The Sun.
London, England, 1855-11-29 00:00:00

THIS PRESS IN SWEDEN AND NORWAY,

(From the Morning Advertiser of thistfay.)
Amongst the many points of strking contrast between
the two kingdoms—united, indeed, under one Sovereign,
but in laws, manners, and social constitution, perfectly
independent and distinct—there is none more remark-
able than the different condition of the Press in each ;
its crippled prerogatives in the one, and its perfect free-
dom in the other. In Sweden the censorship is strict
and Vigilant ; and it happens not unfrequently that a
newspaper is suppressed, and a published ruined, for the
very same article which has gone the round of the Mr-
wegian papers, without producing any ill effects to the
publisher, on the one hand, or to the Government on the
other.

journals,
Iceclsale-eodopof
co-operation
aa
But in Norway the liberty of the press is one cf the
fundamental laws of the constitution, and is justly re-
garded as a protection to the guarantee of liberty fur-
nished by the Storthing. There is no limit to the free-
dom of writing, printing, and publishing ; and sucba
thing as the suppression of a publication is out of the
question. But at the ;same time. that the writer and
publisher
üb-
publisher have this freedom of appeal to the public
mind, they must be able to defend what they have
eni p
__
lished against charges either of treason, bltsrltuaruk‘
libel. Regarding themselves in the, light oorf• the press
of civil and religious liberty, the sgepotimen ;
no ne-
are watchful over the conduct
glect or abuse passes unexposed, whether remortihtteisdsobryt
clergymen or civil officers ; and the influence
obfoupnudbitico public functionaries ars
that
themselves from them; so
servants,
end not the m ts.
made to feel themselves -the
_.,._
g.
m,. hi h prerogative
One restdt ot —._
tern of the public., . the temperate and dignified
I and freedom of the Press Is
t' their controversies. And it
Ispirit manifest throughout
the
high consideration which
may be cited
as a roof of •
the Norwegian •,,-n
introit's enjoy, that in the course
the Storthing some ytare ago,
dniostcincsesi6oonmipsiasuil that
s atdh:atig
of a discussion, i
question mhde,satnortneedrefs feel
end
connected with the Na-
upon an important
atParticle on the subject, the discussion for a week, '
resolved to postpone in
it was r
members should have an opportunity of
order that the
aidof the • '
it, by the
consideringpwaurtufproonmittiaese high prerogatives, the Norwegian
Na-
tional Bank, therehavindarsppleaayrilgi !lc
considerable
doefrtahbel
e journals
ability,
Press is intimately connected with the daily wants
of the people, and conducive to their interests. There
is no duty on newspapers, no tax on advertisements,
no restriction of any kind. They are, therefore, pro-
duced cheaply—the price per annum of a daily paper
being 28s. The most trifling matter is advertised, as
well as the most important, from the official notices of
acnodw,thoerir aforcaeilgfn, oernda turkey. The
aTrtheiclepial paerer,antldsr
the province or town in which they are published, to the
type are superior to those of the French and German
the most part, written with very great ability. Intl.
resemblance to our own free condition we find an 0
___,
ground for jealous guardianship of the integrity
r4r and
presentiethe
glorious
otliftoraNugoogfriweitasariniy,baranvdtaaaantarnotlalroraremelisoptivopelvefoireoadtnue:ei

