The Governments of Europe Part 47

*605. Local Government: Province and Arrondiss.e.m.e.nt.*--Upon the subject of local government the const.i.tution of Belgium is less explicit than is that of Holland. Aside from specifying that provincial and communal inst.i.tutions shall be regulated by law, it contents itself with an enumeration of certain principles--among them direct elections, publicity of sittings of provincial and communal councils, publicity of budgets and accounts--whose application is regularly to be maintained.[771] Of local governmental units there are three:[772] the province, the arrondiss.e.m.e.nt, and the commune. The provinces are nine in number.[773] In each is a council, elected by all resident citizens who are ent.i.tled to partic.i.p.ate in the direct election of senators.

The term is eight years, half of the membership being renewed every four years. The council meets at least once a year, on the first Tuesday in July. Its sessions must not exceed four weeks in length nor be briefer than fifteen days. Special sessions may be called by the king. The council considers and takes action upon substantially all legislative, administrative, and fiscal affairs which concern the province alone. It elects from its own members a permanent deputation of six men which is charged with the government of the province while the council is not in session. This deputation is presided over by the governor-general of the province who is appointed by the crown and who serves as the princ.i.p.al intermediary between the provincial (p. 551) and the central governments.

[Footnote 771: Arts. 108-109. Dodd, Modern Const.i.tutions, I., 142-143.]

[Footnote 772: Not including the canton, which exists purely for judicial purposes. It is the jurisdiction of the justice of the peace.]

[Footnote 773: Antwerp, Brabant, East Flanders, West Flanders, Hainaut, Liege, Limburg, Luxemburg, and Namur.]

The arrondiss.e.m.e.nt, or district (twenty-six in number), is important chiefly as an electoral and judicial unit. Members of the lower house of the national parliament are elected within the arrondiss.e.m.e.nt under the scheme of proportional representation which has been described; and, as has been pointed out, each arrondiss.e.m.e.nt is the seat of a court of first instance.

*606. The Commune.*--In Belgium, as in France and other continental countries, the vital organism of local government is the commune. The total number of communes in the kingdom is 2,629. The princ.i.p.al agency of government within each is a council. Members of this council are elected for a term of eight years, under arrangements of a somewhat complicated character determined by the population of the commune.

Voting is _viva voce_; plural votes (to a maximum of four) are authorized; and seats, under certain conditions, are allocated in accordance with the principle of proportional representation. A somewhat singular fact is that the aggregate communal electorate of the kingdom is perceptibly smaller than the provincial or the national. The fact arises largely from the circ.u.mstance that the communal voter is required to have been domiciled at least three years in the commune, while residence of but a single year is required for partic.i.p.ation in provincial and parliamentary elections.[774]

[Footnote 774: In 1902, 1,146,482 communal electors cast a total of 2,007,704 votes. In 1910-1911 there were 1,440,141 provincial, and 1,300,514 communal, voters.]

The administrative body of the commune consists of a burgomaster, or mayor, appointed by the crown (in communes whose population exceeds 5,000 elected by the communal council) for a term of ten years, and a college of _echevins_, or aldermen, elected by and from the communal council. The burgomaster is head of the local police, and to him and to the council fall the keeping of the register of births, marriages, and deaths, the making and enforcing of local ordinances, and, in general, the safeguarding of the welfare of the community. The more important measures of the communal council become valid only after they have received the approval of the provincial deputation, or even of the ministry at Brussels; and there are special officials, known as _commissaires d'arrondiss.e.m.e.nt_, appointed by the provincial deputation, to maintain supervision over the communes and their governing authorities. A fundamental characteristic, indeed, of Belgian administration is the combination of constant supervision by the central power with a really large measure of local autonomy.[775]

[Footnote 775: Dupriez, Les Ministres, 262-276; E.

de Laveleye, Local Government and Taxation, in Cobden Club Essays (London, 1875).]

PART VIII.--SCANDINAVIA (p. 553)

CHAPTER x.x.x

THE GOVERNMENT OF DENMARK

I. DEVELOPMENT PRIOR TO 1814

The kingdom of Denmark is among the smallest of European states. Its area is but 15,582 square miles, which is less than one-third of that of the state of New York, and its population, according to the returns of 1911, is but 2,775,076. The nation is one whose social experiments, economic enterprises, and political practices abound in interest. As a power, it counts nowadays for little. Time was, however, when it counted for much, and the developments by which the kingdom has been reduced to its present status among the nations comprise one of the remarkable chapters of modern European history.

