DANE AND GERMAN.

Evening Star, Issue 3121, 19 February 1873, Page 3

DANE AND GERMAN.

The well-known military correspondent of the Cologne Gazette, Herr von Wickcde, has published an account in that paper of a visit to the Danish islands last September. He says that he found the inhabitants full of the most bitter hostility to everything German ; they studiously avoided speaking the German language, though most of them knew it perfectly ; and when he lauded with a party of his countrymen on the island of I‘alster, they were received with the cries of “ de Bismarcker,” “de Pruske bond” (the Prosliau dog), and other unfriendly manifestations. “How different,” says Herr von Wickedo, “ was the feeling of the Danes in 1845, when I repeatedly visited the islands of Falster and Laaland ! All Denmark was then most frcndly to us, and Dane of any education took a pride in being able to speak, or at least to understand, German. Not a trace of this is to be found now. The wars of 1848*50, and especially that of 1864, have converted the old friendship of Denmark for Germany into profound enmity. In 1870, at the beginning of the war with I ranee, this enmity manifested itself in a very lively manner. It is no secret that Denmark was at that time secretly arming herself, and from 26 000. to 30.000 men were ready to march through the plains of Jutland into Sleswick-Holstein ; but fortunately our victories at Spichern and Worth suddenly put an end to these plans. Numerous volunteers had come forward to serve in this expedition, and the Danish people regarded it as a national war of revenge When the news of the entrance of the French into Saarbrttken arrived, all Denmark rejoiced, while the French defeats Which followed were at first not credited, and afterwards universally lamented. On the arrival of the French iron-clad fleet in the Sound the greatest enthusiasm prevailed at Copenhagen, and the French officers and tailors were feted by classes, as if they had already gaintd brilliant victories. The Danes hastened to supply the ships with {(revisions, and the Government establishments furnished to the French officers all the charts of the Baltic, which were very much wanted by the fleet. Numbers of excellent pilots atd sailors from the Danish Islands who were thoroughly acquainted with the navigation of the Baltic went on board the Freneh ships, and it was entirely due to their assistance and knowledge of that dangerous sea that none of the heavy ironclads wont aground, although the lighthus*s ori the German coasts were extinguished and the buoys removed. The workmen in the Danish arsenals, too, worked night and day to prepare the Danish fleet to join that of France. And even now, although the Danes must have given up all hope of French assistance, at least for some lime to come, their sympathy for the French and hostility to the Germans are as strong as ever. Except in a few reading-rooms visited by foreigners at Copenhagen, it is very seldom that a German book or newsEcan be found in any public place in ark. The teaching of German in the higher schoo's, which before 1848, and even up to 1864, was very actively pursued, has now almost entirely ceased, and the students learn French or English instead. The walls in private houses all over the country are decorated with pictures representing victories of the French over the Germans, or German soldiers plundering and burning French villages. Indeed, the hostile feeling towards Germany of the great majority ©f the Danes is so great, that most of the Germans jvho formerly lived in the Danish islands have either sold their estates and gone elsewhere, or have.adopted the Danish nationality. Unfortunately, German emigrants change their nationality much more frequently than Italians, Frenchmen, or Englishmen.