The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1874-07-23
A Dead Lock in Denmark-


In the little kingdom of Demark. the
political situation is peculiar and inter
esting. In 1913 the Danish liberals
who belonged almost exclusively to the
bourgeoisie, or what is called the tier,
etGt, secured a most democratic elect
oral law, in fact, universal suffrage, be
! heVlng, as the same class believed il
France after the revolution of 1880. that
/ the Fourth estate" would never be
willing or able to obtain control of the
| government. But events have shown
them to be IN error for the fourth
estate-or what would be called IN
Europe the lower class-has preferred
/ to elect men of its own kind TO the pop-
ular House of Rigsdag, and has OBJ
tanned decided majority Of that house.
| The English practice-Ehe unwritfen
iaW-that a ministry shall retire with
its defeat in the popular house. has
been followed IN Denmark for 6 quar-
ter Of a century. But when the pres
ent bourgeois cabinet found itself IN a
minority, it considered it to be a
. higher" duty to remain in Office. It
therefore declined TO resign
Upon this the house resorted TO the
British parliamentary remedy, and re-
fused to vote the supplies. The minis
try promptly dissolved it, and appealed
to the country. The country responded
by electing a majority opposed to the
ministry and now for some time. even
for some years, there has been a fs gov
ernment or administration which il
powerless In the popular branch of the
legislature, and at open war with il.
IL Is felt by the best men in Denmark
to be very demo=alizing situation.
The prestige which the government had
obtained is fast disappearing. The
most necessary reforms are paralyzed.
and the whole machinery of govern
ment works with the utmost diff.
Guilty and friction. The English prac-
tlce being abandoned, there is no an
parent remedy for the dead lock. If
the ministry viii not resign, the king
cannot help himself. Indeed. there
seems no issue to the situation except
by revolution, and it is not easy to see
how such resort is avoided.
But the whole European situation Is
obscure. In France it is always vol
canle. French politics are, IN truth,
the permanent revolution, because the
real question is not one of administra-
ton, of policy, or expediency, but of
the nature and form of the government
itself. In Spain it is not less doubtful,
Meanwhile some of the wisest heads in
Europe feel that great events are even
now preparing. just three hundred
years ago Sir Philip Sidney said, 81
cannot think there is any man possessed
of common understanding who does
not see to what these rough storms are
driving, by which all christendom has
been agitated now these many years. -
So, now, the enormous armaments, the
frequent interviews of monarchs, the
tone OF the press. the deadly hostility
of Germany and France, the brief fury
OF the commune, the position of the
pRpacy, and hundred other signs an
nounce to the coolest observers the i'm
minence of new wars, from which de-
mocracy, or popular government, will
ennarge crushed or ail-poWerful. This
Is evidently the view of Mr.. Disraeli,
who said in a late debate in parliament
that I" the great crisis of the world is
nearer than some suppose" His words,
taken in connection with his speech at
Edinburgh last autumn, in which he
described what he called the spirit of
the age, show that the British prime
minister believes great events to be
imminent. Exchange,