*607. Union of Kalmar, 1397.*--The maximum of Danish dominion was attained by virtue of the Union of Kalmar, in 1397, whereby the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden were united under the regency of Margaret, daughter of the Danish king Valdemar IV.[776] By the terms of this arrangement the native inst.i.tutions and the separate administration of each of the three states were guaranteed; and, in point of fact, so powerless at times during succeeding generations was the Danish sovereign in his over-sea dominions that for all practical purposes each of the three affiliated kingdoms may be regarded as having retained essentially its original independence. During an extended period at the middle of the fifteenth century Sweden even had a king of her own. None the less, there was a form of union, and at times the preponderance of Denmark tended to reduce the northern nations to the status of mere dependencies. The union with Sweden lasted only a century and a quarter. Under the leadership of Gustavus Vasa the Swedish people, in 1523, effectually regained their independence, although in accordance with the Treaty of Malmo, in 1524, certain of the southernmost Swedish provinces remained for a time under Danish control.[777] It was the lot of Norway, on the (p. 554) other hand, not alone to be brought more thoroughly into subjection to Denmark than was Sweden, but to continue under Danish sovereignty until 1814, and even at that date to pa.s.s instantly from the control of Denmark into that of Sweden, rather than to regain her ancient independence.

[Footnote 776: The nominal sovereign was Margaret's great-nephew, Eric of Pomerania, who was elected at a convention of representatives of the three kingdoms held simultaneously with the establishment of the Union. Eric was deposed in 1439.]

[Footnote 777: R. N. Bain, Scandinavia, a Political History of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden (Cambridge, 1905), Chap. 3; P. B. Watson, The Swedish Revolution under Gustavus Vasa (London, 1889).]

*608. The Loss of Norway, 1814.*--The loss of Norway by Denmark was an incident of the Napoleonic wars. During the course of those wars Denmark, as long as was practicable, maintained a policy of neutrality. But in 1807, after she had rejected an offer of a British alliance, she was attacked by a British fleet, and thereupon she became the firmest and most persistent of the allies of Napoleon. Thus it came about that when the contest of the powers drew to an end Denmark had the misfortune to be found upon the losing side. Sweden stood with the Allies, and the upshot was that, to compensate that nation for her loss of Finland to Russia and of Pomerania to Prussia, the Allies gave their consent, in 1812-1813, to the dismemberment by Sweden of the Danish dominion. The work was accomplished by the French marshal Bernadotte, crown prince of Sweden (by adoption) from 1810, and later king (1818-1844). By the Treaty of Kiel, January 14, 1814, Norway was ceded perforce by Denmark to Sweden, and by the Congress of Vienna, later in the year, the transfer was accorded the formal approval of the powers. The Norwegians objected and proceeded to elect as their king a Danish prince; but in the end they were compelled to submit. Denmark was unable to do more than make ineffectual protest.

*609. Political Development: the Revolution of 1660.*--The governmental system with which Denmark emerged from the era of Napoleon was essentially that which had been in operation in the kingdom since the second half of the seventeenth century. Prior to a remarkable revolution which, in 1660, followed the conclusion of a costly war with Sweden, monarchy in Denmark was limited and almost uniformly weak. Through three hundred years the kings were elected by the Rigsrad, or senate, and the conditions of their tenure were such as to preclude both the independence of action and the acc.u.mulation of resources which is essential to absolutism. As early as 1282 the n.o.bles were able to extort from the crown a _haandfaestning_, or charter, and almost every sovereign after that date was compelled, once at least during his reign, to make a grant of chartered privileges. To the Danehof, or national a.s.sembly, fell at times a (p. 555) goodly measure of authority, although eventually it was the Rigsrad that procured the supreme control of the state. The national a.s.sembly comprised the three estates of the n.o.bles, the clergy, and the burgesses;[778] the senate was a purely aristocratic body.

[Footnote 778: In the Swedish diet the peasantry const.i.tuted a fourth estate, but in Denmark no political power was possessed by this cla.s.s.]

