The precise relation of Germany to Denmark is still uncertain,
for while, on the one hand, the Diet refuses to entertain Earl Russell's suggestions because the quarrel is a "domestic " one, on the other, no great preparations are making for execution. The King of Denmark has made, however, a speech which certainly contemplates war as more than a possibility. " History," he said, " shall not tell that the last of the Oldenburgs parcelled out Den- mark." If, however, fortune declared against them, and France and Sweden permitted the southern province of Scandinavia to be absorbed, " Then I will descend from the throne, and will proclaim the Republic. I passed three years of my youth in Switzerland ; I have studied the laws and institutions of that country, and I am convinced that no people in Europe is more fitted for the Republi- can system than my dear Danish people." Kings who rise to that temper are seldom beaten, and the German Princelings may pause when the chief of an ancient monarchy threatens to put the red cap on his head. The first Prince who allies himself heartily with the Revolution will shake a good many sand-built edifices.
