SWEDEN AND NORWAY. 



751 



14,192,010 ; the amount of money transmitted, 

 198,109,106 crowns. The receipts were 2,- 

 031,804, the expenses 1,985,092 crowns. The 

 telegraph lines belonging to the state had a 

 total length of 7,396 kilometres in the begin- 

 ning of 1884; length of wires, 13,637 kilo- 

 metres. The number of messages sent was 

 874,472, of which 374,094 were foreign. The 

 receipts were 972,687, the expenses 1,027,206 

 crowns. There were 1,611 kilometres of lines, 

 with 2,483 kilometres of wire, belonging to 

 railroad companies. 



The Army. The military forces consist of the 

 line troops, the landvaern, train, and the land- 

 storm. The army of the line is limited to 750 

 officers and 18,000 men, recruited by voluntary 

 enlistment and. the conscription of young men 

 twenty-two years of age to make up the com- 

 plement. The landvaern is only required to 

 serve in the defense of the country. The land- 

 storm can only be organized in case of extreme 

 national peril. 



The Navy. The war-fleet consisted in 1884 of 

 40 steam-vessels of all classes, with 150 guns, 

 and 46 other vessels. 



Finances. The receipts of the treasury dur- 

 ing the fiscal year ending June 30, 1883, were 

 42,876,000 crowns from ordinary sources and 

 47,789,900 crowns including proceeds of loans 

 for railroad construction and the loan of 1880. 

 The gross receipts from customs were 20,515,- 

 000 crowns; from the liquor -tax, 3,253,100; 

 from the malt-tax, 2,230,000 ; from railroads, 

 5,779,300. The expenditures for ordinary 

 purposes amounted to 40,009,300, for railroad 

 construction to 3,255,100 crowns. The ex- 

 penditures for the army were 6,350,200 ; for 

 financial administration, 9,819,200; for the in- 

 terior, including working expenses of railroad, 

 6,479,400 ; for public worship and instruction, 

 3,803,000; for justice, police, and sanitary serv- 

 ice, 4,392,900 crowns. 



The public debt on June 30, 1883, amounted 

 to 108,122,200 crowns, paying 4 per cent, in- 

 terest, except the loan of 20,869,500 crowns 

 raised in 1880 at 4 per cent. The reproductive 

 assets of the state were valued at 129,484,000 

 crowns. A new 4 per cent, loan of 28,111,200 

 crowns was negotiated in Germany. The loan, 

 issued at 98^, is redeemable within forty years, 

 at par or at" the market price. 



Impeachment of the Ministers* The constitu- 

 tional struggle over the question of ministerial 

 responsibility was brought to an issue by the 

 action of the Odelsthing taken April 23, 1883, 

 on the resolution to impeach the ministers. 

 The radicals proposed a compromise on the 

 basis of a change of ministers and the abandon- 

 ment of the project of a State Council. The 

 Conservatives insisted on maintaining the right 

 of the King to choose his advisers. The mem- 

 bers of the Lagthing and the justices of the Su- 

 preme Court form together the tribunal for the 

 trial of impeachments. This court held a pre- 

 liminary sitting May 18, 1883. Of the twenty- 

 nine members of the Lagthing, twenty-four had 



voted, as deputies in the Storthing, for the re- 

 solve of June 9, 1880, in favor of the impeach- 

 ment of the ministry. Their competency was 

 therefore called into question, but was affirmed 

 by the votes of the entire Lagthing and one 

 of the judges of the Supreme Court against 

 those of the other eight judges. The tribunal, 

 after the rejection of twelve of the most ardent 

 partisans by the accused, consisted of seven- 

 teen members of the Lagthing, most of them 

 farmers, and only one a lawyer, with the nine 

 justices. Minister of State Selmer was sum- 

 moned to appear before the court, August 7. 

 The sittings were taken up with questions of 

 organization and procedure until October 22, 

 when the trial of the Prime Minister began. 

 He was charged with official misprisions, for 

 which it was moved that he be dismissed from 

 his post, disqualified for every public trust, and 

 mulcted in the costs of the action. The court 

 sat continuously until Feb. 27, 1884, when the 

 judgment was delivered. Selmer was con- 

 demned to lose his office as Minister of State 

 and member of the King's Council, and to bear 

 the costs of the prosecution, because he had 

 advised the King (1) not to sanction the attend- 

 ance of the Cabinet at the deliberations of the 

 Storthing in pursuance of the resolve of the 

 Storthing adopted March 17, 1880 ; (2) not to 

 execute the act of the Storthing in relation to 

 appropriations for the Associations for Arming 

 the People, and the Society for the Advance- 

 ment of Corporeal and Martial Exercises, passed 

 June 14, 1882 ; and (3) not to enforce certain 

 provisions of the act of June 16 and 17, 1882, 

 in relation to the pay of the railroad officials. 

 The latter directed that two members of the 

 Storthing should participate in the central ad- 

 ministration of the railroads. The act on which 

 the second count in the indictment was based 

 granted 30,000 crowns for the benefit of volun- 

 teer rifle associations. The Conservatives urged 

 the King to annul the decision, which was offi- 

 cially notified to him March 1. Such an act 

 would be a direct breach of the Constitution, 

 and being so advised by the Minister of Jus- 

 tice, he decided, March 11, to remove Selmer, 

 who had meanwhile proffered his resignation. 

 The case of Minister of State Kierulf was 

 opened March 7. The advocate for the de- 

 fense demanded the exclusion of six of the 

 members of the Lagthing who as members of 

 the Liberal Union in the Storthing had assisted 

 in conducting the initiatory steps of the action 

 against the ministry. When the judges re- 

 fused to investigate the matter, he and his client 

 refused to make any defense. On March 17 

 Kierulf was condemned to the same penalties 

 as Selmer. The nine other accused ministers 

 declined likewise to put in any defense, basing 

 their refusal on the action of the judges in 

 taking up their cases collectively and on the 

 ruling on the question of competency raised in 

 the Kierulf case. Vogt, Holmboe, Halliesen, 

 Jensen, Munthe, and Bachke, were condemned 

 one after the other between the 20th and 29th 



