Denmark, shorn of a million of population and approximately
one-third of her territory, was reduced in power and area to
substantially her present proportions.[784]

[Footnote 784: Cambridge Modern History, XI., Chap.
16; Lavisse et Rambaud, Histoire Generale, XI.,
Chap. 12; J. W. Headlam, Bismarck and the
Foundation of the German Empire (New York, 1909),
Chap. 8; H. Delbrueck, Der Deutsch-Daenische Krieg,
1864 (Berlin, 1905).]

*614. The Revised Constitution of 1866.*--The loss of the duchies, while
humiliating, cut the Gordian knot, of Danish political reconstruction.
July 28, 1866, the constitution of July 5, 1849, in revised form, (p. 559)
was re-issued, and this instrument continues to the present day the
fundamental law of the kingdom. Its ultimate adoption was the
achievement largely of the agricultural interests in the Rigsdag; but
the king, Christian IX., though not in sympathy with the parliamentary
ideal of government, gave it his cordial support. The constitution is
an elaborate document, in ninety-five articles. In addition to the
customary specifications relating to the executive, legislative, and
judicial departments of the government, it contains a wide variety of
guarantees respecting religion, freedom of speech and of the press,
liberty of assemblage and of petition, and uniformity of judicial
procedure, which, taken together, comprise a very substantial bill of
rights.[785] The method of its amendment is not materially unlike that
prevailing in Holland, Belgium, and a number of other continental
countries. Proposals regarding alterations or additions may be
submitted at any time within either branch of the Rigsdag. In the
event of the adoption of a proposal of the kind by both chambers, it
becomes the duty of the Government, provided it favors the change, to
dissolve the Rigsdag and to order a general election. If the newly
chosen Rigsdag adopts the proposed amendment without change and the
crown formally approves it, the modification goes forthwith into
effect.[786] Constitutional amendments since 1866 have been, however,
neither numerous nor important.[787]

[Footnote 785: Arts. 80-94. Dodd, Modern
Constitutions, I., 278-280.]

[Footnote 786: Art. 95. Ibid., I., 280.]

[Footnote 787: The text of the Danish