places of trust in their country conferred on Danish or German ministers, and viewed these foreigners with as much jealousy as the Belgians in our day felt towards the Hollanders introduced by the house of Orange. These and other causes prevented the union of Sweden from being cordial or complete. Local insurrections, fomented by particular classes, and strengthened by national antipathy, occurred from time to time during the century, or somewhat more, that the union of Calmar continued in existence. At last the severity, or rather cruelty, of one of the Danish kings, Christian II., and the appearance of an able assertor of Swedish independence in Gustavus Vasa, a man of rank, led to an insurrection, which beginning in the northern province of Dalecarlia, extended throughout Sweden, and led to a definitive separation of the two crowns in the year 1523.
In 1490 the reigning king of Denmark made a commercial treaty with Henry VII. of England, by which the English engaged to pay the Sound dues on all vessels entering or returning from the Baltic; and in return they were allowed to have mercantile consuls in the chief sea-ports of Denmark and Norway. By this time the extension of trade had given rise in Denmark, as in England, to a middle class, among whom the sovereign found in each country the means of balancing the political weight of the nobility; hence a grant was made by the kings of Denmark of various privileges to traders, and relief from a number of local imposts on the transit of merchandise.
The rude habits of the age were strongly marked by the plundering difficulty which the Danish government found in putting ships wrecked on the coast. Vessels proceeding to and from the Baltic necessarily approached the coast of Jutland, particularly in an age when the ignorance of mariners led to their considering the vicinity of the land in the light of a protection. Shipwrecks were consequently of frequent occurrence there, and were generally turned to the profit of the nobility, who were proprietors of the maritime districts; and not of the land only, but of the persons of the peasantry; for a state of personal bondage was until lately maintained in Denmark. The practice was to collect in the vicinity of a wreck such a number of the inhabitants as to prevent the master or mariners from opposing the seizure of the merchandise. Even bishops residing on the coast, though humane in their treatment of the crews, did not scruple to aid in taking forcible possession of the cargo; so crude were in those days the notions of justice towards merchants. It is a remarkable fact, that a law passed by the king about the year 1521 for the prevention of these practices, was abrogated and publicly burned at the instance of the barons and clergy a few years after, when a new sovereign had succeeded to the crown.
The doctrines of the Reformation happily found their way into Denmark at an early date, Frederick I., who reigned in 1525, and had formerly been duke of Holstein, having then embraced the Protestant religion. The inhabitants of Denmark being divided between the Catholics and Protestants, Frederick began by an edict for tolerating both religions. An assembly of the states or parliament next passed a solemn act for the free preaching of the reformed faith, and for allowing ecclesiastics of any class to marry and reside in any part of the kingdom. The consequence of this was a reduction of the number of the inmates of abbeys, monasteries, and convents, along with the general diffusion of the Lutheran faith throughout the kingdom. This rapid progress enabled the succeeding sovereign, Christian III., to act like Henry VIII. of England, by annexing the church-lands to the crown, and strength- Contests between Catholics and Protestants in Germany began in the middle of the sixteenth century, but it was not till 1618 that they led to continued war. The Catholics were headed by the house of Austria, and, to oppose that formidable union, the Protestant princes, consisting of the electors of Brandenburg, Saxony, and others, formed themselves into a league, and sought assistance from Holland, England, Denmark, and other Protestant states. The king of Denmark acceded to the league, and was for some years commander of its forces in Saxony; but he was unequal to the task of opposing the Austrians, and the management of the war was transferred to more vigorous hands, to those of Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden, whose career, unfortunately too short, came to a close at Lutzen in the hour of victory in 1632. He left, however, several able officers trained in his school, who maintained the contest with the Catholics until the peace of Westphalia in 1648.
The Danish frontier comprising the lower part of the right bank of the Elbe, differences occasionally occurred between Hamburg and the court of Copenhagen. The latter urged that a toll or duty ought to be paid to Denmark on vessels sailing up the river, and sought to raise the small port of Glückstadt, on the Danish side of the Elbe, to a rivalryship with Hamburg. These and other causes led, in 1630, to a contest between Denmark and that mercantile republic, which for a time wore a serious aspect, but was happily settled without much bloodshed. Further discussions occurred subsequently with Hamburg; but the causes being local, and the result seldom of general interest, we pass them over.
Towards the middle of the seventeenth century a renewal of political jealousy, followed by hostilities, took place between Denmark and Sweden. The first contest lasted from 1637 to 1645, and the treaty concluded in the latter year proved rather a truce than a peace. The Danish government formed an alliance with Holland, and aided that republic in her sanguinary contest in 1652 with England when under the authority of Cromwell. The king of Sweden at that time was Charles Gustavus, a prince in the vigour of life, and actuated by all the ambition and enterprise of the house of Vasa. He had carried his military operations into Poland, which then, as at other times, seemed to invite the presence of foreigners by its political divisions. But on learning the hostile disposition of the Danish government, Charles withdrew his troops from Poland, entered Holstein, and overrun the whole province. As soon as the winter had advanced, and it had become practicable to cross the arms of the sea separating the Danish islands from the main land on the ice, the Swedish army traversed in that manner the Little Belt; took Odensee, the capital of the island of Fumø, and even invested Copenhagen. That capital was not without a military force, but its walls were weak, nor was it adequately supplied with provisions or military stores. On this occasion the Danes, with their king Frederick III. at their head, discovered great firmness, and resisted the efforts of the Swedes, until, under the mediation of the English convoy at the court of Copenhagen, hostilities were suspended, and a treaty signed; which, however, was but partly carried into execution. Dissatisfied at the delay which took place, Charles Gustavus made a second attempt on Copenhagen in the autumn of 1658; but he found it impracticable to prevent supplies being introduced into the city by sea, the Dutch coming to the assistance of their Danish allies. Still the Swedes persisted in the siege, and in the depth of winter (in February 1659), made an attempt to take Copenhagen by storm. The attacks were made on three points, each headed by an able commander, but each was unsuccessful, and the siege was necessarily converted into a blockade. Soon afterwards the king of Sweden died, and this sanguinary contest was brought to a close.
