The Story of Norway Part 25

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE CAPERCAILZIE IN NORWAY.]

The fort.i.tude of the Nors.e.m.e.n had saved Denmark from a great danger.

Frederick IV. rewarded their staunchness and intrepidity by subjecting them to further pillaging. In order to raise money for Danish needs, he sold all the churches of Norway to private parties, contending that, if the people owned them, they must have deeds and papers proving their right of property. By this miserable quibble, he pretended to give a show of legality to his spoliations. The trade with Finmark he sold to three citizens of Copenhagen, who interpreted their monopoly as a license for unlimited extortion. The population sank into misery and degradation.

During the reign of Frederick IV. lived the Norseman Ludvig Holberg, who was born in Bergen, 1684. He spent his life, however, in Denmark, writing a great number of excellent comedies, in Moliere's style, mock-heroic poems, satires and historical works. The life of the first half of the eighteenth century is vividly portrayed and satirized in his writings.

Christian VI. (1730-1746) was an extreme pietist, and surrounded himself with Germans who sympathized with his morbid and lugubrious religion. He was lavish in his expenditures, built costly palaces, and introduced a rigid ceremonial at his court. The one meritorious act of his reign was the issue of a decree ordering confirmation in the Lutheran faith, and thus indirectly compelling all cla.s.ses of the people to learn to read.

Well-meant, but misdirected, were his efforts to encourage trade and manufactures, and positively disastrous was his decree forbidding the inhabitants of southern Norway to import grain from any other country than Denmark.

[Ill.u.s.tration: CARVED LINTEL, STABBUR, OR STORE-HOUSE; CARVED BEER-MUGS.]

Frederick V. (1746-1766) was a man of kindly nature, but limited intelligence. He opened the theatres, which his father had closed, and abolished the many arduous regulations for the keeping of the Sabbath.

He came within a hair of having war with Russia, and was only saved by the murder of the emperor, Peter III. But the great preparations he had made necessitated an increase of taxation, which especially fell heavily upon the poor Norse peasants. In Bergen, the "extra-tax" led to a revolt. The peasants broke into the city, and insulted and maltreated the magistrates, whereupon the tax was abolished. The Norwegian Military Academy in Christiania was founded during the reign of this king, as also the Academy of Sciences in Drontheim.

Christian VII. (1766-1808) succeeded to the throne at the age of seventeen, and wasted his youth in the wildest dissipation. His vitality was accordingly used up before he reached mature manhood, and insanity followed. During a journey abroad, he became much attached to his body physician, a German, named Struensee, and, after his return, made him prime-minister, and left the government entirely in his hands. Struensee was a man of great ability, penetrated with the ideas of Voltaire and Rousseau, and rather headlong in the reforms which he introduced. The n.o.bles and the queen-dowager, Juliana Maria, hated him, and, by their influence, the king was induced to sign an order for his arrest. From the prison to the block the road was short. A favorite of the queen-dowager, named Ove Guldberg, carried on the government during the next twelve years, and revoked all Struensee's liberal measures. He endeavored to abolish the very name of Norseman, insisting that no such nationality existed, all being citizens of the Danish State.

During the reign of the last three kings, Norway had, owing to the peace, steadily advanced in material prosperity. The population had, in one hundred years, nearly doubled, being, in 1767, 723,000; and the merchant marine had, since the destruction of the Hanseatic monopoly, grown from 50 to 1,150 s.h.i.+ps. A cla.s.s of native officials, educated at the University of Copenhagen, began to replace the Danish, and, by the sale of the estates of the crown, the number of freeholders among the peasants was largely increased.

