A kingdom in the north of Europe, small in extent and scanty in population, but known in history from 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 south—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 maritime attacks on this empire were probably made by tribes expeditions of the Danes being in general Danes. Denmark. 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, Sweyne 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 resided 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 those Lubeck times was with Lubeck and the north-west of Germany, and Dantzig. To the Baltic Lubeck was nearly what Venice was to the 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 objects of ambition to 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 Hans fourthteen century, the association of the Hans Towns had acquired considerable strength, and asserted strenuously the freedom of commerce in the north of Europe. Denmark, commanding 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 Union of indeed of Scandinavia, in the middle ages, was the conjunct Calmar 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 Denmark, 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 longer period, that the union of Calmar continued to exist. At last the severity, or rather the cruelty, of one of the Danish kings, Christian II., and the appearance of an able ascetic 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 difficulty which the Danish government found in putting a stop to the practice of plundering merchantmen shipwrecked 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. We may here remark, that the nobles claimed not only the soil, but even the persons of the peasantry; for the principle 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 began to reign in 1525, and had formerly been duke of Holstein, in that year 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 strengthening the power of the sovereign at the expense of that of the clergy.

The great religious war which broke out in 1618 for the first time fixed the attention of Europe on Denmark. The victories of the Imperial General Tilly, and Maximilian of Bavaria, over the Protestants, appeared to make the Emperor Ferdinand, who was the head of the Catholic party, complete master of Germany, when Christian IV. of Denmark, encouraged by England and France, determined to take up the Protestant cause as a principal in the general contest. But being weakly supported by his allies, the Danish king, after one year's campaign, was obliged to fly before the victorious army of Wallenstein (1626), and to sue for peace, which was concluded at Lubeck 1629. By the stipulations of this peace Denmark bound itself never to interfere in the affairs of Germany, and was besides compelled to acknowledge Wallenstein Duke of Mecklenburg. This peace would have been still more humiliating for Denmark, if France, already influenced by the counsels of Richelieu, had not interposed its efforts on behalf of the vanquished. The emperor now thought of nothing less than the entire subjection of Germany to his will. A new adversary, however, arose in Gustavus Adolphus the king of Sweden. The short and glorious career of this king will be found described in its proper place. But this much must be here observed, that despite the fall of Adolphus in the battle of Lutzen in 1632, the power of Sweden was becoming continually more considerable and consequently an object of real envy to all its neighbours, but especially to Denmark. Thus it happened that, besides the general religious war, repeated hostilities were being carried on between Sweden and Denmark separately.

The first contest lasted from 1637 to 1645, and the treaty Treaty of concluded in the latter year proved rather a truce than Copenhagen a peace. The Danish government formed an alliance with Holland, and aided that republic in her sanguinary contest in 1652 with England, then 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 internal dissensions. But on learning the hostile disposition of the Danish government, Charles withdrew his troops from Poland, entered Holstein, and overran the whole province. As soon as the winter had advanced, and it had become practicable to cross on the ice the arms of the sea separating the Danish islands from the mainland, the Swedish army traversed in that manner the Little Belt, took Odensee, the capital of the island of Funen, 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 envoy at the court of Copenhagen, hostilities were suspended, and a treaty signed. This treaty, however, was only 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, as the Dutch now came 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 Denmark, Sweden died, and the sanguinary contest was brought to a close by the treaty of Copenhagen in 1660. This peace ceded to the Swedish crown Scania, Aland, several places on the island of Rugen, and a free passage through the Sound.

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 the 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 henceforth 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; and even the nobility 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, which invested the sovereign with unlimited power, and declared him 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. Henceforth, in Denmark, whatever power could be shown to have belonged to any ruler in any country, was now forthwith to be understood as belonging to the king.

This remarkable change in the form of the government is to be explained chiefly by the repugnance of the people of Denmark to the ascendancy 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, led away by the ardour of youth, abandoned the pacific policy of his father, 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 had the advantage, having the aid of a Dutch squadron commanded by the well-known Van Tromp. This enabled them to convey an invading force to Schonen or Scania, the southern and most fertile province of Sweden. Here the forces of the Swedes were brought to bear against their opponents, with the advantage of vicinity to their supplies; nearly in the same way that the military means of France were at that time concentrated in Flanders and Alsace against those of more distant powers. The result was, that the Danes were obliged to retreat from Scania, and, after several alternations of success, peace was signed between the two kingdoms in 1679, the year after the treaty of Nimeguen had suspended the war in the central part of Europe. As usual, after much bloodshed and many vicissitudes of fortune, the adverse states were placed by the treaty in nearly the same situation as at the commencement of the war; but hopes of peace for the future were justified by the marriage of the young king of Sweden, Charles XII., with a princess of Denmark.

These hopes were realized during twenty years; and peace continued until 1699, when Charles XII., having died, the reigning king of Denmark, Frederic IV., was tempted by the youth of Charles XII., of Sweden to invade the dominions of his ally the Duke of Holstein. Frederic was little aware of the spirit of his opponent, who became afterwards so well known in the wars of the north of Europe. Charles, determined to strike at once at his enemy's capital, lost no time in crossing the narrow sea between Sweden and Denmark, and in investing the city of Copenhagen. The inhabitants in alarm appealed to the humanity of the young monarch; and the result was the speedy conclusion of peace, with the payment of a sum of money to the Swedes. Taught by this lesson, the Danish government remained neutral in the following years, when the course of events led Charles and his army into Poland and Saxony. There success attended him year after year, until his memorable march into the heart of the Ukraine in 1708. The Swedes were even then superior to their uncivilized opponents, but no discipline would bear up against privations and absolute want. The consequence was the loss of the battle of Poltowa, the capture of the Swedish army, and the flight into Turkey of his heroic leader. The king of Denmark then found himself independent, and eagerly embraced the opportunity of renewing hostilities with Sweden, invading both Holstein in the south, and the province of Scania to the north. Scania was badly provided with troops, but it had officers trained in one of the best military schools of the age, and a peasantry full of national antipathy towards the Danes. The result was a spirited attack on the invading army, followed by its defeat and precipitate flight into Denmark. The war was then carried on with alternate success in different parts—in Pomerania, in Holstein, and in Norway; until at last the military career of Charles XII. came unexpectedly to a close in the end of 1718. Some time afterwards, negotiations were opened between Sweden and Denmark, under the mediation of England, and ended in 1720 in a definitive treaty of peace, concluded at Stockholm. It was then that Sweden lost all the advantages gained since the peace of Westphalia, and that George I. of England as Elector of Hanover, Prussia, and Peter the Great, shared with Denmark the spoil of Sweden. Henceforth no danger threatened Denmark from the side of its neighbour, though the cessation of the rivalry was more perceptible in the decline of Sweden than the progress of Denmark.

