The people who emigrated from Norway and settled in Iceland, after Harald the Fairhaired had subdued the many independent chiefs and established the monarchy (872), for the most part belonged to the flower of the nation, and Iceland naturally became the home of the old Norse literature. Among the oldest poetical works of this literature is the so-called "Elder Edda," also called "Saemund's Edda," because for a long time it was believed to be the work of the Icelander Saemund. "The Younger Edda," also called "Snorre's Edda," because it is supposed to have been written by Snorre Sturlason (born 1178, died 1241), contains a synopsis of the old Norse religion and a treatise on the art of poetry. Fully as important as the numerous poetical works of that period was the old Norse Saga-literature (the word saga means a historical tale). The most prominent work in this field is Snorre Sturlason'sHeimskringla, which gives the sagas of the kings of Norway from the beginning down to 1777. A continuation of theHeimskringla, to which several authors have contributed, among them Snorre Sturlason's relative, Sturla Thordson, contains the history of the later kings down to Magnus Law-Mender.
The literary development above referred to ceased almost entirely toward the end of the fourteenth century, and later, during the union with Denmark, the Danish language gradually took the place of the old Norse as a book-language, and the literature became essentially Danish. Copenhagen, with its court and university, was the literary and educational center, where the young men of Norway went to study, and authors born in Norway became to all intents and purposes, Danish writers. But Norway furnished some valuable contributors to this common literature. One of the very first names on the records of the Danish literature, Peder Claussön (1545-1614), is that of a Norwegian, and the list further includes such illustrious names as Holberg, Tullin, Wessel, Steffens, etc.
One of the most original writers whom Norway produced and kept at home during the period of the union with Denmark was the preacher and poet, Peder Dass (1647-1708). The best known among his secular songs isNordlands Trompet, a beautiful and patriotic description of the northern part of Norway.
Ludvig Holberg was born in Bergen, Norway, Dec. 3, 1684. His father, Colonel Holberg, had risen from the ranks and distinguished himself, in 1660, at Halden. Shortly after his death the property of the family was destroyed by fire, and at the age of ten years Ludvig lost his mother. It was now decided to have him educated for the military service; but he showed a great dislike for military life, and, at his earnest request, he was sent to the Bergen Latin School. In 1702 he entered the University of Copenhagen. Being destitute of means, he took a position as private tutor. As soon as he had saved a small sum he went abroad. He was first in Holland, and afterward studied for a couple of years at Oxford, where he supported himself by giving instruction in languages and music. Upon his return to Copenhagen he again took a position as private tutor and had an opportunity to travel as teacher for a young nobleman. In 1714 he received a stipend from the king, which enabled him to go abroad for several years, which he spent principally in France and Italy. In 1718 he became regular professor at the Copenhagen University. Among Holberg's many works the following are the most prominent:Peder Paars, a great comical heroic poem, containing sharp attacks on many of the follies of his time; about thirty comedies in Moliere's style, and a large number of historical works. Holberg, who was ennobled in 1747, died in January, 1754, and was buried in Sorö Church. His influence on the literature and on the whole intellectual life of Denmark was very great. He is often called the creator of Danish literature.
Christian Baumann Tullin (1728-1765), a genuine poetical genius, who has been called the father of Danish lyrical verse, was born in Christiania, and his poetry, which was mainly written in his native city, breathes a national spirit. From his day, for about thirty years, Denmark obtained the majority of her poets from Norway. The manager of the Danish National Theater, in 1771, was a Norwegian, Niels Krog-Bredal (1733-1778), who was the first to write lyrical dramas in Danish. A Norwegian, Johan Nordal Brun (1745-1816), a gifted poet, wrote tragedy in the conventional French taste of the day. It was a Norwegian, Johan Herman Wessel (1742-1785), who by his great parody,Kjaerlighed uden Strömper, "Love without Stockings," laughed the French taste out of fashion. Among the writers of this period are also Claus Frimann (1746-1829), Peter Harboe Frimann (1752-1839), Claus Fasting (1746-1791), John Wibe (1748-1782), Edward Storm (1749-1794), C.H. Pram (1756-1821), Jonas Rein (1760-1821), and Jens Zetlitz (1761-1821), all of them Norwegians by birth. Two notable events led to the foundation of an independent Norwegian literature: the one was the establishment of a Norwegian university at Christiania, in 1811, and the other was the separation of Norway from Denmark, in 1814. At first the independent Norwegian literature appeared as immature as the conditions surrounding it. The majority of the writers had received their education in old Copenhagen, and were inclined to follow in the beaten track of the old literature, although trying to introduce a more national spirit. All were greatly influenced by the political feeling of the hour. There was a period when all poetry had for its subject the beauties and strength of Norway and its people, andThe Rocks of Norway, The Lion of Norway, etc., sounded everywhere. Three poets calledTrefoil, were the prominent writers of this period. Of these, Conrad Nicolai Schwach (1793-1860) was the least remarkable. Henrik A. Bjerregaard (1792-1842) was the author ofThe Crowned National Song, and of a lyric drama,Fjeldeventyret, "The Adventures in the Mountains." The third member of theTrefoil, Mauritz Christian Hansen (1794-1842), wrote a large number of novels and national stories, which were quite popular in their time. His poems were among the earliest publications of independent Norway.
The time about the year 1820 is reckoned as the beginning of the new Norwegian literature, and Henrik Wergeland is called its creator. Henrik Arnold Wergeland was born in 1808. His father, Nicolai Wergeland, a clergyman, was a member of the Constitutional Convention at Eidsvold. Henrik studied theology, but did not care to become a clergyman. In 1827, and the following years, he wrote a number of satirical farces under the signatureSiful Sifadda. In 1830 appeared his lyric, dramatic poem,Skabelsen, Mennesket og Messias, (The Creation, Man and Messiah), a voluminous piece 'of work, in which he attempted to explain the historical life of the human race. As a political writer he was editorial assistant on theFolkebladet(1831-1833), and edited the opposition paperStatsborgeren(1835-1837). He worked with great zeal for the education of the laboring class, and from 1839 until his death edited a paper in the interest of the laborer. The prominent features of his earliest efforts in literature are an unbounded enthusiasm and a complete disregard of the laws of poetry. At an early age he had become a power in literature, and a political power as well. From 1831 to 1835 he was subjected to severe satirical attacks by the author Welhaven and others, and later his style became improved in every respect. His popularity, however, decreased as his poetry improved, and in 1840 he had become a great poet but had no political influence. Among his works may be namedHasselnödder, Jöden, "The Jew,"Jodinden, "The Jewess,"Jan van Huysum's Blomsterstykke, "Jan van Huysum's Flowerpiece,"Den Engleske Lods, "The English Pilot," and a great number of lyric poems. The poems of his last five years are as popular to-day as ever. Wergeland died in 1845.
The enthusiastic nationalism of Henrik Wergeland and his young following brought conflict with the conservative element, which was not ready to accept everything as good simply because it was Norwegian. This conservative element maintained that art and culture must be developed on the basis of the old association with Denmark, which had connected Norway with the great movement of civilization throughout Europe. As the political leader of this "Intelligence" party, as it was called, appeared J.S. Welhaven.
