taining feveral batteries of long cannon. in paffing, lower their top-fails.

Here all veffels pay a toll, and,

COMMERCE.] Denmark is extremely well fituated for commerce; ber harbours are well calculated for the reception of fhips of all burdens, and her mariners are very expert in the navigation of the different parts of the ocean. The dominions of his Danish majefty also supply a great variety of timber and other materials for fhip-building; and fome of his provinces afford many natural productions for exportation. Among thefe, befide fir and other timber, are black cattle, horfes, butter, flockfifn, tallow, hides, train-oil, tar, pitch, and iron, which being the natu ral product of the Danish dominions, are confequently ranked under t'he head of exports. To these we may add furs; but the exportation of oats is forbidden. The imports are, falt, wine, brandy, and filk, from France, Portugal, and Italy. Of late the Danes have had great intercourfe with England, and from thence they import broad-cloths, clocks, cabinet, lock-work, and all other manufactures carried on in the great trading towns of England; but nothing fhows the commercial (pirit of the Danes in a more favourable light than their establishments in the Eaft and Weft Indies.

In 1612, Chriftian IV. of Denmark established an Eaft-India company at Copenhagen; and foon after four hips failed from thence to the East Indies. The hint of this trade was given to his Danish majefty by James I. of England, who married a princess of Denmark; and, in 1617, they built and fortified a cafle and town at Tranquebar, on the coaft of Coromandel. The fecurity which many of the Indians found under the cannon of this fort invited numbers of them to fettle here; fo that the Danish Eaft-India company were foon rich enough to pay their king a yearly tribute of 10,000 rix-dollars. The company however, willing to become rich all of a fudden, in 1620 endeavoured to poflefs themselves of the fpice trade at Ceylon, but were defeated by the Portuguefe. The truth is, they foon embroiled themselves with the native Indians on all hands: and had it not been for the generous affiftance given them by Mr. Pitt, an English East-India governor, the fettlement of Tranquebar must have been taken by the Rajah of Tanjore. Upon the clofe of the wars in Euroope, after the death of Charles XII. of Sweden, the Danish Eaft-India company found themselves fo much in debt, that they publifhed propofals for a new fubfcription for enlarging their ancient capital flock, and for fitting out hips to Tranquebar, Bengal, and China. Two years after, his Danish majefty granted a new charter to his Eaft-India company, with vaft privileges; and for fome time its commerce was carried on with great vigour. The Danes likewife poffefs the islands of St. Thomas and St. Croix, and the fmall island of St. John, in the Weft Indies, which are free ports, and notorious for fmuggling; alfo the fort of Chriftianburg on the coaft of Guinea. They alío carry on a confiderable commerce with the Medi

terranean.

CURIOSITIES, NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL.] Denmark Proper affords fewer of these than the other parts of his Danish majesty's dominions, if we except the contents of the Royal Museum at Copenhagen, which confifts of a numerous collection of both. It contains feveral good paintings, and a fine collection of coins, particularly thofe of the con fuls in the time of the Roman Republic, and of the emperors after the feat of empire was divided into the Eaft and Weft. Befides artificial fkeletons, ivory carvings, models, clock-work, and a beautiful cabinet

of ivory and ebony, made by a Danish artist who was blind, here are to be feen two famous antique drinking veffels; the one of gold, the other of filver, and both of the form of a hunting horn; that of gold feems to be of pagan manufacture; and from the raifed hieroglyphical figures on its outfide, it probably was made ufe of in religious ceremonies: it is about two feet nine inches long, weighs 102 ounces, contains two English pints and a half, and was found in the diocefe of Ripen, in the year 1639. The other, of filver, weighs about four pounds, and is termed Cernu Oldenburgicum; they fay it was prefented to Otho I. duke of Oldenburg, by a ghoft. Some, however, are of opinion that this veffel was made by order of Chriftian I. king of Denmark, the firft of the Oldenburg race, who reigned in 1448. Several veffels of different metals, and the fame form, have been found in the north of England, and are probably of Danish original. This museum is likewife furnished with a prodigious number of aftronomical, optical, and mathematical inftruments, fome Indian curiofities, and a fet of medals, ancient and modern. Many curious aftronomical inftruments are likewife placed in the round tower at Copenhagen, which is fo contrived that a coach may drive to its top. The village of Anglen, lying between Flensburg and Slefwick, is alfo esteemed a curiofity, as giving its name to the Angles, or Anglo-Saxon inhabitants of Great Britain, the ancestors of the greater part of the modern English.