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 policy to which it has almost ever since endeavoured to adhere, a course of uninterrupted peace. 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 1766, leaving a son by each wife. The crown devolved of course on the elder, his son by the first wife, who took the name of Christian VII. He was a weak prince, and 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 that office 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 thrown into prison, 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 remainder of her short 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 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 estates. 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 tack on defence against such enterprising opponents. The attack took place on 2d of April 1801; and the resistance of the Danes was spirited, but fruitless. The loss of the English in killed and wounded exceeded 1000 men, but that of their 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 ascendency 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 Copenhagen's neutrality, our ministers, eager to please the public by again acting on a system of vigour, despatched 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 the English 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 infrequently 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 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, Denmark. 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.

Since the Congress of Vienna, by which the extent of the Danish monarchy was considerably reduced, the court of Copenhagen has been from time to time disquieted by a spirit of discontentment manifesting itself in the duchies, and especially in that of Holstein, the outbreak of which in 1848 threatened the monarchy with complete dissolution.

A short recapitulation of the relation of the different parts of the kingdom to each other will furnish a key to the better comprehension of these internal troubles. When Christian I., of the house of Oldenburg ascended the throne of Denmark in 1448, he was at the same time elected Duke of Sleswick and Holstein, while his younger brother received Oldenburg and Delmenhorst. In 1544 the older branch was again divided into two lines, that of the royal house of Denmark, and of the dukes of Holstein Gottorp. Several collateral branches arose afterwards, of which those that survived are, the Augustenburg and Glucksburg branches belonging to the royal line, and the ducal Holstein-Gottorp branch, the head of which was Peter III. of Russia. In 1762 Peter threatened Denmark with a war, the avowed object of which was the recovery of Sleswick, which had been expressly guaranteed to the Danish crown by England and France at the peace of Stockholm 1720. His sudden dethronement, however, prevented him from putting this design into execution. The empress Catherine agreed to an accommodation, which was signed at Copenhagen in 1764, and subsequently confirmed by the emperor Paul, 1773, by which the ducal part of Sleswick was ceded to the crown of Denmark. The Czar abandoned also his part of Holstein in exchange for Oldenburg and Delmenhorst, which he transferred to the younger branch of the Gottorp family.

According to the scheme of Germanic organization adopted by the Congress of Vienna, the king of Denmark was declared member of the Germanic body on account of Holstein and Lauenburg, invested with three votes in the General Assembly, and a place, the tenth in rank, in the ordinary diet.

After the restoration of peace in 1815, the states of the duchy of Holstein, never so cordially blended with Denmark as those of Sleswick, began to show their discontent at the continued non-convocation of their own assemblies despite the assurances of Frederick VI. The preparation of a new constitution for the whole kingdom was the main pretext by which the court evaded the claims of the petitioners, who met, however, with no better success from the German diet, before whom they brought their complaints in 1822. After the stirring year of 1830, the movement in the duchies, soon to degenerate into a mutual animosity between the Danish and German population, became more general. The scheme of the court to meet their demands by the establishment of separate deliberative assemblies for each of the provinces failed to satisfy the Holsteiners, who continually urged the revival of their long-neglected local laws and privileges. Nor were matters changed at the accession of Christian VIII. in 1838, a prince noted for his popular sympathies and liberal principles. The feeling of national animosity was greatly increased by the issue of certain orders for Sleswick, which tended to encourage the culture of the Danish language to the prejudice of the German. But what served to increase the jealousy of race against race, was the expected extinction of the male line of the reigning dynasty—a topic freely discussed by the press, as affording the prospect of rendering the duchies entirely independent of the crown of Denmark. In 1842, the union of Sleswick with the German confederacy was formally discussed in the provincial assembly, and advocated by a part of the German press. This agitation was met by a letter patent from the king, in which it was proclaimed, that with the exception of some parts of Holstein, in reference to which some changes must be made, the laws regulating the succession were the same in Denmark, Sleswick, and Lauenburg. The consequence of this was, that the gap between the Danish and German party became every day wider, and the more so as the German party felt encouraged by the diet. The elements of a revolution were thus ready, and only waiting some impulse to break forth into action.

Christian died in the very beginning of 1848, before the outbreak of the French revolution in February, and left his throne to his son Frederick VII., who had scarcely received the royal unction when half of his subjects rose up in rebellion against him.

The Parisian revolution at once reacted on the whole of Germany, which was then apparently on the eve of an entire reorganization; and this latter circumstance could not fail to hasten the open rupture of Holstein with Denmark, as well as to make Prussia, from its jealousy of Austrian supremacy, openly declare for the duchies. In March 1848, Prince Frederick of Augustenburg, having gained over the garrison of Rendsburg, put himself at the head of a provisional government proclaimed at Kiel. A Danish army, marching into Sleswick, easily reduced the duchy as far as the banks of the Eider; but, in the meantime, the new national assembly of Germany resolved upon the incorporation of Sleswick; and the king of Prussia followed up their resolution by sending an army into the duchies under the command of General Wrangel. The Prussian intervention (it is needless to remark), while calculated to increase the anxiety of the court of Copenhagen, materially altered the nature of the war. The Prussian general, after driving the Danes from Sleswick, marched into Jutland—a step fully sufficient to excite the attention of foreign powers, and especially that of England and Russia. The mediating efforts of these powers to settle the dispute at the very beginning, however, appear not to have been of a nature to bring the belligerents to a desire of peace; though the sudden evacuation of Jutland by the Prussians was attributed to foreign influence. At the instance of the Assembly of Frankfurt, to whom this retreat appeared exceedingly suspicious, Wrangel received orders to move onwards; and did so ostensibly, when, contrary to all expectation, and to the no small displeasure of the Frankfurt Assembly, Prussia and Denmark agreed to an armistice of seven months, signed at Malmö, August 26. According to this agreement, the government of the duchies was intrusted to a commission of five members—two nominated by Prussia, two by Denmark, and the fifth by the common consent of the four, Denmark being also promised an indemnification for the requisitions made in Jutland. It is needless to say, that Sleswick-Holstein was still less satisfied with the conduct of the court of Berlin than with that of the Assembly of Frankfurt.

