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Though this gentleman considers an hereditary monarchy as preferable in the abstract, he deems it impossible that such a government could be established in France, under her present circumstances, from the impracticability of establishing with it an hereditary aristocracy; because the property, and the force of opinion, which constituted their real power, are no and cannot be restored. Though we entirely agree with M. Neckar, that an hereditary aristocracy is a necessary part of a temperate monarchy, and that the latter must exist upon the base of the former, or not at all-we are by no means converts to the very decided opinion he has expressed of the impossibility of restoring them both to France.

more,

We are surprised that M. Neckar should attempt to build any strong argument upon the durability of opinions in nations that are about to undergo, or that have recently undergone, great political changes. What opinion was there in favour of a republic in 1780? Or against it in 1794? Or, what opinion is there now in favour of it in 1802? Is not the tide of opinions, at this moment, in France, setting back with a strength equal to its flow? and is there not reason to presume, that, for some time to come, their ancient institutions may be adored with as much fury as they were destroyed? If opinion can revive in favour of kings (and M. Neckar allows it may,) why not in faIt is true their property is in the hands of other persons; and the whole of that species of proprietors will exert themselves to the utmost to prevent a restoration so pernicious to their interests. The obstacle certainly is of a very formidable nature. But why this weight of property, so weak a weapon of defence to its ancient, should be deemed so irresistible in the hands of its present possessors, we are at a loss to conceive; unless, indeed, it be supposed, that antiquity of possession diminishes the sense of right and the vigour of retention; and that men will struggle harder to keep what they have acquired only yesterday, than that which they have possessed, by themselves or their ancestors, for six centuries.

vour of nobles?

A love of equality is another very strong principle in a republic; therefore it does not tolerate hereditary honour or wealth; and all the effect produced upon the minds of the people by this factitious power is lost, and the government weakened: but, in proportion as the government is less able to command, the people should be more willing to obey; therefore a republic is better suited to a moral than an immoral people.

A people who have recently experienced great evils from the privileged orders and from monarchs, love republican forms so much, that the warmth of their inclination supplies, in some degree, the defect of their institutions. Immediately, therefore, upon the destruction of despotism, a republic may be preferable to a limited monarchy.

And yet, though narrowness of territory, purity of morals, and recent escape from despotism, appear to be the circumstances which most strongly recommend a republic, M. Neckar proposes it to the most numerous and the most profligate people in Europe, who are disgusted with the very name of liberty, from the incredible evils they have suffered in pursuit of it.

Whatever be the species of free government adopted by France, she can adopt none without the greatest peril. The miserable dilemma in which men living under bad governments are placed, is, that, without a radical revolution, they may never be able to gain liberty at all; and, with it, the attainment of liberty ap pears to be attended with almost insuperable difficul ties. To call upon a nation, on a sudden, totally destitute of such knowledge and experience, to perform all the manifold functions of a free constitution, is to entrust valuable, delicate, and abstruse mechanism, to the rudest skill and the grossest ignorance. Public acts may confer liberty; but experience only can teach a people to use it; and, till they have gained that experience, they are liable to tumult, to jealousy, to collision of powers, and to every evil to which men are exposed, who are desirous of preserving a great good, without knowing how to set about it. In an old established system of liberty, like our own, the encroachments which one department of the state makes on any other, are slow, and hardly intentional; the political feelings and the constitutional knowledge which every Englishman possesses, create a public voice, which tends to secure the tranquillity of the whole. Amid the crude sentiments and new-born precedents of sudden liberty, the crown might destroy the Commons, or the Commons the crown, almost be fore the people had formed any opinion of the nature of their contention. A nation grown free in a single day, is a child born with the limbs and the vigour of a man, who would take a drawn sword for his rattle, and set the house in a blaze, that he might chuckle over the splendour.