John Sebastian Cammermeyer Welhaven was born in Bergen in 1807, entered the university in 1825, became aLectorin 1840, and afterward Professor of Philosophy. "His refined esthetic nature," says Fr. Winkel Horn, "had been early developed, and when the war once broke out between him and Wergeland, he had reached a high point of intellectual culture, and thus was in every way a match for his opponent." The fight was inaugurated by a preliminary literary skirmish, which was, at the outset, limited to the university students; but it gradually assumed an increasingly bitter character, both parties growing more and more exasperated. Welhaven published a pamphlet,Om Henrik Wergelands Digtekunst og Poesie, in which he mercilessly exposed the weak sides of his adversary's poetry. Thereby the minds became still more excited. The "Intelligence" party withdrew from the students' union, founded a paper of their own, and thus the movement began-to assume wider dimensions. In 1834, appeared Welhaven's celebrated poem,Norges Daemring, a series of sonnets, distinguished for their beauty of style. In them the poet scourges, without mercy, the one-sided, narrow-minded patriotism of his time, and exposes, in striking and unmistakable words, the hollowness and shortcomings of the Wergeland party. Welhaven points out, with emphasis, that he is not only going to espouse the cause of good taste, which his adversary has outraged, but that he is also about to discuss problems of general interest. He urges that a Norwegian culture and literature can not be created out of nothing and to promote their development it is absolutely necessary to continue the associations which have hitherto been common to both Norway and Denmark, and thus to keep inrapportwith the general literature of Europe. When a solid foundation has in this manner been laid, the necessary materials for a literature would surely not be wanting, for they are found in abundance, both in the antiquities and in the popular life of Norway. Welhaven continued his effective work as a poet and critic. Through a series of romantic and lyrical poems, rich in contents and highly finished in style, he developed a poetical life, which had an important influence in the young Norwegian literary circles. He died in 1873.
Andreas Munch (1811-1884), an able and industrious poetical writer, took no part in the controversy between Wergeland and Welhaven, but followed his Danish models independently of either. HisPoems, Old and New, published in 1848, were quite popular. His best work is probablyKongedatterens Brudefart, "The Bridal Tour of the King's Daughter," 1861.
In the period of about a dozen years following the death of Wergeland, the life, manners, and characteristics of the Norwegian people were given the especial attention of literary writers. Prominent in this period was Peter Christian Ashbjornsen (1812-1885), who, partly alone and partly in conjunction with Bishop Jorgen Moe (1813-1882), published some valuable collections of Norwegian folk tales and fairy tales. Moe also published three little volumes of graceful and attractive poems. Among other writers of this period may be named Hans H. Schultz, N. Ostgaard, Harald Meltzer, M.B. Landstad, and the linguist Sophus Bugge.
The efforts to bring out the national life and characteristics of the people in literature also led to an attempt to nationalize the language in which the literature was written. The movement was the so-calledMaalstraev, and had in view the introduction of a pure Norwegian book language, based upon the peasant dialects. The prominent supporter of this movement was Ivar Aasen (1813-1898), the author of an excellent dictionary of the Norwegian language. A prominent poetical representative of this school was Aasmund Olafson Vinje (1818-1870), while Kristofer Janson (born 1841) has also written a number of stories and poems in theLandsmaal(country tongue).
A new and grand period in Norwegian literature commenced about 1857,and the two most conspicuous names in this period—and in the wholeNorwegian literature—are those of Henrik Ibsen and BjörnstjerneBjörnson.
Henrik Ibsen was born in Skien, in 1828. He has written many beautiful poems; but his special field is in the drama, where he is a master. His first works were nearly all historical romantic dramas. His first work,Catilina, printed in 1850, was scarcely noticed until years afterward, when he had become famous. In 1856 appeared the romantic drama,Gildet paa Solhaug, "The Feast at Solhaug," followed byFru Inger til Oestraat, 1857, andHaermaedene paa Helgeland, "The Warriors on Helgeland," 1858. In 1863, he wrote the historical tragedyKongsemnerne, "The Pretenders," in which the author showed his great literary power. Before this play was published, he had been drawn into a new channel. In 1862, he began a series of satirical and philosophical dramas withKjaerlighedens Komedie, "Love's Comedy," which was succeeded by two masterpieces of a similar kind,Brand, in 1866, andPeer Gynt, in 1867. These two works were written in verse; but inDe Unges Forbund, "The Young Men's League," 1869, a political satire, he abandoned verse, and all his subsequent dramas have been written in prose. In 1873 cameKeiser og Galilaeer, "Emperor and Galilean." Since then he has published a number of social dramas which have attracted world-wide attention. Among them are:Samfundets Stötter, "The Pillars of Society,"Et Dukkehjem, "A Doll's House,"Gengangere, "Ghosts,"En Folkefiende, "An Enemy of the People,"Rosmerholm, Fruenn fra Havet, "The Lady from the Sea,"Little Eyolf, Bymester Solnes, "Masterbuilder Solnes,"John Gabriel Borkman, and the latest and most-talked-about,Hedda Gabler.
Björnstjerne Björnson (born in Osterdalen, in 1832) is the more popular of the two giants of Norwegian literature of to-day. His works are more national in tone. It has been said that to mention his name is to raise the Norwegian flag. His first successes were made in the field of the novel, and the first two,Synnöve Solbakken, 1857, andArne, 1858, made his name famous. These, and his other peasant stories, will always retain their popularity. He soon, however, entered the dramatic field, and has since published a great number of dramas and novels.
In the field of belles-lettres there is at the present time a number of other talented authors. Jonas Lie (born 1833) has produced a number of excellent novels. Then there are Alexander Kielland (born 1849) Magdalene Thoresen (born 1819), Arne Garborg, Gunnar Heiberg, and a number of young authors.
In the field of science, also, modern Norway has a rich literature, with many prominent names, such as the historian Peter Andreas Munch (1810-1864), Johan Ernst Sars (born 1835), and O.A. Överland.[e]
Swedish literature is sublime and magnificent, like its history and its scenery; it is simple and glad, as well as sad, like the lives of its people. One of the great days in Sweden, or at least in Stockholm, is the celebration, on the 26th of July, of the anniversary of the birth, more than a century and a half ago, of the national poet Bellman.
His songs are as household words throughout the land. To the Stockholm born they speak of their daily life and surroundings, of the green isles and shady banks of the Malar, the flowery woods of Haga, the smiling park of Dijurgarden. Burlesque scenes of the life of the people, street tragedies, drinking bouts, and country junketings; broad humor and Nature's philosophy; lively fancies and exquisite landscape painting—such are the themes of his song, which from one generation to another has held the heart of the people spellbound. Every man, woman, and child knows his favorite ditties by heart, has sung or hummed them in moments of joy or sorrow. For his song is both joyful and sad. His joy is the joy of the simple hearted, his gladness a Dionysian gladness, the very enjoyment of existence; his sadness that of sympathy with suffering humanity, of anguish at the evanescence of life and happiness. His fancy oscillates between constant extremes and ever-recurring contrasts. It makes of his song, as Tegnér has so aptly defined it, "a sorrow decked in roses." Bright, gay, enraptured, full of sunshine and glamour, like the summer day around Stockholm, it is traversed by a strain of melancholy like a smile through tears, the laugh which conceals a sob. There is symbolism and there is parody in his rustic figures, but they are so living, so real, they appeal so strongly to the innermost feelings, that they seem the embodiment of one's thoughts. His pictures are like those of the Dutch painters: every trait in the rustic scene tells the life-story of some humble existence.
