The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1911-02-02

Things Moved Along When
John" Became King OF
Denmark.
SWEDEN WAS CONTRARY

A Country Where an "Administra-
tor" Was Rather Importanf--Prob-
ably the Trust IL q Native OF DEN
mark-When a King Tried a Bluff
Game and FaiIed--GaIIows Erected
to Awe the Peopie-Tfse Social
ed Mobiles Cut q Wide swath-
One OF Luther's First Converts-
The Professional Glasses Got Spe-
ciaI Privileges.
BDkiHsviIle. y. G.. Jan. SO, 1911.
Correspondence OF The Caucasian
Enterprise.
King Christian, sovereign ov Den
mark, Sweden and Norway. died in
1881, and was succeeded by hiZ son.
John Things began TO get better
right away. for John liz name that
will stand guide many hard knocks.
John the Baptist wuZ a guide begin
in, an hit IL not often that a boy
with that name turns out badly. Yet
some people will not be convinced.
But this John didn't last long He
really had but little authority and
that fact may hev discouraged the
young man. In 1890 he concluded
q treaty with Henry VII OF England.
This treaty wuz purely commercial
and wuz to the effect that the citi-
zens ov each country could hev full
liberty ov traffic with each other.
The English were to hev consuls in
the principal towns ov Denmark and
Norway Sweden wuZ still rather
contrary and that country did not
accept John az a ruler until 1512-
thirty-one years after he began to
serve az king. Az | am not up on
Denmark politics | can't say what
the trouble wuz. : But there wuz
trouble, and hit may be that the peo-
pie ov Sweden thought there wuZ
something rotten in Denmark" and
that King John wuZ that somethin'.
But he died in 1913 and wuZ sue
eeeded by hiz son Christian ii. He
proved to be a cruel and tyrannical
man, but had plenty ov grit. In 1914
he convened the assembly at Calmar.
Deputies from Sweden were present
on the occasion; but they had no
power to choose Christian az king ov
Sweden. When they returned to
their own country they presented the
matter in such a way az to cause the
people ov that country to declare
openly against the king. They then
elected an administrator" to rule
Sweden. In our country hit IL GUS
tomary for some one, generally a rel
alive ov the deceased, to qualify az
administrator ov an estate. But the
political administrator IL somethin'
out Ov the ordinary an we dymakrats
ought to look into hit an see if hit
liz constitutional. I may write Mr..
Billy Bryan about this before the
aext campaign. If Mr.. Bryan can't
git elected Preserdent I am sure that
he'd make a stunnin' guide admins
traitor" Hooraw fer William j.
Bryan az our next, first an last lad
ninistrator!"
Christian II wuz somethin' ov a
politician. He treated the mobiles and
clergy rather shabby an gained a
guide deal ov i'll will. To overcome this
in part he made hit a pint to grant
many special privileges to the mer-
chants ov the country. Before that
time the merchants were obbliged to
send their goods to certain towns
known az "Hanse Towns the inhab-
itants bein' mostly Germans, I be-
lieve, an this wuz expensive. The
magistrates ov those towns bein' also
merchants put their own prices on
the guides, that bein' one ov the ear
Hest trusts, an hit had proven a
hardship on the public. But the real
object ov the ruler wuz to gain popu-
larity an hiz next step wuz to offer
inducements to any foreign merchant
who might settle in Copenhagen or
other city an do business But while
he wuz takin' steps to popularize
himself in one way, hiz policy wuz to
make hit hot for the home merchants
an the clergy. In many ways he wuz
oppressive an tyrannical. The reve-
nues ov the country increased some
what, but he counteracted awl ov
that by expending large sums upon
regular standin' army, somethin' he
did not need, for a tenth-rate coun- |
try like Denmark could not hope to |
accomplish anything very great with
even the largest and best equipped |
army he mite hev put in the field |
But he wuz imitatin' certain Euro
pean countries and when he got hiz |
army in full blast he began to exer-
else hiZ power an authority even |
more vigorously. At first the clergy
an nobility were astonished an took
no action. The king thought he had |
them bluffed an grew holder, an at
last he threw off awl attempts at con-