Aage, born June 10, 1887; Prince Axel, born August 12, 1888; Prince Erich, born November 8, 1890; Prince Viggo, born December 25, 1893; Princess Margrethe, born September 17, 1895,

Brothers and Sister of the King.

I. Princess Frederica, born October 9, 1811; married, October 30, 1834, to Duke Alexander of Anhalt-Bernburg; widow August 19, 1863.

II. Prince Julius, born October 14, 1824; general in the Danish army. III. Prince Hans, born December 5, 1825; general in the Danish army.

The crown of Denmark was elective from the earliest times. In 1448, after the death of the last male scion of the Princely House of Svend Estridsen the Danish Diet elected to the throne Christian I., Count of Oldenburg, in whose family the royal dignity remained for more than four centuries, although the crown was not rendered hereditary by right till the year 1660. The direct male line of the house of Oldenburg became extinct with the sixteenth king, Frederik VII., on November 15, 1863. In view of the death of the king without direct heirs, the Great Powers of Europe, 'taking into consideration that the maintenance of the integrity of the Danish Monarchy, as connected with the general interests of the balance of power in Europe, is of high im portance to the preservation of peace,' signed a treaty at London on May 8, 1852, by the terms of which the succession to the crown of Denmark was made over to Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, and to the direct male descendants of his union with the Princess Louise of Hesse Cassel, niece of King Christian VIII. of Denmark. In accordance with this treaty, a law concerning the succession to the Danish crown was adopted by the Diet, and obtained the royal sanction July 31, 1853.

King Christian IX. has a civil list of 500,000 rigsdalers settled upon him by vote of the Rigsdag, approved December 17, 1863. The heir apparent of the crown has, in addition, an allowance of 60,000 rigsdalers, settled by law of March 20, 1868.

Subjoined is a list of the Kings of Denmark, with the dates of their accession, from the time of election of Christian I. of Oldenburg :

House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg.

Christian IX., 1863.

Constitution and Government.

The present Constitution of Denmark is embodied in the charter of June 5, 1849, which was modified in some important respects in 1855 and 1863, but again restored, with various alterations, by a statute which obtained the royal sanction on

July 28, 1866. According to this charter, the executive power is in the king and his responsible ministers, and the right of making and amending laws in the Rigsdag, or Diet, acting in conjunction with the sovereign. The king must be a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, which is declared to be the religion of the State. The Rigsdag comprises the Landsthing and the Folkething, the former being a Senate or Upper House, and the latter a House of Commons. The Landsthing consists of 66 members. Of these, 12 are nominated for life by the Crown, from among actual or former representatives of the Kingdom, and the rest are elected indirectly by the people for the terms of eight years. The choice of the latter 54 members of the Upper House is given to electoral bodies composed partly of the largest taxpayers in the country districts, partly of deputies of the largest taxpayers in the cities, and partly of deputies from the totality of citizens possessing the franchise. Eligible to the Landsthing is every citizen who has passed his twenty-fifth year and is a resident of the district. The Folkething, or Lower House of Parliament, consists of 114 members, returned in direct election, by universal suffrage, for the term of three years. According to the Constitution there should be one member for every 16,000 inhabitants. The franchise belongs to every male citizen who has reached his thirtieth year, who is not in the actual receipt of public charity, or who, if he has at any former time been in receipt of it, has repaid the sums so received, who is not in private service without having his own household, and who has resided at least one year in the electoral circle on the lists of which his name is inscribed. Eligible for the Folkething are all men of good reputation past the age of twenty-five. Both the members of the Landsthing and of the Folkething receive payment for their services at the rate of 3 rixdalers (6s. 8d.) per day during the actual session, and are reimbursed for travelling expenses to and from the capital.

The Rigsdag must meet every year on the first Monday in October. To the Folkething all money bills must in the first instance be submitted by the Government. The Landsthing, besides its legislative functions, has the duty of appointing from its midst every four years the assistant judges of the Rigsret, who, together with the ordinary members of the Höiesteret, form the highest tribunal of the Kingdom (Rigsret), and can alone try parliamentary impeachments. The ministers have free access to both of the legislative assemblies, but can only vote in that chamber of which they are members.

The executive, acting under the king as president, and called the State Council-Statsraadet--consists of the following eight departments :

1. The Presidency of the Council and Ministry of Finance.-H. E. Hörring, appointed May 25, 1897.

2. Ministry of the Interior.-V. de Bardenfleth, May 25, 1897.

3. Ministry of Justice and for Iceland.-N. R. Rump, June 13, 1896. 4. Ministry of Foreign Affairs.-N. F. Ravn (ad interim).

5. Ministry of War.-Colonel C. F. Tuxen, May 25, 1897.

6. Ministry of Marine.-Vice Admiral N. F. Ravn, January 4, 1879. 7. Ministry of Public Instruction and Ecclesiastical Affairs.—Bishop H. V. Sthyr, May 25, 1897.

8. Ministry of Agriculture.-Alfred Hage, May 25, 1897.

The ministers are individually and collectively responsible for their acts, and if impeached, and found guilty, cannot be pardoned without the consent of the Folkething.