After the expiry of the armistice, the war was renewed with the aid of Prussian and other troops of the confederacy, (from March to July 1849), when Prussia signed a second armistice for six months. The duchies now continued to increase their own troops, being determined to carry on the war at their own charge without the aid of Prussia, whose policy they stigmatized as inconsistent and treacherous. The chief Denmark, command of the Sleswick-Holstein army was intrusted to General Willisen, a scientific and able soldier; but henceforth the Danes had little to fear, especially as the cry of German unity brought but an insignificant number of volunteers to the camp of the Holsteiners. The last victory of the Danes, under Generals Krogh and Schlepegrell, was at the battle of Idsted (July 23). Near this small village, protected by lakes and hogs, Willisen lay encamped with his centre; his right wing at Wedelspung, extending along the lake Langso; his left spreading along the Arnholtz lake. The Danes, approaching on the high road from Flensburg to Sleswick, attacked the enemy on all sides; and, after having been repeatedly repulsed, they succeeded in driving the Sleswick-Holsteiners from all their positions. The forces engaged on each side were about 30,000; the number of killed and wounded on both sides was upwards of 7000. Some attributed this victory to artificial manoeuvres and peculiar strategy of the Danes, though one might with more reason assign it to the want of discipline and good officers in the camp of Willisen.

After the victory of Idsted, the Danes could hardly expect to meet with any serious resistance. But what tended most of all to raise the confidence of the court of Copenhagen was the peace concluded with Prussia (July 1850), by which the latter abandoned the duchies to their own fate, and soon afterwards aided in their subjection. This strange phenomenon may be thus easily explained. While Austria was threatened with complete dissolution on the side of Italy and Hungary, the court of Berlin hoped to secure its account the convulsions of Germany by conniving at the proceedings of the Frankfort Assembly, which was then engaged in framing a new charter for the empire. For a while the popularity of Frederick William IV. was so great, that he was even offered the imperial throne. Prussia was able even to gain over Hanover and Saxony for a while for her ambitious designs, having afterwards provoked a diet at Erfurth, with the view of re-organizing the empire under her own auspices, to the utter neglect and disregard of the house of Hapsburg. It naturally flowed from this policy that, though unwilling to sanction the revolutionary principle, Prussia was led by her own interest to espouse the cause of the duchies, so popular in Germany, and so closely connected with the idea of German unity. But about the end of 1849, Austria, having reduced both Hungary and Italy, immediately turned her attention to the affairs of Germany; and her first step was, to convene a meeting of the diet at Frankfort to counteract the decisions of the Prussian diet of Erfurth. The new attitude of Austria, and the remonstrances of the Czar, soon made the weak Prussian king pause in his ambitious schemes of innovation, and his feigned sympathies with Sleswick-Holstein. England, too, which had exerted a tardy mediation during the two years' war, never countenanced the idea of the dismemberment of the Danish monarchy, to which Prussian policy at first tended. Hence it happened, that while Denmark was treating with Prussia in Berlin, a protocol, guaranteeing the integrity of the Danish monarchy, was signed in London (July 4, 1850). Soon after the signing of this deed, the two great German powers, under the influence of the Czar, agreed in the conferences of Olmutz as to the measures to be taken for the pacification of Germany; and a joint army of Austrians and Prussians was immediately marched into the two duchies to disarm the inhabitants. Thus was Denmark most seriously threatened, and at the same time rescued, by foreign influence.

The sole question of importance which awaited its solution was the order of succession, which the European powers thought to be of such importance as to delay its final settlement till 1852. Before proceeding to this critical point of Danish affairs, we will first indicate the internal reforms introduced since the outbreak of the war of 1848.

The new constitution, sanctioned by Frederick VII., acknowledges the principle of limited monarchy, the king sharing his power with a diet of two houses, both of which are elective. The first, called Folkething, has the privilege of discussing the budget and other public questions, while the other is confined to the local affairs of the provinces. The liberty of religion and of the press, and the inviolability of person and property, are amply guaranteed by the new charter. All the reforms, however, failed to produce uniformity between the government of the different parts of the kingdom, not to speak of the duchies. Of the anomalies to be found in the new state of affairs, the principle of responsibility offers the most striking instance. The ministers for Denmark Proper, for example, are responsible to the diet, while those of the two duchies depend solely on the king. But what is still more singular is, that even the responsible ministers, as those of War and Foreign Affairs, whose control extends also over the duchies, are only responsible as far as Denmark Proper is concerned. The state of Sleswick-Holstein, however, must not be regarded as definitively settled.

