ON GERMAN FRONTIER.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LII, Issue 113, 16 May 1918, Page 7

ON GERMAN FRONTIER.

DENMARK'S TRAGEDY

CONSTANT MENACE OF POWERFUL NEIGHBOUR

rfeilmai-k,looked o n by the Prussians as their northern province, has remained free only because England- and Bussia would have begun to growl the moment she was attacked. For 60 years the position of this little has been pathetic. I have lived m;l>onniark for more than te n years, and there never has been, even before the war, a moment when the Danes lelt themselves entirely safe {wrote Mr <M. F. Egan, United States Minister to Denmark, recently) . . . ' The Danes in Northern Siesvig, irritated beyond endurance by the ex actions of their conquerors, were too helpless to show anything but irritation. Unwilling subjects of a hated despotism, they endured insult after insult, and the war, heavily as it has borne upon them, is looked- on by them in the hope that the President's promise of a national life for people of the same language and ideals may lead to their union with the mother countryDenmarK. But what have they done to. deserve this? Thev have .'suffered m every fibre of their hearts and souls. And what has Denmark done to deserve that her children shall be returned t.% ber She has simply kept her ideaJ* free from the influence ,01 the Colossus at her verj border. In proportion to her resources she nas helped beigrartt as much as any other nation, and every appeal for France has been generously heard. With persistence, free people were; made to be willing slaves of despotism, and this despotism meant centralisation. Bismarck was a cynic with a strong brain and a mind that had none 17 the scruples, of even Cardinal de Uetz. "On this day," pyrites the Cardinal in his memoirs, "I determined to wrong deliberately.' Bismarck made right wrong. The Fatherland over all! ! The Fatherland is God—the end justi--1 fies the means ! The German emperor, following the genius of the dictator he pushed aside, invented a Prussian Holy Ghost

• The position o'f Denmark ever since the seizure of Schleswig-Holstein, in 1864, has been very difficult. Europe saw these provinces'wrested.- from Denmark with apparent indifference. The Danes hoped that England would intPifere. This hops' was not based on the belief that the democratic ideas tjf Denmark and Great Britain were similar. but rather 00 the fact that iTcm Slesvig came the three peoples whose coming to England made the present British Empire what it is. The non-interference of England and France left Denmark a prev* to the conquering German. This mistake of diplomacy—to leave out higher motives —ielDed'to make the war of 1870 and the war which began in 1914 possible. cession of Heligoland to Germany was bad enough, but the permitting T«f the dismemberment of this litti*i nation by ruthless .dispossession was even worse in its consequences. England has long known this and deeply regretted it.~ - " . Our country was- then having horrible difficulties of its own. But ±o sure were the Danes of our sympath} that they allowed German vessels from Hamburg. bound with much needed merchandise Tor the United States, to pass unmolested, an act of kindness which, most Americans fail to remenv-

• nay The growing German Emptr e wante-a sailors. As the" mines, of Northern France contain coveted ore for the use of Krupp's, Northern Slesvig had hundreds of the beßt sailors in the world. And Prussia took them. Hamlet h» acknowledged by the cuh tivated Dane himself as atype-of the 'moder n I>ane. -venose point of view has become pessimistic. He cherishes his national ideals: he loves his literature. Bishop Gruntvig, -in the last. century, laid the foundation of an intelligent passion for-Danish culture by instituting the high schools in the country for the common people. Danish opinion will not permit a Danish vocalist" to sd.og in German at th e Opera House; his sympathies are, as a rule, English or French—the Danes love France—but he will say: "In spite of all, we arc doomed. Germany will one day take us." -.'''' ? '.; ' : When one recalls the Willyi-'lShcKy correspondence—if ■ one -had no other evidence—it is easy to understand'that the fear is not unfounded. Some Danish literary men are accused! of catering to German sentiment, because their books sell in Germany, but the Danish author of distinction JsT Danish above all, with a passion 'for-freedom-Johannes Jergensen is a case i:: point. Hia plea for Belgium made all Europe ring. George' Brarides, since his quarrel with Clemenceau, has been censured "by some of his own countrymen for his German tendency, with no otfier reason than that, so far as I cam. discover, his- daughter is married to an officer in the German army. -It is a'constant source of wonder to a stranger in - Denmark that the Danes have escaped, the crushingi power of German- kultur. ; ~ "If the Germans came to Jutland,^

I asked 'f »■ Banish gentleman during the prc-'!'t. war whew tlie atmosphere •was tcn-e, "what -would' be the veSlllt?" • •■ ' / ' "Hnici'o or cxiie," he want is t" follow our nationa bent. You

j Americans say that we aro too democTtttlc. I know that we arc passionately in love With- freedom. To me it would mean exile. We Danes could riot live under a yoke." ■"ln North Slesvig, when; in spite ot the grace, of blood and iron, the Dane •raises his flag or speaks publicly ini his awn language, the iron heel comes dawn; he is silent for a time, but he out_again. Lately Germany has assumed a more benevolent aspect. Her policy toward the neutral nations— excepting the use of the U-boat —is semipaternal. Germanyi offered potatoes and coal and Roumanian, petroleum, to k den, and coal stnd> petroleum 1o Den * mark. The Danes, up to my' leaving Copenhagen, had- made a bra\* effort to keep "both coal and petroleum from Ceinr-uiy out of their country, while an agreement ■-with the 'United States! bv which a- certain amount of crude petroleum and coal might b e imported was diVcu;-*ed. ■ _ '■ .- We live in an- atmosphere of spies. ! i Berlin is onlyi 12. hours away by rail, j A Zeppelin could cover_jC6penhagen Jn ! eight- hours. Before the war a signi-' ficant incident occurred. In 1911 our splendid Atlantic squadron,' under the command of thlfsuavo and sympathetic Admiral Badger, arrived at Copenhagen. It was a moment, of pride for overv American. Some time later the .Fn<rli=h and Russian' fleets appeared. The Lion, of the British -fleet, excited special admiration. SrTdidenly . a Zeppelin appeared., cahnlv sailing over both fleets.' The Diplomatic Corps took this j as~an omen ! I