In 1660 there occurred a revolution in consequence of which the monarchy was rehabilitated and a governmental system which long had been notoriously disjointed and inefficient was replaced by a system which, if despotic, was at least much superior to that which theretofore had been in operation. The n.o.bles, discredited by the calamities which their misrule had brought upon the nation, were compelled to give way, and the estates represented in the Danehof surrendered, in a measure voluntarily, a considerable portion of the privileges to which they had been accustomed to lay claim. The monarchy was put once more upon an hereditary basis and its powers were materially enlarged. The intent of the aggressive sovereign of the day, Frederick III., was to proceed with caution, but not to stop halfway. By the promulgation of two monumental doc.u.ments the road was thrown open to thoroughgoing absolutism. One of these was the "Instrument, or Pragmatic Sanction, of the King's Hereditary Right to the Kingdoms of Denmark and Norway," dated January 10, 1661. The other was the _Kongelov_, or "King's Law," of November 14, 1665, a state paper which has been declared to have "the highly dubious honor of being the one written law in the civilized world which fearlessly carries out absolutism to its last consequences."[779] In the _Kongelov_ it was made _lese-majeste_ in any manner to usurp or infringe the king's absolute authority; it was a.s.serted that the moment the sovereign ascends the throne crown and scepter are vested in him by his own right; and the sole obligation of the king was affirmed to be to maintain the indivisibility of the realm, to preserve the Christian faith in accordance with the Augsburg Confession, and to execute faithfully all of the provisions of the _Kongelov_ itself. Such were the principles upon which, during upwards of two centuries thereafter, the government of the Danish kingdom was based. Absolutism was all but unrelieved; but it is only fair to add that most of the sovereigns, according to the light which they possessed, sought to govern in the interest of their subjects.[780]

[Footnote 779: Bain, Scandinavia, 266.]

[Footnote 780: For sketches of Danish political history prior to 1814 see Bain, Scandinavia, Chaps.

2, 4, 7, 10, 15; Lavisse et Rambaud, Histoire Generale, III., Chap. 14, IV., Chap. 15; VI., Chap.

17; VII., Chap. 23; IX., Chap. 23. An important Danish work is P. F. Barfod, Danmarks Historie, 1319-1536 (Copenhagen, 1885).]

II. THE RISE OF CONSt.i.tUTIONALISM, 1814-1866 (p. 556)

*610. The Provincial Diets.*--Gradually after 1814 the kingdom recovered from the depression into which by its loss of territory and its staggering indebtedness it had been plunged, and with the recovery came a revived political spirit as well as a fresh economic stimulus.

The sixteen years between the Treaty of Kiel and the revolutionary year 1830 were almost absolutely devoid of political agitation, but after 1830 there set in, in Denmark as in most continental countries, a liberal movement whose object was nothing less than the establishment of a const.i.tutional system of government. To meet in some measure the demands which were made upon him, King Frederick VI.

called into being, by decrees of 1831 and 1834, four Landtags, or diets, one in each of the provinces of the realm--Schleswig, Holstein, Jutland, and the Islands.[781] The members of these a.s.semblies, comprising burgesses, landowners, and peasants, were to be chosen by the landed proprietors for a term of six years, and they were to meet biennially for the discussion of laws and taxes and the drawing up of pet.i.tions. A few landowners, professors, and ecclesiastics were to be appointed to membership by the crown. The function of each of the four bodies was purely consultative.

[Footnote 781: The ordinance establishing the provincial a.s.semblies was promulgated May 28, 1831, but the a.s.semblies did not come into existence until after the supplementary decrees of May 15, 1834. In 1843 Iceland was granted "home rule," with the right to maintain an independent legislature.]

*611. Royal Opposition to Reform.*--From the point of view of the Liberals, whose aim was the inst.i.tution of a national parliamentary system, the king's concession was too meager to comprise more than a bare beginning. Throughout the remainder of the reign agitation was kept up, although at the hand of a sovereign whose fundamental political principle was the divine right of kings, little that was more substantial was to be expected. Christian VIII., who succeeded Frederick in December, 1839, brought with him to the throne a reputation for enlightened and progressive views. Further, however, than to pledge himself to certain administrative reforms the new sovereign displayed scant willingness to go. One liberal project after another was repelled, and press prosecutions and other coercive measures were brought to bear to discourage propaganda. It was in this period, however, that there arose a preponderating issue whose settlement was destined eventually to exert a powerful influence in the establishment of const.i.tutional government in Denmark, i.e., the question of the policy to be pursued in respect to the affiliated duchies of Schleswig, Holstein, and Lauenburg.[782] During the (p. 557) later years of the reign successive ministries grappled vainly with this problem, and the political forces of the kingdom came to be divided with unprecedented sharpness by the conflict between the separatist tendency and the demand for immediate and complete incorporation. The king himself was brought eventually to consent to the framing of a const.i.tution for the whole of his dominions, as a means of holding the realm together; but he died, January 20, 1848, before the task had been completed.

