honor of
being the one written law in the civilized world which fearlessly
carries out absolutism to its last consequences."[779] In the
_Kongelov_ it was made _lese-majeste_ in any manner to usurp or
infringe the king's absolute authority; it was asserted that the
moment the sovereign ascends the throne crown and scepter are vested
in him by his own right; and the sole obligation of the king was
affirmed to be to maintain the indivisibility of the realm, to
preserve the Christian faith in accordance with the Augsburg
Confession, and to execute faithfully all of the provisions of the
_Kongelov_ itself. Such were the principles upon which, during upwards
of two centuries thereafter, the government of the Danish kingdom was
based. Absolutism was all but unrelieved; but it is only fair to add
that most of the sovereigns, according to the light which they
possessed, sought to govern in the interest of their subjects.[780]

[Footnote 779: Bain, Scandinavia, 266.]

[Footnote 780: For sketches of Danish political
history prior to 1814 see Bain, Scandinavia, Chaps.
2, 4, 7, 10, 15; Lavisse et Rambaud, Histoire
Generale, III., Chap. 14, IV., Chap. 15; VI., Chap.
17; VII., Chap. 23; IX., Chap. 23. An important
Danish work is P. F. Barfod, Danmarks Historie,
1319-1536 (Copenhagen, 1885).]

II. THE RISE OF CONSTITUTIONALISM, 1814-1866 (p. 556)

*610. The Provincial Diets.*--Gradually after 1814 the kingdom recovered
from the depression into which by its loss of territory and its
staggering indebtedness it had been plunged, and with the recovery
came a revived political spirit as well as a fresh economic stimulus.
The sixteen years between the Treaty of Kiel and the revolutionary
year 1830 were almost absolutely devoid of political agitation, but
after 1830 there set in, in Denmark as in most continental countries,
a liberal movement whose object was nothing less than the
establishment of a constitutional system of government. To meet in
some measure the demands which were made upon him, King Frederick VI.
called into being, by decrees of 1831 and 1834, four Landtags, or
diets, one in each of the provinces of the realm--Schleswig, Holstein,
Jutland, and the Islands.[781] The members of these assemblies,
comprising burgesses, landowners, and peasants, were