As the insanity of the king made him unable to attend to the government, his son, Crown Prince Frederick, became, in 1784, the responsible regent, and made an excellent selection of a premier in Andreas Bernsdorff (1784-1797). This capable and enlightened man piloted Denmark and Norway safely through the stormy times of the French Revolution. In the latter country four provincial superior courts were established, and a peculiar inst.i.tution called "commissions of reconciliations," intended to prevent litigation. In 1800 Denmark had the imprudence to conclude a treaty of armed neutrality with Russia and Sweden, with a view to resisting the right, which England demanded, of searching the s.h.i.+ps of non-combatants for munitions of war. It was the aim of England to cut France off from all commercial intercourse with the rest of the world and, as munitions of war were regarded not only guns and powder, but grain and all kinds of provisions. The Norwegian and Danish merchant marines, which were then doing a great business as carriers, were injured by this arbitrary interpretation. The government was, however, not strong enough to bid defiance to England, and after the battle in Copenhagen harbor (April 2, 1801) Denmark was forced to retire from the "armed neutrality." The crown prince, Frederick, seemed, however, to have a poor idea of the power of England, for his policy soon again began to show symptoms of friendliness for the emperor of the French.

According to a secret agreement between Napoleon and Alexander of Russia (1807) at the Peace of Tilsit, the former was to take possession of the Danish fleet, and by means of it dispute England's dominion over the sea. The English government soon got wind of this plan, and immediately demanded the temporary surrender of the Danish fleet, guaranteeing its return as soon as peace was reestablished. When this demand was refused, the English landed troops on Seeland and surrounded Copenhagen, while from the sea side they bombarded the city for three days and a half (1807). The Danes then had no choice but to surrender their fleet, but, owing to their resistance, it was never returned. This second battle of Copenhagen threw Denmark more completely into the arms of Napoleon, and when the emperor's star declined and set, his ally was left helpless at the mercy of his enemies.

Owing to the isolation of Denmark during the war and the difficulty of maintaining communication, Norway was temporarily governed by a commission, or council of regency, under the presidency of Prince Christian August of Augustenborg.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PEASANTS DANCING.]

When Frederick VI. (1808-1814), at the death of his insane father, mounted the throne, the condition of his two countries was deplorable.

His wrong-headed policy had placed him in a position which was wellnigh desperate. The war with England had put an embargo upon all commerce, and famine and misery were the result. Norway, which, without being consulted, had been dragged into this maze of difficulties, suffered from constant naval attacks, to which it was, by its long coast-line, particularly exposed. The finances were in hopeless disorder. To add to the confusion, a war broke out with Sweden, which, in time, had seen its advantage in seeking an English alliance. General Armfelt once more invaded the country, but Christian August did not lose his courage. The Council of Regency unfolded a heroic activity in carrying out his measures for the defence of the land, and divisions of Norwegian troops beat the Swedes in three successive fights (Toverud, Trangen, and Prestebakke). Simultaneously Sweden was attacked by Russia, which had guaranteed to enforce the stipulations of the Peace of Tilsit, one of which was the blockading of the Swedish ports against the English. But the obstinate king, Gustavus IV., would not give his consent to this measure, in consequence of which the Russians invaded Finland, and, after several hotly contested engagements, drove the Swedes out. The result of these disasters was the dethronement of the king and the election of his brother, Charles XIII., as his successor. As the latter was childless, he was induced to adopt the regent of Norway, Prince Christian August, as his heir, and there was thus a chance of the peaceful union of Norway and Sweden under an able and popular king. But, unhappily, this beloved prince died very soon after, at a review of troops in Skaane (1809). At the Peace of Frederickshamn, Sweden was obliged to cede Finland to Russia, but by the Treaty of Paris was guaranteed possession of Pomerania, on condition of its adhering to Napoleon's so-called "continental system." This naturally involved war with England, which was the one unconquered and irreconcilable enemy of the emperor; but as long as Sweden refrained from actively aiding Napoleon, England, which had its hands full elsewhere, a.s.sumed an expectant att.i.tude and exercised no hostilities. But this semi-neutrality was far from satisfying Napoleon. Enraged by the indecision of Charles XIII., he again occupied Pomerania, thereby giving Sweden a pretext for openly siding with his enemies. Peace was concluded with England at Oerebro (1812), and soon after Sweden joined the great European alliance, which had for its object the overthrow of Napoleon.

This change of policy was, no doubt, to a large extent, due to Jean Baptiste Bernadotte, Prince of Pontecorvo, who had risen from the ranks in Napoleon's service, had become a field marshal, and after the death of Christian August, had been made crown prince of Sweden (1812). At a meeting with Alexander of Russia at Aabo, he was promised Norway, as a reward for his adherence to the cause of the allies; and the same promise was later repeated by England.