In the following year, 1660, the vicissitudes of war were succeeded by a remarkable revolution in domestic politics. The reigning king of Denmark had gained great popularity, as well by his spirit and firmness in the field, as by resisting claims made by the nobility to the disadvantage of the other orders of the state. He was thus assured of the support of the middle classes in any attempt to reduce the power of the nobility. On assembling the states or parliament, the representatives of the different towns were found sufficiently strong, when united with the clergy and strengthened by the power of the crown, to outweigh the influence of the nobility, and the court determined to act with vigour in extending its prerogative. The political contest began about the crown lands, which had hitherto been let to nobles only, and at very low rents; it was proposed and carried in the parliament, that men of any class or station might be candidates for them, and that they should be let to the highest bidder. The next proposition of the clergy and commons was, that the crown, hitherto in some degree elective, should be so no longer, but should devolve, as a matter of right, on the lawful heir, whether male or female. To a people who had suffered so greatly from the contentions of factions, this proposition was highly acceptable; the nobility also felt the necessity of concurring in the measure, which was followed by an alteration in the coronation oath of the sovereign. That oath had hitherto specified explicitly the rights of the nobility, but it henceforth contained no stipulation on the part of the sovereign. The record or original of the oath which the reigning king had signed at his accession, and which limited his authority, was surrendered to him, and an engagement of unqualified allegiance was then taken by each of the orders. These important changes were, some time afterwards, followed by an act or law still more comprehensive and absolute, the sovereign being invested with unlimited power, and declared to possess the right to make, repeal, and interpret any law, or to enter into any engagement without reference to parliament. This applied equally to foreign and domestic affairs: in short, whatever power could be shown to have belonged to any ruler in any country, was forthwith to be understood as belonging to the king of Denmark.
This remarkable change in the form of the government is to be explained chiefly by the repugnance of the people of Denmark to the ascendency of the nobility. The French revolution proceeded from causes somewhat similar; but in Denmark the control possessed by the privileged class was not tempered, as in France, by civilized and refined habits. The direct authority of the nobles was also greater, for they possessed the power of life and death over their vassals. Many of them attempted to resist the change, but without success, so powerful was the union of the people and the sovereign. Frederick lived ten years after this singular revolution; a period which enabled him to consolidate it, and to reinstate in peace the trade and finances of his country.
His successor, animated by the ardour of youth, deviated from a pacific course, and ventured to make war against Sweden. He relied on the aid of the Elector of Brandenburg, commonly called the Great Elector; the possession of so extensive a country as Prussia placing him quite at the head of the princes of the empire. Swedish Pomerania was chosen as the scene of operations, from being open to attack by the Prussians; the Swedes were overmatched in force, but being well commanded, they made a firm and spirited resistance. By sea the Danes
The Danish government had now ample experience of the sacrifices attendant on war, and of the expediency, to a state of such limited power, of avoiding political collisions. It consequently adopted a course to which it has almost ever since endeavoured to adhere, the system of continued peace. In that wise determination its government took by a century the lead of our own, and from causes easily explained. A dread of formidable neighbours, and the evident necessity of husbanding the national resources, caused in Denmark, at that comparatively early period, an aversion from war; but in a country so powerful, and in general so successful in war, as England, a much severer lesson was required; nor did our government sufficiently appreciate the evils of war until some time after the close of the late contest, when we became aware of the real magnitude of our burdens, and awakened to the immense sacrifices attendant on continued hostilities, even when accompanied by victory.
It was towards the middle of the eighteenth century that the family of Bernstorff became known in the councils of Denmark, the first minister of that name, a man of superior talent and information, having come forward at that time. By the prudence of the ministry, and the pacific disposition of the sovereign, Denmark was kept from taking part in the war begun in Germany in 1740, as well as in the more general contest begun in the same country in 1756.
Frederick V., of Denmark was twice married, and died in Counts 1766, leaving a son by each wife. The crown devolved of Struensee on the elder, his son by the first wife, who took see and the name of Christian VII. He was a weak prince, and Brandt listened too readily to the insinuations of his step-mother, whose secret wish was to secure the succession of the crown to her own son, and who did not scruple, with that view, to sow discord between Christian and his young consort, a princess of England, and youngest daughter of George II. The circumstances were these: A German adventurer named Struensee had ingratiated himself into the favour of Frederick V., the late king, and had found means to be appointed his prime minister, a situation which he was ill qualified to fill. He continued to hold the place under Christian, and was introduced to the young queen as her husband's confidential minister. On this the queen dowager founded an intrigue, and succeeded in persuading the king that the queen, in concert with Struensee and his friend Count Brandt, had formed a project to set him aside, and to get herself declared regent of the kingdom. By working on the fears of this weak prince, the queen dowager prevailed on him to authorize the arrest of the queen and the two ministers. The latter were confined in dungeons, and Struensee was accused of having abused his authority as minister, and of other criminal acts. As there was no proof of these acts, recourse was had to the barbarous alternative of torture, the dread of which led Struensee to declare, in the form of a confession, much to the injury of the young queen, which is now considered as unfounded. This, however, did not enable him to escape; for he and Count Brandt were both beheaded in April 1772, whilst the queen consort was, at the instance of the British government, allowed to retire and to pass the short remainder of her life at Zell, in Hanover, repeatedly but fruitlessly demanding an open trial. This ill-fated princess died in her twenty-third year, without the satisfaction of knowing that the author of her misfortunes, the queen dowager, had lost her influence at the court of Denmark.
One of the principal political questions between England and Denmark occurred in the year 1780, in the midst neutrality of our war with France, Spain, and the North American colonies. During that arduous contest, England, superior at sea, had no difficulty in obtaining, by her own merchantmen, a supply of hemp, cordage, and other naval stores, from the Baltic, whilst France and Spain trusted to receiving such supplies by neutral vessels. But our government denied the right of neutrals to carry warlike stores; and the northern powers, headed by the ambitious Catherine of Russia, entered into a compact, called the armed neutrality, by which, without resorting to actual hostility, they sought to overawe this country, and to continue the questionable traffic. Happily no bloodshed followed this diplomatic menace, and the question fell to the ground in 1782, on the negotiation for a general peace.
The king of Denmark, subject all along to imbecility, became, after 1784, quite incapable of governing. His son, the crown prince, was therefore appointed regent, and soon passed several judicious enactments. The peasants living on the crown lands were gradually emancipated, an example followed by a number of the nobility on their respective properties. In the abolition of the African slave trade Denmark had the honour of taking the lead among the governments of Europe. The crown prince, guided by the counsels of Count Bernstorff, son of the minister already mentioned, long remained neutral in the political convulsion engendered by the French Revolution. He continued to adhere steadfastly to this plan until in 1801 the Emperor Paul of Russia having, as in the case of the armed neutrality, formed a compact of the northern powers hostile to England, a British fleet was sent into the Baltic under the orders of Sir Hyde Parker, with Lord Nelson as his second in command.
It was this fleet which taught the Danes that their capital was not impregnable, and that the long line of men of war moored in front of the harbour was an insufficient defence against such enterprising opponents. The attack took place on 24th April 1801; and the resistance of the Danes was spirited, but fruitless. Our loss in killed and wounded exceeded 1000 men, but that of our opponents was much greater, and most of their shipping was destroyed. Happily little injury was done to the capital. A cessation of hostilities took place forthwith, and was followed by a treaty of peace. The death of the Emperor Paul, which occurred soon afterwards, dissolved the compact between the northern courts.
