OSCAR ' 



4418 



OSHAWA 



of the Venice of the East. It possesses a famous 

 castle, many temples and places of amusement 

 and a fine government mint. There is a for- 

 eign settlement, occupied largely by mission- 

 aries. Population in 1913, 1,395,823. 



OSCAR, os'kahr, the name of two kings who 

 ruled Sweden from 1844 to 1907, excepting the 

 years between 1859 and 1872, and who also 

 ruled Norway until the separation of Norway 

 and Sweden in 1905. During the interval above 

 noted Charles XV, eldest son of Oscar I and 

 brother of Oscar II, was king. 



Oscar I (1799-1859) was the son of Charles 

 XIV John, king of Sweden and Norway. He 

 was born in Paris, but received part of his edu- 

 cation in Sweden and identified himself with 

 the aims and aspirations of his adopted coun- 

 try. In 1844 he came to the throne, and at 

 once inaugurated a rule of peace and justice 

 which was very popular with the masses of the 

 people, though not always applauded by the 

 upper classes. His especial desire was for par- 

 liamentary reform and he was successful in put- 

 ting through several such measures despite the 

 opposition of the nobles. His wife was Jo- 

 sephine Beauharnais, granddaughter of Napo- 

 leon's sorrowful empress, Josephine. 



Oscar II (1829-1907), king of Norway from 

 1872 to 1905, and of Sweden from the first date 

 until his death. He was the third son of Os- 

 car I, and came to the throne on the death of 

 his brother, Charles XV. From his accession 

 he showed him- 

 self truly demo- 

 cratic and won 

 not only the re- 

 spect but the af- 

 fectionate regard 

 of his subjects. 

 The two countries 

 prospered under 

 his sway, and he 

 did his best to 

 make of them 

 one contented 

 kingdom, but the 

 desire of Norway 

 for independence was so strong that in 1905 he 

 was obliged to submit to the separation, and 

 Norway became an independent power under 

 Haakon VII. This was a great blow to King 

 Oscar, and some authorities believe it was in 

 part responsible for his death, but he refused 

 to resort to arms to prevent the division. 



An enlightened ruler and a man of much cul- 

 ture as well as of commanding physical pres- 



OSCAR II 



ence, Oscar stands out as a picturesque and 

 noteworthy figure among the monarchs of nine- 

 teenth century Europe. He published a vol- 

 ume of lyric poems, translations of Herder's Cid 

 and Goethe's Torquato Tasso and an excellent 

 Memoirs of Charh x XII. He was succeeded by 

 Gustavus V, his son by Princess Sophia of Nas- 

 sau, whom he had married in 1856. 



For details of the separation of Sweden and 

 Norway, which so grieved Oscar II, see SWEDEN, 

 subtitle History; NORWAY, subtitle History. 



OSCEOLA, oseo'la (about 1804-1838), an 

 American Indian chief, born near the Chatta- 

 hoochee River in Georgia. His father was an 

 English trader named William Powell, and his 

 mother was the daughter of a Creek chief. 

 When he was four years old his mother went 

 with him to the Seminole tribes in Florida and 

 in early manhood he became their leader. In 

 1835, his wife, a half-breed daughter of a run- 

 away negro slave, was taken into slavery by 

 her mother's former owner, and Osceola became 

 so wild with rage that he was kept in chains 

 for six days by a government agent. A few 

 weeks later he killed the agent, and this act 

 began the second Seminole War. On the same 

 day Osceola's men massacred 110 United States 

 soldiers, and during the next two years terror- 

 ized all of Southern Florida by repeated on- 

 slaughts from the Everglades upon unprotected 

 settlements. 



On October 21, 1837, Osceola was induced, un- 

 der a flag of truce, to have a conference with 

 General Thomas Jesup, and was seized in the 

 midst of the conversation. Imprisonment fol- 

 lowed, first at Saint Augustine, Fla., and later 

 at Fort Moultrie, S. C., where he died broken- 

 hearted four months later. Historians generally 

 agree that the early dealings with Osceola were 

 anything but creditable to the whites. His In- 

 dian name was ASSEHEHOLAR. 



OSH'AWA, a town in Ontario County, On- 

 tario. It is situated on the northern shore of 

 Lake Ontario, thirty-three miles northeast of 

 Toronto. It is served by the Grand Trunk, 

 Canadian Northern and Canadian Pacific rail- 

 ways, and by an electric railway which pro- 

 vides freight connection for all factories as 

 well as good passenger service. Oshawa fac- 

 tories pay no direct switching charges, these 

 being absorbed by the through rate. The town 

 is almost exclusively a manufacturing com- 

 munity, its largest factories being devoted to 

 the manufacture of automobiles. Other impor- 

 tant products are war munitions, malleable 

 iron, pianos, steam and gas fittings and various 