The condition of Norway, during this period, was aggravated by the continued blockading of her ports by the English. In 1812 a famine broke out, and the people were obliged to grind birch bark into flour and bake it into bread. The depreciation of the Danish paper money swept away the savings of thousands of families, and demoralized all commercial relations. Everywhere the greatest discontent prevailed at the union with Denmark, which had brought the country to such a strait. The tardy grant of a charter for a Norwegian University (1811) which had before been refused, caused a temporary enthusiasm, but did not allay the discontent. The political sense which seemed to have been dormant for centuries, began to awake again, and a feeling of independence and a desire for national self-a.s.sertion found expression in the Society for Norway's Welfare, (1810), in the liberal contributions to the University, and in a sudden patriotic ferment, which pervaded the land.

The native official cla.s.s came to the front as the leaders and exponents of these political aspirations, and rendered important service by formulating the people's desires and leading them toward rational aims.

To be disposed of, like chattels, by foreign powers, which had no sympathy with Norway's traditions, nor interest in her welfare, was revolting to their self-respect, and amid all the insecurity, which the various moves upon the foreign diplomatic chess-board produced, a stubborn determination to resist to the utmost a.s.serted itself among the thinking cla.s.ses of the people.

As long, however, as Norway was a mere appendage of Denmark, it could not escape being involved in the consequences of King Frederick's policy. When, after Napoleon's disastrous campaign in Russia, the allies demanded the surrender of Norway to Sweden, the king refused and sent his cousin, Prince Christian Frederick, to govern the country as viceroy. But Napoleon's defeat at Leipsic and Bernadotte's invasion of Holstein, at the head of a large army, compelled him to come to terms.

At the Peace of Kiel, (January 14, 1814) he ceded Norway to Sweden, and soon after released the Nors.e.m.e.n from their allegiance to him, giving up all claim upon their country for himself and his descendants.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

[Ill.u.s.tration]

CHAPTER x.x.xVI.

NORWAY RECOVERS HER INDEPENDENCE.

The indignation which the Peace of Kiel aroused in Norway was evidence that the Nors.e.m.e.n had awakened from their long hibernating torpor and meant to a.s.sert their rights. They were quite ready to give up their allegiance to Frederick VI., but contended that he had no right to dispose of it to any one else. Remembering how their country had without its own consent, contrary to law and treaties, become a dependency of Denmark, they held that the sovereignty, which Frederick renounced, reverted to the people who were thus in position to bestow it upon whom they chose. The viceroy, Christian Frederick, finding this sentiment very general, refused to abide by the decision of the powers and summoned several representative men to meet him at Eidsvold (1814). It had been his first intention to claim the crown of Norway by hereditary right and to govern as absolute monarch. But yielding to the advice of Professor Sverdrup and other patriotic men, he declared himself ready to accept the crown from the people and to govern in accordance with the const.i.tution which the people should adopt. In order to explore the sentiment throughout the country, the prince had travelled in the middle of winter across the Dovre Mountain to Drontheim, and there were many who believed that it had been his intention to have himself crowned at once in the ancient city of kings. In Guldbrandsdale he stopped to read the inscription upon the monument, erected to commemorate the destruction of Sinclair and his Scottish mercenaries:

[Ill.u.s.tration: PRINCE CHRISTIAN FREDERICK, VICEROY OF NORWAY; LATER, KING OF DENMARK (CHRISTIAN VIII.).]

"Woe to the Norseman whose blood does not course more warmly through his veins when he looks upon this stone."

"Are you, too," he asked the peasants who had come to see him, "like your forefathers, willing to sacrifice life and blood for your country?"