The extinction of the male line in the present King Frederick was an event foreseen by the king, the people, and the foreign powers. The heir presumptive to the throne, Prince Frederick Ferdinand, uncle of the king, besides being advanced in age, was likewise without issue, and in absence of a general arrangement, the kingdom would probably be dismembered in consequence of the laws of succession established in the different provinces. In Denmark Proper, the succession might pass over to the female line, while, according to the ancient laws of Holstein, females are excluded from the throne. Besides this, in Holstein, the eldest branch was represented by the duke of Augustenburg, who headed the revolution; and after it came the family of Glücksburg; and lastly, the Emperor of Russia was the representative of the Holstein-Gottorp line. The German party, in fact, flattered themselves with the hopes of seeing Holstein, and even Sleswick, in which the rights of succession were variously construed, become entirely independent of the Danish crown, with the expected extinction of the reigning male line. But the foreign courts thought otherwise. After protracted negotiations between the different courts, the representatives of England, France, Austria, Russia, Prussia, and Sweden, the following treaty relative to the Danish succession was signed May 8, 1852:

Art. I.—After having taken into serious consideration the interests of his monarchy, his Majesty the King of Denmark, with the assent of his Royal Highness the hereditary Prince, and his nearest of kin, called to the succession by the royal law of Denmark, as well as in concert with his Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias, chief of the elder branch of the house of Holstein-Gottorp, having declared his desire to regulate the order of succession to his states in such a manner as that, in default of male issue in the direct line of King Frederick III. of Denmark, his crown may be transmitted to his Highness the Prince Christian of Sleswick-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, and to the descendants sprung from the marriage of that prince with her Royal Highness the Princess Louisa of Sleswick-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, born princess of Hesse, in the order of primogeniture from male to male; the high contracting parties, appreciating the wisdom of the views which have determined the adoption of this combination, bind themselves by a common agreement, whenever the eventuality contemplated may arise, to recognise in his Highness the Prince Christian of Sleswick-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, and his descendants male, sprung in direct line from his marriage with the said princess, the right to succeed to all (à la totalité) the states actually united under the sceptre of his Majesty the King of Denmark. Denmark.

Art. II.—The high contracting parties, recognizing the principle of the integrity of the Danish monarchy as permanent, bind themselves to take into consideration such ulterior overtures as His Majesty may think it proper to make to them, if (which God forbid) the extinction of the heirs male, in the direct line of His Highness Prince Christian of Sleswick-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glückburg, by his marriage with the Princess Louisa, should become imminent.

Art. III.—It is expressly understood, that the rights and reciprocal obligations of His Majesty the King of Denmark, and of the Germanic confederation, concerning the duchies of Holstein and Lauenburg, rights and obligations established by the federal act of 1815, and by the existing federal law, shall not be altered by the present treaty.

Art. IV.—The high contracting parties reserve to themselves the right of bringing the present treaty to the knowledge of other powers, by inviting them to accede to it.

At first sight this treaty, which guaranteed the integrity of the Danish kingdom, ought to have been as gratifying to the Danes as it was calculated to excite the resentment of the duchies. Its promulgation, however, produced discontent even in Denmark Proper. Highly gratified as the Danes were at the idea of the indivisibility of the monarchy, they looked with apprehension at a change which, while it abolished the lex regia of 1665, admitting the succession of the female line, and transferred the right of succession to the branch of Glückburg, expressly confined it to the male line, and reserved the whole question for further settlement in case of its extinction.

The apprehension of the Danes on the subject was still heightened by the consideration that Russia possessed claims to a portion of the duchies, which, though formerly renounced, would again become valid with the extinction of the new male line. Hence the terms of the treaty of May were attributed solely to Russian influence; which, under the pretext of maintaining the integrity of the Danish kingdom, sought on this very ground to open up a way for the eventual succession of the czars. The possibility of such an event was apparent, Prince Christian Glückburg having only one son; and the fact of the treaty of London having been preceded by a protocol of Warsaw, signed between the courts of St Petersburg and Copenhagen, by which the Emperor Nicholas reserved to himself the ancient right of succession to a portion of the duchies in case of the extinction of the Glückburg male line, was sufficient to rouse the suspicions of the nation. The protestations of Russia did not avail to dispel such apprehensions; so that, while the courts declared their satisfaction with the treaty, the Danes saw under the newly-established indivisibility a door opened for a Russian pretender.

The new order of succession was announced to the diet in October 1852; and a committee of seventy members, nominated by the assembly to examine the royal message, rejected the new law by a large majority. After the dissolution of this diet, the measure met a similar fate when introduced before the new house (Feb. 1853). The court then determined upon a second dissolution, and in consequence of this several of the ministers resigned. After Oersted was called to the head of affairs a third parliament was convened (June 24), which adopted the new law. It must here be observed, the ministry of Copenhagen itself was caught by the spirit of diffidence with which the measure was regarded out of doors; but, once pledged to the foreign powers, it accepted their assurances that the Danish throne, if becoming vacant, would again become a European question to be decided collectively by the powers who guaranteed the treaty of May. The result of this arrangement (which, it must be confessed, is exceedingly obscure and indefinite) remains yet to be seen.

As to the present state of the duchies, the outward traces of the late war seem to have entirely disappeared; but the antagonism between the Scandinavian and German elements can hardly be said to have been extinguished with the end of the campaigns. The Danish government, however, well deserves praise for their lenient treatment of the parties implicated in the war; especially if contrasted with the course pursued by the king of Prussia after the Berlin revolution, and the policy of Austria in regard to the revolutionary outbreaks in Hungary and Italy.

The kingdom of Denmark, comprehending, besides Denmark Proper, the duchies of Sleswick, Holstein, and Lauenburg, and also several islands in the Baltic and Cattegat, lies between N. Lat. 58, 22, 42, and 57, 44, 52.; and between E. Long. 7, 37, 22, and 12, 34., with the exception of the island of Bornholm, which lies between E. Long. 14, 42, and 15, 10. It is bounded N. by the Skagerrack; E. by the Cattegat, the Sound, and the Baltic; S. by the Elbe and Mecklenburg; and W. by the North Sea. The kingdom of Denmark Proper has an area of 14,642 square miles, of which 9667 belong to the mainland of North Jutland, and 4975 to the islands. Of these last, Zealand with its smaller islands contains 2698, Fünen with its smaller islands 1280, Laaland 4455, and Bornholm 222 square miles. The duchy of Sleswick has an area of 3534, the duchy of Holstein of 3259, and that of Lauenburg of 402 square miles; giving the entire area of the Danish kingdom at 21,837 square miles.