It is this characteristic which has made the poet appeal so powerfully to the minds of the people. He seems to see with their eyes and feel with their hearts, and to have experienced all the vicissitudes of their own life. And yet he eminently reflects his own time, the gay, the light-hearted Gustavian era, with its classical fancies and rococo tastes. Venus and Bacchus, the Nymphs and the Dryads, Hebe and Amor are mixed up incongruously with the homely scenes of Scandinavian life. His Dutch pictures assume then a Watteau-like coloring of extraordinary effect, as fancy and contrast enhance the sharp outlines of his figures and give their vitality still greater relief. They are so lifelike and so various that the whole of the every-day life of Sweden, and more especially of Stockholm, of the eighteenth century, is unrolled before our eyes. It is said that if every other book descriptive of the period were to fail, his verses would suffice to inform us how the middle classes then lived, thought, and felt. Around the poet's monument—his bust in bronze on a white marble column—there gather, on the anniversary of his birth, the crowds who love him and love his song. Every heart beats high as the Bellman choirs burst forth in turn into the well-known melodies, composed or adapted by the poet himself to his words, and sung by him to the accompaniment of his lute. And song alternates with enthusiastic orations, addressed to the crowd by improvised orators, teeming with quotations of well-known lines. It is an orgy of Bellman's verse, such as the Stockholmer specially delights in. Bellman's songs generally form a sequence, a continuous chain of lyrical romance. HisFredman's Epistlesare a sort of epic cycle of lyrics. This is a form often adopted by Swedish poets. We find it in Tegnér'sFrithiof's Saga, in Runeberg'sSayings of Sergeant Stal, and in the works of other poets. It is a question, however, whether even by these Master Singers, in their more elaborate conceptions and genial flights of poetry, Bellman has ever been surpassed. In lyric power and vivid realism, his popular ditties are unrivaled.
The next to incarnate the genius of the Scandinavian race was Tegnér. His love of brave deeds and reckless adventure and his exaltation of the man of action above the man of thought are typical. His heroes, fair-haired and blue-eyed, stalwart and vigorous, relying on strength and longing for adventure, tender-hearted and contemplative when not aroused to violent action and bent on deeds of valor, personify the national ideal. His whole vision of life is Scandinavian, bright and vivid, with a tinge of melancholy. Tegnér was, with Geijer and Ling, the first to adopt national subjects, to use the Scandinavian myths and folk-lore in their poetry, in opposition to the classical themes and the Hellenic mythology, until then exclusively in vogue in the poetical field.
Geijer was a romantic by nature, in politics as well as in literature, but he was above all an ardent Scandinavian, opposed to exotics, and passionately devoted to the great traditions of the past, a hero-worshiper, an enthusiast, and aGoth. The Goths were members of a society formed to revive the old national manners and customs, the freedom of the age of the Vikings, and the ardor of the heroes of Walhalla. Their organ was theIdun, an exclusively literary publication. In a letter written by Geijer from Stockholm to hisfiancee, then living in the country, dated March 7, 1811, he says: "We have formed a society which meets nearly daily. We talk, smoke, and read together about Gothic Viking deeds. We call each other by Gothic names, and live in the past." And Anna-Lisa, his future wife, writing to a friend, says: "Myfianceehas become a Goth; instead of loving me, he is in love with Valkyries and shield-bearing maidens, drinks out of Viking horns, and carries out Viking expeditions—to the nearest tavern. He writes poems which must not be read in the dark, they are so full of murders and deeds of slaughter." Ling, who also belonged to this society, was a fervent admirer of the Eddas and Sagas, of the Scandinavian myths and folk-lore. Tegnér, despite his classical education and Hellenic turn of mind, was an ardent Norseman in feeling and instinct. "Go to Greece for beauty of form," he would say, "but to the North for depth of feeling and thought." He scorned alike the metaphysical subtleties of French philosophy and the moonshine heroics of German romanticism. But he was at one with Geijer and Ling in the desire to make Scandinavian heroes and myths the subjects of poetry.
The result of the movement wasFrithiof's Saga, by Tegnér, Geiger'sViking, and Ling's heavy epics of Walhalla warriors. But Geijer and Ling alone had followed out the theory in all its consequences. Their heroes were simplyEddic, of their time, in spirit and in thought. Ling's realism went so far that his Northern gods and warriors, "everlastingly killed but to revive again," were deemed "pork-eating and mead-drinking yokels." They were soon forgotten, and Ling himself is best known as the inventor of gymnastic exercises on scientific principles, an art now practiced all the world over as "Swedish gymnastics." Geijer, whoseVikinggave a pure and true picture of Viking life seen in its own light, was himself disappointed. He abandoned poetry and took to history, though Tegnér says of him that if he had devoted himself to poetry, he would have surpassed all his contemporaries. As historian he rose to the highest rank; and he is perhaps the greatest historian Sweden has ever produced.
Tegnér had modernized his hero and heroine inFrithiof's Saga. He gave them Viking garbs and surroundings, but modern thoughts and sentiments. By the more copious development of the inner life, and by placing woman on an equality with man, love had received a higher meaning, and his poetry unfolded inspirations unknown to the ancient world, such as melancholy and the love of nature. He did no more than Tennyson did later in making of King Arthur the type of an English gentleman. Frithiof and Ingeborg were representatives of the national ideal. The success of his poem was immense. It had a lyrical intensity which set the Scandinavian mind vibrating. Unmindful of the anachronism, youth gloried in the noble disinterestedness of Frithiof, in his generosity to his rival, his melancholy philosophising and his high-minded love, as well as in his daring and his love of adventure. Manly breasts heaved in sympathy with him, and women's tears flowed at the story of Ingeborg's love. As the poet Snolisky has said—
From the highest to the lowest throughout the landThe poet had created a bond of union.In every home, within every school door,His verses were read and conned and loved,And Sweden's youth felt its cheek glowAt Frithiof's courage and manly mood.While Ingeborg's love to the maiden's dreamGave life and thoughts to her weaving and sewing.
In hisChildren of the Lord's Supper, so beautifully translated for us by Longfellow, Tegnér conveyed a true image of Sweden's religious life. The scene in the country church, decked out with flowers and evergreens for the solemn ceremony, the rustic boys and girls bowing and curtseying as they make their responses before the assembled congregation, and the attitude and words of the patriarchal pastor are all true to life. The somewhat declamatory tone of the oration is not less consistent with the character of the rural parson, the trend of Swedish religious thought, and the solemnity associated with these occasions.