[Footnote 782: Holstein and Lauenburg were German in population and were members of the German Confederation. Southern Schleswig also was inhabited by German-speaking people, though the duchy did not belong to the Confederation.

Schleswig and Holstein had been joined with Denmark under a precarious form of union since the Middle Ages. Lauenburg was acquired, with the a.s.sent of the Allies, in 1814-1815 in partial compensation for the loss of Norway.]

*612. The Const.i.tutions of 1848-1849.*--Within eight days the const.i.tution was promulgated by the new sovereign, Frederick VII.

Under its provisions there was established a parliament representative of all of the Danish dominions. Neither the Danes nor the inhabitants of the duchies, however, were satisfied, and in Holstein there broke out open rebellion. Prussia intervened in behalf of the disaffected duchies, and Great Britain and Russia in behalf of the Danish Government. The result was the triumph of the Government; but in the meantime the rescript by which the common const.i.tution had been promulgated was withdrawn. In its place was published a decree which provided for the establishment of a bicameral national a.s.sembly (Rigsdag), of whose 152 members 38, nominated by the crown, were to form a Landsthing, or upper chamber, and the remaining 114, elected by the people, were to comprise a Folkething, or house of representatives.

In the early summer of 1849 a const.i.tution embodying these arrangements was drawn up; and June 5, after having been adopted by the new Rigsdag, the instrument was approved by the crown. For the moment the question of the duchies seemed insoluble, and this second const.i.tution was extended to Jutland and the Islands only, i.e., to Denmark proper. Its adoption, however, is a landmark in Danish const.i.tutional history. Under its terms the autocracy of the _Kongelov_ was formally abandoned and in its place was subst.i.tuted a limited monarchy in which legislative powers were to be shared by the crown with an elective diet and the executive authority was to be exercised by ministers responsible to the legislative body. As will appear, it was this const.i.tution of June 5, 1849, that, with revision, became permanently the fundamental law of the kingdom.[783]

[Footnote 783: Bain, Scandinavia, Chap. 16; Cambridge Modern History, XI., Chap. 24 (bibliography, pp. 961-962); Lavisse et Rambaud, Histoire Generale, X., Chap. 18; C. F. Allen, Histoire de Danemark depuis les temps les plus recules jusqu'a nos jours (Copenhagen, 1878).]

*613. The Problem of the Duchies.*--Following prolonged (p. 558) international conferences, there was issued, January 28, 1852, a new const.i.tutional decree by which it was provided that the kingdom proper and Schleswig, Holstein, and Lauenburg should have a common const.i.tution for common affairs, but that each of the territories should enjoy autonomy in the management of its separate concerns. An ultra-conservative const.i.tution which had been worked out by the Rigsdag in consultation with the Landtags of the duchies, was promulgated October 2, 1855. No sooner had the instrument been put in operation, however, than stubborn opposition to its provisions arose, both from the duchies themselves and from the interested powers of Germany. November 28, 1858, the Danish Government yielded in so far as to consent to the withdrawal of the const.i.tution from Holstein and Lauenburg. Through several years thereafter the question of the duchies overshadowed all else in Danish politics and in Danish diplomatic relations. March 30, 1863, a royal decree recognized the essential detachment of Holstein from the monarchy and vested the legislative power of the duchy solely in the king and the local estates. Later in the year, however, the premier Hall proposed and carried through the Rigsdag a const.i.tution which contemplated again the incorporation of Schleswig with the kingdom. To this instrument the Council of State, November 13, gave its a.s.sent, and, five days later, with the approval of the new sovereign, Christian IX., it became law. So far as Denmark was concerned, the solution of the question of the duchies was now at hand. In the name of Prussia and Austria, Bismarck demanded summarily that the November const.i.tution be rescinded. War ensued, and by the Treaty of Vienna, October 30, 1864, Denmark, in defeat, yielded all claim to Schleswig, Holstein, and Lauenburg. After continuing for a time a bone of contention between the leading German states, these territories were incorporated, subsequent to the Austro-Prussian war of 1866, in the kingdom of Prussia. Denmark, shorn of a million of population and approximately one-third of her territory, was reduced in power and area to substantially her present proportions.[784]

[Footnote 784: Cambridge Modern History, XI., Chap.