In France the inferiority of the price of revolutionary lands to others, is immense. Of the former species, church land is considerably dearer than the forfeited estates of emigrants. Whence the difference of price, but from the estimated difference of security? Can any fact display more strongly the state of public opinion with regard to the probability of a future restoration of these estates, either partial or total? and can any circumstance facilitate the execution of such a project more than the general belief that it will be executed? M. Neckar allows, that the impediments to the formation of a republic are very serious; but thinks they would all yield to the talents and activity of Buonaparte, if he were to dedicate himself to the superintendence of such a government during the period of its Why can factious eloquence produce such limited infancy of course, therefore, he is to suppose the effects in this country? Partly because we are accussame power dedicated to the formation of an heredi- tomed to it, and know how to appreciate it. We are tary nonarchy: or his parallel of difficulties is unjust, acquainted with popular assemblies; and the language and his preference irrational. Buonaparte could repre- of our Parliament produces the effect it ought upon sent the person of a monarch, during his life, as well public opinion, because long experience enables us to as he could represent the executive of a republic; and conjecture the real motives by which men are actuatif he could overcome the turbulence of electors, to ed; to separate the vehemence of party spirit from whom freedom was new. he could appease the jealousy the language of principle and truth; and to discover that his generals would entertain of the returning no- whom we can trust, and whom we cannot. The want bles. Indeed, without such powerful intervention, this of all this, and of much more than this, must retard, Fatter objection does not appear to us to be by any for a very long period, the practical enjoyment of limeans insuperable. If the history of our own resto-berty in France, and present very serious obstacles to ration were to be acted over again in France, and roy-her prosperity; obstacles little dreamed of by men alty and aristocracy brought back by the military suc who seem to measure the happiness and future grancessor of Buonaparte, it certainly could not be done dear of France by degrees of longitude and latitude, without a very liberal distribution of favours among the and who believe she might acquire liberty with as great leaders of the army. much facility as she could acquire Switzerland or Na

Jealousy of the executive is one feature of a repub-ples. lic; in consequence, that government is clogged with a multiplicity of safeguards and restrictions, which render it unfit for investigating complicated details, and managing extensive relations with vigour, consistency, and despatch. A republic, therefore, is better fitted for a little state than a large one.

bearing they may have on the happiness of the clergy at large, never for one moment comes into the serious consideration of Parliament.

M. Neckar's observations on the finances of France, and on finance in general, are useful, entertaining, and not above the capacity of every reader. France, he says, at the beginning of 1781, had 438 millions of revenue; and, at present 540 millions. The state paid, in 1781, about 215 millions in pensions, the interest of perpetual debts, and debts for life. It pays, at present, 80 millions in interests and pensions; and owes about 12 millions for anticipations on the public reve

nue. A considerable share of the increase of the reve nue is raised upon the conquered countries; and the people are liberated from tithes, corvées, and the tax on salt. This, certainly, is a magnificent picture of finance. The best informed people at Paris, who would be very glad to consider it as a copy from life, dare not contend that it is so. At least, we sincerely ask pardon of M. Neckar, if our information as to this point be not correct: but we believe he is generally considered to have been misled by the public financial reports.

In addition to the obvious causes which keep the interest of money so high in France, M. Neckar states one which we shall present to our readers :

There is one means for the establishment of credit,' he says, 'equally important with the others which I have stated -a sentiment of respect for morals, sufficiently diffused to overawe the government, and intimidate it from treating with bad faith any solemn engagements contracted in the name of the state. It is this respect for morals which seems at present to have disappeared; a respect which the Revolution has destroyed, and which is unquestionably one of the firmest supports of national faith.'

The terrorists of this country are so extremely alarmed at the power of Buonaparte, that they ascribe to him resources which M. Neckar very justly observes to be incompatible-despotism and credit. Now, clearly, if he is so omnipotent in France as he is represented to be, there is an end of all credit; for nobody will trust him whom nobody can compel to pay; and if he establishes a credit, he loses all that temporary vigour which is derived from a revolutionary gov. ernment. Either the despotism or credit of France directed against this country would be highly formidable; but, both together, can never be directed at the saine time.

In this part of his work, M. Neckar very justly points out one of the most capital defects of Mr. Pitt's administration; who always supposed that the power of France was to cease with her credit, and measured the period of her existence by the depreciation of her assignats. Whereas, France was never more powerful than when she was totally unable to borrow a single shilling in the whole circumference of Europe, and when her assignats were not worth the paper on which they were stamped.

Such are the principal contents of M. Neckar's very respectable work. Whether, in the course of that work, his political notions appear to be derived from a successful study of the passions of mankind, and whether his plan for the establishment of a republican government in France, for the ninth or tenth time, evinces a more sanguine, or a more sagacious mind, than the rest of the world, we would rather our readers should decide for themselves, than expose ourselves to any imputation of arrogance, by deciding for them. But when we consider the pacific and impartial disposition which characterizes the Last Views on Politics and Finance, the serene benevolence which it always displays, and the pure morals which it always inculcates, we cannot help entertaining a high respect for its venerable author, and feeling a fervent wish, that the last views of every public man may proceed. from a heart as upright, and be directed to objects as good.

