SWEDEN AND NORWAY. (SVERIGE OCH NORGE.) Reigning King. Oscar II., born January 21, 1829, the third son of King Oscar I. and of Queen Josephine, daughter of Prince Eugene of Leuchtenberg. Succeeded to the throne at the death of his brother, King Carl XV., Sept. 18, 1872. Married June 6, 1857, to Queen Sophia, born July 9, 1836, daughter of the late Duke Wilhelm of Nassau. Children of the King. I. Prince Gustaf, Duke of Wermland, born June 16, 1858. Married Sept. 20, 1881, to Princess Victoria, born Aug. 7, 1862, daughter of the Grand Duke of Baden. II. Prince Oscar, Duke of Gotland, born Nov. 15, 1859. Sister of the King. Princess Eugenia, born April 24, 1830. Niece of the King. Princess Lowisa, only child of King Carl XV., born Oct. 31, 1851; married July 28, 1869, to Prince Frederik, eldest son of the King of Denmark. (See page 41.) King Oscar II. is the fourth sovereign of the House of Ponte Corvo, and grandson of Marshal Bernadotte, Prince de Ponte Corvo, who was elected heir-apparent of the crown of Sweden by the Parliament of the kingdom, Aug. 21, 1810, and ascended the throne Feb. 5, 1818, under the name of Carl XIV. Johan. He was succeeded at his death, March 8, 1844, by his only son, Oscar. The latter died July 8, 1859, and was succeeded by his eldest son Carl XV., distinguished in Swedish literature as a poet of high genius, at whose premature death, without male children, the crown fell to his next surviving brother, the present King. The royal family of Sweden and Norway have a civil list of 1,218,000 kronor, or 67,6661., from Sweden, and 340,000 kronor, or 18,8891., from Norway. The sovereign, besides, has an annuity of 300,000 kronor, or 16,6661., voted to King Carl XIV. and his successors on the throne of Sweden. The following is a list of the kings and queens of Sweden, with the dates of their accession, from the accession of the House of The average reign of the nineteen rulers who occupied the throne of Sweden from the accession of Gustaf I. to that of Oscar II., amounted to eighteen years. By the Treaty of Kiel, Jan. 14, 1814, Norway was ceded to the King of Sweden by the King of Denmark, but the Norwegian people did not recognise this cession, and declared themselves independent. A Constituent Assembly met at Eidsvold, and having adopted, on May 17, a Constitution, elected the Danish Prince Christian Fredrik King of Norway. The Swedish troops, however, entered Norway without serious resistance, and the foreign powers refusing to recognise the newly-elected king, the Norwegians were obliged to conclude, August 14, the Convention of Moss, by which the independency of Norway in the union with Sweden was solemnly proclaimed. An extraordinary Storthing was then convoked, which adopted the modifications in the constitution made necessary by the union with Sweden, and then elected King Carl XIII., King of Norway, Nov. 4, 1814. The following year was promulgated a Charter, the Riksact, establishing new fundamental laws on the terms that the union of the two kingdoms be indissoluble and irrevocable, without prejudice, however, to the separate government, constitution, and code of laws of either Sweden or Norway. The law of succession is the same in Sweden and Norway. In case of absolute vacancy of the throne, the two Diets assemble for the election of the future sovereign, and should they not be able to agree upon one person, an equal number of Swedish and Norwegian deputies have to meet at the city of Carlstad, in Sweden, for the appointment of the king, this nomination to be absolute. The common affairs are decided upon in a Council of State composed of Swedes and Norwegians. In case of minority of the king, the Council of State exercises the sovereign power until a Regent or Council of Regency is appointed by the united action of the Diets of Sweden and Norway. I. SWEDEN. Constitution and Government. The fundamental laws of the kingdom of Sweden are- -1. The Constitution or Regerings-Formen of June 6, 1809; 2. the amended regulations for the formation of the Diet, of June 22, 1866; 3. the law of royal succession of September 26, 1810; and 4. the law on the liberty of the press, of July 16, 1812. According to these statutes, the king must be a member of the Lutheran Church, and have sworn fealty to the laws of the land. His person is inviolable. He has the right to declare war and make peace, and to grant pardon to condemned criminals. He nominates to all appointments, both military and civil; concludes foreign treaties, and has a right to preside in the supreme Court of Justice. The princes of the blood royal, however, are excluded from all civil employments. The king possesses legislative power in matters of political administration, but in all other respects, that power is exercised by the Diet in concert with the sovereign, and every new law must have the assent of the crown. The right of imposing taxes is, however, vested in the Diet. This Diet, or Parliament of the realm, consists of two chambers, both elected by the people. The First Chamber consists of 137 members, or