16; Lavisse et Rambaud, Histoire Generale, XI., Chap. 12; J. W. Headlam, Bismarck and the Foundation of the German Empire (New York, 1909), Chap. 8; H. Delbruck, Der Deutsch-Danische Krieg, 1864 (Berlin, 1905).]

*614. The Revised Const.i.tution of 1866.*--The loss of the duchies, while humiliating, cut the Gordian knot, of Danish political reconstruction.

July 28, 1866, the const.i.tution of July 5, 1849, in revised form, (p. 559) was re-issued, and this instrument continues to the present day the fundamental law of the kingdom. Its ultimate adoption was the achievement largely of the agricultural interests in the Rigsdag; but the king, Christian IX., though not in sympathy with the parliamentary ideal of government, gave it his cordial support. The const.i.tution is an elaborate doc.u.ment, in ninety-five articles. In addition to the customary specifications relating to the executive, legislative, and judicial departments of the government, it contains a wide variety of guarantees respecting religion, freedom of speech and of the press, liberty of a.s.semblage and of pet.i.tion, and uniformity of judicial procedure, which, taken together, comprise a very substantial bill of rights.[785] The method of its amendment is not materially unlike that prevailing in Holland, Belgium, and a number of other continental countries. Proposals regarding alterations or additions may be submitted at any time within either branch of the Rigsdag. In the event of the adoption of a proposal of the kind by both chambers, it becomes the duty of the Government, provided it favors the change, to dissolve the Rigsdag and to order a general election. If the newly chosen Rigsdag adopts the proposed amendment without change and the crown formally approves it, the modification goes forthwith into effect.[786] Const.i.tutional amendments since 1866 have been, however, neither numerous nor important.[787]

[Footnote 785: Arts. 80-94. Dodd, Modern Const.i.tutions, I., 278-280.]

[Footnote 786: Art. 95. Ibid., I., 280.]

[Footnote 787: The text of the Danish const.i.tution, in English translation, is printed in Dodd, Modern Const.i.tutions, I., 267-281; H. Weitemeyer, Denmark (London, 1891), 203-217; and British and Foreign State Papers, LVIII. (1867-1868), 1,223 ff. The best brief treatise on the Danish const.i.tutional system is C. Goos and H. Hansen, Das Staatsrecht des Konigsreichs Danemark (Freiburg, 1889), in Marquardsen's Handbuch. A Danish edition of this work was issued at Copenhagen in 1890. The best extended commentaries are H. Matzen, Den Danske Statsforfatningsret (3d ed., Copenhagen, 1897-1901) and C. G. Holck, Den Danske Statsforfatningsret (Copenhagen, 1869). T. H. Aschehoug, Den Nordiske Statsret (Copenhagen, 1885) is a useful study, from a comparative point of view, of the const.i.tutional law of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden.]

III. THE CROWN AND THE MINISTRY

*615. The King: Status and Powers.*--The form of the Danish government is declared by the const.i.tution to be that of a limited monarchy.[788]

The throne is hereditary, and the succession is regulated by a law of July 31, 1853, adopted in pursuance of the Treaty of London of May (p. 560) 8, 1852, wherein the powers bestowed the Danish succession upon Prince Christian, of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glucksburg, and the direct male descendants of his union with the Princess Louise of Hesse-Ca.s.sel, niece of Christian VIII. of Denmark.[789] By the const.i.tution it is required of the king that he shall not become the ruler of any country other than Denmark without the consent of the Rigsdag, that he shall belong to the Evangelical Lutheran Church (the national church of Denmark, supported by the state), and that before a.s.suming the throne he shall give in writing before the Council of State an a.s.surance, under oath, that he will maintain inviolate the const.i.tution of the kingdom.[790] The royal civil list is fixed by law for the term of the reign. That of the present sovereign, Frederick VIII., is one million kroner annually.

[Footnote 788: Art. 1. Dodd, Modern Const.i.tutions, I., 267.]