Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 8.djvu/314

 302 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

a common epithet in Sleswic for which he was sentenced to two years' imprisonment for Ihe majestd against Emperor William !

It is deemed "grave disorder" (grober Unfug], and is subject to heavy penalties, publicly to use the name "South Jutland" (Sonderjylland) in connection with Sleswic. This is the ancient Danish name for the province, still predominantly employed in Denmark in lieu of "Sleswic" (Slesvig). Since time immemo- rial the Cimbrian peninsula has politically been divided into North Jutland and South Jutland, this latter appellation thus having ample historical as well as geographical justification. But woe to the writer who forgets himself to the extent of using it in print, even in quotations, thereby suggesting a connection if only one of relative location between the two divisions that fails to take account of the present political affiliation of the southern half !

The climax of this remarkable phase of modern assimilative endeavors was reached after Herr von Koller, in the summer of 1897, na d been appointed governor of the province of Sleswic- Holstein. This typical Prussian Junker, whose notions of the rela- tions of rulers and ruled had been cast in the mediaeval, feudalistic mold, and who regarded his administrative domain as a special fief he held from his war-lord, to whom alone he was responsible, found in North Sleswic an inviting field for the working out of his patriarchal theories. Sizing up the situation, he pronounced the methods hitherto pursued for the extirpation of the Danish nationality too slow and inefficacious, and inaugurated what he was pleased to term "the policy of the firm hand" (die Politik der festen Hand}.

As mentioned above, after the conclusion of peace in 1864 the majority of the population had chosen to become Prussian citizens, thereby acquiring the right of suffrage and in every other respect being placed, juridically, upon the same footing as other subjects of the crown. By this means they hoped to be enabled to carry on a more successful war of defense. A considerable number had, however, refused to take the oath of allegiance and, as Danish subjects, had retained their domicile in Sleswic. Although the exact legal status of these latter has never been