nant a trait in his character, and which found eloquent expression on numerous occasions. To a deputation of Holsteinians visiting him at Friedrichsruh in 1895, when responsibilities of office no longer sealed his lips, he openly confessed that the war against Denmark had been of long preparation, and that he as leading statesman in regard to Sleswic and Holstein had always been actuated by the principle that "that must we have!"

However that may be-whether there in Prussian government circles at that time actually existed a disposition to redeem the pledge of 1866, or whether assimilation was thought to be more quickly attained by conciliatory means—at any rate, during the first decade or so there prevailed a condition comparatively free from the harsh methods characteristic of a later period. Trusting to a speedy reunion with the mother-country, a large proportion of the population (at the present time numbering about 20,000) had taken advantage of an agreement between Prussia and Denmark guaranteeing to all announcing their intention prior to 1870 the privilege of retaining their Danish subjectivity, though domiciled in Sleswic, thereby, of course, barring themselves from all participation in public affairs; while the majority of the young men, in order to escape Prussian military service, emigrated to the United States or Denmark. The danger of this policy, from a national point of view, had not yet become apparent to a people who, despite their inborn antipathy for Germany and the Germans, did not hesitate to place confidence in their good faith as a nation.

This confidence was, however, doomed to disappointment. In the year 1878 the covenant of Prague was emended by the contracting parties, Germany and Austria-Hungary, and Art. V, solemnly sworn to and signed by the rulers of the two countries "in the name of the most holy and indivisible Trinity," was unceremoniously stricken from the statute books. In the intervening twelve years official Germany had revised her code of international ethics. Ideas of national honor had been subordinated to ideals of territorial grandeur. The reawakened spirit of German unity, bewailing the fate of compatriots, severed from the parent stem, in Austria and Baltic Russia, felt no compunc

tion over the enforced presence within the confines of the empire of large non-German, antagonistic elements. These, according to the German theory, ought to be grateful for the opportunity afforded them of becoming sharers in the reflected glories of Germany's great past and greater future. If they were foolish enough to stand in their own light by refusing to fuse, they must be crushed.

As the Danes in North Sleswic showed not the slightest sign of gratitude nor of inclination to yield, "crush" from now on became the watchword of the local Prussian authorities, inspired from headquarters at Berlin.

Of that which characterizes a nation and distinguishes it from any other, language is at once a principal constituent and the truest expression. Two peoples may originally speak the same tongue; they may be closely allied racially, occupying adjoining territories; or the one may be an offshoot of the other. Under the influence of different climatic, economic, and social conditions, modifications of speech will gradually appear, which in time may develop into a distinct idiom. Germany and Holland, Denmark and Sweden, are examples of the first class; England, in relation to her colonies and to the United States, of the latter. On the other hand, two or more separate languages, belonging to ethnically separate groups welded into a political unit, may be used side by side, on terms of the fullest equality, within the limits of one, even small, state, the community of interests being a bond sufficiently strong to hold the heterogeneous elements together. Austria-Hungary, or, still better, Belgium, may serve as an illustration of this type. But a conquered nation, or part of a nation, possessing a culture essentially different from that of its oppressor, cannot abandon its language and hope to retain its national individuality. Its language is the bulwark, the very corner-stone, of its civilization, the life-blood of its existence as a people. That dead, its struggle for survival is hopeless. The conqueror who, by fair means or foul, succeeds in imposing his language upon a defeated population has more than half won his game.

In North Sleswic both victor and vanquished realized from

the beginning that here was the ground upon which the decisive battle must be fought. Hence, when the Prussian masters had made up their minds to keep the spoils, regardless of treaties, and make Sleswic an organic part of their state, their every effort was bent toward suppressing the Danish mother-tongue of the inhabitants. That these voluntarily should become Germans there was no prospect. Consequently they must be forced, first to learn, then to speak, and finally—it was hoped-think in German. This accomplished, it was held to be a question of only a comparatively short time when they would learn to think as Germans.