It was in his patriotic war-songs, however, that Tegnér roused the greatest enthusiasm. HisSvea, his dithryambic declamationKing Charles, and hisScanean Reserves, sent a thrill through young and old. WhenSveawas read at the Swedish Academy, which awarded the poem its gold medal, the friends and opponents of Tegnér alike were moved to undisguised admiration. In breadth and intrinsic power, and in the beauty of its rythm, which seems to echo the clash of arms and the marching of masses, this poem is unequalled in Swedish literature. Tegnér's name soon became known far beyond the limits of the lands where his language is understood. His works were translated into almost all modern tongues, so that some fifty different translations of the whole or parts of his poems now exist in eleven European languages.
A new feature was introduced into Swedish poetry by Runeberg. Although born of Swedish parents, he was brought up in Finland, his mind being nurtured in the traditions and the mixed racial influences of his new fatherland. Thus he breathed a new spirit, and a new inspiration, drawn from the realities of life, into poetical fiction. He was a realist in the best sense of that much-misused word. He sought his idealsinlife, instead of outside of it and above it in imaginary creations. He saw nature such as it is, with all its faults and sublimities, and, loving it with a true poet's devotion, he painted it simply and faithfully, without aiming at ennobling it, but seeking and finding what there is of native dignity in its humblest expressions. In his lyrical poem,The Sayings of Sergeant Stal, he portrayed incidents of the wars of Finland fighting by the side of Sweden in 1809, when the country was conquered by Russia. It was a series of war pictures, a collection of hero types, painted in living colors, and breathing the most ardent patriotism.—Simple tales told by a sergeant of his recollections of the war, they deal with real personages, most of them drawn from the humblest stations in life, described just as they really lived and spoke and acted. Yet throughout the story of their simple acts and thoughts there swept a breeze which kindled the blood, roused the emotions; and fired the patriotic feeling of Runeberg's contemporaries. In poetic depth and beauty of language, as in style and conception, and in their departure from all the prevailing ideas and methods of romanticism, these lyric tales were a revelation. They classed their author at once as in the line of true-born poets. The works of Runeberg, although properly belonging to the literature of a country politically no longer one with Sweden, have from the nature of their subjects and the identity of languages, always been looked upon in Sweden as common property, and they have certainly exercised a powerful influence on Swedish thought and letters. Some of his songs, set to music, are to this day sung as national anthems.
The last champion of dying romanticism was a sort of universal genius, eccentric,bizarre, unequal, a spirit out of harmony with itself, but gifted with the most wonderful imagination and power, K.J.L. Almquist. His life was as checquered as his writings were various. In turn a clergyman, a schoolmaster, a journalist, and an exile, he has written volumes on almost every conceivable subject, from fiction, poetry, and history, to lexicography, pedagogy, and mathematics. His stories, published in two series, under the common title ofThe Book of the Hedgerose, show powers of conception, imagination, and description such as are only to be found in Edgar Allen Poe. His was an essentially revolutionary temperament. He disdained all authority, and cavilled at all moral restraints. He was in constant rebellion against society, its accepted laws and precepts, and vented his moral skepticism in bitter sarcasm and cutting paradoxes. "But two things are white in this world," he would say, "innocence and arsenic." The coupling of the two, however, nearly proved fatal to him. He was involved in a mysterious affair of poisoning, in which the victim was a dunning creditor. He was suspected of having given him arsenic by way of ridding himself of the debt which he could not pay. No proof of the fact could be adduced, and the crime was never brought home to him; but public opinion was against him, and fearing or distrusting the justice of his country, he fled from it ere the case was tried. He wandered over Europe and America, trying his hand at everything, and died, a literary wreck, in Germany, longing, and yet not daring, to return to his country. Lately, the Society of Authors in Stockholm, judging that his crime was "not proven," while his literary merits were great beyond all doubt, undertook the rehabilitation of his memory. His remains were brought back from Lubeck, and buried in Stockholm with "literary" honors, among others a remarkable oration delivered at his grave by Verner von Heidenstam, in which he was styled a martyr in the great cause of the emancipation of thought. Whatever may be thought of his moral character, Almquist was a great thinker and a wonderfully versatile writer. The last of the romantics, he has been called a realist, a psychologist, and a symbolist, and he was certainly something of all these, half a century before the terms became battle-cries in literature, and came to designate literary schools. One critic has made him out to have been a sort of forerunner of Ibsen, while another calls him the most modern of classics. His genius placed him in advance of his age in most things. He was the first in the list of those Scandinavian revolutionists who have laid out new landmarks in the field of thought, and introduced new methods in fiction and the drama.
Liberalism, which spread like wildfire over Europe after its outbreak in the July Revolution in France, reached Sweden soon after. It was represented in literature by such men as Sturzen-Becker, Wetterbergh, and Strandberg, writing under the names of Orvar Odd, Uncle Adam, and Talis-Qualis; Blanche, who wrote stirring novels in the style of Eugene Sue; Hjerta, and the staff of the then newly foundedAftonbladet, who were revolutionizing the press. The press was beginning to enlist the highest literary capacities of the country, gradually becoming what it now is, a purveyor not only of news but of thought, and a leader of opinion in literature and art, in science and philosophy. In poetry, liberalism found its echo in the verses of Malmström, Nybom, Schlstedt. In fiction its banner was carried by three women, two of whom—well known in England and America—Frederica Bremer, whose novels portrayed the home life of the middle class, Emelie Carlen, who idealized the fishermen and sea-faring folk of the West Coast, and Sophie von Knorring, who gave rather stilted descriptions of life in aristocratic circles. All three were very productive, and their novels count by dozens. Yet they failed to sustain the reputations their first works had won for them.
Verner von Heidenstam is now foremost among the writers of his country. His early works,Endymion, Hans Alienus, and others, raised him to this rank, and his last two productions,The Carolines(the companions of Charles XII) andSaint Brigitt, have more than confirmed it.Hans Alienuswas, like Goethe'sFaust, a work of deep philosophical research into the problems of existence, the purpose and significance of life, set forth in symbolical images and explained by allegory. In theCarolines, a series of short stories connected by the red thread of history which runs through them, he gives a new conception, but a wonderfully graphic and striking one, of Charles XII and his times. It is an epic, and yet so living and so human a picture of the wild, iron-souled, quick-tempered hero, whose "eyes flew around like two searching bees," and whose will was like the steel of his sword; who had the heart of a lion and a "woman's hatred for women," but for whom men shed their blood freely; who "never grieved over a misfortune longer than the darkness lasted," and was "best loved by those who tried to hate him." His pictures are drawn by a master hand, and with the intuitive coloring of genius.Saint Brigittcarries us back to medieval Sweden. Here, too, the picture is lifelike, centered round the struggle of a high-minded woman, who makes everything bend to her stern rule of holiness, her thirst for sanctity, as Charles XII did to his inexorable policy and thirst for dominion.