But no treaty of peace could be regarded as permanent during the ascendancy of Bonaparte. After defeating, first Austria, and then Prussia, that extraordinary man found means to obtain the confidence of the Emperor Alexander of Russia, and in the autumn of 1807 threatened to make Denmark take part in the war against England. Although the Danish government discovered no intention to violate its neutrality, our ministers, eager to please the public by acting on a system of vigour, dispatched to the Baltic both a fleet and an army, in order to compel the surrender of the Danish navy upon condition of its being restored at a peace. To such a demand the crown prince gave an immediate negative, declaring that he was both able and willing to maintain his neutrality, and that his fleet could not be given up on any such condition. On this our army landed near Copenhagen; laid siege to that city; and soon obliged the government to purchase its safety by surrendering the whole of its naval force.
This act, the most questionable in point of justice of any committed by the British government during the war, can hardly be defended on the score of policy. The battle of Trafalgar had ere this been fought; and after that great victory our superiority at sea was so decisive as to exempt us from the necessity of offending foreign powers by adopting extreme measures. The resentment felt on that occasion by the Emperor of Russia was so great as to deprive us during four arduous years of the benefit of his alliance; and the seizure of the Danish fleet so exasperated the crown prince and the nation at large, that they forthwith declared war against England, throwing themselves completely into the arms of France.
The hostilities between England and Denmark were carried on by sea, partly at the entrance of the Baltic, and partly on the coast of Norway. These consisted of a series of actions between single vessels or small detachments, in which the Danes fought always with spirit, and not unfrequently with success. In regard to trade, both nations suffered severely; the British merchantmen in the Baltic being much annoyed by Danish cruisers, whilst the foreign trade of Denmark was in a manner suspended by our naval superiority.
Such continued the situation of the two countries during Statute five years, when at last the overthrow of Bonaparte in Russia opened a hope of deliverance to those who were involuntarily his allies. The Danish government would now gladly have made peace with England; but our ministry, in order to secure the cordial co-operation of Russia and Sweden, had gone so far as to guarantee to these powers the cession of Norway on the part of Denmark. The Danes, ill prepared for so great a sacrifice, continued their connection with France during the eventful year 1813; but at the close of that campaign a superior force was directed by the allied sovereigns against Holstein, and the result was, first an armistice, and eventually a treaty of peace in January 1814. The terms of the peace were, that Denmark should cede Norway to Sweden, and that Sweden, in return, should give up Pomerania to Denmark. But Pomerania being too distant to form a suitable appendage to the Danish territory, was exchanged for a sum of money and a small district in Lauenburg adjoining Holstein. On the part of England, the conquests made from Denmark in the East and West Indies were restored; all, in short, that had been occupied by British troops, excepting the small island of Heligoland.
Twenty years have now elapsed since Denmark was obliged to purchase peace by the cession of Norway. That period has been passed by her government in the manner most likely to heal the wounds so unfortunately and unjustly inflicted upon her by foreign powers. Denmark has followed a course strictly pacific: she has been a party to no projects against her neighbours, to no schemes of monopoly or national aggrandisement. The seizure of her fleet in 1807, and the sharp conflicts with the English which continued during the war, long made our name an object of dislike among the Danes; but the odium is now lessened by the confidence with which our monied interest has answered the application of their government for loans. In return they have been punctual in the discharge of the interest; and Danish stock continues to bear a high price on the London Exchange.
**STATISTICS OF DENMARK.**
The population of the Danish dominions in the year 1832 was as follows:
| Inhabitants | |-------------| | Zealand and the lesser islands adjoining, nearly | 400,000 | | Funen and Langeland | 160,000 | | Laland and Falster | 80,000 |
**Jutland.**
| Diocese or province of Aalborg | 180,000 | | Wyborg | 60,000 | | Aarhus | 120,000 | | Ribe or Rypen | 180,000 |
In all Jutland | 540,000 | Sleswick | 350,000 | Holstein | 404,000 | Lauenburg | 40,000 |
**Remote Possessions.**
| Iceland | 51,000 | | Faroe or Ferro islands | 7,000 | | Greenland | 7,000 | | Christiansburg and other stations on the coast of Guinea | 44,000 | | West Indies (the islands of Santa, St Thomas, and St John) | 47,000 | | East Indies (Tranquebar, and factories on the coast of Coromandel) | 60,000 |
In all | 2,200,000 | The island of Zealand contains about 2800 square miles of territory, corresponding in extent to two middle-sized counties in England. Its surface is in general flat, and only a few feet higher than the level of the sea. Its aspect is the most pleasant of any part of the territory of Denmark; but in other respects it is greatly behind England or the Netherlands. Though personal slavery has been abolished among the peasantry of Denmark since the beginning of the present century, there yet remain many traces of the feudal system. Having hardly any capital, the tenants, even in Zealand, pay their rent in produce, or by the labour of themselves and their cattle. It is only in the present age that Danish landholders have considered their peasantry as entitled to take land on lease. Tithes are still collected by government; and one portion of the collection is for the church as a body, another for individual clergymen, and a third for the royal treasury. A stipulated amount in labour is supplied by the tenantry, for the maintenance of roads, bridges, and a few charitable institutions.
The island of Zealand contains Copenhagen, the capital, and Elsinore, a well-known sea-port. Roschild, the ancient capital, is a small place. Funen, the island next in extent to Zealand, is about fifty miles in length, and forty in breadth; its chief town, Odensee, is small, though of great antiquity. After these come the smaller islands of Lolland, Langeland, Falster, and Bornholm, the last situated at some distance in the Baltic. In the islands, as on the mainland, a part of the crown lands is let on easy terms to tenants, who become bound to carry certain improvements into effect.
In a country where the provincial towns are so small as in Denmark, the capital claims an extra share of attention, being almost the only place suitable for trade or manufactures on a large scale. Its population is nearly 120,000, having doubled in the course of a century. Its aspect from the water is very fine; nor does a near view disappoint expectation, most of the streets being of modern construction, owing partly to the augmented population, and partly to the extent of re-building necessary after the great fires of 1728 and 1794. In the eleventh century Copenhagen was merely a collection of the huts of fishermen; in the twelfth it became fortified; in the thirteenth, being further fortified, its population increased; in the fourteenth a charter of incorporation was conferred on it by the government; and finally, in the fifteenth century (1443), it became the residence of the court, and the seat of a university. Till then Roschild, a small inland town in the same island (Zealand), had been the seat of government. The extension of Copenhagen was owing chiefly to its good harbour, and to the security imparted to it both by sea and land, in consequence of its fortifications. In the sixteenth century a further advantage was obtained, by putting under cultivation the adjacent island of Amak. In that age Denmark, like England, was very backward in gardening and in the useful arts, compared to Flanders; and a queen of Denmark, a native of the Low Countries, caused a little colony of Flemings to be brought over and established in the island in question, which has ever since supplied the capital with fruits, pulse, and vegetables. Copenhagen has a royal bank, and is the seat of the chief public establishments. It has manufactures of linen, sail-cloth, woollens, leather; and also extensive dock-yards. The shipping belonging to it is about five hundred vessels, manned by six or seven thousand seamen.
