The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-09-22
'SCHOE[ REVIEWS
 WAR DISCUSSIONS
Cites Some Facts of History to Support Present Con-
 tentiOns in Germany


 with great interest the articles on the duration and outcome of the great war in Europe by some we'll known people of Birmingham. As d erman-American l wish to thank the writers for their praise of the German people, especially Judge 0. R. Hundley and Sterling A. Wood. l agree with my friend F. l. Monks that it would have been better for England if she had left the Teutons' to fight 1t out with the Sav tyea. even with the Gaul thrown in) Had she remained neu- tral she would have been the arbiter in the end with all the advantage to her self, but now. if Germany is crushed, as she very likely will be- for how conld sia with S00,00o00e, France and Africa. England with Indian, Canada and Aus trala and Japan; England will have to divide the spells of war with the Slav and the Gaul. But perhaps, England is not after the spells, since London papers stated several weeks ago that the main object of the war had already been at tained. namely, the ruin of German com merce. That England was only waiting for her chance to gain this end and that she was committed to help France is made clear by an item which was pub lished In the Paris Gil Bias of February B. 1913, as a highly interesting piece of news. This item which was copied from newspaper of eastern France stated that large stocks of British ammunition had been brought into Maubeuge, a strong fortress in northeastern France, which was taken by the Germans about two weeks ago. It said that Maubeuge was designated as a concentration point, in case of war for the allied troops, which would be commanded by Sir John French under General Joffre as chief commander. And this was. IS months ago.
 l also wish to thank my friend, James Bowron. for his tribute to Germany. At the same time, however. I wish to take exception to one statement of his. which reads as follows: Germany has unwisely defed this racial instinct when in 1864 Holstein was taken violently from Den, mark and in 1871 Alsace-Lorraine was taken from France'' Now I happen to be native of Holstein, tor rather of Scheswig- Holstein for we people of the duchies have aaways insisted and we have madeevery King of Denmark swear before We let him rule over us that Schleswie and Holstein should remain to- gether forever undivided (shuldens bliven to saamen up ewig ungedeelt') was the Low Dutch wording of this oath So, l am competent to give briefly the history of the connection of the duchies with Denmark. which l will do to convince my learned friend Bowron of his error:
 In the year 1s4S the Danes found them selves minus a King and as has been the rule with several people of Europe, they looked for German princeling. to lord it over them. They selected their powerful neighbor. the duke of Holstein and Sehleswig. He was willing to be- come King of Denmark but had to ask first the consent of the "estates," that is, the representatives of the cities and of the nobility. The estates granted their permission, but being distrustful of the Danes. they insisted that If he wished to remain their duke, that he should leave them Independent of the kingdom of Den mark and moreover, that he should leave Scheswig inseparate from Holstein which has always been part of Germany. Schleswig having always been a bone of contention between Germany and Den mark they feared even then that the Danes might wish some day to incorpor- ate it into their kingdom and thus get by stealth what they would not gain by force of arms. Now in Holstein with its dependency Schleswig the old German Salic law prevails, which means that men only can rule over men and that the succession of rule cannot be held by the female line and so, when 1t became apparent during the reign of Christian VIII that the direct male line would die out with the successor, who ruled after him as Frederick VII, the Danes tried to make Scheswig Danish Christian VIII contrary to his oath issued manifesto in which he said that 1t would be advis- able to incorporate Schleswig into the. kingdom of Denmark. This raised a storm Of indignation in the duchies, so that the King withdrew his open letter. When Christian VIII died, his successor. Fred terick VII, refused to take the oath re- qured of him before he could be duke of Schleswig- Holsteins and then the duchies revolted In 1S4S. This war lasted three years and was concluded by the so- called London proticol, which re-estab- lfshed the status quo ante.i During the reign of this last King of the male line everything was tried to make Schleswig Danish. German teaching and preaching was forbidden in public schools and churches and replaced by Danish, which the great majority of the people did not understand. The Danish monetary system was forced upon the people and other rights violated. Several friends of mine from Angeln told me tbat their parents had to employ private teachers so that
 
 When Frederick VII died Christian TX succeeded and he incorporated Schleswig into his kingdom. Holstein then cut loose from Denmark and proclaimed Frederick VIII as their duke and called upon Ger many to aid them in retaining Schleswig Denmark withdrew from Holstein but did not want to give up Schlsswig and this brought on the war of 1s6i as result of which Scheswig Holstein became German in spite of all the machnations of Eng fish policy. Now, Mir Bowron knows well enough that l am Teuton and not Dane in fact, l have never been taken to be Danish, though have several times been taken for an Engishman and oftener for Scotchman l can assure him that & per cent of the people of Schleswig- Holstein are Saxon and Angles with some Frisians along the west coast of Schles- wig, about 10 per cent being Danes in northern Schleswig, according to the Cyclopedia Britannica. I was visiting my old home one year ago when went as far north as Flensburg, and stayed sev- eral days with a friend in AngeH, brother of our townsman, Henry Beiaens. and I did not hear single Danish word spoken. When l was boy. we were taught English, French and Latin in school but not Danish, and I was 22 years old before I took up the study of that language It seems strange that Mr. Bowron and the English should proudly call themselves Anglo-Saxon,. when they want the Angles and the Saxons of Scheswig- Hostein to be Danish. rather liE4 the Danish people and there is but little difference between them and the except in language What animosity there Is between them dates back about 1000 years when the Saxons embraced Christianity. Then the Da nisl, Viking tor pirate, if you please) thought