The Story of Norway Part 26

The first Sleswick-Holstein war, between Germany and Denmark, occurred during King Oscar's reign (1848), and induced him to make a military demonstration in Skaane; and during the following year, when the war, after an armistice, broke out anew, to occupy North Sleswick with Swedish and Norwegian troops, pending the negotiations for peace. In the Crimean War, King Oscar sided with England and France, which, by a treaty of 1855, guaranteed their aid, in case of hostilities with Russia.

King Oscar died at the age of sixty (1859), and was succeeded by his oldest son, Charles XV. (1859-1872). He was a chivalrous character, and endowed with literary and artistic talents. The same good-will toward Norway which animated his father had been inherited by him, and all efforts, on the part of the _Storthing_, to further the welfare of the land, were readily seconded. The Norwegian merchant marine, which is one of the largest in the world, carried the flag of Norway to the remotest ports; the lumber trade increased, and the wealth obtainable in manufactures and commerce stimulated the energy of Norse merchants, and quickened everywhere the pulses of life. Religious liberty was increased by the law concerning dissenters (1845), although there is, in this respect, yet much to be accomplished. In 1851, the paragraph of the const.i.tution excluding Jews from the country was repealed, owing largely to the agitation commenced, some years before, by the poet Wergeland. The telegraph was introduced, and soon extended from the North Cape to Lindesness. In 1869, a law was pa.s.sed, making the _Storthings_ annual, instead of, as. .h.i.therto, triennial.

Charles XV. died in the prime of life, and, having no sons, was succeeded (1872) by his brother, Oscar II., who is still reigning. The progress toward a more complete and consistent democracy, which had been going on, since the adoption of the const.i.tution, has recently reached a crisis, which might have had disastrous consequences, if the king had not wisely made concessions to the parliamentary majority. There were really two points at issue, viz., the absolute veto in const.i.tutional questions and the control of the government. As regards the former, the king held that the Norwegian const.i.tution was a contract between him and the Norwegian people, prescribing the terms of the union. Accordingly, it could not be altered without the consent of both parties. He had, therefore, the right to insist upon the terms of the contract, and to forbid any alteration of it, that did not meet with his approval. There can be no doubt but that legally this point was well taken; and the faculty of law in the University sustained the king's position. Another question is, whether such a contract, if eternally enforced, would not cripple the nation's progress, and in time become as great a curse, as once it had been a blessing. If the framers of the const.i.tution, when they submitted it to Charles John, failed to provide for its amendment, they committed a serious error, which may, perhaps, be binding upon their descendants, in point of law, but scarcely in point of equity. No const.i.tution, however excellent, is fitting for all times; and the const.i.tution of Eidsvold is no exception to the rule.

This struggle over the absolute veto was occasioned by the king's refusal to sanction a law, pa.s.sed by three successive _Storthings_, admitting the cabinet ministers to partic.i.p.ation in the debates of the house, so as to establish a closer _rapport_ between the people and the government. This seemed especially desirable, as long as the king and a division of the cabinet were resident in Stockholm, and, accordingly, were in danger of losing sight of the needs of the people whom they were governing. The king declared himself ready to sign this law, if the ministers were given the right to vote, and the right was granted him to dissolve the _Storthing_ at will. It seemed to him a disturbance of the balance of power to introduce one feature of English parliamentarism, giving an advantage to the legislature, without also granting the other, which enabled the executive to exert a restraining influence. The _Storthing_ was, however, unwilling to grant this right, being of opinion that there was no need of governmental restraint, where elections were triennial. The ministry, Selmer, which maintained the att.i.tude here ascribed to the king, was impeached by the _Storthing_ before the high court of the realm, for having refused to promulgate the law concerning the partic.i.p.ation of the ministers in the deliberations of the house, and for failing, in other points, to carry out the will of the _Storthing_.

[Ill.u.s.tration: OSCAR II.]