Perhaps, however, the greatest rarities in his Danish majesty's dominions are those ancient infcriptions upon rocks, that are mentioned by antiquaries and hiftorians, and are generally thought to exhibit the old and original manner of writing, before the ufe of paper of any kind, or waxen tablets, were known. Thefe characters are Runic, and fo imperfectly understood by the learned themselves, that their meaning is very uncertain; but they are imagined to be hiftorical. Stefanus, in his notes upon Saxo Grammaticus, has given fpecimens of feveral of these infcriptions.

CIVIL CONSTITUTION, GOVERN

MENT, AND LAWS.

The ancient conftitution of Denmark was originally much the fame with that of other Gothic governments. The king came to the throne by election; and, in conjunction with the fenate, where he prefided, was invefted with the executive power. He likewife commanded the army, and decided finally all the disputes which arose between his fubjects. The legiflative power, together with the right of election of the king, was vefted in the ftates, who were compofed, firft, of the order of nobility, and fecondly, of that of the citizens and farmers. After the Chriftian religion had gained ground in the North, the clergy were allo admitted, not only to be an order of the ftates, but to have feats likewife in the fenate. These orders had their respective rights and privileges, and were independent of each other. The crown had alfo its prerogatives, and a certain fixed revenue arifing out of lands which were appropriated to its fupport. This conftitution had many evident advantages: but, unfortunately, the balance of this government was never properly adjusted; fo that the nobles very foon affumed a dictatorial power, and greatly oppreffed the people, as the national affemblies were not regularly held to redress their grievances; and when the Roman-catholic clergy came to have a fhare in the civil government, they far furpatled the nobility in pride and ambition. The reprefentatives of the people had neither power, credit, nor talents, to counteract the efforts of the other two orders, who forced the crown to give up its prerogatives, and to opprefs and tyrannife over the people. Chriftian the Second, by endeavcar

ing in an imprudent manner to ftem the torrent of their oppreffion, loft his crown and his liberty; but Chriftian the Third, by uniting himself with the nobles and the fenate, deftroyed the power of the clergy, though the oppreffion of the common people by the nobility ftill remained. At length, in the reign of Frederic the Third, the people, inftead of exerting themselves to remedy the defects of the conflitution, and to maintain their common liberties, were fo infatuated as to make the king defpotic, in hopes to render themfelves lefs fubject to the tyranny of the nobility. A feries of unfuccefsful wars had brought the nation in general into fo wretched a condition, that the public had not money for paying off the army. The difpute came to a fhort question, which was, that the nobles fhould fubmit to taxes, from which they pleaded an exemption. The inferior people upon this threw their eyes towards the king, for re lief and protection from the oppreffions of the intermediate order of nobility; and in this they were encouraged by the clergy. In a meeting of the ftates, it was propofed that the nobles fhould bear their share in the common burden. Upon this, Otta Craeg reminded the people that the commons were no more than flaves to the lords,

This was the watch-word which had been concerted between the lead-} ers of the commons, the clergy, and even the court itself. Nanfon, the fpeaker of the commons, exclaimed at the term flavery; the affembly broke up in a ferment; and the commons, with the clergy, withdrew to a house of their own, where they refolved to make the king a folemn tender of their liberties and services, and formally to eftablish in his family the hereditary fucceffion to their crown. This refolution was executed the next day. The bishop of Copenhagen officiated as fpeaker for the clergy and commons. The king accepted of their tender, promifing them relief and protection. The gates of Copenhagen were thut; and the nobility, thus furprifed, were compelled reluctantly to fubmit.

