again, where is this all pervading German patriotism?
[2] In the year 1660, the different estates of Denmark made a
voluntary surrender of their rights into the hands of their
sovereign, who became by that act _absolute_: it is a fact
unparalleled in the history of any other country. Up to the year
1834, this unlimited power was exercised by the kings, who, it must
be said to their honour, never abused it by seeking to oppress or
enslave their subjects. In the year 1834, however, Frederic VI.,
of his own free will and choice, established a representative
government. The gift was by no means conferred in consequence of
any discontent exhibited under the hitherto restrictive system.
The intentions of the monarch were highly praiseworthy; their
wisdom is not so clear, as, under the new law, the kingdom is
divided into four parts--1. The Islands; 2. Sleswig; 3. Jutland;
4. Holstein; each having its own provincial assembly. The number
of representatives for the whole country amounts to 1217. Each
representative receives four rix-dollars a-day (a rix-dollar is 2s.
2-1/2d.) for his services, besides his travelling expenses. The
communication between the sovereign and the assembly is through a
royal commissioner, who is allowed to vote, but not to speak.--See
_Wheaton's History of Scandinavia_.
We have said that Mr Kohl is a great traveller. We withdraw the
accusation. He has written forty odd volumes, but they have been
composed, every one of them, in his snug _stube_, at Bremen, or
wheresoever else he puts up, under the influence of German stoves,
German pipes, and German beer. A great traveller is a great
catholic. His mind grows more capacious, his heart more generous,
as he makes his pilgrimages along this troubled earth, and learns
the mightiness of Heaven, the mutability and smallness of things
temporal. Prejudice cannot stand up against the knowledge that pours
in upon him; bigotry cannot exist in the wide temple he explores.
The wanderer "feels himself new-born," as he learns, with his
eyes, the living history of every new people, and compares, in his
judgment, the lessons of his ripe manhood with the instruction
imparted in his confined and straitened youth. If it may be said
that to learn a new language is to acquire a new mind, what is
it to become acquainted, intimately and face to face, with a new
people, new institutions, new faiths, new habits of thought and
feeling? There never existed a great traveller who, at the end of
his wanderings, did not find himself, as if by magic, released of
all the rust of prejudice, vanity, self-conceit, and pride, which
a narrow experience engenders, and a small field of action so
fatally heaps up. We will venture to assert that there is not a
monkey now caged up in the zoological gardens, who would not--if
permitted by the honourable Society--return to his native woods
a better and a wiser beast for the one long journey he has made.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account