An Account of Denmark. Robert Molesworth

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СКАЧАТЬ Conversation, have been observed in most places to be great Favourers of Liberty, because their knowledge of ancient Practice, and the just Title which the People have to their Privileges (which they meet with every where in their course of Reading) makes them less scrupulous of committing what some Divines miscall a Sin in those that endeavour to preserve or recover them; the Oversights of some few Gentlemen of this honourable Profession are therefore the less excusable; for I must confess, among other things, that Motto, A Deo Rex, à Rege Lex,⁸ wherein the Divine Right of the impious Will of a Tyrant is as strongly asserted as could be in the compass of a Ring, has occasioned frequent Reflections, not much in favour of those that made use of it.

      Thus I have touch’d upon the Manner of Education necessary to the beginning and finishing a Gentleman, who is to be useful to his Country, which I suppose ought to be the principal end of it. And I can’t but believe, if in our Schools our Youth were bred up to understand the Meaning of the Authors they are made to read, as well as the Syntax of the Words. If there were as much care taken to inculcate the good Maxims, and recommend the noble Characters the old Historians are so full of, as there is to hammer into their Heads the true Grammar of them, and the fineness of the Phrase: If in our Universities a proportionable Care were taken to furnish them with noble and generous Learning: If after this they were duly informed in the Laws and Affairs of their own Country, trained up in good Conversation and useful Knowledge at home, and then sent abroad when their Heads began to be well settled, when the heat of Youth was worn off, and their Judgments ripe enough to make Observation: I say, I cannot but believe that with this manner of Institution a very moderate Understanding might do wonders, and the coming home fully instructed in the Constitutions of other Governments, would make a Man but the more resolute to maintain his own.

      For the advantage of a free Government above its contrary needs no other help to make it appear, than only to be exposed to a considerate View with it: The difference may be seen written in the very Faces of the several People, as well as in their manner of Living; and when we find nothing but Misery in the fruitfullest Countries subject to Arbitrary Power, but always a Face of plenty and Chearfulness in Countries naturally unfruitful, which have preserv’d their Liberties, there is no further room left for Argument, and one cannot be long in determining which is most eligible. This Observation is so obvious that ’tis hard for any that Travels not to make it; therefore ’tis a sufficient reason why all our Gentry should go abroad. An English Man should be shewn the Misery of the enslaved Parts of the World, to make him in Love with the Happiness of his own Country; as the Spartans exposed their drunken Servants to their Children, to make them in love with Sobriety.

      But the more polish’d and delicious Countries of France, Spain, or Italy, are not the places where this Observation may be made to greatest advantage; the Manner of Living, Goodness of the Air and Diet, the Magnificence of the Buildings, Pleasantness of the Gardens, pompous Equipage of some great Persons, dazzle the Eyes of most Travellers, and cast a disguise upon the Slavery of those Parts; and as they render this Evil more supportable to the Natives, so they almost quite hide it from the view of a Cursory Traveller, amusing him too much from considering the Calamities which accompany so much Splendour, and so many Natural Blessings: or from reflecting how much more happy the Condition of the People would be with better usage. But in the Northern Kingdoms and Provinces there appears little or nothing to divert the Mind from contemplating Slavery in its own Colours, without any of its Ornaments. And since, for that reason, few of our Gentlemen find temptation enough to Travel into those Parts, and we have hardly any tolerable Relation of them extant, though we have frequent occasions of being concerned with them, I thought it might be of use to publish the following Account of Denmark, which I took care to be informed of upon the place with the greatest Exactness possible, and have related fairly and impartially, which may save the Curious the labour and expense of that Voyage.

      That Kingdom has often had the Misfortune to be govern’d by French Counsels. At the time when Mr. Algernon Sydney was Ambassador at that Court, Monsieur Terlon, the French Ambassador, had the Confidence to tear out of the Book of Motto’s in the King’s Library, this Verse, which Mr. Sydney (according to the liberty allowed to all noble Strangers) had written in it: manus haec inimica tyrannis Ense petit placidam sub libertate quietem.⁹ Though Monsieur Terlon understood not a word of Latin, he was told by others the Meaning of that Sentence, which he considered as a Libel upon the French Government, and upon such as was then a setting up in Denmark by French Assistance, or Example.

      To conclude; A considering English Traveller will find by experience, that at present nothing is so generally studied by the Sovereign Princes of the World, as the Arts of War, and the keeping of their own Countries in the desired Subjection. The Arts of Peace, whereby the Encrease and Prosperity of their Subjects might be promoted, being either intirely neglected or faintly prosecuted; he will further be convinced what great reason he has to bless Providence for his being born, and continuing yet a Freeman: He will find that the securing this inestimable Blessing to himself, and transmitting it to late Posterity, is a Duty he owes to his Country; the right performance of which does in a great measure depend upon a good Education of our Youth, and the Preservation of our Constitution upon its true and natural Basis, The Original Contract. All other Foundations being false, nonsensical, and rotten; derogatory to the present Government, and absolutely destructive to the legal Liberties of the English Nation. Salus populi suprema lex esto.¹⁰

CHAPTER I

       Of the Territories belonging to the King of Denmark, and their Situation

      If we consider the Extent of the King of Denmark’s Dominions, he may with Justice be reckoned among the greatest Princes of Europe; but if we have regard to the importance and value of them, he may be put in Balance with the King of Portugal, and possibly be found lighter.

      His Style is King of Denmark and Norway, of the Goths and Vandals, Duke of Sleswick and Holstein, Stormar, and Ditmarsh; Earl in Oldenburg and Delmenhorst; all which Countries he actually possesses either in whole or in part: so that except that of the Goths and Vandals, which Title both he and the King of Sweden use, and which the Crown of Denmark has retained ever since it was Master of Sweden (as we in England do that of France) all the rest are substantial and not empty Titles.

      My design is to acquaint you with the present State of these Countries, and to offer nothing but what I have either Collected from sensible grave Persons, or what my own Knowledge and Experience has confirm’d to be Truth.

      Since the late Wars between that famous Captain Charles Gustavus of Sweden, and Frederic the Third, which ended in a Peace Anno 1660 Denmark has been forced to sit down with the loss of all its Territories which lay on the other side of the Baltick Sea; Schonen, Halland, and Bleking remaining to the Swedes, notwithstanding frequent Struggles to recover them. These three (especially Schonen) were the best Provinces belonging to Denmark, and therefore are still looked upon with a very envious Eye by the Danes: And for this very reason ’tis reported, that the Windows of Cronenburgh Castle, whose Prospect lay towards Schonen, were wall’d up, that so hateful an Object might not cause continual heart-burnings.

      Denmark therefore, as it is thus clipp’d, is at present bounded on all sides with the Sea, except one small Neck of Land, where it joins to Holstein; the German Ocean washes it on the West and North-west; the entrance into the Baltick, called the Categate on the North, and North-East; the Baltick on the East; and the River Eyder on the South; which having its source very near the East Sea, takes his course Westward, and falls into the Ocean at Toningen, a strong Town of the Duke of Holstein Gottorp’s: So that if a Channel were made of about three Danish Miles from that River to Kiel, ’twould be a perfect Island. I include in this Account the Dutchy of Sleswick as part of Denmark, СКАЧАТЬ