On the 10th of January, 1661, the three orders of nobility, clergy, and people, figned each a feparate act, by which they confented that the crown fhould be hereditary in the royal family, as well in the female as in the male line, and invested the king with abfolute power, giving him the right to regulate the fucceflion, and the regency, in cafe of a minority. This renunciation of their right, fubfcribed by the firft nobility, is ftill preferved as a precious relic among the archives of the royal family.

After this extraordinary revolution in the government, the king of Denmark divefted the nobility of many of the privileges which they had before enjoyed; but he took no method to relieve thofe poor people who had been the inftruments of invefting him with the fovereign power, but left them in the fame state of flavery in which they were before, and in which they have remained to the prefent age. The king united in his perfon all the rights of fovereign power; but as he could not exercife all by himself, he was obliged to intruft fome part of the executive power to his fubjects. The fupreme court of judicature for the kingdoms of Denmark and Norway is holden in the royal palace of Copenhagen, of which the king is the nominal prefident. What they call the German provinces have likewife their fupreme tribunal; which, for the duchy of Holftein, is holden at Gluckstadt; and for the duchy of Slefwick, in the town of that name.

In affairs of importance, the king for the moft part decides in his council, the members of which are named and difplaced at his will. In this council, the laws are propofed, difcuffed, and receive the fanction of the royal authority, and all great changes or establishments are propofed,

and approved or rejected by the king. Here likewife, or in the cabinet, he grants privileges, and decides upon the explication of laws, their extenfion, or reftriction, and upon all the most important affairs of ftate.

In this kingdom, as in many others, the king is fuppofed to be prefent to adminifter juftice in his fupreme court; and, therefore, the kings of Denmark not only prefide nominally in the fovereign court of justice, but they have a throne erected in it, towards which the lawyers always addrefs their difcourfes in pleading, as do the judges in delivering their opinion. Every year the king is prefent at the opening of this court, and often gives the judges fuch inftructions as he thinks proper. The decifion of these judges is final in all civil actions; but no criminal fentence of a capital nature can be carried into execution till it is figned by the king.

There are many excellent regulations for the adminiftration of juftice in Denmark: but, notwithstanding this, it is fo far from being diftributed in an equal and impartial manner, that a poor man can scarcely ever have juffice in this country against one of the nobility, or against one who is favoured by the court. If the laws are fo clearly in favour of the former, that the judges are afhamed to decide against them, the latter, through the favour of the minifter, obtains an order from the king to ftop all the law proceedings, or a difpenfation from obferving particular laws; and there the matter ends. The code of laws at prefent eftablished in Denmark was published by Chriftian V. founded upon the code of Valdemar, and all the other codes which have fince been published, and is nearly the fame with that published in Norway. These jaws are very juft and clear; and, if they were impartially carried into execution, would be productive of many beneficial confequences to the people. But as the king can alter and difpenfe with the laws as he pleafes, and fupport his minifters and favourites in any acts of violence and injuftice, the people of Denmark are fubject to great tyranny and oppreffion, and have abundant reafon to regret the tamenefs and fervility with which their liberties were, in 1660, furrendered into the hands of their monarchs.

From that period, the peasants, till 1787, had been in a fituation little better than the brute creation; they scarcely could be faid to poffefs any loco-motive power, fince they had no liberty to leave one eftate, and to fettle on another, without purchafing permiffion from their mafters; and if they chanced to move without that permiffion, they were claimed as ftrayed cattle. Such was the state of those wretched beings, who, at beft, only might be faid to vegetate. Thefe chains of feudal flavery were then broken, through the interest of his royal highness, the prince and heir apparent to the crown; and the prifoners, for fuch they certainly might be called, were declared free. Notwithstanding the remonstrances, which were made against this by the landed gentry, were very numerous, yet, after a minute examination of the whole, an edict was iffued which reftores the peafants to their long-loft liberty. A number of grievances, under which the peafantry laboured, were likewise abolished at the fame

time.