one deputy for every 30,000 of the population. The election of the members takes place by the landstings,' or provincial representations, 25 in number, and the municipal corporations of the towns, not already represented in the 'landstings,' Stockholm, Göteborg, Malmö, and Norrköping. All members of the First Chamber must be above 35 years of age, and must have possessed for at least three years previous to the election either real property to the taxed value of 80,000 kronor, or 4,444l., or an annual income of 4,000 kronor, or 2231. They are elected for the term of nine years, and obtain no payment for their services. The Second Chamber consists of 204 members, of whom 64 are elected by the towns and 140 by the rural districts, one representative being returned for every 10,000 of the population of towns, one for every 'domsaga,' or rural district, of under 40,000 inhabitants, and two for rural districts of over 40,000 inhabitants. All natives of Sweden, aged 21, possessing real property to the taxed value of 1,000 kronor, or 56l., or farming, for a period of not less than five years, landed property to the taxed value of 6,000 kronor, or 3331., or paying income tax on an annual income of 800 kronor, or 451., are electors; and all natives aged 25, possessing, and having possessed at least one year previous to the election, the same qualifications, may be elected members of the Second Chamber. The election is for the term of three years, and the members obtain salaries for their services, at the rate of 1,200 kronor, or 671., for each session of four months, besides travelling expenses. The salaries and travelling expenses of the deputies are paid out of the public purse. The members of both Chambers are elected by ballot, both in town and country. The executive power is in the hands of the king, who acts under the advice of a Council of State, the head of which is the Minister of State. It consists of ten members, seven of which are ministerial heads of departments and three without department, and is composed as follows: 1. Count Arvid Rutger Fredriksson Posse, Minister of State; appointed April 19, 1880. 2. Baron Carl Fredrik Lotharius Hochschild, Minister of Foreign Affairs; appointed April 27, 1880. 3. Nils Henrik Vult von Steyern, Minister of Justice; appointed April 19, 1880. 4. Colonel Otto Fredrik Taube, Minister of War; appointed April 19, 1880. 5. Baron Carl Gustaf von Otter, Minister of Marine; appointed April 19, 1880. 6. Fredrik Ludvig Salomon Hederstjerna, Minister of the Interior; appointed April 19, 1880. 7. Otto R. Themptander, Minister of Finance; appointed March 8, 1881. 8. Carl Gustaf Hammarskjold, Minister of Education and Ecclesiastical Affairs; appointed August 27, 1880. 9. Johan Henrik Lovén; appointed June 5, 1874. 10. Johan Christer Emil Richert; appointed August 27, 1880. All the members of the Council of State are responsible for the acts of the Government. The administration of justice is entirely independent of the Government. Two functionaries, the Justitie-Kansler, or Chancellor of Justice, and the Justitie Ombudsman, or Attorney-General, exercise a control over the administration. The former, appointed by the king, acts also as counsel for the crown, while the latter, who is appointed by the Diet, has to extend a general supervision over all the courts of law. Church and Education. The mass of the population adhere to the Lutheran Protestant Church, recognised as the State religion. At the last census, the number of 'Evangelical Lutherans' was returned at 4,162,087, the Protestant dissenters, Baptists, Methodists, and others, numbering 3,999. Of other creeds, there were 573 Roman Catholics, 30 GreekCatholics, and 1,836 Jews. The kingdom has two universities, at Upsala and Lund, frequented the former by 1,500 and the latter by 650 students per annum. Education is well advanced in Sweden. Public instruction is gra tuitous and compulsory, and children not attending schools under the supervision of the Government must furnish proofs of having been privately educated. In the year 1878, nearly 98 per cent. of all the children between eight and fifteen years visited the public schools. There were 5,031 male and 5,183 female teachers in the primary schools in 1878. Revenue and Expenditure. The national income is derived to the extent of one-third from direct taxes and national property, including railways, and the rest mainly from indirect taxation, customs and excise duties, and an impost on spirits. The sources of revenue and branches of expenditure of the kingdom for the year 1881 were established as follows, in the budget estimates passed in the session of 1880 by the Diet. Sources of Revenue for 1881 Kronor 18,760,000 26,700,000 { 74,995,000 £4,166,388 Branches of Expenditure for 1881: (a) To cover the deficit of the budget for former years (b) Ordinary: Royal Household. 1,218,000 613,800 In the budget estimates for 1882 the revenue was estimated at 4,218,7777., and expenditure the same. Exclusive of the budget, the Diet voted, in 1879, 8,470,000 |