Elsinore, with a population of 7000, is in the same island of Zealand, at a distance of twenty miles from the capital; but the sea-port which ranks next after Copenhagen in point of trade is Altena or Altona, on the right bank of the Elbe, immediately adjoining Hamburg.
The provincial divisions of Denmark on the mainland Statistics occupy a much wider extent of territory than those on the islands. Jutland is a hundred and eighty miles in length, and nearly eighty in breadth, its extent being above ten thousand square miles, and its form that of an oblong, with a triangle towards the north. It extends from the 55th to the 58th degree of north latitude, and is divided into four provinces or dioceses, viz. Aalborg in the north, Wyborg in the centre, Aarhus in the east, and Ribe or Rypen in the south and west. These towns are all small, Aarhus, the largest, having only 5000 inhabitants. The rivers of Jutland are necessarily small, from the few hills and the limited breadth of the country; but there is a number of bays or inlets of the sea, which run a great way up into the interior. Of these, by far the longest and most extensive is called Lynfjord. Fish forms consequently a frequent article of food in Jutland.
Jutland has no large towns, and was in former ages covered with forests. Part of these still remain; and the features of this part of the Danish territory are ruder than those of the islands. Still Jutland is pleasantly diversified with woods and pastures. Wild animals formerly abundant in its forests; but they have gradually disappeared since cultivation has been extended. The climate of Jutland bears a considerable resemblance to that of the north of England; but the transitions from summer to winter and from winter to summer are much more rapid than with us, whilst the heat of summer is greater, and the cold of winter more intense. This proceeds from the comparative vicinity of Denmark to the vast tract of continent which forms the Russian empire, and is proverbial for its cold. As to the soil of Jutland, a great proportion of it is dry and sandy, which, when raised in clouds by the wind, and scattered over cultivated districts, is productive of great mischief. The best means of lessening these calamities is to sow bent grass and plant shrubs in the sandy soil, as is practised in the downs in Holland, and as has long been enjoined by the Danish government.
The pasturages in Jutland are extensive, and the horses are of large size, but fitter for draught than for the saddle. The horned cattle are also of a good breed, and a quantity of them are sent annually to Holstein. Of farming, the only good examples to be met with are in the crown lands, where the farms are of adequate size. The other occupancies are in general small; and nothing can be more imperfect than the implements of husbandry used in Jutland, and indeed in Denmark generally. The poverty of the peasantry may be inferred from the fact of their wearing wooden shoes. Their families pass the long winter evenings in making a number of articles of clothing for their own use, such as linen and stockings. Like other ignorant men, the Jutland farmers show an apathy, and indeed an aversion, in regard to improvements which might be introduced from other countries. Husbandmen have been brought over from Scotland, but their example has been little followed. The trade with Norway is carried on chiefly from the north coast of Jutland, and consists of the export of rye for bread, and of barley and malt for distilling. Wheat is as little cultivated here as it was in the north of England a century and a half ago; for the upper classes only can afford to consume it. The cultivation of potatoes was long as much neglected in this country as in France, but it has been much extended in the course of the present age. In minerals neither Jutland nor indeed any part of the Danish territory is rich. Coal is found in very few parts, a great privation in a country where the facility of communication by water would make coal so generally useful. The common fuel is either peat or turf.
Such is the state of three fourths of Jutland. A different scene is presented along its western coast, as well as Denmark, along the western shore of Sleswick and Holstein. In all these the surface is a continued level, gained in the course of ages from the sea, and fortified against inundation, as in Holland, by dikes or mounds. It is called the marsh land, and resembles the fens in Lincoln and Cambridgeshire. The soil being rich, is adapted to wheat and barley, as well as to oats and rye. Of oats the crops are very heavy, and rape is cultivated with advantage; but the great object with agriculturists is grazing. The horses of Holstein have long been remarked for their shape as well as spirit, and are exported annually in numbers to Germany, France, and Russia. Of horned cattle there is likewise a considerable annual export; and the farmers throughout the whole of this tract will not break up their pasture, nor incur the expense of tillage, without an assurance of higher prices than have been obtained since the year 1820; for since that time agriculturists in Denmark, as in England, have incurred a continued depreciation of property.
Sleswick. Sleswick is of an oblong form, about seventy miles in length, and from thirty to fifty-six in breadth. Its surface is about 3600 square miles. The climate resembles that of the north of England. Rain occurs with both east and west winds, and the extremes of cold or heat are seldom of long continuance. Here, as in Jutland, the greater part of the interior is dry and sandy. The chief towns are,
| Population | |------------| | Flensburg, an improving place, 15000 | | Sleswick ........................................... 7000 | | Torningen ........................................... 3000 |
As to its history, the duchy of Sleswick had for many ages been in close connection with Denmark, being governed sometimes directly by the king, at other times, as a dependency, by a brother of the reigning sovereign; but since 1720 it has been completely incorporated with the Danish dominions.
Holstein. Holstein, somewhat less in extent than Sleswick, has a surface of 3300 square miles. The western part, adjoining the German Ocean and the banks of the Elbe, was, like the maritime border of South Jutland, reclaimed in former ages from the sea, and is secured by dikes against inundations. It has the rich soil of an alluvial country, whilst that of the inland part of the duchy is light, and in some degree sandy. The products are rye, barley, oats, with more wheat than in any other part of the Danish territory; but the chief wealth of Holstein, as of Sleswick, consists in its pastures. Horses and horned cattle are both exported largely. The chief towns are,
| Population | |------------| | Altena, on the Elbe, adjacent to Hamburg ........ 24000 | | Glückstadt, a sea-port at the mouth of the Elbe .... 6000 | | Rendsburg, inland, near the Canal of Kiel .......... 8000 | | Kiel, at the east end of the canal, adjoining the Baltic .................................................. 7500 |
The inhabitants of Holstein are almost all of Saxon descent; and German, not Danish, is the language of the country. The state of the peasantry here, as in Sleswick, is not quite so backward as in Jutland.
