dily pursued, and ultimately effected, coast of Jutland, from Riba to Lemvig, the gradual and bloodless amelioration is principally alluvial, and presents of his country. His name will ever much greater advantages to the cultiform a splendid epoch in the history vator than he has yet drawn from it. of Denmark. The spirit of economical The eastern coast is also extremely research and improvement which em- favourable to vegetation. A sandy anated from him still remains; while and barren ridge, stretching from north the personal character of the prince of to south, between the two coasts, is unDenmark, and the zeal with which he favourable to every species of culture, seconded the projects of his favourite and hardly capable of supporting the minister, seem to afford a guarantee wild and stunted shrubs which languish for the continuation of the same system upon its surface. Towards the north, of administration. where the Jutland peninsula terminates in the Baltic, everything assumes an aspect of barrenness and desolation. It is In his analysis of the present state of Denmark, Mr. Catteau, after a slight historical sketch of that country, di-Arabia, without its sun or its verdant vides his subjects into sixteen sections. islands; but not without its tempests or sands, which sometimes overwhelm 1. Geographical and physical quali- what little feeble agriculture they may ties of the Danish territory: 2. Form encounter, and convert the habitual of government: 3. Administration. wretchedness of the Jutlanders into se4. Institutions relative to government vere and cruel misfortune. The Danish and administration : 5. Civil and government has attempted to remedy criminal laws, and judiciary institu- this evil, in some measure, by encouragtions: 6. Military system, land army, ing the cultivation of those kinds of and marine: 7. Finance: 8. Population 9. Productive industry, comprehending agriculture, the fisheries, and the extraction of mineral substances: 10. Manufacturing industry: 11. Commerce, interior and exterior, including the state of the great roads, the canals of navigation, the maritime insurances, the bank, &c. &c. 12. Establishments of charity and public utility: 13. Religion: 14. Education: 15. Language, character, manners, and customs: 16. Sciences and arts.-This division we shall follow. From the southern limits of Holstein to the southern extremity of Norway, the Danish dominions extend to 300 miles in length, and are, upon an average, from about 50 to 60 in breadth; the whole forms an area of about 8000 square miles. The western The mile alluded to here, and through the whole of the book, is the Danish mile, 15 to a degree, or 4000 toises in round numbers: the ancient mile of Norway is much more considerable.-It may be as well to mention here, that the Danes reckon their money by rixdollars, marks, and schellings. A rixdollar contains 6 marks, and a mark 16 schellings; 20 schellings are equal to one livre; consequently the pound sterling is equal to 4 r. 4 m. 14 sch., or nearly 5 rix dollars. shrubs which grow on the sea-shore, and by their roots give tenacity and aggregation to the sand. The Elymus Arenaria, though found to be the most useful for that purpose, is still inadequate to the prevention of the calamity.* The Danish isles are of a green and pleasant aspect. The hills are turfed up to the top, or covered with trees; the valley animated by the passage of clear streams; and the whole strikingly contrasted with the savage sterility, or imposing grandeur, of the scenes on the opposite coast of Jutland. All the seas of Denmark are well stored with fish; and a vast number of deep friths and inlets afford a cheap and valuable communication with the interior of the country. The Danish rivers are neither numerous nor considerable. The climate, generally speaking, is moist and subject to thick fogs, which almost obscure the horizon. Upon a mean of twenty. six years, it has rained for a hundred and thirty days every year, and thun There is a Danish work, by Professor Viborg, upon those plants which grow in sand. It has been very actively distributed in Jutland, by the Danish administration, and might be of considerable service in Norfolk, and other parts of Great Britain, dered for thirteen. Their summer | tions of rational liberty by the wise rebegins with June and ends with Sep-strictions imposed upon its returning tember. A calm serene sky, and an Monarch, the people of Denmark, by atmosphere free from vapours, is very a solemn act, surrendered their natural rarely the lot of the inhabitants of Denmark; but the humidity with which the air is impregnated is highly favourable to vegetation; and all kinds of corn and grass are cultivated there with great success. To the south of Denmark are the countries of Sleswick and Holstein. Nature has divided these countries into two parts; the one of which is called Geetslund, the other Marschland. Geetsland is the elevated ground situated along the Baltic. The soil resembles that of Denmark. The division of Marschland forms a band or stripe, which extends from the Elbe to the frontiers of Jutland, an alluvium gained and preserved from the sea, by a labour which, though vigilant and severe, is repaid by the most ample profits. The sea, however, in all these alluvial countries, seldom forgets his original rights. Marschland, in the midst of all its tranquillity, fat, and silence, was invaded by this element in the year 1634, with the loss of whole villages, many thousands of horned cattle, and 1500 human beings. Nature is as wild and grand in Norway as she is productive in Marschland. Cataracts amid the dark pines; the eternal snow of the mountains; seas that bid adieu to the land, and stretch out to the end of the world; an endless succession of the great and the terrible, leave the eye and the mind without repose. The climate of Norway is extremely favourable to the longevity of the human race, and sufficiently so to the life of many animals domesticated by man. The horses are of a good breed; the horned cattle excellent, though small. Crops of grain are extremely precarious, and often perish before they come to matu rity. In 1660, the very year in which this happier country was laying the founda We shall take little notice of Iceland in this review, from the attention we mean to pay to that subject in the review of "Voyage en Iceland, fait par ordre de sa Majesté Danoise," 5 vols, 1802. rights into the hands of their Sovereign, The At present, Denmark is in theory one of the most