CATTEAU, TABLEAU DES ETATS DANOIS. (EDINBURGH REVIEW, 1803.)

Tableaux des Etats Danois. Par Jean Pierre Catteau. 3 tomes.

1802. à Paris.

of reference, impossible to be read, and fit only, like a dictionary, for the purposes of occasional appeal: It would not have been a picture presenting us with an interesting epitome of the whole; but a typogra phical plan, detailing with minute and fatiguing precision, every trifling circumstance, and every subordinate feature. We should be far from objecting to a much more extended and elaborate performance than the present; because those who read, and those who write, are now so numerous, that there is room enough for varieties and modifications of the same subject: but information of this nature, conveyed in a form and in a size adapted to continuous reading, gains in surface what it loses in depth, and gives general notions to many, though it cannot afford all the know ledge which a few have it in their power to acquire, from the habits of more patient labour, and more pro found research.

This work, though written at a period when enthusiasm or disgust had thrown men's minds off their balance, is remarkable, upon the whole, for sobriety and moderation. The observations, though seldom either strictly ingenious or profound, are just, temperate, and always benevolent. We are so far from perceiving any thing like extravagance in Mr. Catteau, that we are inclined to think he is occasionally too cautious for the interests of truth; that he mauages the court of Denmark with too much delicacy; and exposes, by distant and scarcely perceptible touches, that which it was his duty to have brought cut boldly and strongly. The most disagreeable circunstance in the style of the book is, the author's compliance with that irresistible avidity of his country to declaim upon common-place subjects. He goes on, mingling bucolic details and sentimental effusions, melting and measuring, crying and calculating, in a manner which is very bad, if it is poetry, and worse if it is prose. In speaking of the mode of cultivating potatoes, he can not avoid calling the potato a modest vegetable: and when he comes to the exportation of horses from the duchy of Holstein, we leam that these animals are dragged from the bosom of their peaceable and modest country, to hear, in foreign regions, the sound of the warlike trumpet; to carry the combatant amid the hostile ranks; to increase the éclat of some pompous procession; or drag, in gilded car, some favourite of fortune.'

We are sorry to be compelled to notice these untimely effusions, especially as they may lead to a sus picion of the fidelity of the work; of which fidelity, from actual examination of many of the authorities referred to, we have not the most remote doubt. Mr. Catteau is to be depended upon as securely as any writer, going over such various and extensive ground, can ever be depended upon. He is occasionally guilty of some trifling inaccuracies; but what he advances is commonly derived from the most indisputable authorities; and he has condensed together a mass of information, which will render his book the most accessi. ble and valuable road of knowledge, to those who are desirous of making any researches respecting the king. dom of Denmark.

Denmark, since the days of piracy, has hardly been heard out of the Baltic. Margaret, by the union of Calmar, laid the foundation of a monarchy, which (could it have been preserved by hands as strong as those which created it) would have exercised a powerful influence upon the destinies of Europe, and have strangled, perhaps, in the cradle, the infant force of Russia. Denmark, reduced to her ancient bounds by the patriotism and talents of Gustavas Vasa, has never since been able to emerge into notice by her own natural resources, or the genius of her ministers and her monarchs. During that period, Sweden has more than once threatened to give laws to Europe; and, headed by Charles and Gustavus, has broke out into chivalrous enterprises, with an heroic valour, which merited wiser objects, and greater ultimate success. The spiThis book is, upon the whole, executed with great rit of the Danish nation has, for the last two or three diligence and good sense. Some subjects of import- centuries, been as little carried to literature or to sciance are passed over, indeed, with too much haste; ence, as to war. They have written as little as they but if the publication had exceeded its present magni- have done. With the exception of Tycho Brahe and tude, it would soon have degenerated into a mere book a volume of shells, there is hardly a Danish book, or

THE object of this book is to exhibit a picture of the kingdom of Denmark, under all its social relations, of politics, statistics, science, morals, manners, and every thing which can influence its character and importance, as a free and independent collection of human beings.