In the marsh lands along the western coast of the Danish dominions, the dikes exclude the action of the high tides. In former ages melancholy scenes were known to occur from irruptions of the sea; but during the last two centuries, such irruptions have not been destructive, the banks and dikes being sufficiently strong to resist the violence of the waves. Fields, and even districts, when under water, are drained by windmills, as in the Netherlands. The mounds and other defensive works are under the management of a government board, which, like the Waterstaat in Holland, prescribe regulations, which the local proprietors or tenants are bound to follow. It is curious to trace the successive extensions of the cultivated land by the old embankments, which are seen at some distance inland, all along the west side of Sleswick and Holstein, and which form a continued level, as in the Dutch provinces. The prevailing malady of a marshy district, ague, is also common to these countries with Holland.
In order to complete our account of the territory subject to Denmark, it only remains that we notice the duchy of Lauenburg, on the banks of the Elbe, a short distance above Hamburg. In extent it is only about half an English county, with a population of 40,000. It adjoins Holstein, and forms the southern frontier of the Danish territory. This district is an undulating plain, with few hills. The population is almost wholly agricultural; and the only town, bearing also the name of Lauenburg, contains hardly 3000 inhabitants. This petty state, formerly governed by its own dukes, became incorporated with Hanover in 1689. It was made over to Denmark in 1815 at the congress of Vienna, along with a sum of money, in lieu of Swedish Pomerania, which, as already stated, was too distant to form a suitable appendage to the Danish dominions.
The corn exporting districts of Denmark and the north of Germany were in 1827 visited on account of the English government by Mr William Jacob, of the board of trade, who published the report of his survey. The object of our government was to ascertain how far the supply of corn to England might be extended, in the event of the removal of part of the restrictions on the importation of corn into this country. The result was, that there appeared little reason to expect an augmented supply whilst prices continued as of late years, because foreign agriculturists are subjected to heavier charges than is commonly believed in raising and in bringing their produce to market. Their advantage over the English farmer is confined almost to one point, the cheaper labour. The seasons are not more certain, nor in general more favourable to the growing crops, than in England. Their markets are by no means constant, nor are their farmers assured, like ours, of a demand on the spot for their produce, on merely exhibiting a sample. The corn itself must be conveyed to market; and if sales are dull, it must be warehoused, to await a demand from a distance. Less capital indeed is required for the current disbursements of a continental farmer; but from the long-continued cold of winter, the buildings appended to a farm must be more extensive than in our comparatively temperate climate.
The roads in Zealand and in the islands are very good; but in Jutland, Sleswick, and Holstein, they are in a most neglected state. Most of the corn, whether wheat or oats, which is exported, must be conveyed thirty, forty, or even fifty miles to a shipping port; a serious disadvantage where a team of four horses can draw to a distance only five quarters of corn instead of ten, as in England. In many situations the land-carryage of rye and oats forms a charge of ten or twelve per cent. on the amount.
Holstein and the north of Germany are better cultivated than most parts of the Continent. The interior of Germany and France are greatly behind them. But even in these countries there is a general deficiency of farming capital. From the landholder to the peasant, all are destitute of disposable funds. The cost of farm buildings is computed at a third of the whole value of the property; and the condition of the agriculturists is not more advanced than that of English farmers was a century ago. There is thus great difficulty in increasing the growth of corn for exportation.
Whilst in England the labour of thirty-five persons in a hundred suffices to produce the corn and other country produce required for the community, in Denmark, as in France, the labour of nearly sixty persons in a hundred is required for the same purpose. This is owing to the inferior implements, the smaller size of the farms, and the general backwardness of agriculture. During the war, when the prices of corn were high, Denmark participated in the supply of this country, and her landholders were benefited by it; but since the peace of 1814 the prices of corn in Denmark have been in general low, and the property of landholders has decreased in value. About half a century ago an office called the "chest of credit" was established by government, to make advances for agricultural improvements. These advances are made at an interest not exceeding four per cent., and the repayment takes place in small annual sums, it being sufficient that the debt be discharged in twenty or twenty-five years. About a million sterling has been lent out in this manner; and the management having been in general judicious, agriculture has been in some degree promoted by the government thus coming forward and supplying the want of capital in the tenantry. Still that advance has by no means been sufficient; most of the landed proprietors are in debt, and considerable sums are sent abroad annually to pay interest, for the holders of the mortgages are generally monied men residing in Lubeck and Hamburg.
Denmark was in former times so destitute of capital that its foreign trade, for both exportation and importation, was conducted in Dutch vessels. This was the case during the seventeenth century, and it was not till after the treaty with Sweden in 1720, and the adoption of a system of continued peace, that the mercantile shipping of the Danes became at all considerable. It has since been gradually on the increase; and had Norway remained united to Denmark, the mercantile navy of the two kingdoms would have approached to 300,000 tons, or one seventh of that of England; but without Norway the proportion of Danish shipping compared to the British is nearly as one to ten. Danish merchantmen resort to almost every part of Europe; to Petersburg and other ports in the Baltic; to Holland, England, France, Portugal, Spain, the Mediterranean, and as far as Odessa in the Black Sea. To the south of Europe Danish vessels carry fish and timber from Norway, salt provisions from Holstein, and iron from Sweden; and in return they receive and bring home wine, brandy, fruit, olive oil, and bay-salt. Their intercourse with Tranquebar and other factories or settlements in the south of India, as well as with their islands of Santa Cruz, St Thomas, and St John, in the West Indies, is apparently of more consequence; but long voyages, such as those to India, or a permanent advance on sugar estates, are not suited to merchants of such limited capital as those of Denmark. A better plan would be to extend their fisheries, as well the herring as the whale fishery, favourable as is their situation for both; their seamen, moreover, are active, and accustomed to serve for low wages. Amongst the petty branches of their traffic may be reckoned occasional voyages of small vessels to the Faroe or Ferro Islands, to Iceland, and to the equally uninviting region of Finnmark or Danish Lapland.
The sale of merchandise in Denmark, in particular of manufactured articles, takes place at public fairs, as was the case in England a century ago, and still is in France, Germany, and other parts of the Continent. These fairs are held at fixed seasons, the goods being conveyed from town to town in carts and waggons; but the whole is attended with toil and difficulty from the badness of the roads. It is now about half a century since the high roads in the islands were put under the management of trusts, and the landowners assessed in an annual sum of money, or quantity of labour to be performed by their tenants; Denmark, but on the mainland the roads are still in a very rude state.
The circulating medium in Jutland and the islands consists of paper money. The notes of the Bank of Copenhagen alone have a uniform value, being exchangeable for silver; but the paper in circulation prior to the establishment of the bank in 1819 is at a discount, the rate at which it is to be exchanged for cash being fixed every quarter of a year by a government order. Sleswick and Holstein are fortunately exempt from this irregularity, their currency being wholly metallic.
