The address. presented by the Volksthing of Denmark to the
King, adopted by a majority of 90 to 1, brings the contest between the Court and the nation to a precise issue, and clearly defines the position of the Danes as opposed to the subversive projects of their Monarch. The objects which the King has in view are twofold: one is to consolidate all his dominions under a single constitution ; the other, in that new constitution, to augment the power of the Crown, and neutralize if not destroy the power of the people and their representative body by " electing " members through Crown nomination. Other parts of the Royal arrangement would also have the collateral effect of bringing the Russian family so near to the Danish succession that a reversion of the Danish crown is far from impossible. The Danish representatives only touch the last point allusively, intimating their determina- tion to preserve their monarchy. On the first point, the consoli- dation, they differ from their King no more than they did in 1848: little respecting Holstein and Schleswig feeling, they agree to the consolidation. But they declare that no Danish Diet can renounce the legislative power reposed in itself, abandon a real repre- sentation of the people, or admit the element proposed by the Crown. The public debates have been characterized by language as plain as any that could have been spoken in Charles Stuart's day : the address reminds the King of the "dangerous times" in which he is dividing himself from his people, and in respectful language he is warned to take care for his own sake. The fact that Danish and English objects have never been altogether in accord, only renders care and energy the more necessary in the conduct of our Government towards this Baltic kingdom.
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