The psychological and the historical novel, the latter, in its modern conception, akin to the former, since it is a study of the psychology of historical characters and a historical epoch, is the form of fiction at present most in vogue. It is in this form that such writers as Tor Hedberg, Per Hallström, and Axel Lundegard have made their reputations. Tor Hedberg's romances embody profound analysis of the inner workings of the soul, of the secret motives which, more or less consciously, determine a man's acts. In this line he ventures on the most difficult psychological problems. In hisJudas, a scriptural romance from which he has drawn a drama, he attempts to solve the darkest psychological enigma that has puzzled humanity, viz., to analyze the motives which led Judas to betray his Master and become the typical traitor. The character he draws of him is original and striking, and departs entirely from the accepted tradition. But bold and subtle as the theory is, it is far from convincing. His Judas is a dark, brooding spirit, fierce and inharmonious, divided between extatic love and admiration of his Master and inward irresistible forces of hatred and revolt: a double nature, thirsting for freedom and love, yet predestined to evil, and led by fearful secret impulses to the accomplishment of his destiny and the fulfilment of his mission, necessary to the scheme of salvation. He rushes blindly to his fate while struggling in vain to escape it. But in the very act of betrayal, while obeying the command: "What thou doest, do quickly," his better nature triumphs for one instant and he falls on the neck of his Master and embraces Him. It is the Judas kiss which betrays his Lord. The last look of Jesus, however, showed him that he had been understood and forgiven. The detestation of humanity to the end of the world will be his expiation, but that look of Jesus has freed him.
Woman, represented by writers like Ellen Key, Selma Lagerlöf, Sophie Elkau, Alfhild Agress, Hilma Stanberg, and others, holds a high position in Swedish letters. Ellen Key is an essayist of virile power and argumentative breadth, of superior intellect and unfailing erudition. She is a fearless and unfailing champion of free thought, individualism, and woman's emancipation. As was said of Madame de Staël, her writings are "the most masculine productions of the faculties of woman." Selma Lagerlöf occupies as a novelist a position of her own. Her style and her manner in fiction are unique. Symbolism and allegory are blended in it with the most realistic pictures of everyday life. She thinks in parables, and describes realities, and the realities convey the moral teachings of parables. With something of the peculiar power of George Eliot in the delineation of character, she makes each humble life preach some great moral truth. Her latest book,Jerusalem, is one of extraordinary fascination, created quite a sensation in Sweden, and places Selma Lagerlöf quite among the foremost writers of the day.
It may in general be said of Swedish writers that they have a high idea of their calling. Few, if any, have accepted as their sole function the idealization of form. They hold mostly that the highest aim of art should be to teach and elevate, to destroy prejudice and conventionality, and indicate, in so far as it is possible, the solution of moral problems through the creative faculty of inspired productiveness. The wish to inculcate action, the energy that is born of enthusiasm, the chivalry that is inspired by high ideals and unselfish motives. Raised thus from the region of mere chronicles of human passions, of woman's frailty and man's baseness, and exercising themselves with the political, social, and religious problems of the day, these works of imagination have become, alongside the Press, a powerful factor in the development of modern thought.[f]
Only for the past three years has Norway had an independent political life, and so few changes in local government have so far been made under the new king that it will be profitable, in this chapter, to take up the government and political life as it existed under the united Constitutional Monarchy of Norway and Sweden. In fact, it is no different than at that time, except that each has its separate king. In internal rule, the two countries were always separate, except in matters that pertained to the common weal of both. Thus, the Swedish Minister of Foreign Affairs had charge of the United Kingdoms, and, as previously stated, this was the rock on which the Union finally split.
The constitution of Norway, like that of the United States, invests all power in the people, who are represented by their legislature and their judiciary, with the king as an executive to administer the laws passed by the one, and enforce the decrees of the other. When the two houses of Parliament disagree upon a measure, they sit in joint session, when it requires a vote of two-thirds to enact it, and the approval of the king is necessary. He is also required to promulgate all the acts of the legislature. Many Norwegian statesmen assert that the king has no veto power, but merely temporary authority to suspend a law pending the action of the people. If three successive parliaments, after three successive elections, pass a bill in exactly the same terms, it does not require the sanction of the king when it is passed the fourth time. Thus the people may exercise their sovereignty.
All edicts of the executive, all decisions of the court, and all resolutions of the legislature are proclaimed in the king's name, but the ministry is responsible to the legislature for the acts of the king, and if they are not approved, as in England, the ministry must resign and a new one be organized in sympathy with a majority of the parliament. The king may choose his own ministers, but they must represent the will of the people. They are called counsellors of state, are eight in number. Before the disunion, two of these eight counsellors were without portfolios, and resided alternately at Stockholm, while the other members presided over six executive departments in Christiania.
A record is kept of the meetings of the ministry by a permanent secretary, and the constitution requires that each minister shall express his opinion upon all questions brought up for consideration. He who remains silent is counted in the affirmative. No matter of business can be determined by the king without the advice of the ministry, unless an emergency demands a prompt decision, when he must take the responsibility of securing a ratification of his act. In the same manner the king may issue edicts of a provisional character in matters of commerce, finance, industrial activity, customs dues, police and military affairs during a recess of the parliament, subject to its approval within a limited time after reassembling.
The minister may act in the king's name in cases of emergency or during his absence from the country, subject to his approval. These conditions were adopted in earlier times, when the Norwegian legislature sat only once in three years and some such power was necessary, but now that there are annual and often semi-annual sessions, and they have a king of their own residing always in Norway, it is very seldom necessary for the executive power to exercise such responsibility.
The king appoints all the officials of the executive part of the government, all the officers of the army and navy, and all the clergymen in the established church, but exercises this power through his ministers. Dissenting congregations are not subject to government control, and may choose their own clergymen, although the latter are required to register an oath of allegiance and a pledge to obey the laws of the nation and fulfill their duties with fidelity and conscientiousness.
The king is the head of the established church, which is the Lutheran. He is also commander-in-chief of the army and navy, but can not increase or decrease the military establishment without the approval of the parliament. He has the right to declare war and conclude peace, but can not expend money for military purposes, not even for the national defense, without the consent of the legislature. The Norwegian constitution is silent concerning his authority to conclude treaties with foreign powers, and the question has never been raised. He conducts negotiations through his ministers and submits the result of their labors for the approval of parliament. He has the power to suspend the collection of customs duties temporarily until the parliament can meet to consider the matter, but it has very rarely been exercised.
The parliament is called the storthing, and is composed of one hundred and fourteen representatives, thirty-eight from the towns and seventy-six from the rural districts. It divides itself into two sections, known as the odelsthing and the lagthing. The members are elected for three years by an indirect and complicated system which is nearly the reverse of our own. The voters of each parish, which forms an election district, assemble at a given place and time and select delegates to a convention which chooses their representatives in the storthing, and, when the storthing meets, its one hundred and fourteen members select one-fourth of their own members, generally the most experienced and distinguished men, to constitute a senate, or upper chamber, called the lagthing, which exercises a sort of supervisory power over legislation.
