476 



SWEDEN AND NORWAY. 



lute veto; the creation of a Norwegian nobility; 

 the appointment of the president of the storthing 

 by the king, &c. But these and other proposals 

 were unanimously rejected by the storthing, May 

 2-2. (See the Norwegian Constitution, in the 2d 

 volume of the European Constitutions.) When 

 the crown-prince prorogued the storthing, August 

 9, 18*24, he expressed a hope that the wishes of the 

 government would meet with more favour in a 

 future session ; but, in the session of 1827, the pro- 

 position for an absolute veto was unanimously re- 

 jected. The crown-prince was then recalled to 

 Stockholm, and his appointment as viceroy of Nor- 

 way was revoked. The king and queen visited 

 Christiania in September, 1825 ; and their presence 

 in that city in the year 1827, at the fifth regular 

 storthing, and again in 1828, gave the monarch an 

 opportunity to witness anew the love and faith of 

 liis Norwegian subjects. But their attachment to 

 their constitution was as warmly displayed on the 

 anniversary of the establishment of the Norwegian 

 constitution, May 17, 1827. See Norway. 



In 1822, the free navigation of the Black sea by 

 Swedish and Norwegian ships was obtained from 

 the Porte, and a treaty was concluded with Great 

 Britain, in 1824, for the suppression of the slave- 

 trade. In 1828, a treaty of commerce and naviga- 

 tion between Sweden and the United States placed 

 the vessels of the contracting powers on the foot- 

 ing of national vessels in the ports of the respective 

 nations. See Geijer's History of Stveden (in Swe- 

 dish, 1826) ; Ekendhal's History of the Swedes (in 

 German, 1827 seq.). 



We have already given an account of the present 

 condition of Norway in a separate article. Sweden 

 is a hereditary monarchy, limited by estates. They 

 are divided into four ranks, the nobility, clergy, 

 citizens and peasantry. The nobility are subdivided 

 into three classes, the lords, including counts and 

 barons, the knights, or those whose ancestors have 

 held the place of royal counsellors, and the simple 

 noblemen. The clergy is represented by the bishop 

 of each diocese, and the citizens and peasants, the 

 latter comprising only the free peasants of the crown, 

 by deputies. The sovereign disposes of the higher 

 civil and military offices, from which foreigners are 

 excluded by law. Without the consent of the 

 states, the king cannot enact new laws or abolish 

 old ones. The constitution requires the king to 

 assemble the states once in five years. The legis- 

 lative power in Norway is lodged in the storthing, 

 which meets every three years. A viceroy, or go- 

 vernor-general, resides at Christiania. The revenue 

 and troops of the two kingdoms are kept distinct. 

 The fortifications of Norway are only in part oc- 

 cupied by Sweden. For the levying of taxes, the 

 consent of the states is necessary, and all the troops 

 and officers are required to take the oath of alle- 

 giance to them, as well as to the king. Since 1798, 

 the sovereign has had the right to make war and 

 peace, to regulate the judiciary, and to conduct the 

 general administration without restraint. The suc- 

 cession to the throne is hereditary in the male line, 

 according to the law of primogeniture. On the 

 extinction of the male line, the estates have full 

 power to elect a king. The sovereign is of full 

 age in Norway at the completion of his eighteenth 

 year, and in Sweden at the close of his twentieth. 

 Before his coronation, the king is required to take 

 the inaugural oath, and to subscribe an engagement 

 to maintain inviolate the Evangelical Lutheran re- 

 ligion. A Swede who abandons the Lutheran re- 



ligion loses his civil rights. The kingdom contains 

 one archbishop, thirteen bishops, and 192 provosts. 

 The principal administrative bodies in Sweden are, 

 1. the council of state, the highest deliberative 

 body, consisting of nine members ; 2. the committee 

 on the general affairs of the kingdom, consisting of 

 eight members; 3. the royal chancery, which is 

 under the king's immediate direction, and superin- 

 tends the general affairs of state, foreign and domes- 

 tic. Connected with it is the royal cabinet for 

 foreign correspondence, the bureau of the president 

 of the chancery and the archives of the kingdom. 

 The finances are managed by a board of finance. 

 The war and navy boards have the control over 

 those departments, under the presidency of a gene- 

 ra? and the high admiral. The highest tribunal of 

 justice is the supreme court, the president of which, 

 in the king's absence, is chief magistrate of the king- 

 dom. The decisions of this court are regulated by 

 the code of 1731, as revised in 1778. The ecclesi- 

 astical affairs are conducted by the consistory, the 

 president of which is the first court preacher. The 

 medical institutions are directed by the collegium 

 medicum. All the high offices in the Swedish army 

 have hitherto been venal. The present government 

 has made great exertions to abolish this abuse, so 

 that the road to promotion is now open alike to 

 rich and poor. In Sweden, there are five orders of 

 knighthood : 1. The order of Seraphim, founded, 

 according to tradition, by king Magnus. History 

 shows that it existed in 1336. It was renewed by 

 king Frederic I., April 17, 1748. Its motto fa 

 I. H. S. 2 The order of the Sword, according to 

 tradition, was instituted by king Gustavus I., and 

 was renewed, April 12, 1748, by king Frederic L 

 3. The order of the North Star is traced by som.. 

 to the age of Odin. King Frederic I. renewed it 

 April 17, 1748. The motto is Nescit occasum. 4. 

 The order of Wasa, or Vasa, founded May 26, 1772. 

 5. The order of Charles XIII., instituted by the, 

 king, May 27, 1811, is bestowed only upon free- 

 masons of the higher degrees. Agriculture and 

 manufactures have flourished since the accession of 

 the present king. In Sweden, there are about 900 

 manufactories of ~'loth, silk, cotton, woollen, linen, 

 leather, sugar, tobacco, glass, mirrors, watches, 

 porcelain, paper, marble, porphyry, and of metals, 

 in which the iron works hold the most important 

 place, yielding annually 72,000 tons of bar iron, and 

 10,000 tons of manufactured iron. According to 

 the tabular views of Sweden, the value of its an- 

 nual productions is estimated at 88,000,000 Swe- 

 dish bank dollars, including wooden ware to the 

 value of half a million ; manufactures, more than 

 12,000,000 ; trade and navigation, about 14,500,000 

 dollars. The iron works of Norway (the most im- 

 portant are at Laurvigand at Moss) yield 8000 tons 

 of iron per annum. Many vessels are built, both 

 in Sweden and Norway, for foreign countries, and 

 large quantities of wood are worked up into boards 

 (especially on the river Drammen), laths, joists, 

 masts, &c. The situation is favourable to trade, 

 which is carried on with the nations bordering on 

 the Baltic, Great Britain, Holland, France, in the 

 Mediterranean sea, and with the United States. A 

 Swedish East India company trades to China. 

 Articles of export are wood, boards, ship timber, 

 joists, tar, pitch, potash, iron, steel, copper, her- 

 rings, whale-oil, peltry, &c. The imports consist 

 mostly of grain, wine, resins, oil, salt, wool, flax, 

 hemp and groceries. In 1818, the use of coffee 

 was prohibited. The government of Sweden ap- 