The scarcity of money among the farmers is at times such, that government consents to take corn at a fixed price in lieu of rent and taxes. A tax of six per cent. on the value of all land was imposed to supply a capital for the Bank of Copenhagen, that it might be assured of specie to pay its notes on demand.
The navigation from the north of Germany to Denmark, Canal of around the northern point of Jutland, being always tedious, Kiel, and sometimes dangerous, gave rise to the idea of uniting the two seas by means of a canal, communicating with the river Eyder. The work was commenced in 1777, and finished in the course of seven years, at a great expense. This is the Canal of Kiel, which begins near the town of that name, on the side of the Baltic, and extends eastward about twenty-three miles, when it comes in connection with the Eyder. This canal is nearly a hundred feet wide at the surface, and fifty-four at the bottom; it has six locks, and its least depth of water is ten feet; it admits vessels of 120 tons burden; and of such small shipping no less than from 2000 to 3000 pass in a year. Tonnigen is the port on the east coast, and the length of navigation from there to the Baltic is about 105 miles.
The passage to the Baltic by the Sound continues to be followed by English, Dutch, and other vessels of heavy burden, as well as by Swedes and Norwegians, on account of the vicinity of their respective countries to the Sound; but coasting vessels and other traders from Oldenburg, Hamburg, the mouth of the Elbe, as well as from Tonnigen and the ports of Sleswick, and still more small Danish barks belonging to the islands, find it a great convenience to traverse the Canal of Kiel. The hazard on the north coast of Jutland arises from extensive sand-banks and a number of currents.
After 1807, when the open war between Denmark and Britain made the passage by the Sound inexpedient, if not impracticable, for our mercantile convoys proceeding up the Baltic, recourse was had by them to the Great Belt, the width of which is nowhere less than ten miles, and in most parts much greater. The width of the Sound is not more than five English miles.
In manufactures the Danes have made little progress, Manufac- two thirds of the population deriving their support from tures agriculture. The constituents of manufacturing prosperity are abundance of fuel and easy communications. Now the towns in Denmark, with the exception of Copenhagen, are too small to afford the division of employment requisite for the success of manufactures; they have hardly any coal-mines, and no canal of any consequence except that of Kiel; and good roads are wanting in three fourths of the kingdom. The poverty of the peasantry prevents them in Denmark, as in Ireland, from sending their sons to serve apprenticeships in towns, so that the rising generation remain in the country and follow the employment of their fathers.
The consequence is, that in respect of manufactures, the Danes confine themselves to the supply of their own consumption in certain articles, and in others import what they require from this country and Germany. From the Statistics. latter linen is said to be imported to the value of half a million sterling. In order to cause that manufacture to flourish in Denmark, it would be necessary to produce more flax at home; but at present both flax and hemp must be imported, and the freight of such bulky articles adds materially to the price. Earthen ware is made in many places, but the export of it is inconsiderable; the porcelain manufacture is carried on for account of the crown. The only considerable works in copper and brass are in Holstein; the cannon foundery at Fridrichswark is very extensive, but of iron founderies there are only four in the kingdom. The number of paper mills throughout the country is only between twenty and thirty; that of a very different class of works, sugar refineries, was by a late return forty-six. The other branches of manufacturing industry worth notice are the tanning of leather, the making of hats, and, amongst the peasantry, the practice of spinning linen and woollen, and knitting stockings, all performed by their families in their cottages.
It was from the north of Germany, and in particular from Lubeck, Hamburg, and Bremen, that improvement in the mechanical arts made its way into Denmark: the principal workmen in a former age were, and some even at present are, from that quarter.
The woollen manufacture is carried on chiefly at Copenhagen. This article in Denmark, as in Germany and France, when compared with English cloth, is not cheaper, but more durable. The capital also is the seat of a very different branch of manufacture, the distillation of spirits from grain, which is carried on to a great extent.
The Danish government, in its zeal to promote home manufactures, has from time to time adopted injudicious measures; such as imposing a very heavy duty on foreign silks, and favouring that manufacture in Denmark, without a due consideration of its being unsuited to the country. It were also to be wished that the government could transfer to individuals the porcelain manufacture, as well as the making of woollens for the army and navy, attended as they are with the sacrifices usually accompanying undertakings for public account.
In point of colonies, the Danes, if they have not settlements of first rate importance, are sufficiently provided in regard to number; having establishments in Asia, on the coast of Coromandel and the Nicobar islands; in Africa, at Christiansburg, and other places on the coast of Guinea; and, in the West Indies, in the islands of Santa Cruz, St Thomas, and St John.
The three West India islands just mentioned contain above 30,000 negroes. Their trade with Denmark, subjected formerly to restrictions, is now entirely open. Their average produce may be estimated at 30,000 hds. of sugar and 12,000 casks of rum, part of which are sold on the spot, and the rest conveyed to the mother country. This gives employment to sixty or seventy sail of merchantmen. The planters were indebted to Dutch capitalists for the advances that enabled them to bring their lands into cultivation. The amount of this debt (nearly L.400,000) was taken over soon after 1786 by the crown of Denmark, on the calculation that it was better that the colonists should owe the money to the mother country than to foreigners.
The Danes possess the fort of Christiansburg on the coast of Guinea. They have the credit of being the first European state that abolished the slave trade; their government having published a preparatory edict in 1792, and the traffic having finally ceased in 1803.
In India the Danes have several factories or settlements, of which the chief is Tranquebar, on the coast of Coromandel. Their East India Company was established in 1732, and the charter has since been repeatedly renewed, each time with an extension of the right of the public to participate. Since 1797, vessels may be sent out to Danish settlements by private undertakers without restriction. The trade to China, however, continues in the hands of the company. But these distant voyages and consequent long credits are not suited to a country of such limited capital. The Danes have been introduced to them by the effect of war and the value of a neutral flag. These gave them great advantages in acting the part of carriers; but they had no higher character; for a trifling proportion of the articles imported into Copenhagen during war remained in the country. The capital of the Danish East India Company does not amount to a million sterling.
The cession of Norway, after a possession or union of four centuries, was a severe blow to Denmark; but the kingdom in its present state forms a concentrated territory, and possesses very considerable means of increasing its resources both by trade and agriculture.
