THE POSITION OF DENMARK.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 16560, 8 June 1917, Page 4

THE POSITION OF DENMARK.

It would be interesting to know the genesis of the Danish " trade commission" reported to be visiting foreign countries " to negotiate with the belligerents important questions regarding the conditions of life in Denmark," which is alleged to be on the verge of catastrophe, and to bo " suffering as much hardship as if it had been a belligerent." This latter phrase must presumably be taken figuratively, for all Danish produce has been salable at phenomenal prices, and the only Danes killed are those who have been drowned through German piracy. There is every disposition among the British to think kindly and even remorsefully of Denmark, which was crushed by Prussia and Austria in 1864, as the first move in the Macbiar

vellian game of Bismarck, and was not then supported as it should have been by the European nations to whom it appealed. Nobody expects the Danes to invite German " frightfulness" by a declaration of war, or to resent too forcibly submarine attacks upon their shipping, but it is not in reason that they should be allowed to trade freely with Germany, and suffer no restriction upon their imports from overseas. This "commission of the most prominent representatives' of Danish trad.e and industry" may or may not be actuated solely by patriotic motives. It may provo another peace intrigue in a new guise, and all peace intrigues are made in Germany.