The other phase of the question was scarcely less important. A certain antagonism had early developed itself between the official cla.s.s, which had been accustomed to take the lead in public affairs, and the peasantry, which became every year more conscious of its power. The king, who is naturally conservative, chose his advisers from those, whose political views accorded with his own, irrespective of parliamentary majorities. The const.i.tution did not limit his liberty of choice, and the _Storthing_ could scarcely do it, without pa.s.sing an amendment, which he would be sure to veto. The conservative ministry, Stang, conducted the government for many years with a hostile majority in the _Storthing_, and the ministry, Selmer, which succeeded it (1880), had even less popular support. The result was a deadlock; legislative business threatened to come to a standstill. The impeachment and conviction of Mr. Selmer and his colleagues brought a fresh ministry of officials into power, which, after a few months, resigned. The king then sent for Mr. Sverdrup, the leader of the "left," or liberal party, and effected a compromise, in accordance with which he agreed to sanction the law in question, and to summon a ministry, representing the party of the majority, without, however, surrendering, in principle, his right to an absolute veto in const.i.tutional questions. Since then the executive and the legislative power have worked together in harmony, and the former good relation between the king and the people has been in a measure re-established.

It will be seen from the above, that Norway has, through the conflicts of seventy years, gradually attained to perfect independence and equality with the brother kingdom. All attempts to amalgamate the two nations have failed, and have, long since, been abandoned. Politically, the person of the king expresses the union. He is king of Norway and he is king of Sweden, but he governs each country in accordance with its own laws and through distinct and separate ministries. Each country has its own parliament; no Swede holds office in Norway, and no Norseman in Sweden. The only offices which are open to citizens of both countries are those of the diplomatic and consular service. The general sentiment in Norway is opposed to a closer union. A stubborn insistence upon every feature of national distinctness has characterized the people, since the separation from Denmark.

Thus an effort has been made to get rid of the "union mark" in the Norwegian flag; because it seemed vaguely to hint at a provincial relation. A separate literature has sprung up in the Norse dialects (_Maalstrav_), because the Danish, which is yet spoken, with some modifications, by the cultivated cla.s.ses, is a reminder of the period of degradation, and is not the language of the people. Popular high schools, aiming to build the intellectual life of the people upon a strictly national basis, have been started by devoted and patriotic men, in nearly all the provincial parishes, and have produced excellent results. The national literature, under the lead of men like Bjornstjerne Bjornson, and Henrik Ibsen, is moving in the same direction, its language being continually enriched from the dialects, and its themes largely drawn from the ancient sagas and the life of the people. The aggressive and declamatory patriotism of Wergeland, and the aesthetic and more cosmopolitan patriotism of his opponent, Welhaven, seem equally alien to the Nors.e.m.e.n of to-day. The frank national self-a.s.sertion of the present poets is that of a people, proud of its past, and secure in its national existence. The Norseman, having obtained what is his due, has cause for jealousy neither of Sweden nor of Denmark.

In an age when strength, bravery, and an adventurous spirit made a nation eminent, Norway played a great role upon the arena of the world, founding and destroying kingdoms, mingling her vigorous blood with that of other nations, and infusing her love of liberty, restrained by law, into their souls. Since powder and modern strategy have subordinated heroism to discipline and numbers, Norway must resign herself to the fate which her numerical weakness imposes upon her. A people of scarcely two millions can cut no very great figure in the world, as it is now const.i.tuted. It must either rest upon its laurels or win new ones in other fields. As the militant organization of society, with its needless bloodshed and oppression, slowly yields to the industrial, history will find another gauge of merit than that of Krupp guns and heavy battalions. Then, perhaps, there will again be a chance for small nations to a.s.sert themselves.

[Ill.u.s.tration: BJoRNSTJERNE BJoRNSON.]

Norway has made a beginning in this direction by her contributions, during recent years, to science and literature. The astronomer Hansteen (d. 1873), the mathematicians Abel and Sophus Lie, the zoologist Sars, the historians Munch, Keyser, Sars, and Storm, and the philologist Ivar Aason, have gained recognition, beyond the boundaries of their own country. The painters Tidemand (d. 1876) and Gude have interpreted in colors the poetry of Norse popular life and scenery. The musicians Ole Bull (d. 1880), Nordraak, and Grieg have made the melancholy strains of their native mountains resound through the concert-halls of Paris and London, and the poets Bjornson, Ibsen, Jonas Lie, and Alexander Kielland have made Norway known to the world and the world known to Norway. They have broken down the wall which so long hedged in their country, and excluded it from the intellectual life of Europe.

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