Observations on the social and political state of Denmark, and the Duchies of Sleswick and Holstein, in 1851. Being the third series of the 'Notes of a Traveller,' etc

Front matter

BATTLE OF IDSTEDT_ POSITION OF THE ARMIES AT ITS COMMENCEMENT loruhirv: LoTupruav &: C? OBSERVATIONS 05 THE SOCIAL AND POLITICAL STATE OP DENMARK, AND THE DCCU1ES OF SLESWICK AND HOLSTEIN, IN 18 51: BEING THE THIRD SERIES OF THE NOTES OF A TRAVELLER ON THE SOCIAL AND POLITICAL STATE OF THE EUROPEAN PEOPLE. BY SAMUEL LAING, ESQ., AUTHOR OF THE FIRST AND SECOND SERIES OF " NOTES OF A TRAVELLER," A " JOURNAL OF A RESIDENCE IN NORWAY," A " TOUR IN SWEDEN," A " TRANSLATION OF THE HEIMSKRINGLA," ETC. LONDON: LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, AND LONGMANS. 1852.

Preface

. Denmark is a country peculiarly interesting to the English traveller. It was the home of his forefathers. The three tribes who invaded England in the fifth century, the Juti, Angli, and Frisi of the venerable Bede, came unquestionably from the districts of Denmark still called Jutland, Angeln, and Friesland on the Eyder. They were unquestionably a seafaring people who, although pagan, had made such progress in civilisation and the useful arts, as to build, rig out, victual, and navigate vessels of considerable size, and consequently could be no strangers to the use of iron, the trades and tools of the blacksmith, carpenter, weaver, and the co-operation of various workmen required for the construction of ships, however rude, that could cross the ocean. They had advanced beyond the social state and civilisation of hunters, shepherds, or even mere husbandmen.

Whether he favours the theory of a German origin of this people, or of a Scandinavian distinct from the German, whether he calls them Anglo-Saxons or Scandinavians, he must come to the conclusion, from the historical fact of the invasion itself, that, in the fifth century, they were in a very different social state and stage of civilisation from the inland inhabitants A VI

PREFACE.

. of Germany, who had no access to, or pursuits on, the ocean, and who, in their ordinary way of living, had no occasion or opportunity to acquire and ex ercise the numerous arts and trades connected with ship-building and navigation, even in the most rude and imperfect forms. Their babits, character, and social state could not have been the same as those of the German people, because the circumstances which form these were naturally and essentially different. It is but a play of words to talk of them as the same people, because the name of Saxons was at a later period annexed to one of the three tribes of the in vaders. These Juti, Angli, and Frisi, moreover, had never been subject to the Roman Empire, nor in direct communication with countries subject to it. They were pagans for five centuries after the whole Roman world had been Christianised, and continued pagans in their original homes five centuries after their descendants in England, and all the German populations, had embraced the Christian faith and church establishments, for they remained pagans until the close of the tenth century.

Charlemagne and his successors occasionally crossed the Elbe with large armies, and penetrated beyond the Eyder to chastise or convert the pagan inhabitants, but made no permanent conquests or settlements beyond that boundary. The English traveller is almost entitled, from these circumstances, to expect, in this country of his forefathers, that some traces of the spirit, energy, and character which so remarkably distin guish the people of England and of the United States from the people of Germany at the present day, may

PREFACE.

. VII still be observable in the mind and social institutions of the inhabitants of the original seat of the people who invaded and conquered England in the fifth century, and who, in the tenth, infused fresh blood from the same stock into the English population, by the conquests of Northumberland, and at last of the whole kingdom of England by Swein and Canute the Great. With these expectations, the author of the following observations visited Denmark, and the duchies of Holstein and Sleswick a few months after the successful struggle of this small nation to main tain its independence, nationality, and ancient ter ritories, against the whole power of the German empire of forty millions of people. The result proved that this handful of people, not exceeding a million and a half in numbers, had not degenerated from the bravery, perseverance, and spirit of their ancestors, and were still, in mind and character, similar and equal to the descendants of the same stock in Eng land and America.

He came with a sufficient know ledge of the languages, the Danish and German, to gather information himself, and in these Notes he gives the impressions he received on a variety of subjects. He does not present them to his readers as opinions to be adopted on his authority, but merely as suggestions to be considered in forming their own opinions. Many of the subjects he touches upon belong to the social polity of our own country and of the continent, as much as to that of Den mark ; for the use of travelling is to compare what we see abroad with what we have at home, and to furnish data from which the reader may form his A

PREFACE.

. VIII own judgment of the social state of countries which he has not leisure or opportunity to visit himself. In the literary world the traveller can claim no very high place. He is, at best, to the reflecting and philosophic reader, only what the bricklayer's labourer is to the architect. It is his vocation to gather the rough materials which the artist examines, assorts, polishes, and builds up into a fabric representing the spirit and character of the age and country. The author makes no apology for frequent repetitions, inconsistencies, and contradictions in his work. He gives his impressions as they arise, and the subject, or train of thought from which they arise, and having no theory or system to support, if they are different to-day from what they were yesterday, he has the traveller's excuse that he came to them by a different road, and has seen the black side of the shield as well as the white. He has done his duty as a writer of travels, if he has suggested important subjects for reflection and consideration to his readers. CONTENTS.