Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - Introduction - Pages ...
<< 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.
democratic Norwegian subjects by opposing their abolition of titles
of nobility (1821), by attempts to enlarge the prerogatives of the
crown and to obtain for it the absolute right to veto the resolutions
of the Storthing (1824), by appointing Swedish governors of
Norway, and by yielding to what were considered the unjust demands
of England in consequence of a fracas at Bode. On the other hand,
by dint of rigid economy, sound administration, and the legalised
sale of church property for educational purposes (1821), and owing
to good harvests and successful fisheries, the prosperity of the
country rapidly improved, while the king’s firmness of character
and his self-denial in renouncing his civil list for a period of ten
years in order to assist in paying the national debt justly gained
for him the respect and admiration of his people. From 1836
onwards the highest offices in Norway were filled with Norwegians
exclusively, and a new communal code (1837), penal code (1842),
and other useful la-ws were passed. — In Sweden the French
revolution of 1830 caused a great sensation and led to a fruitless
demand for the abolition of the existing constitution. A conspiracy
in favour of Prince Vasa (1832) and several riots in Stockholm
(1838) were also unsuccessful. On the other hand the king earned
the gratitude of his Swedish subjects by the zeal with which he
promoted the construction of new roads and canals, particularly
that of the Göta Canal, and furthered the interests of commerce and
agriculture, and at the time of his death the internal affairs of both
kingdoms rested on a sound and satisfactory constitutional basis.
The administration of his son Oscar I. (1844-59) was of a still
more liberal and enlightened tendency. This gifted and highly
educated monarch thoroughly remodelled the law of succession
(1845) and the criminal -code (1854) of Sweden, and abolished the
monopolies of guilds, but he was unsuccessful in his attempts to
procure a reform of the constitution (1845 and 1850-51). On his
accession the king rendered himself popular in Norway by
presenting it with an appropriate national flag, and he was afterwards a
scrupulous observer of the constitution of that country. At the same
time the population and wealth of Norway now increased rapidly.
His temporary interposition in the German and Danish war
regarding Slesvig, which led to the Armistice of Malmö (1848) and
afterwards to the occupation of Northern Slesvig by Swedish and
Norwegian troops, was regarded with favour in both of his
kingdoms , where patriotic Scandinavian views were then in the
ascendant.
Oscar’s eldest son Charles (XV. of Sweden; 1859-72), a highly
popular, though pleasure-loving monarch, who was endowed with
considerable artistic and poetical talent, inaugurated the present
representative constitution of Sweden in 1865, while in Norway
the triennial Storthing was made annual (1869). In both countries
the principle of religions equality was extended , new railways
/
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