The result of the deliberations at Eidsvold was the summoning of a diet, consisting of representatives of the people from all parts of the country. The place of meeting was again Eidsvold, and the number of representatives was 112, most of whom were officials. A const.i.tution, which was extremely liberal in its provisions, was adopted May 17, 1814, and Prince Christian Frederick was elected king. Norway was declared to be a free and independent country, but there was a division of opinion as to whether it should seek a union with Sweden or maintain a king of its own. The so-called party of independence, which was led by Judge Falsen, Professor Sverdrup, and Captain Motzfeldt, largely outnumbered the friends of Sweden, prominent among whom were Count Wedel-Jarlsberg, Chamberlain Peder Anker, Iron-master Jacob Aal, and the Rev. Nicolai Wergeland. The latter were not desirous of surrendering the liberty of the country, believing, on the contrary, that liberty was securer in a union with a stronger power. The smallness of Norway and the inability of the people to maintain an army adequate for its defence would, in their opinion, ultimately make the country the prey of any foreign power that chose to pick a quarrel with it. The Norwegian const.i.tution, which, slightly amended, is yet in force, provides that:

1. Norway shall be a limited, hereditary, monarchy, independent and indivisible, whose ruler shall be called king.

2. The people shall exercise the legislative power through their representatives.

3. The people shall alone have the right to levy taxes through their representatives.

4. The king shall have the right to declare war and to make peace.

5. The king shall have the right of pardon.

6. The judicial authority shall be separated from the executive and the legislative power.

7. There shall be liberty of the press.

8. The evangelical Lutheran religion shall be the religion of the state and of the king.

9. No personal or hereditary privileges shall, in future, be granted to any one.

10. Every male citizen, irrespective of birth, station, or property, shall be required, for a certain length of time, to carry arms in defence of his country.

The representatives at Eidsvold were not unaware that the step which they had taken involved war with Sweden. For Bernadotte would scarcely regard the resolutions of a deliberative a.s.sembly as an obstacle to the possession of the prize, which he had earned by a.s.sisting in the overthrow of Napoleon. In the meanwhile, it was a happy circ.u.mstance to the Nors.e.m.e.n, that this overthrow had not yet taken place, and that the emperor for several months kept the army of the allies busy, thereby preventing Bernadotte from turning his immediate attention to Norway. It was a surprise to him to find the Nors.e.m.e.n determined to defend their rights, as he imagined that their long dependence upon Denmark had accustomed them to obedience and subordination. A letter which Charles XIII. had sent them, previous to the diet at Eidsvold, offering them a const.i.tution and a Swedish viceroy, had been received with indignation, but after the surrender of Paris (March 31st) and the abdication of the emperor, the Napoleonic drama seemed preliminarily at an end, and there were no more foreign complications to prevent the Swedes from enforcing the paragraph in the treaty of Kiel, relating to Norway. The intelligence now arrived that the great powers had promised Bernadotte to compel Norway to accept the treaty, and envoys were sent from the various courts, commanding the Nors.e.m.e.n forthwith to submit themselves unconditionally to the king of Sweden. This the Nors.e.m.e.n refused to do, and soon after a Swedish army under Bernadotte crossed the frontier. The newly elected king now began to waver, and, being dest.i.tute of warlike spirit, he ordered the surrender of the fortress Fredericksteen to the Swedish fleet, without having fired a shot in its defence. The Norwegian army, ill-provided though it was with food and ammunition, was eager for fight, but the faint-spirited king showed his generals.h.i.+p chiefly in retreating. A second division of the Swedish army under Gahn was beaten in Lier by the Norwegians, under Colonel Krebs, and after a second a.s.sault at Matrand was forced to retire across the frontier. It became obvious that, without bloodshed, the conquest of the country was not to be accomplished, and as the Swedes, after their German campaign, were no less desirous of peace than the Nors.e.m.e.n, an armistice was concluded at Moss (August 14, 1814), in accordance with the terms of which the king should summon an extraordinary _Storthing_ or Parliament, for the negotiation of a permanent peace. This _Storthing_, which met October 7th, accepted King Christian Frederick's renunciation of the Norwegian crown and elected Charles XIII. king, on condition of his recognizing the independence of Norway and governing it, in accordance with the const.i.tution given at Eidsvold. These terms Bernadotte accepted, in behalf of the king of Sweden (November 4th), and swore allegiance to the const.i.tution. The Swedish troops then evacuated the country, and Christian Frederick returned to Denmark, where, at the death of his cousin, he became king under the name of Christian VIII. The following year a convention was negotiated with Sweden, fixing the terms of the union (_Rigsakten_). The Bank of Norway was established in Drontheim, and a Supreme Court in Christiania.

