Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 7.djvu/102

  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 resentment felt on the occasion by the emperor of Russia was so great as to deprive England during four arduous years of the benefit of his alliance; and the seizure of the Danish fleet so exasperated the crown prince and the nation at large, that they forthwith declared war against England, throwing themselves completely into the arms of France.

The hostilities between England and Denmark were carried on by sea, partly at the entrance of the Baltic, and partly on the coast of Norway. These consisted of a series of actions between single vessels or small detachments, in which the Danes fought always with spirit, and not unfrequently with success. In regard to trade, both nations suffered severely,—the British merchantmen in the Baltic being much annoyed by Danish cruisers, whilst the foreign trade of Denmark was in a manner suspended, through the naval superiority of England.

The situation of the two countries continued on the same footing 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 the latter, in order to secure the cordial co-operation of Russia and Sweden, had gone so far as to guarantee to these powers the cession of Norway on the part of Denmark. The Danes, ill prepared for so great a sacrifice, continued their connection with France during the eventful year 1813; but at the close of that campaign a superior force was directed by the allied sovereigns against Holstein, and the result was, first an armistice, and eventually a treaty of peace in January 1814. The terms of the peace were, that Denmark should cede Norway to Sweden, and that Sweden, in return, should give up Pomerania to Denmark. But Pomerania, being too distant to form a suitable appendage to the Danish territory, was exchanged for a sum of money and a small district in Lauenburg adjoining Holstein. On the part of England, the conquests made from Denmark in the East and West Indies were restored,—all, in short, that had been occupied by British troops, excepting Heligoland.

After the Congress of Vienna, by which the extent of the Danish monarchy was considerably reduced, the court of Copenhagen was from time to time disquieted by a spirit of discontent 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 Schleswig 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 that of the dukes of Holstein-Gottorp. Several collateral branches arose afterwards, of which those that survived were—the Augustenburg and Glücksburg 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 Schleswig, 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 Catharine 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 Schleswig was ceded to the Crown of Denmark. The czar abandoned also his part of Holstein in exchange for Oldenburg and Delmonhorst, 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 had 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 Sohleswig, 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 which 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 in 1838 of Christian VIII., 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 Schleswig, which tended to encourage the culture of the Danish language to the prejudice of the German. The elements of a revolution being thus in readiness waited only for 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 in rebellion against him.

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 Schleswig, 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 Schleswig; and the king of Prussia followed up their resolution by sending an army into the duchies under the command of General Wrangel. The Prussian general, after driving the Danes from Schleswig, marched into Jutland; but on the 26th of August an armistice was signed at Malmoe, and an agreement come to by which 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.

After the expiry of the armistice, the war was renewed with the aid of Prussian troops 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 command of the Schleswig 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