The Sun.
London, England, 1864-07-25 00:00:00

EN NARK.

(From the Special Correspondent of the limes.)
When the ancient phil ELSINORE, July 21.
osopher wished to soothe
the sorrows of a Monarch fallen from his high estate,
he assured him that at the close of his mortal career
"he would look back with the least regret on the
days on which he had not reigned." Perhaps the
same consolation may be administered to dethroned
nations as to discrowned KAI tgs. In that case, it
may be hoped that Denmarl : will resign herself
without repining to the lose of that power and
greatness that are for ever d•rparting from her. If
we look back to the past, w b at page of European
history can be read with greater interest than
that relating to the fortunes of these Danish isles?
A mere branch of the Scandinavian family, the
Danes either knew lo w to r 4ko3ociate the sister races
to their own destinies, or fought them to such good
purpose.that the dweller on the minor bank oi the
Sound, up to the very late int days, seem-EA in his
hands the sovereignty over its waters and the key to
the Baltic. Coming into cl cse contact with t:-.le Gera
man empire at its outset, ar al in the very Zenith °fits
greatness, Denmark was no t unfrequentlya match for
tions, during its endless p o litical and religious cons
all its forces, and by takin F; the lead of one cf its few-
tests, she exercised over it: e a influence altogether out
of measure with her mate* dal strength. The time was
when the Baltic was a o thing but a Danish lake ;
when the coasts of No, ,th Germany, of Russia, no
less than those of Fr lace anti England, together
with vast inland pr o vinces, acknowledged the
supremacy of the Dane. Even after the format
Lion of the great European monarchies, and
the tracing of the. limits of modern nations,
Denmark looked 'upon the Hulse cities as
her tributaries, te:nd she trespassed on the
rights of Teutonic it ationality from the Elbe to the
Eider. Pride, hovv,ever, will have a fall: and the
Dannebrog must ma ev be struck to that very German
on whose neck the Northman had trod so often, and
in a quarrel for Welch that very Holstein territory
supplied the first pretext. The race of the gallant
Dane is ran, the sceptre of the seas has long been
wrested front the bands of his kings, and the ima
portance of Denm ark, even as a second or third rate
power, is something that belongs to another era.
Politically sputiking, there is for Denmark, "be.
neath the lowest, depth a deeper still." The peace
that she is now' patching up with her German
destroyers will strip her of the Duchies ; it will
leave her, if any fleet at all, an armament unfit
henceforth to cope even with the naval establish-
ment of such a mere land-lubber as the Prussian.
Such strength as eht still possessed on her naa
five element, after the disasters of 1800 and
1807, will go to swell the importance of a people
who were hitherto little more than the Arcadians
of Europe. Whatever command tho Cimbrian or
Soanian peninsula exercised in the Northern Seas
will be usurped by the colossal Powers on the ad-
joining mainland. Scandinavia will be ground to
dust between the upper Mnscovitic and the nether
Teutonic millstones; and time alone will decide,
after centuries of contests, whether the Baltic,
ceasing to be a Danish, is to become a Russian or a
German lake.

The future may have days of peace and contents
ment in store for Denmark, nevertheless.. The hap.
piness of a country does not necessarily depend on
the extent of its naval away, nor on the prestige of
its armament, nor yet on the influence of its re.
doubted diplomacy. Blessed is the nation whose
annals are a blank! Withdrawal from competition
may screen a State from all molestation. There is
no reason why Danmark may not aspire to the
humble yet respected position of a maritime
Switzerland; why she may not attain her security
by a compact of acknowledged neutrality. Death,
be it remembered, is not for the Dane the result of
organic disease or dissolving decrepitude. He is
struck down in the pride of unbroken manhood.
He writhes on the ground bleeding from mortal
wounds, but those wounds are all in the breast.
There is no symptom of unmanly weakness in his
last gasp. Indeed, it is the Sate alone that falls ;
the nation bears up indomitable.

Travel wherever you list about these Danish pro-
vinces, and you will nowhere perceive the signs of
national decline. You will see nowhere those social
disorders which usher in the elements of dissolution
and prepare the ground for the enslavement of a
people. No people in the world is less worn out or
effete than the Dane. This is, without contradic-
tion, the wealthiest country on either hemi-
sphere; I say it advisedly, because wealth here
gives rise to the most general well-being, it exert
cises the least corrupting influence, and suffers
least from contrast with that abject misery which,
in other countries, is like the shade to its light.
You find comfort and competence almost in the
humblest dwelling; hardly any intolerable luxury
in the proudest mansion. Talk of the frugality of
the inhabitants of barren districts, or of the sobriety
characteristic of the dwellers in southern climates t.

I tell you there is no country in which God's gifts
have been more amply bestowed or more equitably
distributed, where they are more wisely used or
more rarely abused, than in Denmark. Stripped of
her glory as a naval Power, Danmark will still be
one of the most thriving agricultural communities
in the world. One can hardly wish to see more
luxuriant crops than are now ripening throughout
these territories. These islands, even with the
somewhat backward husbandry they have yet at.
tained, with the not very dense population that live
by it, may well dispense with any advantage aecru.
ing to them from extensive commercial or industrial
enterprise, Were they to set earnestly about the
task of draining their swamps and reclaiming their
heaths, they might nearly double the amount of
their agricultural produce. For the limited wants
and rational enjoyments of the present generation
their means are more than sufficient. Let them
only dig for a treasure in their father's orchard, and
they will find that the wealth buried in the bosom
of the earth will provide for twice es vast a mass or
their children yet unborn.

WRECK OF A LARGE EMIGRANT SHIP,

ARKLOW, IRELAND, THURSDAY NIGHT.

The Rev. R. E. Eaton reports :—" The lifeboat of the
National Lifeboat Institution went out this morning to a
large vessel on the bangs, and returned in tow of a
steamer, having 250 passengers on board. As the vessel
remains on the banks, with the crew on board, I have sent
out the lifeboat again, Captain Balfour, R.N., Inspecting
Commander of the Coast Guard, having gone off in her.
The ship proved to be the Constitution, from Liverpool to
New York. I will send further particulars by nest po-t.