The increase and distribution of the population will appear from the following table:

| | 1769 | 1834-35 | 1845 | 1855 | |----------------|------|---------|------|------| | Denmark Proper | 814,228 | 1,223,797 | 1,293,027 | 1,350,327 | | Sleswick | 249,194 | 337,378 | 348,526 | 392,950 | | Holstein | 278,963 | 435,596 | 455,093 | 479,354 | | Lauenburg | | | 45,342 | 46,486 |

The population of Denmark Proper, 1st February 1850, was as follows:

| Towns | Rural Districts | Total | |----------------|-----------------|-------| | Zealand and Moen | 170,992 | 338,068 | 508,460 | | Bornholm | 9,451 | 18,476 | 27,927 | | Fünen, &c. | 31,324 | 156,494 | 187,818 | | Laaland and Falster | 11,164 | 67,833 | 79,017 | | North Jutland | 68,234 | 536,291 | 604,525 |

The population of the principal towns of Denmark Proper (1st February 1850) was as follows, viz.:—Copenhagen 129,695; Odense 11,122; Helsingør 8111; Aarhus 7886; Aalborg 7745; Randers 7338; Horsens 5827; Rønne 4717; Svendborg 4556; Fredericia 4326; Viborg 4039; Slagelse 4011; and Roeskilde 3805.

In the duchy of Sleswick, the principal towns with their populations on 1st February 1840 was as follows, viz.:—Flensburg 12,561; Sleswick 11,204; Hadersleve 6165; Eckernförde 4058; and Apenrade 4021. In that of Holstein as follows, viz.:—Altona 28,095; Kiel 12,344; Rendsburg 10,009; and Glückstadt 5939.

The colonial possessions of Denmark are the Färöe Colonies, Islands, Iceland, Greenland, and the islands of Santa Cruz, St Thomas, and St John, in the West Indies. Tranquebar and Serampore, in the East Indies, were sold to the English East India Company in 1846; and the Danish settlements on the coast of Guinea were ceded to England two years afterwards. The extent and population of these in 1850 were as follows, viz.:

| | Square Miles | Population | |----------------|--------------|------------| | Färöe Islands | 495 | 8,150 | | Iceland | 38,200 | 60,000 | | Greenland | 3,950 | 9,400 | | West Indies | | | | Santa Cruz | 74 | 23,720 | | St Thomas | 23 | 13,666 | | St John | 21 | 2,228 |

Total: 42,763 117,164

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 islands. Denmark is a few feet higher than the level of the sea. The highest point is only about 490 feet above the sea. Possessing an undulating and woody surface, 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: one portion of the collection is for the church as a body, another for individual clergymen, and a third for the royal treasury. The island is in general fertile, but less so in the northern parts and the elevated districts of the interior, where a sandy soil prevails. Füllmen, the island next in extent to Zealand, is traversed by a chain of hills in the S. and W. The northern parts are level, unwooded, and fertile. After these come the smaller islands of Laaland, 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.

The provincial divisions of Denmark on the mainland 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 9667 square miles. Its general outline is oblong, with a triangle towards the north. It is divided into four stifts or dioceses, viz., Aalborg in the north, Wyborg in the centre, Aarhus in the east, and Ribe in the south and west. The rivers of Jutland are necessarily small, from the few hills and the limited breadth of the country; but there are numerous bays or inlets of the sea which run a great way up into the interior, of which by far the longest and most extensive is the Lynghood. Fish forms consequently a staple article of food in Jutland.

Jutland was in former ages covered with forests. Part of these still remain; and the features of this part of the Danish territory are wilder than those of the islands. Still Jutland is agreeably diversified with woods and pastures. Wild animals formerly abounded in its forests; but they have gradually disappeared with the extension of cultivation. 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 large numbers of them are annually sent to Holstein. 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 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 well adapted for wheat and barley, as well as oats and rye. The crops of oats are very heavy; rape is also cultivated with advantage; but the chief pursuit of the agriculturists is cattle-rearing. The horses of Holstein have long been noted for their shape as well as spirit, and are exported annually in considerable numbers to Germany, France and Russia.

Sleswick is of an oblong form, about seventy miles in Sleswick length, and from thirty to fifty-six in breadth. Its surface is 3534 square miles. A mountain range intersects the duchy from N. to S., the highest points being towards the north. To the east of this ridge are fruitful well-cultivated fields, interspersed with patches of woodland. To the west the ground gradually slopes into a plain covered with moors and marshes. 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.

Holstein, somewhat less in extent than Sleswick, has a Holstein surface of 3259 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. 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 are known to have occurred from irruptions of the sea; but during the last two centuries such irruptions have been completely obviated, 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 to notice the duchy of Lauen, Lassburg, on the banks of the Elbe, a short distance above Hamburg. It has an area of about 400 square miles, with a population of 46,486. In the north and west the country is flat; but in the south, along the banks of the Elbe, it assumes a hilly character. Woods occupy one-sixth of the entire area. In the east the picturesque Razeburger and Schall lakes form the boundary on the side of Mecklenburg. The population is almost wholly agricultural. 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.

Climate.—The climate of Denmark may be said to bear some resemblance to that of Scotland; and differs from it less in the nature of the seasons than in the rapidity of their transitions. The following is the mean annual temperature (Fahr.) in Altona, Apenrade, Copenhagen, and Fredericksavn:

| Season | Altona | Apenrade | Copenhagen | Fredericksavn | |------------|--------|----------|------------|---------------| | Winter | 32-45 | 32 | 32-9 | 32 | | Spring | 47-3 | 45-05 | 43-7 | 43-02 | | Summer | 62-375 | 62-375 | 63-05 | 60-35 | | Autumn | 49-775 | 49-55 | 49-1 | 48-65 | | Whole Year | 47-975 | 47-24 | 47-18 | 45-00 | Snow falls on an average for thirty days in the year, and westerly winds are more prevalent than easterly in the ratio of 16 to 10. Storms of wind and rain are exceedingly frequent, particularly in July and August, and the atmosphere is certainly more humid than that of Scotland. In the district of Aalborg, in the north of Jutland, a cold and dry N.W. wind called Skai prevails in May and June, and is exceedingly destructive to vegetation, while along the entire west coast of the peninsula similar effects are produced by a salt mist which carries its influence to a distance of from 15 to 30 miles inland.

Despite its maritime position, Denmark derives its greatest resources from the productions of the soil; and it is estimated that 60 per cent. of the population are engaged in agricultural pursuits. This remark, however, does not apply to the duchies of Sleswick-Holstein.

In 1847 the chief articles of agricultural produce in English quarters were as follows:

| | Denmark | Sleswick | Holstein | |------------------|---------|----------|----------| | Wheat | 282,857 | 90,640 | 183,052 | | Rye | 1,642,142| 211,702 | 278,753 | | Barley | 1,755,761| 220,151 | 221,707 | | Oats | 2,007,761| 436,904 | 644,359 | | Pease | 347,285 | 42,674 | 82,720 | | Buckwheat | 69,666 | 97,638 | 92,187 | | Rapeseed | 62,389 | 97,294 | 63,789 |

Total: 6,167,852 1,137,103 1,567,167

But, though agriculture is more highly developed under the more genial climate of the duchies, its progress is no less perceptible in the whole kingdom. Many tracts of land have been, within late years, reclaimed by the husbandman, and the people have gradually profited by the scientific improvements in the construction of implements, tile-draining, and the practice of manuring. In the same ratio that the duchies surpass Denmark in agricultural produce the former have the advantage in cattle-breeding. This progress is mainly owing to the abolition of serfdom, though the barons still retain many of their feudal privileges.

The large estates of the nobles are generally in the hands of farmers; but the greater part of the land is possessed by the peasantry, who maintain a hereditary attachment to their ancestral farms. According to Mr Laing, “the number of large farms in the two duchies (generally possessing a range of pasture for 200 cows) is above 3000; while that of the small peasant estates (generally capable of supporting from 10 to 15 cows) is above 125,000. Below these there is also a class of smaller landholders called junsters, who are properly cottars, with a house, a yard, and land for 1 or 2 cows, and number about 67,710. The comparatively happy condition of the labouring class is a fact generally known. The money wages of farm-servants is generally above three pounds a-year, besides board and lodging; which, though small in Britain, is reckoned good pay in Denmark. The people are well lodged, and more roomily and warmly than in England. On the meanest dwelling there is always a good sound heavy roof of thatch. The country abounds in small lakes—scarcely a farm without a pool; and the abundance of reeds and of rye-straw makes the roofing material plentiful and cheap. The side walls and gables are constructed of brick in wooden framework; or of clay and straw, as in Bedfordshire; and are whitewashed every year, and the wooden beams painted black. The houses of the peasant proprietors are entered by a large folding door in the gable, through which the long waggon with its two horses is received into the dwelling-house. On the one side stand the horses and cattle, on the other are the dwelling rooms, and above in the loft is stowed a large proportion of winter fodder...........In the rooms there is much neatness and comfort; and even the great hall—which is stable, cow-

house, and waggon-house, and into which they have their usual entrance—is always very clean. One sees many indications that the inhabitants enjoy some ease, and have leisure to bestow on the gratifications of taste. The windows of the poorest house rarely want a bit of ornamental drapery, and are always decked with flowers and plants in flower-pots...........In no part of Europe are the ordinary garden flowers produced in such abundance and luxuriance as in Holstein and Sleswick.”

The most remarkable feature in their husbandry is, that greater value is attached to the produce of the dairy than to that of the soil; and that much of horse-power is withdrawn from the field, and employed in the work of the dairy. Independently of the stock maintained upon the large dairy farms, this branch of industry has given rise to a distinct class of men hiring cows by the year. Notwithstanding the large quantity of land in pasture, the country produces more grain than is required for its own consumption; a fact perhaps to be mainly attributed to the slow increase of the population.

Whether or not a larger market for the raw products of Denmark would be furnished if the government assumed a less restrictive policy as regards the importation of foreign manufacture; and whether such a liberal policy would in the end benefit those whom the government means to protect by the present system; and lastly, whether such a change might, to the advantage of the landed interest, overthrow the dairy husbandry, and turn the whole energy of the agricultural classes to the arable land—are questions which in this place it is enough merely to hint at.

In an industrial point of view, the most flourishing part of the kingdom is Holstein; and Sleswick takes precedence of Denmark Proper. In the duchies upwards of 23 per cent. of the population are engaged in industrial pursuits, but in Denmark Proper little more than 21 per cent. Very little advantage has yet been taken of the natural facilities for manufacture and trade which this country pre-eminently enjoys. Its easy access to the coal-fields of England, and its own abundant resources of turf, afford an extensive basis for the prosecution of various branches of manufacture. Its rich clays also present valuable materials for the manufacture of earthenware. In several parts of the kingdom glass and porcelain works are carried on with considerable activity. Of the former class four extensive factories exist in Denmark, annually producing articles to the value of L5600 sterling. In Sleswick and Holstein the glass-works are neither so numerous nor so extensive in their scale of operations. The principal porcelain-work, viz. that at Copenhagen, gives employment only to about 80 men. In the kingdom and duchies there are about 1000 brick and tile works, and about 300 limekilns, but they are mostly of small size, and their products comparatively inconsiderable. The iron-works of the kingdom and duchies have recently made considerable progress since its separation from Norway; and the importation of raw material from England has been trebled within the last ten years. The largest iron-foundry is at Carlsbüttel, near Rendsburg, employing about 250 workmen. In the duchies the principal foundries are at Altona, Kiel, and Flensburg. There are no less than 16 iron-foundries in and around Copenhagen.

The woollen, linen, and cotton manufactures of Denmark are for the most part domestic, and carried on purely for local consumpt. The number of persons engaged in weaving in the kingdom (1850) amounted to 12,971; in the duchies (1845) to 6594. Linen is the principal article of domestic industry in Zealand. During the war the manufacture of cloth received a considerable impulse, having then the sole command of the market; but after the establishment of peace it again declined. The woollen manufac-

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Laing's Denmark and the Duchies. The sugar refineries, of which the largest are at Copenhagen and Flensburg, prepare most of the sugar required for domestic consumption. The manufacture of paper employs about 1100 men, and yields an annual product of about 548,200 cwt. The distilleries of brandy throughout the kingdom and duchies yield annually about 10,000,000 gallons.

