Schleswig-Holstein.—The case of Schleswig-Holstein, though one of the most complicated problems for statesmen of the last century, is perfectly clear as to the vital factors involved. Some centuries ago the Duke of Schleswig-Holstein—which may be described as the original seat of the Anglo-Saxons who peopled Britain—conquered Denmark and was proclaimed King of Denmark. As Duke of Schleswig-Holstein the duchies became attached to the crown of Denmark, but were never incorporated as parts of the Danish State. The relationship was similar to that of the early Georges, who were kings of Hanover, a distinctly German State, but which was never considered belonging to Great Britain for allthat.

The two German duchies were given a charter that they were “one and indivisible,” and this held good for centuries. Early in1840, a quarrel ensued between the government of Denmark and the German duchies. King FrederickVII had no children; the succession was about to descend to the female line of the family. The duchies protested. Their charter provided distinctly for a male line of rulers, and they would maintain their rights as well as the provision guaranteeing their unity. Accordingly, they rejected (January28, 1848) the new constitution of the government embracing every section of the monarchy and stood out for their constitutional guarantees.

Underlying these constitutional questions was the stronger racial impulse to be united with their kindred of Germany, where the desire for national unity was making itself felt in revolutionary demonstrations. The first note of discord in the German national parliament was occasioned by the Schleswig-Holstein question. In order to prevent the incorporation of the duchies in the Danish State, the communities elected a provisional government and appealed to the German parliament to be admitted into the German confederation; at the same time the provisional government appealed to the King of Prussia for aid. The same men who have been pronounced the most ardent German revolutionists of 1848 were equally ardent in their desire to rescue two sister States from being absorbed by a government of alien blood and sympathy.

The Prussian general, Wrangel, led a force into the duchies, drove out the Danes and occupied Jutland. Before any further blows were struck, Russia, England and Sweden intervened, and Prussia withdrew her troops in accordance with an armistice provision signed August26. All public measures proclaimed by the provisional government were thereupon nullified, and a common government for the duchies was created, partly by Denmark and partly by the German Confederation, and the Schleswig troops were separated from those of Holstein.

This decision was regarded in Schleswig-Holstein as a betrayal of its cause and was never accepted by a considerable minority of the German parliament. In1849 revolt in the duchies broke out afresh, and gained many adherents in Germany. A stadtholder was appointed for the duchies, and an army composed of mixed German troops was sent to support the revolutionists under command of Gen.Bonin. An attack of the Danes at Eckernfoerde was repelled, the fortifications of Duppel were taken by storm and Kolding was captured. But the Schleswig-Holstein army was beaten by the Danes in a sortie from Fredericia, and Prussia, again under pressure from Russia and England, was compelled to abandon the Schleswig-Holsteiners and sign the armistice of July10, 1849, with Denmark.

By this agreement Schleswig was abandoned to Denmark, but not Holstein. The Schleswig-Holstein government, however, refused to recognize this treaty of peace and placed a new army in the field under General Willisen. It was defeated at Idstedt, and in conformity with the treaty of Olmutz, Holstein was occupied by Austrian and Prussian troops, while Schleswig was abandoned to the Danes, under the London protocol, which recognized Prince Christian of Glucksberg as the future king of the monarchy.

This, however, did not dispose of the question. In1863 King Christian signed the new constitution which incorporated Schleswig in the Danish State and separated it from Holstein, contrary to the ancient charter of the two duchies. This action also conflicted with the London protocol and vitiated the treaty as well for those who signed it (Prussia and Austria) as for those who did not, the two duchies and the German Confederation, in so far as the recognition of King Christian as duke of Schleswig-Holstein was concerned. The duchies thereupon declared for the Prince of Augustenburg as their rightful ruler, who had been unjustly put aside in the London protocol, and appealed to the German Confederation forhelp.