The storthing sits for about six months every year. The members are paid $3 a day during the session and their traveling expenses. The presiding officer is chosen every four weeks, and can not succeed himself without an interval. The committees are appointed by a "selection committee" elected by ballot, and each committee chooses his own chairman. There is a rather novel rule requiring bills referred to committees to be assigned for consideration to the several members in rotation. Any member may introduce a bill modifying the constitution, but all other classes or measures must proceed from the government and the members of the lower house. Members of the upper house, or lagthing, are not permitted to propose ordinary legislation, on the theory that they should remain unprejudiced so as to exercise a judicial revision. Thus, bills must originate in the odelsthing, which, having passed them, sends them to the lagthing for its approval.
The financial officers of the government and the directors of the national bank are elected by the storthing, which appoints a committee every six months to revise and audit the accounts of officials who have to do with the disbursement or collection of money. When an irregularity or improper expenditure is discovered, the legislature is asked to decide whether the minister in charge of the department shall repay the sum from his own pocket and repair the damage that has been caused by one of his subordinates.
In the same manner the storthing regulates all loans, on the theory that the money belongs to the people. The members of the ministry may be impeached by the odelsthing for a violation of the constitution and tried before the lagthing and the supreme court.
The following eight executive departments are in charge of ministers:
1. For ecclesiastical matters and public instruction, which also has charge of charities, insurance companies, and matters relating to the relief of the people.
2. The department of justice.
3. The department of the interior, which has jurisdiction over everything that is not under the other departments.
4. The department of agriculture.
5. The department of public works.
6. The department of finances and customs.
7. The department of defense.
8. The revision of public accounts department.
For administrative purposes, Norway is divided into twenty districts, viz.: The cities of Christiania and Bergen and eighteen "Amts" or provinces, which coinside with the diocese of the church, and there is a very close relation between the ecclesiastical and the civil authorities. The chief magistrate in each of the counties, nominated by the king, is known as an "Amtmand." His duties are similar to those of the French prefects, although the theory of home-rule and self-government is carried into each county and each municipality and parish, where every magistrate is responsible to a council elected by the people from among their own number. They make the laws for the magistrate to administer. There are few countries in which the theory of self-government is carried to such an extent as in Norway. The sovereignty of the people is absolute and their rights are jealously guarded. Norway is divided into ecclesiastical parishes, which are the voting districts, as in England, and are governed in a similar way.
The Norwegian constitution of 1814, based upon the principle of popular self-government, declared these municipalities completely independent in the management of their own affairs, placing the administrative authority, with the power of taxation and the disbursement of revenues in the hands of the taxpayers and householders, so that they could not be coerced by the national government, if there ever was any disposition in that direction.
This authority is exercised through a council called a "bystyre," composed of from twelve to forty-eight members, according to the population of the parish, who are elected for terms of three years, and serve gratuitously. The council elects from its own number a chairman who is the head of the whole municipal organization, and is known as anordförer. He corresponds to the German burgomaster and the mayor of the American city.
In addition to the popular council there is a magistrate representing the royal government, who, with the consent of the council, may be admitted to their deliberations, but is not allowed to vote. He is also ex-officio a member and often chairman of the municipal departments or commissions, such as the board of public works, the school board, the harbor commission. In this way he becomes a connecting link between the national authority at Christiania and the municipal councils throughout the kingdom, because certain measures of local interest are subject to restrictions by the national parliament, particularly those involving finances.
Under the direction of the council are permanent executive departments similar to those found in the United States, pertaining to public highways, the public buildings, the public health, the relief of the poor, the fire department, police department, etc. These in every case are managed by permanent officials under the supervision of committees of the council. Every year a budget is made up of the income and expenditures expected; each department being permitted to submit its own estimates, which are approved or amended by the council, and the amount is raised by taxation of houses, lands, personal property, and incomes, with fees for licenses to transact business. The entire system of local taxation is similar to our own, and the methods of assessment are the same. In order to meet the expense of unusual undertakings for the benefit of the municipality, such as waterworks, tramways, docks, etc., funds are raised in the usual manner by the issue of interest bearing bonds, which are usually in small denominations in order to permit people of limited means to invest in them. They are redeemed, as a rule, in forty annual instalments, the bonds to be canceled being selected by lot. In this system of local government women now participate upon an equal basis with men.
With the exception of the British parliament, the Swedish riksdag is the oldest legislative body in the world. The kingdom of Sweden has maintained its integrity for not less than four thousand years. So far back as the anthropologists can trace the history of Swedish people, the boundaries of their land have remained the same. The Duchy of Finland was subject to Swedish sovereignty at one time, and at different times Sweden has been united with Norway and Denmark under the same ruler, but Sweden has been Sweden ever since human beings inhabited its territory, and it is the only nation in Europe that has never been conquered or had its boundaries changed by foreign powers. Since the beginning of history, home rule has prevailed among the people and has been defended and recognized as their right. The parishes have always controlled their own affairs, and since the Reformation their government has been in the hands of a board or council elected by the people, of which the pastor of the church is chairman. Everybody who pays taxes, men and women alike, may vote at the election of the council. The burgomaster serves for life, and is usually required to abstain from all other business except that which pertains to the public weal. The parishes are consolidated into twenty-four provinces, similar to our states, each having a certain independence and government of its own, although the governor-general, who also serves for life on good behavior, is appointed by the king. The city of Stockholm is an independent jurisdiction like the District of Columbia, with a governor appointed by the king. The riksdag was formerly composed of four distinct bodies,—nobles, clergymen, burghers, peasants,—representing the different classes of the community, and all laws required their approval. In 1866, however, this clumsy arrangement was abolished and the national legislature was consolidated into two bodies known as the first and second chamber, similar to our Senate and House of Representatives. The two chambers are equal in every respect, except that the second chamber, or lower house, has the advantage of numbers when a deadlock arises and the question in dispute is decided by a joint ballot. Then, unless there should be an overwhelming difference of opinion, the second chamber usually has its will, which is perfectly right, because it represents the people. The king must approve all legislation to make it effective, and his veto is final, except in matters concerning taxation and the expenditure of public money. The diet has the sole power to levy taxes and make appropriations with or without his consent.
The first chamber, which corresponds to our Senate, is composed of one hundred and fifty members, elected for terms of nine years by the provincial councils and by the city councils in towns of more than 25,000 inhabitants. As the councils are elected by the taxpayers, both men and women, the members of the first chamber may be regarded as the representatives of the property-owning portion of the community. To be eligible to the first chamber a candidate must be thirty-five years old, own property assessed at $21,000, or pay taxes upon an income of not less than $1,100. Rank does not count. The qualification is pecuniary entirely, and so evenly is property distributed in Sweden that only ten thousand people in the entire kingdom are eligible to the first chamber of the diet.
The members of the second chamber, two hundred and thirty in number, are elected for three years, of whom eighty are elected by the towns and one hundred and fifty by the rural districts. Each must have property worth $270, or have leased $1,600 worth of land for five years, or pay taxes on an income of $214. These are also the qualifications for voting for members of the parliament.
