The Return of Slesvig
(By N. IT. Debel.)
When victory was finally achieved and the
mighty robber-state was brought to the bar of
international justice, it was to be expected that
the reckoning would be both sweeping and
thorough going. Millions of people have been
liberated from the Prussian yoke.
The disposition made in regard to Klesvig
ought to give satisfaction to all Americans of
Danish extraction. Many, it is true, will regret
that all of Klesvig was not returned. But when
we remember the vindictive hatred with which
the renegades in the duchy have regarded
everything Danish in the past, it is perhaps
best that they be forced to remain with (Jer
many a while longer to reap some of the fruits
of their own megalomania. Perhaps then at
some future time they may be permitted to re
turn to their own proper fold.
<)ur one regret is that the loyal Danes in
South Slcsvig- and they seem to be numerous
—that they can not now be united with their
own people except by emigrating from the
fair land they have guarded so long and faith
fully. For those who still have the courage
to remain on guard at Dannevirke there re
mains the hope that the principle of self-de
termination, for the first time applied to in
ternational settlements in 1919, will prosper
and become the vital guiding principle in in
ternational relations in the future.
It is not the purpose of this article to
present a comprehensive and detailed study
of the whole Slesvig question. That would
require a book. It is my hope, however, that