PLIGHT OF DENMARK.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XLI, Issue 12768, 10 February 1916, Page 2

PLIGHT OF DENMARK.

ENDER THE HEEL OF PRUSSIA

The horror is nowhere felt so acutely as in Schleswig, or Snderjylland, as we Danes still prefer to call the ancient home of tho Angles, writes a Danish journalist. Xo fewer than 25,000 of the Danishspeaking population have left their homes in this old Danish Crownland to fight for that Prussia which they'loathe and hate more than anybody else. And in a few days' time the remainder of the Danish manhood between 18 and 45 are to follow. These are the men who, before the war, were declared absolutely unfit for military service—young men with weak hearts, varicose veins, lung trouble, or kidney disease. . Now these "unfit" will do all rignt. The German authorities probably think that chronic invalids are exactly those most fit to be U6ed as •'cannon-fodder. And they will probably be given a chance of distinguishing themselves at the front, as their sturdier and fitter brothers were given at the beginning, of the war. In an -assault the front line was never denied them. That explains:why more Danes ha»-e been killed in this war than in 1864,.when Denmark tried jingle-handed to keep back the invading forces of Germany and Austria. These Danes are sent against a foe that is not their foe. On the contrary thev love and .worship France and England, "and -most deeply felt is tbeir svmpathy with Belgium and the Belgians. The/ know from bitter experience what it means to writhe under the Prnssian iron heel.

Tragic Mockery of War. War at its best is a gruesome affair. Even fiery patriotism in-a gallant soldier cannot prevent his shuddering at the sanguinary bestiality of battle. He feels, however, the glory and satisfaction of killing or being killed for the greatness and safety of the country he loves. Bnt for the Danish soldiers in the German army the war is nothing but a tragic mockery. They entirely lack that national enthusiasm which excuses and justifies the killing of fellow-beings. And they hav<! not lived sufficiently long under the Prussian voke to appease their consciences by the typical German excuse that their authorities have compelled them to murder. Though German citizens by the injustice of might, their hearts and minds remain Danish, and in their veins runs the blood of forefathers who changed their laws but not their convictions, free men who never dreamed of silencing their conscience to suit the whims or crimes of a tvrant. While these Danes from Schleswig have to fight the battles of their tormentors, and are fighting for Prussia, the Prussian authorities are more brutal than ever towards their non-combatant relatives in Schleswig. From the very moment that war was declared Schleswig was placed under martial law. Military dictatorship replaced civil government. The highest authoritv was no longer invested with the Lord Lieutenant of Schleswig, but was transferred to the commanding officer of the Altona garrison, whose rule is one of blood and iron. Xo other opinion is tolerated than that of the military caste. The editors of the Danish newspapers in Schleswig were flung into prison or despatched to the front, and their papers are now written with a German sword. These papers must be better edited now than before the war at any rate the German press never quoted them before, except in fits of Teutonic wrath; now it finds many proofs of the love of everything German by the Danish population! The province swarms with spies, and denunciator!l flourish as in Belgium. No. one feels safe. Innocent people are kept in prison for months without trial and then released"without any explanation or excuse. Minor offences are*punished with incredible severity, the judges publicly justifying their savage sentences by pointing out that til? transgressors are known to harbour Danish sympathies! On the night fol owing the outbreak of the war the military authorities arrested in the most brnial wry no fewer than 300 prominent Panes in Schleswig. The' men ami women were dragged half-dressed through the .-trtets, oik? freely insulted by the Gemmi laiibic. Most of 'them were kept- in prison for weeks. None was prosecuted, for even the German spies failed to trump up charges against any of these highly respected citizens. This whok'sile _an est was only undertaken with the object of frightening the population into submission. •In fact, this was the first example of that German "frightfulness" which has placed the German nation outside the pale of civilisation.

.Many fishcrfolk were put in prison for no other reason than that they possessed boats and might help conscripts to escape from their military duties. Among these were many old men between 70 and 80 years of age. While one of them, a 72-year-old invalid, was hauled to prison, his "four sons and three sons-in-law were marched off to the Belgian front to be used in that desperate attempt of the capturing the fort of Liege without siege guns. In prison this old man was treated in the most fiendish way. His bed was a bare wooden bench, and every night he was aroused several times to stand to attention for some inspecting brute of a German Unterofficiere. After a month's time his prison door was opened, and he was told to clear out as quickly as possible. Boycotting the Good Samaritan.

Several camps for Russian prisoners of war have been established in Schleswig. The arrival of the first batch of these prisoners was a pitiful sight. For four days these poor fellows had l>een entrained without receiving a morsel of food. They were packed into a cattle truck without any sanitation or water. Several of them had died from their privations. The kindhearted Danes succeeded in distributing food among the suffering Russians. This was. however, considered grober unfug, and the more prominent of the good Samaritans were arrested. Some were heavily fined and warned that a repetition of this offence would spell imprisonment. And all of them had their unpatriotic names published in the German paper, and have since been victims of a vigorous boycott from the hands of all true Germans. Nevertheless, the Russians still receive through mysterious channels Liebesgaben from the Danes in Schleswig. Their humanity is stronger than the fear of German frightfulness. A couple of weeks ago a simple Danish fieasant woman was given six months' hard abonr by her military judges. In a letter to a friend in Denmark she mentioned casually that the poor Russian prisoners were not treated well, and she wrote that they got nothing else to eat but turnips and potato peelings. This letter never reached its destination. Pnt into the hands of the judge advocate, the answer to it was a sentence of six months' hard labour. The poor woman was enceinte, and the authorities decreed that the sentence should be deferred until eight days aftei tbe birth of her child. Nothing shows better, crow the German papers, how humane and considerate we Germans are in the treatment of our criminals. Danes in Schleswig, however, fail to discover any humanity or consideration in this or any other doings of their German oppressors.