CHAPTER XIII 



MODERN NORWAY 

 Constitution — Religion — Education, 



On May 17, 1814, as we have seen, a Constitution 

 was granted to Norway. The Fundamental Law of 

 the constitution (Grundldv), which almost every peasant 

 farmer now-a-days has framed and hung up in the 

 chief room of his house, bears the date the 4th of 

 November 1814. The Act of Union with Sweden is 

 dated the 6th of August 1815. 



The union of the two states is a union of the crown 

 alone, as, I suppose, every one now knows, seeing that 

 the union of Sweden and Norway has been one of the 

 most frequent examples cited in favour of the Home 

 Rule Bill for Ireland. (And the instance is more in 

 point, from the fact that we have already noted, 

 namely, that the political history of Norway has many 

 points of resemblance to the political history of Ire- 

 land.) Sweden and Norway form, like Great Britain, 

 a hereditary limited monarchy. One of the clauses in 

 the Act of Union provides that the king of the joint 

 countries must reside for a certain part of the year in 

 Norway. But, as a matter of fact, this period is a 

 short one. 



320 



