El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1914-12-19
TIRES
Of OPPRESSION.
FEARS GERMANY
Looks to England to Defend
Neutrality and Pre-
vent Spoliation.
HAS SMALL ARMY
FOR ITS DEFENCE

0OPENHAGEN, Denmark, Dec. 10
For so years Danish Slesvig
(Schleswig) has been trampIed
on by the ruthless heel of the con-
Queror, who has tried by every means
in his power to Germanize the popu-
lation and root out Danish nationality.
This rankles in Danish memories. This
they can never forget nor forgive.
During the Franco German war, 1870
II, they were thinking of revenge and
desired to join the fray, but the F8ench
defeat soon cooled their arGor.
Once again Denmark is in a dilemma.
Situated as she is, within a few hours
steaming, almost within gunshot, OF
Germany, 1t behOoves her to walk war
lily. Her dangerous proximity to her
southern neighbOr is such that the
British fleet could barely save one
half of her territory, / e. the islands,
from the fate of Belgium Yet, new
ertheless, she clings to the hope that
England has seen the error Of her
ways in 1854, when she allowed Den
mark to be ,spoliated, in spite Of treaty
guarantees. and will exert herself to
the utmost of her power to free the
oppressed Danes from the Prussian
yoke. What can Denmark do to assure
the liberation of Slesvig at the con-
clusion of peace2
Slowly MObiIiEes Army.
Gradually and slowly she has been
modifying her army. According to the
law of September 80. 1903, military
service is obligatory from the age OF
20 to Sc. Though her war effective
is nominally $4,000 men. yet her field
army cannot be reckOned at more than
so, 600 or $4,000 men, recently rearmed
with Krupp guns.
This small hut well trained army is
meant to upheld the neutrality of Den
mark. But the Germans entertain sus-
piciOns that it may be used as a tool
in the hands of the allies, that a few
years ago, when the channel squadron
was maneuvering in Jutland waters,
the idea of landing an exped1tionary
force on Danish territory as near as
possible to the German frontier was
preached, that a sudden raid or coup
de main on the Kiel canal through the
Duchies was planned, intended to bottle
up the German fleet in the Baltic, that
Kiel was to be attacked simultaneous
~ by land and by sea, the English
dreadnoughts being piloted through the
great belt so as to be able to act with
the land forces, before the German fleet
left the bay of KEEL
But the evidence on which all this
was built was altogether fictitious re-
ports of landing operations in HUtland
By British marines being untrue. SO
far the Danes have over and over again
declared that they would defend their
neutrality against all comers
Dreadnoughts can still be pioted
through the non territorial waters Of
the great belt the only passage into
the Baltic deep enough for them. APP
parently the German navy does not
feel safe and secure, even in its head
quarters 1t has been stated in the
English press that the KEEL canal
should be turned over to Denmark
with Slesvig, at the end of the war.
however, is more certain than
that Denmark would refuse to have
any German subjects. In paragraph
five of the treaty Of Prague, 1856, II
was laid down tina. all those districts
in North Slesvig should be allowed to
return to Denmark. whose Inhabitants,
through a public vote expressed their
wish so to return. All that Denmark
wishes is that this paragraph which
was rescinded in 1873 by Prussia ana
Austria, shall be put into force. Dem
mark should then. with open arms, re-
ceive her cOmpatriots, willing to bring
sacrifices to reunite the Danish race
Most Cultured of Danes.
The 10000 Danes in North SlesYlB
are among the sturdiest and most cul-
tured of their nationality. This has
made the Prussian yoke and the pm
pricks OF their officials all the more
and calling to them; they
have no doubt that as a race they are
superior to their conquerors, and they
have proved it by their sustained and
resistance to Prussification
and pressure from above through half
a century, in the course of which
Germany has lost ground in Slesvig,
though she has spent money on buying
Danish estates and handing them over
to German immigrants -.......--.
The New boundary.
The new racial and linguistic boun-
dairy between Denmark and the Ger j
man empire will run near Flensborg,
on the eastern side of the duchy. This
was already suggested at the London
in 1864, and supported by
England. and France. Whether Den
mark is called upon to make sacri-
fices or not, it js incumbent on the
powers, which failed in their guaran-
teed duty to her in 1854, to see that
Slesvig is restored to its motherland.
The great canal through HOlstein
should be an international waterway,
with low freight charges. governed like
the Suez canal. Europe, as a whole
and not least England will gain BY
thus strengthening the guardian OF |
the Dardanelles of the north.