In order to protect Holstein as part of the German Confederation, the latter sent 12,000 Saxons and Hanoverians into the duchy. The Danes fell back across the Eider river, and the Prince of Augustenburg, proclaimed the rightful ruler, took up his residence in Kiel. Prussia recognized King Christian, but with the distinct reservation that he adhere to the London protocol and surrender his claim to Schleswig. Under the belief that he would receive help from other sources, King Christian rejected the offer, and Prussia, in conjunction with Austria, decided to settle the Schleswig-Holstein question in conformity with the wishes of its people, and German national interests. This brought on the war of1864, in which Denmark formally renounced her claims to the two duchies.

This brief summary goes to show that the popular notion that Schleswig-Holstein was wrested from poor little Denmark by brutal force against the will of the people is erroneous. McCarthy, in his “History of Our Own Times,” says: “Put into plain words, the dispute was between Denmark, which wanted to make the duchies Danish, and Germany, which wanted to make them German. The arrangement which bound them up with Denmark was purely diplomatic and artificial. Any one who would look realities in the face must have seen that some day or other the Germans would carry their point, and that the principle of nationalities would have its way in that case as in so many others.” This view was held by eminent English statesmen at that time. McCarthy tells us that Lord Russell “had never countenanced or encouraged any of the acts which tended to the enforced absorption of the German population into the Danish system.”

The people of the duchies fought for their own cause. When King FrederickVII, in March, 1848, called the leaders of the Eider-Dane party—the party which desired the Eider river to constitute the dividing line between Denmark and Germany, thus converting Schleswig into a Danish province and abandoning Holstein—to take the reins of government, the issue was clearly drawn, and the result was revolution. The troops joined the people; the revolution spread over the provinces and the struggle for the ending of the Danish rule began. A representative of the threatened duchies applied to the Bundesrath at Frankfort and was seated. Volunteers from all parts of Germany flocked to the northern border. Prussia was commissioned to defend the German duchies, and Emerson, in his “History of the Nineteenth Century Year by Year,” tells us that before Gen.Wrangel could arrive to take command, “the untrained volunteer army of Schleswig-Holsteiners suffered defeat at Bau, and a corps of students from the University of Kiel was all but annihilated.” When Jutland was occupied, the historian informs us, it was “in conjunction with the volunteers of Schleswig-Holstein.” Again he says: “On July5 the Danes made a sortie from Fredericia and inflicted a crushing defeat on the Schleswig-Holsteiners, capturing 28guns and 1,500 prisoners.” The loss was nearly 3,000 men in dead and wounded.

Heine, one of the ministers of the present German government, speaking at Tondern, Schleswig, during the fall of1919, said:

Here is the cradle of the purest Germanism. From here the richest of German blood was transfused throughout our fatherland. Fan-like, its streams coursed from West to East. Here was laid the original foundation of the German people. Here were born the men who have wrought great deeds in German history.

Among the distinguished men born in Schleswig-Holstein may be noted von Weber, the great composer; Friedrich Hebbel, next to Goethe and Schiller, Germany’s most famous dramatist; several distinguished novelists and poets, such as Joachim Maehl, Gustav Frensen and Emanuel Geibel, one of the most appealing of the German poets, who sang:

The total Danish-speaking population of the German Empire innbsp;1900, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica, edition of1910, was only 141,061, about 10,000 more than Paterson, N.J., representing in part the irreconcilables along the Danish border, and it is proposed to let this minority decide the fate of the northernmost duchy, ostensibly under the plebiscite, but under a plebiscite of which the Danish government itself entertained the most serious apprehensions, for it repeatedly entered vigorous protests which were sent to Versailles. This plebiscite is being exercised under the guns of British warships.

A dispatch of May11 last, from Copenhagen, speaks of dissatisfaction “reflected in the newspapers which declare the population of the district is composed of Germans, whom Denmark does not desire, as their presence within the country would lead to a future racial conflict.” Although “entirely Germanized,” as one correspondent expresses it, “the population possibly would vote to adhere to Denmark to escape German taxation.”

This is the sort of self-determination that is to determine the future boundaries of the States adjacent to the new German republic.