Formerly the commercial legislation of Denmark was to such a degree restrictive that imported manufactures had to be delivered to the customs, where they were sold by public auction, the proceeds of which the importer received from the custom-houses after a deduction was made for the duty. To this restriction, as regards foreign intercourse, was added a no less injurious system of inland duties impeding the commerce of the different provinces with each other. The want of roads also, and many other disadvantages, tended to keep down both the development of commerce and industry. Within the present century, however, several commercial treaties were concluded between Denmark and the other powers of Europe, which made the Danish tariff more regular and liberal.

Of no less importance were the regulations made from time to time concerning the Sound toll, a question which in the seventeenth century led to many hostilities between Denmark, Sweden, and Holland. Having formerly possessed both sides of the entrance to the Baltic, the Danish crown looked upon the Sound as exclusively her own, refusing to admit any foreign vessel without paying a certain duty; and this right was never contested by the other powers. These duties form a considerable item in the revenue of Denmark.

The principal seaports are Copenhagen, Elsinore, Kiel, Flensburg, Aarhus, Alburg, Frederikshavn, Glückstadt, and Altona.

The chief articles imported are sugar, syrup, coffee, tea, woollen and linen manufactures, silk goods, iron, coal, and salt. The main seat of the transit commerce is Altona. The exports are corn, flour, peas, horses, black cattle, and sheep.

The following Table shows the value of the Exports and Imports to and from the various countries for the year 1852.

| | Denmark | Sleswick | Holstein | |----------------|---------|----------|----------| | Imports | | | | | L | L | L | L | | England | 577,221 | 832,494 | 1,409,716| | Norway and Sweden | 388,072 | 629,460 | 1,018,562| | Hamburg | 255,894 | 3,646 | | | Transit Imports through Kiel | 354,432 | | | | America, West Indies, and South Sea | 487,156 | 19,305 | 506,461 | | Lubeck | 172,211 | 27,084 | 199,295 | | Danish West Indies | 162,948 | 14,840 | 177,788 | | Iceland, Greenland, and the Faroe Islands | 137,017 | 7,474 | 211,759 | | Russia | 188,701 | 27,696 | 216,397 | | Prussia | 96,077 | 87,183 | 183,260 | | Holland & Belgium | 105,650 | 73,382 | 179,012 | | Mecklenburg | 29,318 | 5,424 | 34,742 | | France | 63,497 | 16,155 | 79,652 | | Altona & Wansbeck | 51,790 | 51,102 | 102,892 | | Mediterranean | 43,322 | 2,022 | 45,354 | | Hanover & Bremen | 63,453 | 1,420 | 64,873 | | East Indies, China, and Guinea | 56,856 | 5,081 | 61,937 | | Other countries | 12,738 | 70,369 | 83,047 | | Total | 3,247,343 | 1,941,285 | 5,188,628 |

The towns of Altona and Wansbeck are included under the head of foreign commerce, as standing without the toll-regulations of the kingdom.

The navigation from the north of Germany to Denmark, around the northern point of Jutland, being always tedious, and sometimes dangerous, gave rise to the idea of uniting the two seas by means of a canal, commencing 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 100 feet wide at the surface, and 54 at the bottom; it has six locks, and its least depth of water is 10 feet; it admits vessels of 120 tons burden; and of such small shipping no less than from 2000 to 3000 pass in a year. Of no less importance is the Stecknitz Canal, which, along with the railway between Altona, Glückstadt, and Kiel, serves to promote the commerce of the duchies. There are also railways from Copenhagen to Elsinore, and from Copenhagen to Roeskilde; and one has been recently opened from Tonning to Flensburg, with a branch to Rendsburg. Tonning 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 Tonning 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 sandbanks 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 Denmark, 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.

The Danes are of a middling stature and fair complexion, 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 parts of Europe. The peasantry, moreover, are but recently emancipated from a state of feudal subjection.

According to the organization of 28th April 1842, the Danish army in time of peace was divided into the general staff, an engineer corps, an artillery brigade, 27 squadrons of cavalry, and 23 battalions of infantry. Its nominal strength amounts to about 25,000 men, but of these not more than the half are in actual service. By the same organization the standing army in time of war consists of 40,000 men, of which three-fifths, or 24,000, may be levied in Denmark Proper, and two-fifths, or 16,000, in the duchies. The militia, when called, musters an effective force of 60,000 men.

The following is the state of the Danish navy in 1854:

| Ships of the Line | 5 | |-------------------|---| | Frigates | 6 | | Corvettes | 4 | | Barques | 1 | | Brigs | 4 | | Schooners | 3 | | Gun-boats | 90 | | Steam-vessels | 6 | | Cutters | 1 |

The financial state of the kingdom will best appear from the following estimates contained in the budget for 1854-5:

**Revenue for the whole monarchy, with the exception of Launenburg.**

| Receipts | Amount | |---------------------------|----------| | Domains | L.189,748| | Surplus from Launenburg | 34,683 | | Lotteries | 5625 | | Posts and Telegraph | 2501 | | Sound, River, and Canal Dues | 238,308 | | Customs, Stamps, &c. | 733,331 | | Sandries | 31,217 | | Interest on State Capital | 154,300 | | Floating Debt | 146,250 | | Deduct Receipts of the West Indian Colonies | 1,063 | | **Total** | L.1,535,063|

| Expenditure | Amount | |---------------------------|----------| | Civil list | L.90,000 | | Appanage of the Royal Family | 35,133 | | Privy-council | 5,133 | | Foreign department | 23,942 | | War do. | 521,837 | | Marine do. | 185,480 | | Finance do. | 7,780 | | Pensions | 171,810 | | Interests, &c. | 834,659 | | Extraordinary expenses | 16,751 | | **Total** | L.1,535,523|

Besides these, there are special estimates for each of the Denmark duchies, and also for Denmark Proper. The total amounts of each for the above year are as follows, viz.:

| General receipts | L.1,535,000| | Special receipts of the kingdom | 572,719 | | Do. do. of the duchy of Sleswick | 235,696 | | Do. do. of the duchy of Holstein | 238,828 | | Do. do. of the duchy of Lauenburg | 34,226 | | **Total** | L.2,617,469|

| General expenses | L.1,935,523| | Special expenses of the kingdom | 322,065 | | Do. do. of the duchy of Sleswick | 81,996 | | Do. do. of the duchy of Holstein | 91,720 | | Do. do. of the duchy of Lauenburg | 21,720 | | **Total** | L.2,453,054|

The national debt in 1853 amounted to L.13,612,500.