There is very little of politics in Sweden. There are three parties, known as the conservatives, the liberals, and the socialists. The conservative party is comprised of the aristocracy, the church, the agricultural classes and people of conservative sentiment generally. The liberal party is composed of progressive elements, the theorists, the artisans, the machinists, and the thinking men among the laboring element, who advocate a reduction of the tariff on imported merchandise and free trade so far as possible; a separation of church and state on the theory that no man should be taxed to support a religious faith that he does not believe in; a reduction in the army and navy and other official expenses; the modification of the election laws as above stated; rotation in office, so that all shall have a chance, and they oppose the general tendency to centralization in the government.
The socialists go a little farther. They are not so radical as those who go by the same name in Germany, France, and other European countries. They are very moderate in their views. They favor most of the planks in the liberal platform, and, in addition, advocate the adoption of socialistic reforms, the loaning of public money without interest to the poor, public pensions to the helpless, sweeping reforms in the labor laws, and the purchase and maintenance by the state of all public enterprises that affect public welfare, such as the street-car lines, the insurance companies, the banks, etc. The peasants in the country are protectionists and belong to the conservative party. The mechanics in the cities are generally socialists. Politics, however, is not very exciting. The tariff, labor questions, and other propositions are always discussed, and of late years the most interesting issues have been the appropriation of money for national defense, the increase of the term of military service from ninety to three hundred and sixty days for every citizen, the modification of the electoral law, and the regulations of the forests.
Peasants have been members of parliament for more than five hundred years, and now constitute more than half the membership of the second chamber—intelligent, well-educated mechanics and farmers, who take a deep interest in the affairs of the government and generally are on the right side. The agricultural peasants are invariably loyal supporters of the king. The mechanics from the city are usually opposed to him.
The annual session of the riksdag opens immediately after the holidays with a great deal of pomp and ceremony. It is one of the most imposing functions in all Europe. The members of both houses meet at their respective halls, attend divine service at the cathedral, where they receive the sacrament and listen to a sermon of admonition. Then they march in a body to the royal palace, where they are received by the king's ministers with great formality, and escorted to what is known as the throne room. As they enter, each man bows reverently to a silver throne which stands upon a dais at the other end of the apartment. The members of the first chamber are seated on the right side of the great hall, and those of the second upon the left.
When the sound of trumpets is heard, all rise, and the master of ceremonies enters in gorgeous apparel, followed by four pages in dress of the sixteenth century. Behind them is a squad of trumpeters, then the grand marshal of the court, preceded by four heralds and followed by the assistant marshals, the grand chamberlain, the lord steward, the master of the horse, and other officers of the royal household, the eighteen judges of the supreme court, the archbishop and bishops, and the members of the king's cabinet.
Then follows a guard of honor, composed of the highest nobles of the kingdom in glittering uniforms and carrying old-fashioned weapons, such as were once used in actual warfare. They surround the king, who wears his royal robes, and, as he enters, the band plays the favorite air of the people, "From the Depths of the Swedish Heart." He wears the crown of state and a purple robe bordered and lined with crimson the two corners of which are carried by chamberlains Upon the right side of the king walks the prime minister of Sweden. Following the king walk his sons, the princes of the royal house.
When the king has reached the center of the room, he stops, turns with great dignity and bows first to one chamber and then to the other, and then to the queen, who has taken her position in the balcony, attended by the princesses and other members of the royal family and the officers of the court. Then he proceeds slowly until he ascends the dais and seats himself upon the throne, his minister of state occupying a position on his right. Before the separation of the Union, the Norwegian minister of state sat upon his left.
The grand marshal steps forward and strikes the floor three times with a long staff of silver, tipped with jewels. At this signal all arise again except the king. In old-fashioned Swedish the heralds command silence. The king, seated upon his throne, reads his speech, which always begins, "Good gentlemen and Swedish men." The prime minister then reads a review of the acts of state since the adjournment of parliament, which he skims over as rapidly as possible, because the printed copy will be placed in the hands of every person present as soon as the ceremony is over. The presiding officers of the two houses of parliament step forward and make speeches of congratulation, and reassure their sovereign of their loyalty and respect. The king then rises, bows first to the queen, and to each house in turn, and slowly leaves the chamber accompanied by the procession that followed him in.
The courts of Sweden are conducted upon the French plan, and no jury is ever impaneled except in cases concerning the liberty of the press. When a newspaper is accused of libel or sedition, the complainant, whether he be a member of the police or any other official of the government, chooses three jurymen, the defendant three, and the court three. These nine men hear and decide the merits of the case without application of such strict rules of evidence as prevail in the legal practice of the United States. All judicial procedure in Sweden is based upon the assumption that the court is sufficiently intelligent and impartial to determine the reliability of witnesses and to judge of the application of facts laid before it. All judges and judicial magistrates are appointed for life on good behavior, but they can be impeached by processes similar to those authorized by the Constitution of the United States.[g]
Everybody in Norway, that is every man, has to serve five years in the army, so that every citizen is a soldier—the first year after the twenty-third birthday seventy days, and thirty days or so each year thereafter for four years more. The organization has a nominal strength of 80,000 men of three divisions known as the landstrom, or reserves (25,000); the landvern, or militia (55,000), and the opbud, or regulars, who numbered about 5,000, garrison the different fortresses along the coast. Every able-bodied Norwegian, except pilots and clergymen, is obliged to serve in any position to which he is assigned by the king, who is commander-in-chief. The sailors and fishermen are enrolled in the navy and must serve aboard a man-of-war at least twelve months. The land forces require five months' service for infantry, seven months for cavalry and artillery, and six months for engineers, which is distributed over a period of five years. Training camps are established every summer in convenient localities from two to three months. Every man capable of bearing arms is in time of war liable to do service in the reserves, from the eighteenth to the fiftieth year of age.
The organization is complete throughout the nation, so that an army of 80,000 men can be mobilized in a few days. Every cavalryman and artilleryman is required to bring a horse with him when he is called to camp, and the arsenals contain a complete equipment of arms and accoutrements. The non-commissioned officers are former members of the regular army, in which they must have served three years in the infantry and cavalry or four years in artillery and engineers. During this period they are given a practical education in books and in the mechanical duties of the soldier. They are taught to repair guns, manufacture powder, make harness, shoe horses, and do everything else that is likely to come within their experience in the field. This training is highly valued by the young men of the country, particularly by boys from the farms, because it gives them a certain social standing, the right to wear a uniform, and a corresponding amount of influence in the community. This regular army school takes in about 1,700 young men every year.
The officers are educated in a military college. The complete course covers five years for the staff, artillery, and engineer corps. Candidates must first have graduated from one of the government technical schools. The infantry and cavalry course is three years. Graduates are appointed second lieutenants in the regular army, and are promoted through the regular grades.
