3 M THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY
as his conviction that nothing could be more fatal than the policy pursued by Prussia in her border provinces. He con- demned the persecution of the mother-tongue of the Danes and branded the encroachments upon the parental rights as an injustice that cried to heaven.
Of the Liberals several spoke in the same vein. Dr. Hanel, professor of international law at the University of Kiel, denounced the whole policy since 1888 as absolutely unjustifiable, particularly the decree of that year limiting Danish in the schools to four hours ; this measure, he said, was a grievous mis- take which ought to be rectified. His colleague, Herr Lenz- mann, declared that according to his "purely human feelings it was an unparalleled cruelty forcibly to deprive one of his mother- tongue, but that the cruelty became boundless when parents because of their national sentiments were robbed of that most sacred of rights the right to educate their own children."
It was, however, left for Herr Liebknecht, the Socialist leader, to arraign the government in the severest terms. Recall- ing a remark by King William IV. of Prussia in 1847, that " the hatred between Danes and Germans was one of the greatest follies of the nineteenth century," he continued :
Conditions in North Sleswic are a shame for us Germans, not only in the eyes of Europe, but in those of the whole civilized world. A system which makes such things possible must be abolished by the German people, lest they perish as a nation. This is the first duty which they owe themselves. .... Such a policy, the aim of which is oppression, is unworthy of Ger- many; it is a scandal Germany is strong enough to be just.
The Liberal press throughout the country echoed the same sentiments. Leading publicists and university men came forth and attacked the government's policy. It will be remembered how Professor Delbriick, of the University of Berlin, was severely punished for publishing an article in Preussische Jakrbiicher, of which he is editor, in denunciation of its actions. For a while it seemed as though the North Sleswic question was on the point of entering a new stage where from the adminis- trative bureaus it would be transferred to the forum of public discussion.