The surface of the Danish territory, particularly of the mainland, is in general level; and there are consequently no rivers of magnitude, but a number of smaller streams. The climate is not unlike our own, partaking greatly of the characteristics of a northern region indented by the sea. The atmosphere is often thick and cloudy, but the extremes of cold, and still less those of heat, are seldom intense, or of long continuance. The moisture of the air affords, as in Britain, a freshness and richness of pasture, which is sought in vain in the interior and southern parts of Europe; and hence the superiority of their horses and horned cattle. The annual export of horses from Holstein exceeds 15,000, and the value L.200,000. Butter and cheese are likewise abundant, and are exported in large quantities. Sheep have not been improved with equal success, their wool being short and coarse; they have of late, however, been considerably ameliorated by an intermixture with merinos. The agricultural produce consists of oats, barley, beans, peas, and particularly of potatoes; wheat is also raised, but not to a great extent. Hops, flax, and hemp, are also objects of cultivation, but in considerable quantities. Gardening is little practised, unless in the island of Amak, the grand storehouse for kitchen vegetables of the adjacent metropolis. Madder is good in quality, and considerable in quantity.
The Danes are of a middling stature and fair complection, and are habituated, more than the inhabitants of the south of Europe, to the use of animal food and spirituous liquors. The inhabitants of Holstein, and even of Sleswick, partake a good deal of the German character. Without going into any nice discrimination of manners, it may be remarked in general terms, that the Danes have the habits of a people living in a northern latitude, and are little acquainted, except in the capital, with the improvements of the more polished part of Europe. The peasantry, moreover, are but recently emancipated from a state of feudal subjection. On the other hand, the Danes possess the various advantages resulting from the establishment of the Protestant religion, and a long exemption from the superstition and idleness attendant on the Roman Catholic creed. During the last fifty years improvement has made a visible progress amongst them.
The public revenue of Denmark is between L.1,500,000 Revenue and L.2,000,000 a year, and arises from various sources, viz., the crown lands; the king's portion of tithe; from licenses, chiefly for distilling spirits; and from the Sound dues, averaging from L.120,000 to L.150,000 sterling a year. There is also a considerable revenue from a land-tax, as well as from stamp-duties, customs, and excise. These different duties are on a plan similar to those in this country, though quite a miniature of ours in point of amount, as is happily the case with the public debt of Denmark, which does not exceed twelve or fifteen millions sterling.
In regard to the army, the peace establishment of regulars was, by a late return, twenty-four regiments, consisting of nearly as many thousand men. In 1801, before their maritime disasters, the Danish navy consisted of more than twenty sail of the line, fit for service, and well provided with stores; the arrangements of the naval arsenal at Copenhagen being an object of general admiration. But their force was much reduced at that time, and still more in 1807. The naval establishment in peace is calculated for only 4000 men; but as the number of seamen in the kingdom is great, and nearly 15,000 of them are registered for service, there is no difficulty in manning the royal shipping.
Economy characterizes the court and government of Denmark in a remarkable degree. They claim to rank in this respect next to the governments of Prussia and the United States of America.
The government of Denmark, like that of other Gothic countries, was formerly far from despotic; the succession to the crown was even elective until the revolution of 1660. That singular change is to be explained, by supposing, on the part of the nation, not so much an indifference to free institutions, as a resentment of the overbearing conduct of the nobility, and a consciousness of the perpetual uncertainties of an elective government. The court found it thus a matter of little difficulty to unite the clergy and commons against the aristocracy; and the power of the crown has since continued without a parliament or any constitutional check. It is tempered, however, in various ways; by the influence of the reformed faith, the freedom of the press, and the progressive improvement of the nation.
The public business is directed by a privy council nominated by the king, comprising the princes of the blood and the principal ministers. It is there, and not in a parliament, that laws are proposed, discussed, and recommended to the royal sanction. As to the drafts or preliminary parts of bills, each is prepared in the office or department to which it belongs. These offices are called respectively the chancellories of Denmark, of Sleswick, and of Holstein, the office of foreign affairs, the treasury, the chamber of customs, the admiralty, the war office, and the board of trade. None but natives of Denmark are admitted into public offices, except in a case of extraordinary qualifications.
The titles of nobility in Denmark Proper are only two; those of count or earl, and baron; but there is an untitled nobility, consisting of the most ancient families in the country, which rank higher in public estimation than even those whom the crown has ennobled. The nobility of Sleswick and Holstein form a distinct body.
The king of Denmark is a member of the German body as constituted in 1815, having, on account of Holstein and Lauenburg, three votes in the general assembly, and a place, the tenth in rank, at the ordinary diet.
In regard to law, there have in the present age been various improvements; but there is as yet no uniform code for the kingdom at large, Sleswick and Holstein preserving their respective usages and institutions, whilst Jutland and the islands are governed by the code of Christian V. Jutland is divided into four, and the islands into three bailiwicks or provinces.
The established religion in Denmark is the Lutheran, which was introduced as early as 1536; the church revenue being at that time seized and retained by the crown. At present the nomination of the bishops is vested in the king, and the number of these dignitaries, since the cession of Norway, is only nine: of clergymen the number in Jutland and the islands is 1063; in Sleswick and Holstein 517. The bishops in Denmark have no political character; they inspect the conduct of the subordinate clergy, and confer holy orders, doing, in short, most of what is done by their fellow dignitaries among us, except voting in the legislature. Complete toleration is now enjoyed in Denmark; and considerable progress has been made in diffusing Christianity in Lapland, Greenland, and the East Indies, by a missionary institution long established in Copenhagen.
The ancient literature of Denmark Proper is in itself not very important, as hardly anything except inscriptions is preserved; but the Icelandic, with which it is connected, is so in a very high degree. Still the literature of Denmark forms a continuous chain, from the classical age, that of the Scalds, through the middle ages downwards, to the commencement of the modern literature. Each of these three periods has its peculiar language and peculiar taste. In the first, Braghi hina Gemi is prominent; Saxo Grammaticus, who wrote in Latin, belongs to the second; and to it also belong Arild Hvidtfield and Sven Aageson, who wrote in a dialect intermediate between the ancient and modern Danish, in which likewise are compared the songs of the Danish champions or heroes called Kompeiser. The German has exercised a considerable influence on the formation of the modern Danish.
In respect of literature and literary culture, Denmark is partly original and isolated, or rather the chief representative of the ancient Scandinavian family, and partly owes to Germany the eminence which she has attained, forming in regard to literature, as well as to politics, a portion of that country. The language, the poetry, the history, the entire polite literature, and the laws of Denmark, are Scandinavian; but religion, science, and several political institutions, she has borrowed from Germany. The language, cognate as it is to the Teutonic dialects, entirely belongs to an independent and distinct family (the Scandinavian), and is, both with regard to structure and roots, more remote from modern High German than French is from Portuguese. The principal distinctive characters which the Danish possesses as a Scandinavian language, and which the Teutonic languages in general have not, are, 1. a postpositive definite article; 2. a passive and middle voice in the verbs, formed by inflection, whilst the Musogothic only has a passive voice; 3. the want of the German preformative, which the supines and past participles of that language require; 4. the want of two of the forms which the German has in the inflection of its adjectives, that language having four, whilst the Danish has only two, a definite and an indefinite. There are several characters besides, positive as well as negative, which distinguish the Scandinavian and Teutonic languages from each other; but the above are a few of the most essential. Yet the similitude, and even identity, of roots is so great between the Teutonic and Scandinavian languages, that no doubt can be entertained of their common origin. The separation, however, of these languages into two distinct families must have taken place long before the period of commencement of authentic history, and thus their identity of origin is only a matter of philological inference.