arbitrary governments on the face of the earth. It has remained so ever since the revolution to which we have just alluded; in all which period the Danes have not, by any important act of rebellion, evinced an impatience of their yoke, or any sense that the enormous power dele. gated to their monarchs has been improperly exercised. In fact, the Danish government enjoys great reputation for its forbearance and mildness; and sanctifies, in a certain degree, its execrable constitution, by the moderation with which it is administered. We regret extremely that Mr. Catteau has given us, upon this curious subject of the Danish government, such a timid and sterile dissertation. Many govern- which concern privileges in litigation, and the different degrees of authority belonging to various public bodies. It watches over the interests of church and poor: issues patents, edicts, grants, letters of naturalisation, legitimacy, and nobility. The archives of the state are also under its custody. The German chancelry has the same powers and privileges in Sleswick and Holstein, which are fiefs of the empire. There is a college for foreign affairs; two colleges of finance; and a college of economy and commerce; which, divided into four parts, directs its attention to four objects: 1. Manufacturing industry: 2. Commerce: 3. Productions: 4. Possessions in the East Indies. All projects and speculations, relative to any of these objects, are referred to this college; and every encouragement given to the prosecution of such as it may chance to approve. There are two other colleges, which respectively manage the army and navy. The total number is nine. ments are despotic in law, which are not despotic in fact; not because they are restrained by their own moderation, but because, in spite of their theoretical omnipotence, they are compelled, in many important points, to respect either public opinion or the opinion of other balancing powers, which without the express recognition of law, have gradually sprung up in the state. Russia, and Imperial Rome, had its prætorian guards. Turkey has its uhlema. Public opinion almost always makes some exceptions to its blind and slavish submission; and in bowing its neck to the foot of a sultan, stipulates how hard he shall tread. The very fact of enjoying a mild government for a century and a half must, in their own estimation, have given the Danes a sort of right to a mild government. Ancient possession is a good title in all cases; and the King of Denmark may have completely lost the power of doing many just and many unjust actions, from never hav ing exercised it in particular instances. What he has not done for so long a period, he may not dare to do now; and he may in vain produce constitutional parchments, abrogated by the general feelings of those whom they were intended to control. Instead of any information of this kind, the author of the Tableau has given us at full length the constitutional act of 1660, and has afforded us no other knowledge than we could procure from the most vulgar histories; as if state papers were the best place to look for constitutions, and as if the rights of king and people were really adjusted, by the form and solemnity of covenant and pacts; by oaths of allegiance, or oaths of coronation. The King has his privy council, to which he names whom he pleases, with the exception of the heir apparent, and the princes of the blood, who sit there of right. It is customary, also, that the heads of colleges should sit there. These colleges are the offices in which the various business of the state is carried on. The chancelry of Denmark interprets all laws The Court of Denmark is on a footing of great simplicity. The pomp introduced by Christian IV., who modelled his establishments after those of Louis XIV., has been laid aside, and a degree of economy adopted, much more congenial to the manners of the people, and the resources of the country. The hereditary nobility of Denmark may be divided into those of the ancient, those of the modern fiefs, and the personal nobility. The first class are only distinguished from the second by the more extensive privileges annexed to their fiefs; as it has been the policy of the Court of Denmark, in latter times, not to grant such immunities to the possessors of noble lands as had been accorded to them at earlier periods. Both of these classes, however, derive their nobility from their estates, which are inalienable, and descend according to the laws of primogeniture. In the third class, nobility derives from the person, and not from the estate. To prevent the female noblesse from marrying beneath their rank, and to preserve the dignity of their order, nine or ten Protestant nanneries have been from time to time endowed, in each of which about | is to the Hoieste Rett, or supreme twelve noble women are accommo- court, fixed at Copenhagen, which is dated, who, not bound by any vow, occupied for nine months in the year, find in these societies an economical and composed, half of noble, half of and elegant retirement. The nobility plebeian judges. This is the only triof Norway have no fiefs. The nobility bunal in which the advocates plead of Holstein and Sleswick derive their vivâ voce; in all the others, litigation nobility from their fiefs, and are pos is carried on by writing. The King sessed of very extensive privileges. takes no cognisance of pecuniary suits Everything which concerns their com- determined by this court, but reserves mon interests is discussed in a conven- to himself a revision of all its sentences tion held periodically in the town of which affect the life or honour of the Kiel; during the vacations of the con- subject. It has always been the policy vention, there is a permanent deputa- of the Court of Denmark to render tion resident in the same town. Inter- justice as cheap as possible. We ests so well watched by the nobles should have been glad to have learnt themselves, are necessarily respected from Mr. Catteau, whether or not the by the Court of Denmark. The same cheapness of justice operates as an eninstitution of free nunneries for the fe- couragement to litigation; and whemale nobility prevails in these pro- ther (which we believe is most comvinces. Societies of this sort might monly the case) the quality of Danish perhaps be extended to other classes, justice is not in the ratio of the price. and to other countries, with some util-But this gentleman, as we have before ity. The only objection to a nunnery remarked, is so