a Danish writer, known five miles from the Great Belt.
It is not sufficient to say, that there are many authors
read and admired in Denmark; there are none that
have passed the Sound, none that have had energy
enough to force themselves into the circulation of Eu-
rope, to extort universal admiration, and live, with-
out the aid of municipal praise, and local approba-
tion. From the period, however, of the first of the
Bernstorffs, Denmark has made a great spring, and
has advanced more within the last twenty or thirty
years, than for the three preceding centuries. The
peasants are now emancipated; the laws of com-
merce, foreign and interior, are simplified and ex-
panded; the transport of corn and cattle is made free;
a considerable degree of liberty is granted to the
press and slavery is to cease this very year in their
West Indian possessions. If Ernest Bernstorff was
the author of some less considerable measures, they
are to be attributed more to the times, than to the
defects of his understanding, or of his heart. To this
great minister succeeded the favourite Struensee, and
to him Ove Guildberg; the first, with views of im-
provements, not destitute of liberality or genius, but
little guided by judgment, or marked by moderation;
the latter, devoid of that energy and firmness which
were necessary to execute the good he intended. In
1788, when the king became incapable of business, and
the crown-prince assumed the government, Count An-
drew Bernstorff, nephew of Ernest, was called to the
ministry; and, while some nations were shrinking
from the very name of innovation, and others over
turning every establishment, and violating every prin-
ciple, Bernstorff steadily pursued, and ultimately
effected, the gradual and bloodless amelioration of
his country.
His name will ever form a splendid
epoch in the History of Denmark. The spirit of eco-
nomical research and improvement which emanated
from him still remains; while the personal character
of the prince of Denmark, and the zeal with which he
seconded the projects of his favourite minister, seem
to afford a guarantee for the continuation of the same
system of administration.

of barrenness and desolation. It is Arabia, without its sun or its verdant islands; but not without its tempests or sands, which sometimes overwhelm what litile feeble agriculture they may encounter, and convert the habitual wretchedness of the Jutlanders into severe and cruel misfortune. The Danish government has attempted to remedy this evil, in some measure, by encouraging the cultivation of those kind of 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 valleys 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 thundered for thirteen. Their summer begins with June, and ends with September. A calm serene sky, and an atmosphere free from vapours, are very rarely the lot of the inhabitants of Denmark; but the humi dity with which the air is impregnated is highly favourable to vegetation; and all kinds of corn and grass are cultivated there with 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 Geetsland, 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 ori1. Geographical and physical qualities of the Danish ginal rights. Marschland, in the midst of all its tranterritory: 2. Form of Government: 3. Administra- quillity, fat, and silence, was invaded by this element tion: 4. Institutions relative to government and admi- in the year 1634, with the loss of whole villiages, manistration 5. Civil and criminal laws, and judiciary ny thousands of horned cattle, and 1500 human beinstitutions: 6. Military system, land army, and ma-ings. rine 7. Finance: 8. Population: 9. Productive in- Nature is as wild and grand in Norway as she is dustry, comprehending agriculture, the fisheries, and productive in Marschland. Cataracts amid the dark the extraction of mineral substances: 10. Manufactur- pines; the eternal snow on the mountains; seas that ing industry: 11. Commerce, interior and exterior, in- bid adieu to the land, and stretch out to the end of the cluding the state of the great roads, the canals of na- world; an endless succession of the great and the tervigation, the maritime insurances, the bank, &c. &c.: rible.-leave the eye and the mind without repose. 12. Establishments of charity and public utility: 13. The climate of Norway is extremely favourable to the Religion: 14. Education: 15. Language, character, longevity of the human race, and sufficiently so to the manners, and customs: 16. Sciences and arts.-This life of many animals domesticated by man. The division we shall follow. horses are of good breed; the horned cattle excellent, though small. Crops of grain are extremely precarious, and often perish before they come to maturity.*

In his analysis of the present state of Denmark, Mr. Catteau, after a slight historical sketch of that country, divides his subject into sixteen sections.

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 In 1660, the very year in which this happier counabout 8000 square miles. The western coast of Jut- try was laying the foundation of rational liberty by land, from Riba to Lemvig, is principally alluvial, and the wise restrictions imposed upon its returning presents much greater advantages to the cultivator monarch, the people of Denmark, by a solemn act, than he has yet drawn from it. The eastern coast is surrendered their natural rights into the hands of also extremely favourable to vegetation. A sandy their sovereign, endowed him with absolute power, and barren ridge stretching from north to south, be- and, in express words, declared him, for all his politi tween the two coasts is unfavourable to every species cal acts, only accountable to Him to whom all kings of culture, and hardly capable of supporting the wild and stunted shrubs which languish upon its surface. Towards the north, where the Jutland peninsula terminates in the Baltic, every thing assumes an aspect

*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 rixdollars.

and governors are accountable. This revolution, similar to that effected by the king and people at Stockholm in 1772, was not a change from liberty to slave.

