Page:Works of Voltaire Volume 20.djvu/43

One of its kings, called Christian III., had such a tender affection for his brother Adolphus, or, at least, such a regard for his interest, as is seldom to be met with among princes. He was desirous of investing him with sovereign power, and yet he could not dismember his own dominions. He therefore divided with him the duchies of Holstein-Gottorp and Schleswig by an odd kind of agreement, the substance of which was, that the descendants of Adolphus should ever after govern Holstein in conjunction with the kings of Denmark; that those two duchies should belong to both in common; and that the King of Denmark should be able to do nothing in Holstein without the duke, nor the duke without the king. So strange a union, of which, however, we have had within these few years a similar instance in the same family, was, for nearly eighty years, the source of perpetual disputes between the crown of Denmark and the house of Holstein-Gottorp; the kings always endeavoring to oppress the dukes, and the dukes to render themselves independent. A struggle of this nature had cost the last duke his liberty and sovereignty, both of which, however, he recovered at the conferences of Altena in 1689, by the interposition of Sweden, England, and Holland; who became guaranties for the execution of the treaty. But as a treaty between princes is frequently no more than a giving way to necessity till such time as the stronger shall be able to crush the weaker, the contest was revived with greater virulence than ever between the new King of Denmark and the young duke. And while the duke was at Stockholm, the Danes had already