al officials, known as
_commissaires d'arrondissement_, appointed by the provincial
deputation, to maintain supervision over the communes and their
governing authorities. A fundamental characteristic, indeed, of
Belgian administration is the combination of constant supervision by
the central power with a really large measure of local autonomy.[775]

[Footnote 775: Dupriez, Les Ministres, 262-276; E.
de Laveleye, Local Government and Taxation, in
Cobden Club Essays (London, 1875).]

PART VIII.--SCANDINAVIA (p. 553)

CHAPTER XXX

THE GOVERNMENT OF DENMARK

I. DEVELOPMENT PRIOR TO 1814

The kingdom of Denmark is among the smallest of European states. Its
area is but 15,582 square miles, which is less than one-third of that
of the state of New York, and its population, according to the returns
of 1911, is but 2,775,076. The nation is one whose social experiments,
economic enterprises, and political practices abound in interest. As a
power, it counts nowadays for little. Time was, however, when it
counted for much, and the developments by which the kingdom has been
reduced to its present status among the nations comprise one of the
remarkable chapters of modern European history.

*607. Union of Kalmar, 1397.*--The maximum of Danish dominion was
attained by virtue of the Union of Kalmar, in 1397, whereby the three
kingdoms of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden were united under the regency
of Margaret, daughter of the Danish king Valdemar IV.[776] By the
terms of this arrangement the native institutions and the separate
administration of each of the three states were guaranteed; and, in
point of fact, so powerless at times during succeeding generations was
the Danish sovereign in his over-sea dominions that for all practical
purposes each of the three affiliated kingdoms may be regarded as
having retained essentially its original independence. During an
extended period at the middle of the fifteenth century Sweden even had
a king of her own. None the less, there was a form of union, and at
times the preponderance of Denmark tended to reduce the northern
nations to the status of mere dependencies. The union with Sweden
lasted only a century and a quarter. Under the leadership of Gustavus
Vasa the Swedish people, in 1523, effectually regained their
independence, although in accordance with the Treaty of Malmoe, in