; altogether very young, curious,
and confused.
In the afternoon came the news of the King's death. In the evening, at
the Students' Union, there was great commotion and much anxiety. There
were rumours of a change of Ministry, of a Bluhme-David-Ussing Ministry,
and of whether the new King would be willing to sign the Constitution
from which people childishly expected the final incorporation of Slesvig
into Denmark. That evening I made the acquaintance of the poet Christian
Richardt, who told me that he had noticed my face before he knew my
name. Julius Lange was exceedingly exasperated and out of spirits. Ploug
went down the stairs looking like a man whose hopes had been shattered,
and whom the blow had found unprepared. His paper had persistently sown
distrust of the Prince of Denmark.
The Proclamation was to take place in front of Christiansborg Castle on
December 16th, at 11 o'clock. I was fetched to it by a student of the
same age, the present Bishop Frederik Nielsen. The latter had made my
acquaintance when a Free-thinker, but fortunately he recognised his
errors only a very few years later, and afterwards the valiant
theologian wrote articles and pamphlets against the heretic he had
originally cultivated for holding the same opinions as himself. There is
hardly anyone in Denmark who persists in error; people recognise their
mistakes in time, before they have taken harm to their souls; sometimes,
indeed, so much betimes that they are not even a hindrance to their
worldly career.
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