[Ill.u.s.tration: CHARLES XIV. JOHN. (BERNADOTTE.) KING OF NORWAY AND SWEDEN.]

To all appearances Norway had now regained her independence. Considering the desperate position in which the country was placed in 1814, resisting single-handed the decree of the powers, there can be no doubt that the terms of the union were more favorable than there was reason to expect. For all that, there was one feature of it which was incompatible with the idea of independence, and that was the presence in the capital of a Swedish viceroy (_Statholder_), representing the authority of the king. Bernadotte, who, at the death of Charles XIII. (1818), succeeded to the throne under the name of Charles XIV. John (1818-1844), scarcely regarded, at first, the independence of Norway seriously, but rather allowed the Nors.e.m.e.n to deceive themselves with an illusion of liberty, as long as their illusion was harmless. But he showed plainly his irritation when he found that the _Storthing_ began to oppose his measures, and to insist upon a stricter interpretation of the const.i.tution. One of the first causes of contention was the question of the payment by Norway of a part of the Danish public debt which Charles John had guaranteed in the treaty of Kiel. The _Storthing_ was of opinion that, as Norway had never accepted the treaty of Kiel, it could not be bound by any of its stipulations. A compromise was finally effected by which the king renounced his civil list from Norway for ten years for himself and his son, the crown prince, and the _Storthing_ of 1821 agreed to pay about three million dollars. Simultaneously came the struggle about the abolition of the n.o.bility. Three successive _Storthings_ pa.s.sed a law, abolis.h.i.+ng n.o.ble t.i.tles and privileges, and the king, who feared a conflict with the powerful n.o.bility of Sweden, in case he sanctioned it, made repeated efforts to induce the _Storthing_ to abandon its position. He urged that Norway was watched by the powers of Europe, and that the democratic spirit which manifested itself in its legislative a.s.sembly would arouse suspicion and hostility abroad. The _Storthing_, however, remained inflexible, and finally the law was promulgated, though in a slightly modified form. Those of the privileges of the n.o.bility which were in conflict with the const.i.tution were forthwith abolished; their exemption from taxation and all personal privileges should cease on the demise of the n.o.bles then living, and should not be inherited by their descendants. This postponed the final abolition of n.o.bility for one generation.

A number of other laws and proposals for laws, concerning which the king and the _Storthing_ differed, caused ill-feeling and excitement during the reign of Charles John. And it is indeed marvellous, considering the comparative inexperience of the representatives in political life, that they dared present so bold a front and insist so strenuously upon their rights. To these intrepid men Norway owes the position she occupies to-day. For, if they had been meek and conciliatory, accepting gratefully what the king was pleased to grant them, their country would inevitably have sunk into a provincial relation to Sweden, as it had formerly to Denmark. The manly ring and fearless self-a.s.sertion, which resound through the debates of those early _Storthings_, show that the ancient strength was still surviving, and could, indeed, never have been dead. No inert and degraded nation can draw such representatives from its midst; and the fact that Norway has continued to draw them, up to the present time, shows that she is truly represented by manliness and fearless vigor--that she is worthy of the liberty she gained.

The att.i.tude which the Norwegian _Storthings_ a.s.sumed toward the king is ill.u.s.trated by the determination with which they resisted his efforts to extend the royal authority. Though he had been trained in the school of the French Revolution, Charles John was no believer in democracy or "the rights of man." He was an able ruler, a skilful diplomat, and a man of honorable intentions. But he had been too little in Norway to comprehend the spirit of the Norwegian people; and he was forced, in order to maintain his position among his brother monarchs, to sympathize with the reactionary tendencies which a.s.serted themselves throughout Europe after the overthrow of Napoleon. In 1821 he proposed ten amendments to the const.i.tution, which were unanimously rejected by the _Storthing_ of 1824. Among these amendments was one giving the king an absolute instead of, as formerly, a suspensive veto; another, conferring upon him the right to appoint the presiding officer of the _Storthing_, and a third, authorizing him to dissolve the _Storthing_ at pleasure. The former minister of state, Christian Krogh, gained great popularity by recommending the rejection of these propositions, and the king's persistence in bringing them up before several successive _Storthings_ did not secure them a more favorable reception.

[Ill.u.s.tration: SKEE-RUNNING; AFTER A CARTOON BY H. N. GAUSTA.]

An eminent figure in the political struggles of those days was the poet Henrik Wergeland, who, as the leader of the students, persisted in celebrating the anniversary of the const.i.tution (May 17th) contrary to the king's command, instead of the anniversary of the union with Sweden (November 4th). The king exaggerated the importance of this demonstration and in 1829 called out troops, which dispersed, by force of arms, the mult.i.tude celebrating the national holiday. Wergeland, though he personally professed reverence for the king, did not evince the same reverence for his policy, and by his indefatigable activity in prose and verse nourished the defiant and aggressive patriotism of his countrymen. In an intoxication of patriotic pride he sang the praise of liberty and celebrated the beauties of forest, mountain, and fjord; and a chorus of minor poets declaimed about Norway's Lion, and the rocks of Norway which "defied the tooth of time." There was a good deal that was boyish and irrational in this enthusiasm; but it was wholesome and genuine and politically useful.

That Charles John did not only hold up the powers as a scarecrow, with which to frighten the Nors.e.m.e.n, but was himself restrained in his policy by a regard for their opinion, is obvious enough. The political ferment which, after the July Revolution (1830) in France, spread throughout Europe and also reached Norway, caused him much apprehension, and in order to intimidate the steadily progressing democracy, he suddenly dissolved the _Storthing_ of 1836. The _Storthing_, regarding this dissolution as contrary to law, indicted the Minister of State, Lowenskjold, before the high court of the realm (_Rigsret_), and sentenced him to pay a fine for not having dissuaded the king from violating the const.i.tution. This boldness, instead of impelling the king to further measures of repression, induced him to make a concession. He conciliated the Nors.e.m.e.n by appointing their countryman, Count Wedel-Jarlsberg, as viceroy. This was a great step toward real independence and made the king justly popular. During the last years of his life, after he had given up the hope of stemming the tide of democracy, Charles John won the hearts of the Nors.e.m.e.n and he was sincerely mourned at his death (1844).

The remnants of subordination in Norway's relation to Sweden were one by one removed during the reign of Charles John's son, Oscar I.

(1844-1859). He gave to Norway a flag of her own, carrying, as a symbol of the union, the blended colors of both countries in the upper corner; and what was more, he practically abolished the viceroyalty, though permanently it was not abolished until 1873. Peace and prosperity reigned in the land; the population increased rapidly, and all industries were in a flouris.h.i.+ng condition. It had, hitherto, been chiefly the official and the mercantile cla.s.s which had partic.i.p.ated in the public life, but now the peasants, too, began to a.s.sert themselves and to send representatives from their own midst to the _Storthing_. The political awakening penetrated to all strata of society; and many st.u.r.dy figures appeared in the halls of the legislative a.s.sembly, fresh from the plough and the harrow. Eminent among these were Ole Gabriel Ueland and Soren Jaaboek. A prudent moderation, coupled with a tough tenacity of purpose, is characteristic of these modern peasant chieftains. Good common-sense, incorruptibility, and a stern regard for the useful have enabled them to render valuable service to the nation. Eloquent they are not; nor are they, in the conventional sense, cultivated. But they have usually, by experience, acc.u.mulated a considerable store of facts, which in its application to the legislative business is more valuable than loosely acquired book-learning. Their struggles with a rough climate and a poor soil have made them economical; and they naturally apply their parsimonious habits to the business of state. Being the princ.i.p.al tax-payers of the country they have the right to influence its fiscal policy; and Norway has profited by their careful husbanding of her resources. They know, however, when to spend as well as when to save; and the many costly railroads, highways, schools, and other improvements, which have come into existence since the peasant party commanded a majority in the _Storthing_, give evidence of a prudent liberality and a well-balanced regard for the public weal, which one might scarcely have expected in people, whose chief experience is derived from the tilling of the soil. The majority of them, however, bring with them some practice in public life from home, as since the establishment of parish and munic.i.p.al councils (_Formandskaber_), (1837), the management of local affairs is almost entirely in the hands of local tax-payers.

[Ill.u.s.tration: BRIDE AND GROOM.]