The army of Norway costs the government about 14,000,000 kroner, or $3,800,000 a year, which is an average of $1.70 per capita of the population, or half the tax paid by the English and Germans. The last budget was about $1,000,000 larger than usual, for the purpose of erecting new fortresses upon the southern coast. All the principal seaports are already fortified, and there is an excellent system of torpedo defense in the different fjords, but there is a remarkable public apprehension concerning the intentions of Russia; and, mindful of the fate of Finland, the Norwegians are preparing to resist any aggressiveness on the part of the czar. It is not disputed that Russia desires a winter port on her northern coast for St. Petersburg and Kronstadt are always closed by the ice for five and sometimes six months in the year. The Norwegian fjords never freeze. They are protected by the monstrous mountains, and the water is tempered by warm currents that flow in from the gulf stream. The national apprehension of both Norway and Sweden that Russia covets one of their seaports has existed a good many years. The bugbear has appeared at intervals for half a century, and a great deal of money has been expended in preparations to meet it. The people are, therefore, cordially patriotic in their support of the army, although many of them emigrate to the United States to avoid military service.
Norway has a small but efficient navy, composed of third and fourth class cruisers, monitors, small gunboats and torpedo boats, forty-six in all, aggregating 29,000 tons, 53,000 horse-power, carry 174 guns, and manned by 140 officers and 1,000 men. The officers are educated in naval schools, with a five-year course for regulars and three years for the reserves, which include all the merchant sailors and fishermen.
Norway has taken an active part in the promotion of international arbitration, and has sent delegates to every conference on that subject. The storthing, in a decided manner, has repeatedly expressed its belief in that method of settling disputes, and in correspondence with the Russian government has laid a foundation that may be useful in case the czar, under any pretext, should use aggressive measures in this direction. So much interest has been shown in the question that Alfred Nobel, the Swedish philanthropist, and the inventor of dynamite, who made his money manufacturing that most powerful explosive, by his will authorized the members of the Norwegian storthing to award a prize of $40,000 annually to the person who, in their judgment, during the preceding year, shall have done the most to promote peace among nations and the adoption of the plan of arbitration in the settlement of international differences.
For many years the chief political issue in Sweden has been the increase of the army and the military service required of each citizen. The king finally won, and in 1901 a law was passed increasing the term of service from ninety days to eight and twelve months. The nation claims that period in the life of every able-bodied man, and it is given more or less reluctantly.
Every male citizen is enrolled in the army, and at the time when he becomes twenty-one years of age, he is required to report himself at the military headquarters nearest home, where he submits to a physical examination, and if accepted, is assigned to the proper company and regiment of militia, and directed to report for duty to his immediate commander. The small number of persons rejected for disability is good testimony to the health and vigor of the race. Severe penalties are placed upon those who attempt to escape military service by feigning illness or maiming themselves, but it is said there are still men who would cut off one or two of their fingers and run risk of spending four years in the penetentiary in preference to spending a couple of months every year under military instruction. The military spirit in Sweden is not strong, although history shows that there are no better fighters in the human family, and it is remarkable to watch the high degree of efficiency to which green boys from the farms can be brought after a few weeks of drill and discipline.
The regular army of Sweden oh a peace footing is composed of 34,329 enlisted men, 3,729 officers, 1,655 musicians, 840 engineers, and 623 members of the staff, making a total effective fighting force of 39,114. Of these 6,891 are cavalry and 3,432 artillery.
These forces compose the garrisons at Stockholm and other principal cities of the country, and are at all times under arms. The militia, divided into regiments and companies according to location, numbers 181,000 men, and is subject to call by the king at all hours and under all circumstances. Each member of the militia, as I have said, must serve a certain time in the army, eight months for infantry and twelve months for cavalry and artillery, the service being extended over the period of five years. During this five years a man spends from two to four months each year in a garrison or camp, according to the judgment of his commanding officers, when he receives the nominal pay of the private in the regular army. He has no option as to the time of the annual period or service. He may be asked to remain in the army for eight or twelve months continuously; it all depends upon the plans of the war office.
When a man has served his time in the militia, he is given a certificate to that effect, which exempts him from further active military service, and makes him a member of the reserves, which number 203,000 men, all of whom have served in the militia, and are subject to the summons of the king whenever the country is invaded by foreign foe. With local troubles they have nothing to do. The militia is considered sufficient for any such emergency, but under the Swedish system the effective force at the command of the king in case of foreign invasion is something like 420,000 men.
There are a lot of picturesque old castles and fortresses on the coast of Sweden in which garrisons are still maintained, but they would not last an hour if attacked by modern guns and projectiles. They are reinforced, however, by earthworks, with the very best artillery. Swedish guns rank among the highest, and several Swedish patents in ordnance have been already adopted by the fortification board of the United States. All the harbors are protected by torpedoes, and Stockholm is absolutely impregnable from the sea, being situated upon a fjord or bay that can not be entered except through passages that are easily defended.
The navy of Sweden is comparatively small, but for its numerical strength it is probably the most effective in the world. At least that is the opinion of competent critics. The total force numbers 4,500 officers and men on a peace footing, which may be increased to 8,500 from the reserve on a few hours' notice. The fleet consists of fourteen first-class cruisers and battle ships, four second- and nine third-class, five torpedo catchers, twenty-six torpedo boats, and twenty gunboats of small tonnage, the armament of the fleet being 290 guns and ninety-seven rapid-firing guns. All the vessels were built in Sweden.
Every Swede is a sailor. He is brought up on the water, and taught in childhood to swim and to sail a boat, and, although the shipping industry is not so extensive as in Norway, the national interest in aquatic sports is probably greater and more general than in any other nation. The long line of seacoast and the 1,100 lakes within Swedish territory gives abundant opportunity for the exercise of this inclination. Hence in the case of war, the navy could be recruited indefinitely with competent men.
King Oscar took a deep personal interest in naval affairs, because his early life was spent in the navy, his commission as lieutenant bearing the date of June 19, 1845. When he was called to the throne, he at once commenced to plan for improvement of that branch of the service, and for many years was virtually his own minister of marine. He did much to encourage the maritime spirit among the people, being honorary president of the Royal Yacht Club, and presided over its meetings, which were sometimes held in the palace to suit his convenience. He took an active part in the organization and promotion of the naval reserve, and never lost an opportunity to show his zeal in the development of the shipping industry and the aquatic pastimes.
Nor was the king a paper sailor. On special occasions he showed great bravery and presence of mind at sea, and of his sixty decorations and medals he valued none higher than that which was awarded him by the Humane Society of France in 1862, when he saved the lives of three people at the risk of his own.
The Swedish militia is commanded by officers of the regular army. No man can receive a commission in the militia unless he has spent at least sixteen months in the military academy and passed the required examinations. About a thousand young men are graduated each year from the several schools situated in different parts of the country, which are a part of the regular educational system of the nation. Thus the government has at its command abundant material for the military organization. The officers are promoted as vacancies occur, are retired on half pay when they are aged or disabled—generals at 65 years, colonels at 60, lieutenant colonels and majors at 55, and captains at 50. Militia officers are eligible to appointments in the civil service; they may be elected to the riksdag, and they have the same social standing at the palace as the officers of the regular army. The palace is the center of the social system in Sweden, and only certain persons are eligible to invitations to the king's balls and dinners. All officers of the militia are included in the list, and all peasants in the riksdag, although their wives are never invited.[h]