The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-02-17

wegians have never been reconciled
10 the compulsory annexation OF their
country to Sweden, an annexation
ordered by congress OF great Pow
ers TO compensate Sweden for hus-
sias absorption OF Finland. Not that
Sweden, indeed attempts to interfere
with the application Of the home rule
principle in Norway's internal affairs.
for the Norwegians have Legislature
and Ministers OF their own, only the
Department of Diplomatic and Consular
Intercourse being controlled by an
! appointee Of the common sovereign.
So far "a sympathy goes, however, the
! Norwegians if they could choose be-
! tween continued annexation to Sweden
/ or reunion with Denmark would seize
eagerly the latter.
! Internationally. the political and inter-
national ideal Of the Scandinavian coun-
/ tries would be attained If each Of them
possessed absolute independence, ex-
/ cept 80 far as their relations to foreign
Powers should be defined and regulated
by an intimate offensive and defensive
alliance. lnasmuch, however. as even
reunited Scandinavia might provo too
weak 10 resist Russian encroachment
and guarantee the fulfilment Of It's
passionate desire TO escape the fate
of Finland. a permanent coalition with
the German Empire would obviously
be indicated as the one certain means
| of assuring the integrity Of the federal
territory and the control Of the Baltic.
! The object lesson Of Russian perhdy
and oppression which the Firms have
recently afforded would exert upon their
fellow Scand.navians an almost irreslst-
bile pressure IN favor Of a c,mbnation
with Germany.
What the German Empire would have
to gain by such a compact is patent.
1henCeforh commanding the Skager ak
and Cattegat as eiectually as he now
commands the Kie Canal, the Emperor
WILLIAM would be able to seal up at
any hour three-fourths OF Russia's naval
force within that country's Baltic sea-
ports How considerable, moreover,
would be the accessions to his own
strength upon the ocean will be manifest
if we recall the latest statistics regarding
the naval and maritime resources Of the
three Scandinavian States. In Deem
Der, 1908 Sweden had o, Denmark and
Norway battleshIps, and the sams
countries had respectively g. ,, and 4
coast defence ships. Sweden had
armored and protected cruisers, while
OF the last named class OF cruisers
Denmark had and Norway ?. The
Scand nlvian countries had together 50
seagoing gunboats. torpedo boat
destroyers and o. torpedo boats. Their
three naves were between them manned
by more than 900 officers and upward OF
1900 enlisted men. Their war vessels
carried about 800 heavy guns and up
ward OF LOO secondary and machine
guns. These figures include only ship
actually built, and are capable OF pro-
gressive expansion. When we turn from
fighting vessels TO the mercantile ma
rines, from which trained seamen must
be recruited, we find that in 1908 tbs ton
mage Of Norway's merchant navy was
/ ,0j3,7tO. or more than that of France;
while the tonnage of Sweden's was III
. ll6. and that OF Denmark's 5sl ,247. As
/ the tonnage OF the German mercantile
marine at the same date was only 32S3.-
2i7. it is plain that this would be almost
doubled by the addition of the three
scand inavian merchant navies In other
words. from this point OF view the Ger
man Empire would have upward of four
times more to gain from a permanent
coalition with reunited Scandinavia than
from the absorption of Holland
These are the reasons for attaching
! Importance to the report concerning the
! future OF Scandinavia.