PUNISHMENTS.] The common methods of execution in Denmark are beheading and hanging in fome cafes, as an aggravation of the punishment, the hand is chopped off before the other part of the fentence is executed. For the mo atrocious crimes, fuch as the murder of a father or mother, hufband or wife, and robbery upon the highway, the malefactor is broken upon the wheel. But capital punishments are not common in Denmark; and the other principal modes of punish-.

ment are branding in the face, whipping, condemnation to the rafp-house, to houses of correction, and to public labour and imprisonment; all which are varied in duration and rigour, according to the nature of the crime.

POLITICAL AND NATURAL After the acceffion of his present maHISTORY OF DENMARK, jefty, his court feemed for fome time to have altered its maxims. His father, it is true, obferved a moft refpectable neutrality during the late war, but never could get rid of French influence, notwithstanding his connexions with Great-Britain. The fubfidies he received maintained his army: but his family disputes with Ruffia concerning Holftein, and the afcendancy which the French had obtained over the Swedes (not to mention many other matters), did not fuffer him to act that decifive part in the affairs of Europe, to which he was invited by his fituation, especially about the time when the treaty of Clofter-Seven was concluded. His prefent Danish, majefty's plan feemed, foon after his acceffion, to be that of forming his dominions into a ftate of independency, by availing himself of their natural advantages, But fundry events which have fince happened, and the general feebleness of his adminiftration, have prevented any farther expectations being formed, that the real welfare of Denmark will be promoted, at least in any great degree, during the prefent reign.

With regard to the external interefts of Denmark, they are certainly beft fecured by cultivating a friendship with the maritime powers. The exports of Denmark enabled her to carry on a very profitable trade with France, Spain, and the Mediterranean; and fhe has been particularly courted by the Mahometan states, on account of her naval stores.

The prefent imperial family of Ruffia has many claims upon Denmark, on account of Holftein; but there is at prefent fmall appearance of her being engaged in a war on that account. Were the Swedes to regain their military character, and to be commanded by fo enterprifing a prince as Charles XII. they probably would endeavour to repoffefs themfelves, by arms, of the fine provinces torn from them by Denmark. But the greatest danger that can arife to Denmark from a foreign power is when the Baltic fea (as has happened more than once) is fo frozen over as to bear not only men but heavy artillery; in which cafe the Swedes have been known to march over great armies, and to threaten the conqueft of the kingdom.

REVENUES.] His Danish majefty's revenues have three fources: the impofitions he lays upon his own fubjects; the duties paid by foreigners; and his own demefne lands, including contifcations. Wine, falt, tobacco, and provifions of all kinds, are taxed. Marriages, paper, corporations, land, houfes, and poll-money, alfo raife a confiderable fum. The expences of fortifications are borne by the people and when the king's daughter is married, they pay about 100,000 rix-dollars towards her portion. The internal taxes of Denmark are very uncertain, be cause they may be abated or raised at the king's will. Cuftoms and tolls, upon exports and imports, are more certain. The tolls paid by ftrangers arife chiefly from foreign fhips that pafs through the Sound into the Baltic, through the narrow flait of half a mile between Schonen and the island of Zealand. Thefe tolls are in proportion to the fize of the fhip, and value of the cargo exhibited in the bills of lading. This tax, which forms a capital part of his Danish majesty's revenue, has more than once thrown the northern parts of Europe into a flame. It was often difputed by the English and Dutch, being nothing more origi nally than a voluntary contribution of the merchants towards the expences of the light-houfes on the coaft; and the Swedes who command