I had hitherto been only mildly interested in politics. I had, of
course, as a boy, attentively followed the course of the Crimean war,
which my French uncle, on one of his visits, had called the fight for
civilisation against barbarism, although it was a fight for Turkey!
now, as a student, I followed with keen interest the Italian campaign
and the revolt against the Austrian Dukes and the Neapolitan Bourbons.
But the internal policy of Denmark had little attraction for me. As
soon as I entered the University I felt myself influenced by the spirit
of such men as Poul Möller, J.L. Heiberg, Sören Kierkegaard, and
distinctly removed from the belief in the power of the people which was
being preached everywhere at that time. This, however, was hardly more
than a frame of mind, which did not preclude my feeling myself in
sympathy with what at that time was called broad thought (i.e.,
Liberalism). Although I was often indignant at the National Liberal and
Scandinavian terrorism which obtained a hearing at both convivial and
serious meetings in the Students' Union, my feelings in the matter of
Denmark's foreign policy with regard to Sweden and Norway, as well as
to Germany, were the same as those held by all the other students. I
felt no intellectual debt to either Sweden or Norway, but I was drawn
by affection towards the Swedes and the Norsemen, and in Christian
Richardt's lovely song at the Northern Celebration in 1860, _For Sweden
and Norway_, I found the expression of the fraternal feelings that I
cherished in my breast for our two Northern neighbours. On the other
hand, small as my store of knowledge still was, I had already acquired
some considerable impression of German culture. Nevertheless, the
increasingly inimical attitude of the German people towards Denmark,
and the threatenings of war with Germany, together with my childish
recollections of the War of 1848-50, had for their effect that in the
Germany of that day I only saw an enemy's country. A violent affection
that I felt at sixteen for a charming little German girl made no
difference to this view.