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.

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.

ry; but from a worse sort of slavery to a better; from the control of an insolent and venal senate, to that of one man: it was a change which simplified their degradation, and, by lessening the number of their ty. rants, put their servitude more out of sight. There ceased immediately to be an arbitrary monarch in every parish, and the distance of the oppressor, either operated as a diminution of the oppression, or was thought to do so. The same spirit, to be sure, which urged them to victory over one evil, might have led them on a little farther to the subjugation of both; and they might have limited the king, by the same powers which enabled them to dissolve the senate. But Europe, at that period, knew no more of liberty than of galvanism; and the peasants of Denmark no more dreamt of becoming free than the inhabitants of Paris do at this moment.

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 approve. There are two other colleges, which respectively manage the army and navy. The total number is nine. The court of Denmark is on a footing of great sim. plicity. 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 aucient, 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 nunneries have been from time to time endowed, in each of which about twelve noble women are accommodated, who, not bound by any vow, find in these societies an economical and elegant retirement. The nobility of Norway have no fiefs. The nobility of Holstein and Sleswick derive their nobility from their fiefs, and are possessed of very extensive privileges. Every thing which concerns their common interest is discussed in a convention held periodi cally in the town of Keil; during the vacations of the convention, there is a permanent deputation resident in the same town. Interests so well watched by the nobles themselves, are necessarily respected by the court of Denmark. The same institution of free nunneries for the female nobility prevails in these provinces. Societies of this sort might perhaps be extended to other classes, and to other countries, with some utility. The only objection to a nunnery 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 individals, without proving injurious to the community; unless, indeed, any very timid statesman shall be alarmed at the progress of celibacy, and ima gine that the increase and multiplication of the human race may become a mere antiquated habit.

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 delegated to their monarch 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 governments 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 halt, 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 having 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 parchment, abrogated by the general feelings of those whom they were intended to control. Instead of any information of this kind, the author of the Tab-judge and a secretary, both chosen by the landed proleau 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 corona

tion.

The king has his privy counsel, 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 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 naturalization, 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

The lowest courts in Denmark are composed of a

prietors 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 particu lar 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 is to the Hoieste Rett, or supreme court, fixed at Copenhagen, which is occupied for nine months in the year, and composed half of noble, half of plebeian judges. This is the only tribunal in which the advocates plead viva voce; in all the others, litigation is carried on by writing. The king takes no cognizance of pecuniary suits determined by this court, but reserves to himself a revision of all its sentences which affect the life or honour of the subject. It has always been the policy of the court of Denmark to render jus. tice as cheap as possible. We would have been glad to have learnt from Mr. Catteau, whether or not the cheapness of justice operates as an encouragement to litigation; and whether (which we believe is most commonly the case) the quality of Danish justice is not in the ratio of the price. But this gentleman, as we have before remarked, is so taken up by the formal part of institutions, that he has neither leisure nor in

clination to say much of their spirit. The Tribunal of and if Mr. Catteau had been of the same opinion, we Conciliation, established since 1795, is composed of the should have been spared two pages of very bad decla most intelligent and respectable men in the vicinage, Imation; beginning, in the true French style, with "oh and its sessions are private. It is competent to deter-toi," and going on with what might be expected to mine upon a great number of civil questions; and if follow such a beginning.

