The Washington herald., 1915-01-17

again take the place 1t held when Gus
tavus Adolphus. the Lion Of the North,
| saved Professionalism, when Charles TX
was the most powerful monarch in
Europe, and when Denmark gave Eng
! land a close race for the supremacy Of
the seas.
But hundreds of years of warfare be-
| tween the three Scandinavian nations,
with Russia, Prussia, England and Aus
| tria often involved, made their power
| almost negligible.
/, Russia has taken from Sweden the
east shore of the Baltic, while Prussia
seized Panorama, and Schleiswig-Hol-
stein. 1t needed the great fears engen-
dered by the European war OF 1914 to
| finally bring about Scandinavian har-
mony. Eleven million Norwegians, Danes
and Swedes perhaps. the most enlight-
ened body of people OF its size in the
world, now present a united front.
Kings Play at Ruling.
The truly democratic nature of the
three Scandinavian governments was en-
phasized at the Malmoe meeting. NAL
moe is a little town in Southern Sweden
with no royal pretentiousness about it.
Pomp was lacking. King GustaVus of
Sweden, who was the host of the otheI
two .monarchs, stopped at the lord lieu
tenants residence. King Christian of
Denmark lodged at the home OF a physi-
clan. while his brother. King Haakon
Of Norway, put up with the widow of
a wealthy shipbuilder. Purely diplomatic
functions were left to the trio Of rulers.
The foreign ministers did the real bIsi-
ness OF coming to an. agreement. A king
in Scandinavia nowadays is even more
Of an nonenity than in Great Britain.
The Scandinavian peoples are about
equally afraid of the two sides in the
present European war. The cZars have
coveted the key to the Baltic, which the
Scandinavians hold. In Finland. seized
from Sweden by Gar Alexander l, the
Muscovites have built railroads right up
to the Swedish border and about a year
ago, in time of profound peace. they
massed 5000 troops there. Large bar
racks and supply depots were built, too.
AS result of this. about a year ago 80,
900 Swedish peasants crowded to King
Gustavus' palace to tell him they wished
more armaments and were willing to
pay for them.
King Under Suspicion.
AS to Germany, she, too. is suspected
of desiring to control the entrance to
the Baltic while the examples Of Bel
gium and Schleiswig-H -HolsteIn loom large
in Scandinavian eyes. In 1868 Bismarck
persuaded Austria to join Prussia in an
attack on Schleiswig-H -Holstein. A sec
ton of this duchy, in ancient times, had
belonged to the Germanic Confederation,
of which Austria was the head, and this
was the pretext Bismarck utilized. He
kept all the spoiIs for Prussia, however
King Gustsvus is closely watched in
Sweden. as he is suspected of pro-Ger-
man leanings. He is an intimate friend
of Kaiser William, and his wife is or was
Princess Victoria OF Baden. the Emperors
cousin. There are also many Swedes,
who believe their nation should ally it.
self with Germany for protection against
Russia. These are largely outnumbered
by those who take the broader view OF
Scandinavian unity and independence.
great shock was given to the Swedish
people several years ago by Suen Hedin. |
the famous explorer, in his pamphlet, A |
Word of Warning" This sold to the eX-
tent of 1,OO0O0O copies. Hedin had trav-
eIed everywhere in Russian and he set |
forth in detail Russia's designs and the |
enormous spy system the Gar had es-
tsblshed in Sweden.
King Gustavus led the movement to
balk Russia He had the police make
thorough investigation. The wife of the
Kings second son, Prince William, was
the Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovpa, first
cousin of Gar Nicholas. The police
found she WAS the head spy of Russia in