taken up by the formal is, that those who change their mind cannot change their situation. That a number of unmarried females should collect together into one mass, and subject themselves to some few rules of convenience, is a system which might afford great resources and accommodation to a number of helpless individuals, without proving injurious to the community; unless, indeed, any very timid statesman shall be alarmed at the progress of celibacy, and imagine that the increase and multiplication of the human race may become a mere antiquated habit. The lowest courts in Denmark are composed of a judge and a secretary, both chosen by the landed proprietors within the jurisdiction, but confirmed by the King, in whose name all their proceedings are carried on. These courts have their sessions once a week in Denmark, and are attended by four or five burgesses or farmers, in the capacity of assessors, who occasionally give their advice upon subjects of which their particular experience may entitle them to judge. From this jurisdiction there is appeal to a higher court, held every month in different places in Denmark, by judges paid by the Crown. The last appeal for Norway and Denmark part of institutions, that he has neither leisure, nor inclination, to say much of their spirit. The Tribunal of Conciliation, established since 1795, is composed of the most intelligent and respectable men in the vicinage, and its sessions are private. It is competent to determine upon a great number of civil questions; and if both parties agree to the arrangement proposed by the court, its decree is registered, and has legal authority. If the parties cannot be brought to agreement by the amicable interference of the mediators, they are at full liberty to prosecute their suit in a court of justice. All the proceedings of the Tribunal of Conciliation are upon unstamped paper, and they cannot be protracted longer than fifteen days in the country, and eight days in the towns, unless both parties consent to a longer delay. The expenses, which do not exceed three shillings, are not payable, but in case of reconciliation. During the three years preceding this institution, there came before the courts of law, 25,521 causes; and, for the three years following, 9653, making the astonishing difference of fifteen thousand eight hundred and sixty-three lawsuits. The idea of this court was taken from the Dutch, among whom it likewise | satisfactory to the justice of the country, produced the most happy effects. And has a right to require that it be adopted; when we consider what an important whoever cannot, must remain in prison. point it is, that there should be time for disputants to cool, the strong probability there is, that four or five impartial men from the vicinage will take a right view of the case, and the reluctance that any man must feel to embark his reputation and property in opposition to their opinion, we cannot entertain a doubt of the beauty and importance of the invention. It is hardly possible that it should be bad justice which satisfies both parties, and this species of mediation has no validity but upon such condition. It is curious, too, to remark, how much the progress of rancour obstructs the natural sense of justice; it appears that plaintiff and defendant were both satisfied in 15,868 causes: if all these causes had come on to a regular hearing, and the parties been inflamed by the ex-fore been attached to the soil, were pense and the publicity of the quarrel, we doubt if there would have been one single man out of the whole number who would have acknowledged that his cause was justly given against him. It is a principle that should never be lost sight of, that an accused person is presumed to be innocent; and that no other vexation should be imposed upon him than what is absolutely necessary for the purposes of future investigation. The imprisonment of a poor man, because he cannot find bail, is not a gratuitous vexation, but a necessary severity; justified only, because no other, nor milder mode of security can, in that particular instance, be produced. There are some provisions in the criminal law of Denmark, for the personal liberty of the subject, which cannot be of much importance, so long as the dispensing power is vested in the Crown; however, though they are not much, they are better than nothing; and have probably some effect in of fences merely criminal, where the passions and interests of the governors do not interfere. Mr. Catteau considers the law which admits the accused to bail, upon finding proper security, to be unjust, because the poor cannot avail themselves of it. But this is bad reasoning; for every country has a right to impose such restrictions and liens upon the accused, that they shall be forthcoming for trial; at the same time, those restrictions are not to be more severe than the necessity of the case requires. The primary and most obvious method of security is imprisonment. Whoever can point out any other method of effecting the same object, less oppressive to himself and as Inquisitorial and penal torture is, in some instances, allowed by the laws of Denmark: the former, after having been abolished, was re-established in 1771. The corporations have been gradually and covertly attacked in Denmark, as they have been in Great Britain. The peasants, who had be gradually enfranchised between 1788 and 1800; so that, on the first day of the latter year, there did not remain a single slave in the Danish dominions; or, to speak more correctly, slavery was equalised among all ranks of people. We need not descant on the immense importance of this revolution; and if Mr. Catteau had been of the same opinion, we should have been spared two pages of very bad declamation; beginning, in the true French style, with "oh toi," and going on with what might be expected to follow such a beginning. The great mass of territorial proprietors in Denmark are the signiors, possessing fiefs with very extensive privileges and valuable exemptions from taxes. Many persons hold land under these proprietors, with interests in the land of very different descriptions. There are some cultivators who possess freeholds, but the number of these is very inconsiderable. number of farmers are what the French call Metayers, put in by the landlord, furnished with stock and seed at his expense, and repaying him in product, labour, or any other manner agreed on in the contract. This is the first, or lowest stage of tenantry, and is the The greater |