SWEDEN" AND NORWAY. 



the pious dead from the floor-lines to the head- 

 ways, were purposely filled with earth, so as to 

 baffle the tyrant's attempts to dishonor them. 



SWEDEN" AND NORWAY, two kingdoms 

 in Northern Europe, united under one king; 

 present King, Charles XV., born May 3, 1826 ; 

 succeeded his father July 8, 1859. Area of 

 Sweden and Norway, 292, 929 square miles. Pop- 

 ulation of Sweden, in 1868, 4,173,000, against 

 4,195,681 in 1867,a decrease of 22,681, partly, 

 to the increase of emigration, which amounted 

 in 1867, to 9,334; in 1869, from the beginning 

 of the year to June, to 17,878. The popula- 

 tion of Norway, in 1867, amounted to 1,701,756. 

 The Swedish island of St. Bartholomew in the 

 West Indies had, in 1866, 2,898 inhabitants. In 

 the Swedish budget for 1870, the revenue was 

 42,966,300 rix-dollars; the expenditures 44,- 

 969,250; deficit, 2,002,950. The public debt 

 amounted, in 1868, to 120,206,642 rix-dollars. 

 The imports in 1867 were valued at 134,200- 

 000 rix-dollars; the exports at 128,600,000. 

 Number of vessels entering the Swedish ports 

 in 1867, 5,711, together of 188,670 lasts; num- 

 ber of clearances, 10,877, together of 504,019 

 lasts (1 Swedish last=4.7 English tons). The 

 merchant navy consisted, in 1867, of 3,301 

 vessels, together of 94,842 lasts. In the Nor- 

 wegian budget for the period 1869-'72, the 

 annual revenue and expenditure are fixed at 

 5,092,000 specie thalers each. The public debt, 

 in 1867, amounted to 8,154,200 specie dollars ; 

 but, deducting assets, only to 750,800 dollars. 

 The imports, in 1867, were valued at 24,500,- 

 000 thalers ; the exports, at 17,400,000. The 

 number of vessels entering Norwegian ports 

 in 1867 was 11,881, together of 676,191 lasts; 

 the number of clearances, 11,915, together of 

 683,946 lasts. The merchant navy, in 1867, 

 numbered 6,457 vessels, together of 418,294 

 commercial lasts (1 commercial last=2 English 

 tons). 



A Swedish newspaper describes the large 

 export trade in ice carried on in Norway. It 

 appears that a company has purchased an ex- 

 tensive lake, surrounded by mountains, in the 

 neighborhood of Droebak, on the Gulf of Chris- 

 tiania, and, to insure the perfect purity of the 

 water from sewage, has even bought all the 

 houses that stand on its shores. Each winter 

 the ice, which frequently attains a thickness 

 of two or three feet, is cut by a kind of plough 

 into long strips, and subsequently sawn into 

 blocks weighing from three to five hundred- 

 weight. In this form it is shipped for export, 

 and, in properly-constructed cellars, can be 

 preserved for so long a period that a large 

 portion of the ice now sold in London actually 

 arrived there in 1866. Besides the regular ships 

 belonging to the company, many vessels acci- 

 dentally frozen up in the Norwegian fiords 

 leave in the spring with cargoes of ice. By 

 far the largest trade is carried on with England, 

 which in 1865 took 44,055 tons out of a total 

 of 45,593 exported. 



The two Chambers of the Swedish Diet, in 



SWEDENBORGIANS. 



655 



April, discussed the royal proposition relative 

 to the revision of the Act of Union between 

 Sweden and Norway. This suggestion was in- 

 tended to realize the idea, constantly pursued 

 by King Charles, of drawing closer the ties 

 which unite the two Scandinavian kingdoms, 

 and to assimilate their legislation, the differ- 

 ences of which are essential, from a political 

 point of view. Norway, enjoying democratic 

 institutions and an almost absolute autonomy, 

 experiences, as may be conceived, the greatest 

 repugnance to sacrifice the slightest portion of 

 her privileges for a union the advantages of 

 which do not appear very clear. In Sweden, 

 for other reasons, the proposition also encoun- 

 ters a persistent opposition. In the Upper 

 Chamber the committee charged with the ex- 

 amination of the affair advocated the post- 

 ponement of the question as involving a reform 

 of the fundamental law, and that course, in 

 spite of the efforts of the Government, was 

 (April 28th) adopted by a large majority (89 

 to 21). The Lower Chamber voted still 

 more emphatically on the same side. The 

 matter is, therefore, put off till the Diet of 

 18/0, but it will certainly be again postponed, 

 because it cannot be considered by the Norwe- 

 gian Storthing till 1871 (the annual meeting of 

 that Assembly then commencing), and the de- 

 cision has been made to treat the question 

 simultaneously in both countries. 

 ^ In May, a royal proposition for the estab- 

 lishment of more enlarged religious freedom 

 was adopted by both Chambers. 



The Norwegian Storthing rejected a royal 

 proposition for the abolition of the office of 

 stadtholder (the highest executive office of the 

 kingdom). The Government intended, by its 

 proposition, to make it possible for a Swede to 

 hold that office. 



SWEDENBORGIANS. The fifteenth an- 

 nual session of the General Convention of- the 

 New Jerusalem in the United States was opened 

 in New York City, June 16th. The most 

 prominent subject of discussion, besides the con- 

 sideration' of the reports, was whether the use 

 of the words "parish" and "diocese," to de- 

 scribe the societies and associations of the 

 Church, should be tolerated. No decision was 

 arrived at, but the question was recommitted. 

 The sales of the publishing-house during the 

 year were about $12,000, being an increase of 

 fifty per cent, over those of the previous year. 

 The capital of the establishment is $14,807.34. 

 Three periodicals, a monthly magazine, a week- 

 ly paper, and a child's paper, are published, 

 Six new books have been stereotyped. The 

 theological school at Waltham, Mass., was 

 taught four months during the preceding year. 

 Six students attended. The committee of mis- 

 sions, consisting of six members, had charge 

 of missionary work only in those parts of the 

 country which were not within the limits of 

 the associations. But little missionary work 

 had been done by the committee as a board 

 under the auspices of the convention, but much 