Denmark is divided into 18 counties (Amter), each of which is administered by a Governor (Amtmand), and the counties into Hundreds (Herreder), each with a portion of the Peace (Herredsfoged or Birkedommer). In the towns there is a Mayor, appointed by the government, with or without aldermen. The Hundreds are divided into parishes of which there are, in all, about 1,070. Copenhagen forms a district by itself, and has its own form of administration. The chief of the dependencies of the Crown of Denmark, Iceland, has its own constitution and administration, under a charter which came into force August 1, 1874. By the terms of this charter, the legislative power is vested in the Althing, consisting of 36 members, 30 elected by popular suffrage, and 6 nominated by the king. A minister for Iceland, nominated by the king, is at the head of the administration; while the highest local authority is vested in the governor, who resides at Reikjavik. Besides him there are two Amtmands for the western and the northern districts of Iceland.

Area and Population

The following table gives the area and population of Denmark, according to the last decennial census, taken February 1,

1890:

The population (excluding the Faeroes) consisted of 1,059,322 males and 1,112,983 females. The total population at the census of 1870 was 1,794,723, and of 1880 1,980,259, showing an increase during each of the two decennial periods of nearly 10 per cent., or 1 per cent. per annum. In Denmark proper the town population has increased from 515,758 in 1880 to 663,121 in 1890, or at the rate of 28.7 per cent.; while the rural population has increased from 1,453,281 in 1880 to 1,509,084 in 1890, or at the rate of 3.77 per cent. The population is almost entirely

Scandinavian; in 1890, of the inhabitants of Denmark proper, 96.67 per cent. were born in Denmark, 0.06 per cent. were born in the Colonies, 0.16 per cent. in Norway, 1.56 per cent. in Sweden, 0.96 per cent. in Sleswig, 0.47 per cent. in other parts of Germany, and 0.12 per cent. in other foreign countries. The foreign-born population was thus 3.27 per cent. of the whole. According to occupation the population of Denmark in 1890 was classified thus:

The population of the capital, Copenhagen (Kjöbenhavn), in 1890, was 312,859, or with suburbs, 375,251; Aarhus, 33, 308; Odense, 30, 277; Aalborg, 19,503; Horsens, 17,290; Randers, 16,617.

The following table gives the total number of births, deaths, and marriages, with the surplus of births over deaths, in five years :

Of the births 10 per cent. were illegitimate.

Emigrants, chiefly to the United States, 9,150 in 1893; 4,105 in 1894; .3,607 in 1895; 2,876 in 1896; 2,260 in 1897.

Religion.

The established religion of Denmark is the Lutheran, which was introduced as early as 1536, the Church revenue being at that time seized by the Crown, to be delivered up to the university and other religious and educational establishments. The affairs of the National Church are under the superintendence of seven bishops. The bishops have no political character. Complete religious toleration is extended to every sect, and no civil disabilities attach to Dissenters. In 1885 there were 1,353 clergymen.

According to the census of 1890, there were only 33, 851 persons, or 15 per cent. of the population, not belonging to the National Church. Of this number 10,624 belonged to other Lutheran denominations, 4,080 were Jews, 4,556 Anabaptists, 3,647 Roman Catholics, 2,609 Irvingites, 2,301 Methodists, 1,252 belonged to the German or French Reformed Church, 1,281 other Christians, 941 Mormons, and 2,560 of no confession.

Instruction.

Elementary education has been widely diffused in Denmark since the beginning of this century, and in 1814 it was made compulsory. The school

age is from 7 to 14. The public schools, maintained by communal rates, are free. Of elementary schools there are about 2,940 (28 in Copenhagen, 132 in other towns, and 2,780 in rural districts), with 231,940 pupils, or 123 per 1,000 of population. For higher instruction there are: a veterinary and agricultural college at Copenhagen (founded 1892) with 22 teachers; 21 agricultural or horticultural schools; 67 folkehöjskoler or popular high schools; 31 Latin schools (14 Government, 17 private); a college of pharmacy (founded 1892) with 7 teachers; a Royal academy of arts (founded 1754) with 7 teachers; 99 realskoler or technical and commercial schools. The folkehöjskoler are all private, but to them and the agricultural schools the state annually makes a grant of about 300,000 kroner. To 72 of the realskoler grants are made amounting in the year 1892-93 to 109,000 kroner, exclusive of the cost of apparatus, inspection, &c. The University of Copenhagen founded in 1479, has 5 faculties, to all of which, except theology, women are admitted on equal terms with men. It has 40 professors and about 1,300 students.

Justice and Crime.

The lowest courts of justice in Denmark are those of the hundred or district magistrates (herredsfogder and birkedommere) and town judges (byfogder). From these courts an appeal lies to the superior court, or court of second instance, in Viborg with 9 judges, and in Copenhagen with 17 judges. The Copenhagen superior court, however, is identical with that of the civic magistrates. The supreme court (Höjesteret) or court of final appeal, with a chief justice, 12 puisne judges, and 11 special judges sits in Copenhagen. Judges under 65 years of age can be removed only by judicial sentence.

In 1896, 3,009 males and 994 females were convicted of crime.

Finance.

By the terms of the Constitution of Denmark the annual financial budget, called the Finantslovforslag,' must be laid on the table of the Folkething at the beginning of each session. As to the annual financial accounts, called 'Statsregnskab,' the Constitutional Charter prescribes them to be examined by four paid revisers, two of whom are elected by the Folkething and two by the Landsthing. Their report is submitted to both Chambers, which, after due consideration, pass their resolution generally to the effect that they have no remarks to make on the balance-sheet. The following shows the actual revenue and expenditure for the five years ending March 31 :—

The estimated revenue for 1898-99 was 68,568,723 kroner, and expenditure 68,430,032 kroner. The following is an abstract of the budget for 1899-1900: