Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - XVIII. Christina's Minority. The Guardians. A.D. 1633—1645
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
310
Reforms in various
departments of tlie HISTORY OF THE SWEDES. public service. Torsteiison
general-in-cluef.
[163
1C40, that a number of oui* officers, especially the
colonels of cavalry, have made it a law, that their
subordinate troopers must give them yearly a cer-
tain contribution in money, oxen, or other chattels,
which they exact no otherwise than if it were an
obligation ;
as also, that the colonels of infantry
employ their soldiers in carrying wood, shooting
wild animals, and as day-labourei-s, besides what
they must else contribute to them. Such dealing is
rigorously forbidden’*. The manufacture of arms
and military stores was by this time flourishing
in Sweden. "
Artillery, arms, swords, powder, and
balls, with all other nmnitions, are now fabricated
ia the inland to the utmost abundance," writes Ox-
enstierna to Baner ;
" the fleet is also well-equipped,
as well in great as small vessels, with guns, stores
and men*."
Many important measures of internal adminis-
tration were among the fruits of the activity of the
government. The mine-office received a collegial
form and instructions in 1037^. The first ordi-
nance respecting the Swedish post was issued ^, as
well as a new ordinance of customs ’’. The ordi-
nance for the erection of houses of entertainment
(at the post stations) was revived. The changes
effected by count Peter Erahe from 1G37 to 1640, and
afterwards from 1G48 to 1054, when governor-gene-
ral in Finland, where his name lives blessedly in
the popular memory, would merit a separate expo-
sition, did such not lie beyond the limits of this
history.
But for the maintenance of the army, neither
the domestic resoui-ces of the kingdom nor French
subsidies were adequate, and Oxenstierna was
obliged to refer Baner to the necessity of support-
ing the war by the war. "
Considering that this
war," he writes,
" is disproportionate to our strength,
we see not how we can so speedily remodel our ex-
penditure abroad conformably to it, but believe
that you too are of the same opinion with us, that
the larger and stronger the armies we could levy,
s The ministry to all colonels of cavalry, April 21, 1C40 ;
also to the colonels of infantry on the same day. lleg.
1
April 30, 1G41.
5 In this year also the ordinance for smitheries was issued,
Feb. 14. In a letter of February 8, it is stated that, tliouj^h
king Gustavus Adolphus had ordered that no pig-iron (tack-
jern) should be exported before it was hammered into bar-
iron, for which end the king had privileged several harbours,
yet this had had no direct effect, from the want of expert
smiths.
•>
Ordinance respecting post-messengers, Feb. 20, 1636.
The letters were carried from station to station by runners.
In sec. 6, post-boys are enjoined
"
every where to use bye-
paths as much as possible, and not to run on the winding
liighways."
7 in 1637, several times modified in subsequent years. In
older times the custcnns-dues were kept secret, and the mer-
chant treated by surprise, as an enemy. "Tlie toll-tax was
formerly held for a secret," it was observed in the council
in 16G2 ; "this secrecy has caused much detriment on the Li-
vonian side, since many deemed themselves loaded with a
higher duly than they really were, and trade was thereby
diverted from Swedish ports. Jiut since attention has been
given to promote commerce in the Ualtic, to every merchant
assurance has been condescended, by which he may guide
himself.’ Pahn.sk. MSS. n. 78.
" To J. Baner, March 10, 163S. Reg.
9 To the same, June 4, 1G39. Reg. Men were again levied
in England and Scotland. March 27, 1637, the administra-
tion write to the king of Denmark regarding the passage of
Eiiglish and Scottish troops through the Sound. August 5
the better hope might we cherish of finding means.
We comprehend not how we at home here may
keep count with the purse, and direct all things or-
derly. Yet will we do what stands with our ability *."
After a new levy voted at the general diet of
l(i38, the ministry write to the general,
"
Among
the men whom we have forwarded to you, we know
well that a number of the privates are still of boy-
ish years, and the officers not the best. The conti-
nual levies cause a scarcity of adult people **." Not-
withstanding the repeated levies and imposts, to
which yet other calamities were added (in the years
1G3!) and 1640 the plague raged in and around the
capital), we hear of no discontent at the fretjuency
of diets’ expressed before 1642, when the yeomanry
loudly complained that the ministry alienated by
sale so many of the crown estates. The high
chancellor for this sharply rebuked the deputies of
the order in the council-chamber ;
the peasants
again, in the midst of an oration of the chancellor
in the diet-house, ejected a pretended colleague,
who, not being a member of the diet, had insi-
nuated himself among them, and held this language
—that they complained much and immodestly, and
yet were well able to perlorm what the authorities
requested 2. The lustre of Torstenson’s victories
diverted attention from domestic grievances.
This fellow-warrior of Baner—his equal in genius,
his superior in persevering energy, mastering by
his greatness of soul a body enfeebled by captivity
and disease, beneath Sweden’s throne the greatest
of Swedish commanders—had been compelled by
access of distemper to solicit furlough, which he at
length received in the spring of 1641 ^. The govern-
ment now committed to him the chief command in
Germany, and he was obliged to accept it. To his re-
monstrances the chancellor replied, "that, if the
general’s health allowed of it, there was no doubt
of his capacity; he remembered very well the judg-
ment of the late king before the general was taken
prisoner at iSuremberg, that his majesty could well
of that year, Oxenstierna writes to Salvius,
" The Scottish
troops have arrived, and shall debark in the Elbe and Weser.
Passage must be requested for them from the Danish king
and the bishop of Bremen. Arms and money have been
sent, for account of the troops, to Wismar." Reg.
1
General diets were held during the administration of the
guardians in the years 1634, 1635, 1638, 1640, 1643, and
1644, when the queen assumed the government; besides
commissions of the diets in 163G, 163’J (composed only of the
council of state, the prefects, bishops, and some of the
clergy), and 1641, constituted nearly as the preceding one,
but witli deputies from the colleges and some towns sum-
mojied. The statute of the diet of 1639, held at Westeras,
drawn up by the hand of the chancellor, is preserved in the
public registry for this year, and touches, among other points,
on the troubles which had broken out at some spots, on ac-
count of the little customs. It is not contained in Stiern-
man’s Collection.
2 This happened when the chancellor administered the
oath to the high steward and four new councillors of state.
Letter from Rennet Raaz to the palsgrave John Casimir.
Adlersparre’s Collections, ii. 259. 272. The peasants refused
also the so-called rye-aid demanded by the government,
which was granted however at the diet of 1644. The years
1G41, 1642, 1643, gave but scanty liarvests.
3 " Ye request furlough by reason of illness ; but Baner is
also ailing, and we have no one who could supply him;
stand out yet some time for love of your fatherland !
"
The
administration to Torstenson, July 7, 1640. But on the 8th
May, 1641, the chancellor writes to Baner, "We have been
obliged to allow Torstenson, for ill-health, to come home."
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