The modern Danish is a daughter of the Norse, or ancient Danish, formerly called Norrena or Dansk Tunga; and it bears exactly the same relation to that language as Italian bears to Latin. In both cases we have the same curtailing, simplification, and abandonment of inflections, the same sacrifice of inversion and artificial construction, the same process of softening the idiom, and of substituting what is considered as beauty for energy and grandeur. The modern Danish is one of the softest languages now Statistics spoken in Europe. When a foreigner hears it spoken for the first time, he hardly perceives any sounds in it except the vocalic; and the consonants are so much softened in pronunciation that they scarcely appear. Of course the vocalic system of this language is very perfect. Rask has distinguished ten vowels in Danish, the sounds of all which are quite distinct.
The educational institutions of Denmark have reached a very high degree of perfection; indeed few countries, if any, can compete with Denmark in this respect. Most of the peculiar advantages in the Danish system seem to arise from this, that all schools, both grammar and other, have been put in a state of dependence on the university and under its control, whilst the university itself is particularly well managed, and is an institution which both government and the nation take a delight in supporting and improving. All educational institutions of the country are now managed by a certain royal college consisting of three or four assessors and a president; called the royal commission for the university and grammar schools. This commission has no superior but the king, and reports to him directly. It appoints all professors in the university of Copenhagen (not those in Kiel, for that university belongs to another department), all rectors, correctors, and other teachers of grammar-schools in Denmark Proper (not in Holstein or Sleswick), and promotes these from lower to higher grades. The university of Copenhagen has four faculties; a theological, a juridical, a medical, and a philosophical; and to the last mentioned belong Greek and Roman philology, ethical and natural philosophy and metaphysics, mathematics, statistics, history, political economy, &c. The number of professors in all the faculties amounts to between thirty and forty; but this number is not always the same, as sometimes there may be a greater number of extraordinary professors than at others.
Every young man wishing to become a student in the university is required to produce a Latin certificate from his rector, or from his private tutor, declaring him to be prepared for entering the university, and specifying what Greek and Roman authors he has read, and what progress he has made in mathematics, astronomy, natural history, and other sciences. This certificate, or testimony as it is called, only gives him right to undergo the entrance examination, which is called examen artium, and lasts a fortnight. If he goes creditably through this examination he is admitted as a student of the university, and acquires thereby certain privileges; if not, he is rejected, and his rector or tutor is punished by a reprimand or fine, and the third time by deprivation of office, for having sent to the university an immature pupil. A year subsequent to his entrance, every student has again to undergo another examination called the examen philosophicum, and he acquires new privileges according to the degree of proficiency manifested on that occasion. Then he commences his career as a student of divinity, law, medicine, or of the more abstruse branches of philology or natural science; at the conclusion of which, in three, four, or five years, he undergoes a final examination, which is very rigid; and now he is termed candidate of divinity, laws, medicine, and so on. In addition to these examinations, the university has now two academical degrees in each faculty, that of licentiate and doctor. The requisite qualification for either of these is a printed dissertation in Latin on some branch of that science in which the degree is taken; and this dissertation is publicly defended by its author ex cathedra, in a Latin colloquy, which sometimes lasts twelve hours, against the professors of the university, and as many disputants as may come forward, sometimes amounting to twenty or thirty in number. Great indeed as the strictness is with which all the examinations of the university are conducted, yet the trade of education is, as such, entirely free. Any man or woman, native or foreigner, may establish a school in Copenhagen, and compete with the government schools; and on sending their pupils to the university, they are subject to the same check as those of the government schools. Lectures in the university, too, are public and open to all; but as none but students can undergo the examination, none but they can derive any public privilege from attending these.
The number of grammar and parish schools in Denmark amounts to 3000, and there are, besides, 2000 schools, in which the Bell and Lancastrian system of mutual instruction has, at Colonel Abrahamson's suggestion, been adopted. The latter are intended for elementary education, and for the instruction of the common people; and they have all been called into existence by Mr Abrahamson's unparalleled activity.
In Copenhagen there is a Royal Society in every respect similar to the Royal Society of London; but the Danish society allows their medals and prizes to be competed for by treatises written not only in Danish, but also in French, English, German, and Latin. There is a Scandinavian Society, of which the object originally was to promote a more intimate literary intercourse between the learned of all the northern nations, Danes, Swedes, and Norwegians. There is a Royal Society of Northern Antiquaries, founded by Dr Rafn in 1825, and a branch of the Icelandic Literary Society, which Rask founded in 1816; and all these societies regularly publish their transactions. The Royal Arnamagnæan Commission are trustees, seven in number, managing a fund which in the earlier part of the eighteenth century was devoted by the learned Icelander, Arnas Magnæus, to the publication and the translation into Latin of ancient Icelandic Sagas or histories. Upwards of forty volumes, in folio, quarto, and octavo, have already been published by this commission. In Copenhagen there is also a military academy, an artillery academy, and a naval academy, in which examinations are conducted nearly on the same plan as in the university.
The Copenhagen Academy of Arts has long been a flourishing national institution. The ancient palace of Charlottenborg affords elegant as well as spacious accommodation for its galleries, lecture rooms, drawing classes, assembly rooms, and ateliers. Were it only for having imparted to the matchless Bertel (Alberto) Thorvaldsen his elementary education, this institution would deserve to be mentioned; but he is not the only distinguished artist whose unfeigned genius was first nursed here, and who in his riper years rose to great eminence in foreign countries. There is also in Copenhagen an extensive museum of the curiosities of art and nature. Its picture gallery is rich, and contains many works by the most eminent artists. There are, besides, two other picture galleries, namely, the Moltke Gallery and West's Gallery. The Royal Library, in the palace of Christiansborg, belongs to the first class of the great libraries in Europe. It contains upwards of four hundred thousand volumes, with a very choice store of manuscripts. The collection of Indian, ancient Persian, Sanscrit, and Pali manuscripts, with which Rask enriched it, is quite unique. The university library in the church of St Trinity contains about one hundred thousand volumes, and an excellent collection of northern manuscripts. There is, besides, another library for the use of the students of the Regent's College, chiefly containing classics. The Clossen Library is mainly devoted to science and natural history. These are all national institutions, available and open to the public. There are, besides, several minor libraries, which, although less extensive and of more limited use, become important by their number.