The government of Denmark, like that of other Gothic Form of countries, was formerly far from despotic; the succession governed by the crown was even elective until the revolution of 1650. 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. But by the constitution of 1848 mentioned before, Denmark became in form of government similar to the other limited monarchies of Europe.

The privy-council consists of the king, prince Frederick Ferdinand, and the ministers. The duchies have a special ministry responsible only to the king.

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, as already observed, is a member of the Germanic 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 been from time to time various improvements based on the code of Christian V. The most effective changes were made since 1848. Besides courts of arbitration, about the usefulness of which no doubt can be entertained, the distribution of justice is secured by the superintendence of the higher courts over the lower ones, while provisions are made to prevent idle delays and useless expense. Sleswick and Holstein have separate courts of justice and administration.

The established religion in Denmark is the Lutheran Religion, 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. The bishops in Denmark have no political character; they inspect the conduct of the subordinate clergy, confer holy orders, and, in short, enjoy nearly all the privileges of fellow dignitaries among us, except that of voting in the legislature. Complete toleration is now enjoyed in Denmark.

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 in a very high degree interesting. 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 him Gemli is prominent; Saxo Grammaticus, who wrote in Latin, belongs to the second; and to it also belong Arild Hvidfeld 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 Kompeter. 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, belongs entirely 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 post-positive definite article; 2. a passive and middle voice in the verbs, formed by inflection, whilst the Massogothic 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 Norraena or Danah Tungga; 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 a much softer language than it is generally supposed to be. 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. All educational institutions of the country are now managed by a 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, co-rectors, and other teachers of grammar-schools in Denmark Proper (not in Holstein or Sleswick), and promotes these functionaries from lower to higher grades. Education is compulsory. Poor parents pay a nominal sum weekly for the education of their children at the government schools, so that almost all the lower class can read and write. Confirmation is also compulsory. Until that rite has been received, the youth of both sexes are in statu pupillarii. Certificates of baptism, confirmation, and vaccination are indispensable before entering on service, apprenticeship, or matrimony.

In Danish literary history the following names are particularly distinguished. Holberg, of Norwegian origin, was an eminent poet and historian; he was at once the Swift and the Hume of Denmark. Bartholin, Langebeck, Suhm, Luxdorff, and Schjonning, were historians and antiquaries. Treschow is much admired as an eclectic philosopher. Both the Thorlacuses, father and son, were very eminent scholars and critics; their works are chiefly written in Latin. The Danes have especially excelled in dramatic poetry. Their most eminent poets are Ewald, Wessel, Thaarup, Samsøe, Abrahamson, Ingemann, Johan Ludvig Heiberg, Adam Oehlenschläger, and Cure Bernhard. The two last are most popular. The two brothers Oersted are highly distinguished; Andreas as a lawyer and philosopher, and Hans Christian Oersted as a chemist, and for his discoveries in natural science. Among the antiquarians, the best known names are Suhm, Magnussen, Wormius, and Thomsen. As to philology, it will be enough to mention the name of Erasmus Rask.

The centre of literary activity is Copenhagen. Since the late war history has gained by the labours of Goerde and Schierm. The latter has published a work on the origin of the races of Europe. Last of all we have only to mention the memoirs of Oersted, the great jurisconsult and present minister, as well as a new poem, by Paludan Muller, the well-known author of Adam Homo.

The Danish language is spoken by three-fourths of the population; the remaining fourth, inhabiting Holstein, Sleswick, and Lauenburg, speak German.

The following is a list of the Kings of Denmark from the earliest times:

| Year | King | |------|------| | 784 | Gormo, from 714 till 784 | | 785 | Sigefrida | | 809 | Gellicius | | 810 | Olaius III. | | 812 | Hemmemgloas | | 817 | Ringo Siwardus | | 843 | Harald I. | | 846 | Black | | 847 | Siwardus II. | | 847 | Eric I. | | 854 | Eric II. | | 873 | Canute I. | | 897 | Gormo II. | | 900 | Harald II. | | 900 | Gormo III. | | 980 | Harald III. | | 1015 | Suenon I. | | 1036 | Canute II., the Great. | | 1042 | Canute III. (Hardecanute) | | 1048 | Magnus | | 1074 | Suenon II. | | 1080 | Harald IV. | | 1085 | Canute IV. | | 1095 | Olaius IV. | | 1106 | Eric II. | | 1134 | Nicolas | | 1139 | Eric IV. | | 1147 | Eric V. | | 1157 | Suenon III. | | 1182 | Waldemar I., the Grand. |

| Year | Year | |------|------| | 1203 | Canute V. | | 1241 | Waldemar II. | | 1250 | Eric VI. | | 1252 | Abal. | | 1259 | Christopher I. | | 1286 | Eric VII. | | 1320 | Eric VIII. | | 1336 | Christopher II. | | 1375 | Waldemar III. | | 1387 | Olaius V. | | 1412 | Margaret, Queen of Sweden, Norway, and Denmark. | | 1439 | Eric IX. | | 1448 | Christopher III. | | 1481 | Christian I. | | 1513 | John. | | 1523 | Christian II. | | 1533 | Frederick I. | | 1559 | Christian III. | | 1588 | Frederick II. | | 1648 | Christian IV. | | 1670 | Frederick III. | | 1699 | Christian V. | | 1736 | Frederick IV. | | 1746 | Christian VI. | | 1766 | Frederick V. | | 1808 | Christian VII. | | 1839 | Frederick VI. | | 1848 | Christian VIII. | | 1848 | Frederick VII. |

(J.—E.) (E.—D.)