The first step toward this goal had been the exclusion of Danish from the churches, schools, and courts in districts of a mixed population, and the substitution of German, which a large percentage of the people did not understand. This was followed, in 1871, by a decree making instruction in German, to the extent of six hours weekly, compulsory in the schools of the purely Danish districts. In 1878-the year of the annulment of Art. V-this number was further increased to fourteen hours. At the same time all private Danish secondary schools were closed throughout the province, and an administrative order was promulgated making it obligatory upon all Prussian citizens to have their children taught in Prussian schools. Danish parents wishing to give their children a fuller knowledge of their mothertongue were compelled either to keep private tutors, whose German qualifications must first be passed upon by the authorities, or, at the end of the public-school age, send them to Denmark for a complementary education.

Finally, in 1888, the time allotted to Danish in the schools was reduced to four hours' weekly religion. All other instruction was henceforth to be in German. The employment of tutors, still formally permissible, was made practically impossible through a multitude of ingenious obstacles devised by the local officials.

This is the condition obtaining at present in the schools of North Sleswic. Not only has Danish absolutely ceased to be taught as such, but, with the exception of these four hours of cate

chism and even they have recently been abolished in a large number of schools-utterly banished as a medium of instruction. All questions and answers must be given in German; all conversation must be carried on in German; German are the lessons set the children for home preparation; German the themes-German praise of German deeds, German hymns to German heroes. And that to children whose parents understand no other language than Danish, and in whose homes not a word of any other was ever spoken!

Scarcely better have the churches fared. The clergy are an imported flock, trained in the German universities, utterly out of touch with the people to whose spiritual wants they are supposed to minister; barely able to understand their language, mutilating it beyond recognition from their pulpits. Officially, Danish is yet the ecclesiastical language of the northernmost districts, where the pastor himself and his family, and the schoolmaster and his, are often the only German sympathizers found in the parish. If this German minority, however—through the addition, say, of the personnel of a new local branch of the state railway— encouraged by the authorities, grows sufficiently confident to get up a petition for the partial or complete replacement of Danish by German as the language of the church, it is always sure of a favorable hearing. In one instance, of a community in which only 2 per cent. of the population spoke German, upon the inspired petition of these 2 per cent., Danish was entirely excluded from the church. Wherever Prussian administrators have a chance to promote at the same time the interests of religion and patriotism, they are never found wanting.

As a result the prelate preaches to empty pews. The population, by tradition and training strongly religious, has been thrown upon its own resources for the satisfaction of its needs in that direction. Long lines of carriages Sunday after Sunday darken the highways leading to Denmark. But many of those who cannot travel the distance have banded together into free congregations, built their own meeting-houses, and appointed their own pastors. Though perfectly legal, this proceeding has always incurred the displeasure of the authorities, who throw all

sorts of obstacles in the way. The strictest police surveillance is maintained during the meetings. On some pretext or other that the formalities of law have not been complied with, that "politics" is being discussed, etc.— the churches are arbitrarily closed, sometimes for years, and the pastors enjoined from officiating at any religious function, while the "case" is being tried back and forth in all the courts of the empire. When at last a supreme-court decision unbars the door, a policeman in uniform is stationed on the inside throughout the services, noting the names of those present and the words spoken, from the platform and between man and man - for future reference.

This police espionage and persecution have gradually assumed forms the bare mention of which ought to be enough to arouse the indignation of all liberty-loving persons. The population is harassed in every conceivable manner. No annoyance seems too petty, no trick too mean, to gratify the officious arrogance of these excrescences on the great Prussian body politic. True, they often act on their own initiative, without the knowledge or consent of their superiors, who repeatedly have disavowed their acts when brought to their notice. But wherever the establishment of one's plainest rights, in the everyday affairs of life, involves no end of administrative red tape, or prolonged and costly litigations in court, a final vindication is often a Pyrrhus victory that many can ill afford. This fact, of which the subordinate police officials are well aware, only serves to render them the more overbearing.

A few illustrations, selected at random, and which could be multiplied ad infinitum, may serve to indicate the methods by which it is sought to inspire an unappreciative populace in North Sleswic with awe and admiration for its German masters:

It is forbidden to sing Danish songs of patriotic content, not only in public and in open air, but in one's own home. This ban has lately been extended to embrace songs by Norwegian authors. At gatherings of a strictly private character, such as weddings or birthday parties, a police eavesdropper will station himself under the windows and arrest anyone found guilty of this offense. Defendants are fined for talking Danish in court,