both parties agree to the arrangement proposed by the The great mass of territorial proprietors in Denmark court, its decree is registered, and has legal authority. are the signiors, possessing fiefs with very extensive If the parties cannot be brought to agreement by the privileges and valuable exemptions from taxes. Maamicable interference of the mediators, they are at full ny persons hold lands under these proprietors, with inliberty to prosecute their suit in a court of justice. All terests in the land of very different descriptions. the proceedings of the Tribunal of Conciliation are upon There are some cultivators who possess freeholds, but unstamped paper, and they cannot be protracted longer the number of these is very inconsiderable. The than fifteen days in the country, and eight days in the greater number of farmers are what the French call towns, unless both parties consent to a longer delay. Metayers, put in by the landlord, furnished with stock The expenses, which do not exceed three shillings, are and seed at his expense, and repaying him in product, not payable, but in case of reconciliation. During the labour, or any other manner agreed on in the contract. three years preceding this institution, there came be- This is the first, or lowest stage of tenantry, and is fore the courts of law, 25,521 causes; and, for the three the surest sign of a poor country. The feudal system years following, 9653, making the astonishing difference never took root very deeply in Norway: the greater of fifteen thousand eight hundred and sixty-three law- part of the lands are freehold, and cultivated by their suits. The idea of this court was taken from the owners. Those which are held under the few priviDutch, among whom it likewise produced the most leged fiefs which still exist in Norway, are subjected happy effects. And when we consider what an im- to less galling conditions than farms of a similar teportant point it is, that there should be time for dispu-nure in Denmark. Marriage is a mere civil contract tants to cool; the strong probability there is, that four among the privileged orders; the presence of a priest or five impartial men from the vicinage will take a is necessary for its celebration among the lower orright view of the case, and the reluctance that any man ders. In every large town, there are two public tumust feel to embark his reputation and property in op- tors appointed, who, in conjunction with the magisposition to their opinion, we cannot entertain a doubt trates, watch over the interests of wards, at the same of the beauty and importance of the invention. It is time that they occupy themselves with the care of the hardly possible that it should be bad justice which sat education of children within the limits of their jurisisfies both parties, and this species of mediation has no diction. Natural children are perhaps more favourvalidity but upon such condition. It is curious, too, to ed in Denmark than in any other kingdom in Europe; remark, how much the progress of rancour obstructs they have half the portion which the law allots to lethe natural sense of justice; it appears that plaintiff gitimate children, and the whole if there are no legitand defendant were both satisfied in 15,868 causes: if imate. all these causes had come on to a regular hearing, and A very curious circumstance took place in the kingthe parties been inflamed by the expense and the pub-dom of Denmark, in the middle of the last century, relicity of the quarrel, we doubt if there would have been lative to the infliction of capital punishment upon malone single man out of the whole number who would efactors. They were attended from the prison to the have acknowledged that his cause was justly given place of execution by priests, accompanied by a very against him. numerous procession, singing psalms, &c. &c.,: which There are some provisions in the criminal law of ended, a long discourse was addressed by the priest to Denmark, for the personal liberty of the subject, the culprit, who was hung as soon as he had heard it. which cannot be of much importance, so long as the This spectacle, and all the pious cares bestowed upon dispensing power is vested in the crown; however, the criminals, so far seduced the imaginations of the though they are not much, they are better than noth- people, that many of them committed murder purposeing; and have probably some effect in offences merely to enjoy such inestimable advantages, and the gov ly 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 fiens 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 satisfactory to the justice of the country, has a right to require that it be adopted; whoever cannot, must remain in prison. It is a principle that should never be lost sight of, 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 vexa tion, but a necessary severity; justified only, because no other, nor milder mode of security can, in that particular instance, be produced.

ernment was positively obliged to make hanging dull as well as deadly, before it ceased to be an object of popular ambition."

In 1796, the Danish land forces amounted to 74,654, of which 50,880 were militia. Amongst the troops on the Norway establishment, is a regiment of skaters. The pay of a colonel in the Danish service is about 1740 rixdollars per annum, with some perquisites; that of a private six schellings a day. The entry into the Danish states from the German side is naturally strong. The passage between Lubeck and Hamburg is only eight miles, and the country intersected by marshes, rivers, and lakes. The straits of the Baltic afford considerable security to the Danish isles; and there are very few points in which an army could penetrate through the Norway mountains to overrun that country. The principal fortresses of Norway are Copenhagen, Rendsbhurg, Gluchstadt, and Frederickshall. In 1801, the Danish navy consisted of 3 ships of 80 guns, 12 of 74, 2 of 70, 3 of 64, and 2 of 60; 4 frigates of 40, 3 of 36, 3 of 24, and a number of small vessels: in all, 22 of the line, and 10 frigates.†

The revenues of Denmark are derived from the interest of a capital formed by the sale of crown lands; from a share in the tithes ; from the rights of fishing

The militia is not embodied in regiments by itself, but divided among the various regiments of the line.

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 before been attached to the soil, were 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 dotroops of Russia at 250,000 men, exclusive of guards and garriminions; or, to speak more correctly, slavery was sons; and her navy, as it existed in 1791, at 30 frigates, and 50 equalized among all ranks of people. We need not sail of the line, of which 8 were of 110 guns. This is a brief descant on the immense importance of this revolution ; | picture of forces of the Baltic powers.

In 1791, the Swedish army amounted to 47,000 men, regulars and militia; their navy to not more than 16 ships of the line: before the war it was about equal to the Danish navy. The author of Voyage des deux Francais places the regular

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