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Show - : The Danes and Sehleswig-Holstein By Frederic J. Haskin. f WASHINGTON, D. C. Dec. .Every once in a while a mild interest is aroused among Americans who read their newspapers news-papers by ihe announcement that in the final peace reckoning Germany must return re-turn to Denmark the provinces of Schleswig-Holstein. Must Americans are only vaguely aware of the existence exist-ence of these provinces through the importation im-portation of the famous Holstein cattle, hut they are ready to burn with indignation indig-nation for any grievance that the Danes may have against the Huns, As a patriotic insurance agent declared the nther day. "This is a new one on me, but if Germany owes Denmark anything she'll have to pay up when Wilson goes across to lead the peace orchestra." This ; vowed preference is all very Haltering to the J anes, but. as a matter mat-ter of fact. Denmark does not want the ret urn of Sehleswig-Holstein. All it wants Is the northern halt of the province prov-ince of Schleswig. which is predominantly predomi-nantly Danish. The province of Holstein has always contained more Germans than Danes, and in the past, fifty years the southern part of Schleswig has been so completely Germanized that it would only prove a burden and embarrassment 10 Denmark. The northern part of Schleswig. however, contains a large Danish population; sends a Danish representative rep-resentative to the German reichstag, and for more than tifty years has fouglu what often seemed a lost and hopeless fu-ht for its Danish nationality and its 'Danish mother tongue. It is the people of Schleswitr. indeed, more than the Danish government, who want Schleswig returned to Denmark. Tints it was not the Danish guvern-nv.'nf guvern-nv.'nf which protested, but the representative repre-sentative oi" the North Sleswigers. who Jose in the German reiehstag the other day and demanded that the terms of the I Vague treat v be executed. This treat v. ratified in 186. provided that the allegiance alle-giance of North Schlyswig should be left in the vote of its inhatvtants, but under un-der the careful guidance of .Bismarck the treaty was never carried out. The Schleswig--1 (oisleiu question is so complicated that IVw people are even expected ex-pected to understand it. At one time it was said that only two men had ever understood un-derstood It. and one of these was dead and the other insane. It is always a conspicuous feature of examinations for diplomatic appointments, but the examiners exam-iners are said to deal tolerantly with the answers. This i'.ccount of the llolstein question w.w obtained (mm a h.h official in Washington, who does not care to be quoted. The provinces ot" S.hleswi-1 lolsteii) !.: m a lone, narrow strip of lav.d connecting con-necting Denmark with Germany. T-g.'ther T-g.'ther they comprise about 7.v4'i square miles, or an area about the sizeVf New ,1 ersey. The lower province of Holstein exrends to the northern bank of the Kibe river, and all but incloses the chief seaport sea-port of Germany Hamburg. It has always al-ways been predominantly German, having hav-ing been colonized by Germans before the Middle Agrs. with a view to ob-siiiK'tniK ob-siiiK'tniK the enr'-ration of Danes into Germany. Schleswic. nn the other hand, was preO.omina nt lv Danish at the bet;. lining li-ning of the Miedi.' A:,-cs. althoiiph the process of Gt rmanizat ion set m Siam aft-, aft-, r ward, when Hoist ein. by conquest, succeeded in separating if from Denmark. Den-mark. The two provinces then became united under one ruler. In the course of time the line of this ruler died out, and the provinces passed as an inheritance inheri-tance to the royal house of Denmark, on the condition that the two pr. vlnees should never be separated. This arrangement ar-rangement held until the maid!'' of the alncte-'iilh century, whvii it becane apparent ap-parent that the royal Ix.uw of Denmark Den-mark was also about to die o-n. and Germany saw her chance to dispute the r:ght of possession. I'pon the etiii'-t ion of the royal house of Denmark. Germany asserted, that nation na-tion would no k'lu'- have the. right to t-vf-rriftfi any cor. t roi over the provinces, and, because of the G 0 r 1 1 1 a 1 11 c origin of Ilolstc-:n. they should become a part of the Germanic confederation. Denmark attempted to compromise by dividing the provinces, giving Holstein to Germany and keeping Schleswig for its own, but Germany would not agree to this, declaring de-claring that the .two provinces could not be separated. This a iv.iouneoment brought about a great deal of internal strife among tlie Danes and Germans inhabiting in-habiting the provinces, which resulted In a civil war. At this point the great European p ewers interfered and succeeded succeed-ed in putting an end to the warT With their usual caution, however, the great, powers avoided the real issue at stake, and as a consequence the quarrel between Denmark and Germany was merely postponed. When the royal Danish line actually became extinct in IS US, it broke out again with even greater great-er virulence. It was then that Bismarck took a chance. ' He obtained the backing of Austria, and proceeded to send an army into Schleswig-Holstein, with orders or-ders to expel the Danes. H Is to this period that we owe our Danish immigration, and it is the descendants de-scendants of these Danes, now American citizens, who are pJeading for the restoration res-toration of Schleswig to Denmark. Denmark, believing that the great powers, pow-ers, particularly England, would come to her aid, sent her small army against the invasion of the Prussians, but she was cestined to be disappointed. The great powers carefully ignored the whole matter, mat-ter, although intervention ut this time might have averted both the Austro-Ger-man war and the Franco-Prussian war. With Denmark's defeat, the provinces were occupied by Germany and Austria an arrangement which lasted until 18C6, when the Austro-German war occurred and Sehleswig-Holstein was ceded to Germany in the peace terms. In 1871 the two provinces were incorporated into the German empire, where they have remained re-mained ever since. As has been said, the province ol Holstein and the southern portion of Schleswig are so completely Germanized that they are entirely satisfied satis-fied to be under German control, and Denmark lon since relinquished any ambition am-bition to reclaim them. If an attempt were made to restore the provinces to the Danish government at the peace table, ta-ble, it would be sincerely discouraged by the Danish representatives. According to Danish authorities, Denmark would feel bound to oppose such plans for the following reasons : It would result in an unjust arrangement arrange-ment with regard to the German population popu-lation and thus be apt to lay a foundation founda-tion for bitterness and future thoughts of revenge iu Germany. A German population within Denmark's boundaries would mean constant temptation tempta-tion to interfere on the part of Germany, the danger of which would be the greater great-er the more numerous the German population popu-lation within Danish territory. It is also feared that this condition might result in a closer cultural connection connec-tion with Germany than desirable for the maintenance of the characteristics of the Danish nationality. From the point of view of tho allies the cession of the whole of Sehleswig-Holstein Sehleswig-Holstein twould seem undesirable. It would result in continuous t'ispute between be-tween Denmark and Germany. A territorial terri-torial arrangement which was not unreservedly unre-servedly and honestly accepted by Germany Ger-many would have to be constantly maintained main-tained diplomatically and. on occasion, it is to he feared, by military force. As Denmark, even thus enlarged, would be weaker than Germany, there would rest upon the allies and the United States the earo and responsibility ot maintaining such an arrangement. In other words, Denmark would be in the regrettable position po-sition of being compelled to look for assistance as-sistance from the outside, while the political po-litical constellations might be constantly changing. From this it may be seen that all the recent talk about restoring the whole of Sehleswig-Holstein to Denmark is a case of other governments rushing in where even Danes fear to tread. All the restoration res-toration that the Danes want is North Schleswig. and President Wilson has pledged his word to help them get that. |