Lieutenant. Colonel Rawlinson delivered yesterday;
at the London Institution, the last of three lectures on -
the Nineveh sculptures and the cuneiform inscriptions.
On the two former evenings the lecturer had described
the nature of the writing and language of these inacrip.
tions, the monuments—such as monoliths, vases, and
cylinders—on which they were found, and the maces
and manner in which the monuments were discovered,
as well as the process by which the correct interpreta-
tien of the hitherto totally unknown language was ar-
rived at. A go.od deal of personal adventure being
mixed up with the subjects, of course gave a ii.veViu-
terest to them, which Colonel Rawlinson regretted would
considered the most valuable would be certainly the most
dry. We can assure him that it was very far from tedi-
outs or uninteresting, as was evident from the fixed at-
-oil:pica:pi:et
tbeen tt ihoen coafsae
of view, some thonsind years, extending from 2234
B.C. to 1273• 8.C., have been removed' rom darkness
into historic light by the discovery and interpretation of
the cuneiform writing ; and the events ,of another period
of nine hundred years, from 1273 B.C. to 33811.0 ,
have been found-chronicled in this language-by a I;-
inimical to the Jews, but corroborating and elucidating
in every instance yet met with the amount of those
same events in the Scriptures—a newly-speaking an-
tique profane tongue and a pagan people thus attesting
the historic truth of the sacred writings. Cleakly, , •
and as minutely as the time allowed, the leCturer
traced the manner in which first;one known name and
date among the kings of the Assyrian dynasty led to
the names and dates of another of the preceding Chal-
dean dynasty, and this again in its turn to others, until
at last nearly half of the kings of the Chaldean period
(the 1,000 years above referred to) had their names and
dates securely fixed, those of the remainder being more
orless accurately conjectured. During this period the
language seems to have been in a transition state, from
the Hamatic family of languages to the Semitic. In
the next period of 900 years, the Assyrian, the language
seems to have asrumed its permanent Semitic character
and to have remained the same through the third or Ba-
bylonian period, from 625 B.C. to Ng B.C, We can-
not, in so short a notice,- attempt to refer specially to
Onlonel Rawlinson's account of the doings of most of
these kings, particularly as few of them hate been hi-
therto known to us. 'The familiar names of Sennache-
cherib and Nebuchadnezzar, and Sardanapalus, should
not, however, be .passed dyer in silence. The history
of the last of these is written upon the fragments of a
ainglfistone, which must hav4 grigly s been 65 feet
long by%2sliiet wi6lt'lVittrfeglid WYtinnicherib, Vol:._
Rawlinson read a translation he had made of an inscrip-
tion on a stone brought to this country five years since
by Mr. Layard, which is a detailed account of Senna-
oberib's first campaign against Judah, and the submis-
idon of Hesekiab, and which, though much longer,
agrees with the account given in the 18th chapter of the
2d Book of Kings in every respect, except the amount
of silver given up by Hezekiah. No account, however,
has been yet found of the second and unsuccessful cam-
paign of Seneacherib, when 185,000 of his hosts were
Smitten with death in one night, whioh is described at
length in the 18th and 19th chapters of Kings 11. ;
nor is it likely that such an account will be found,
the Assyrians not being wont to chronicle their own
defeats. Colonel Rawlinson also read a translation
of an inscription on a marble now in the India
House, giving _an accoaat of the great public
works undertaken by Nebuchadnezzar, in which a
passage occurs supposed to refer to this king's mad-
ness. It is very difficult and obscure, but it runs some-
what in this way :—" At this time it pleased the Gods
t ) harden their hearts against the King Nebuchadnezzar,
so that he became dark, and his works were stopped ;
but when the Gods repented, he again continued his
labours." Another incident related in the cuneiform
' character is of great historic value, as it does not merely
show that profane and sacred history on a particular
point are reconcileable, hut actually corroborates the
latter by the former. From them we learn that Nineveh
really did fall in the reign of Nabonidus, but that he had
retired upon Borsippa, leaving his son Belshazzar as
viceroy or acting king, at Nineveh.
' In conclusion, we would add, that if the two former
lectures of Col. Bawlinson were like that of yesterday,
they contained just as much and no more matter than
such lectures ought to coatain, and set it forth in ex-
actly the proper style : not full, but highly suggestive ;
.giving evidence•of correctness andillabour, but not over-
laid. Col. Rawlinson's delivery, too, is excellent—in
fact, just that of a gentleman talking at his ease. If
we might venture to hint an improvement, we would
suggest that in any future lectures he should pronounce
the-difficul..t and unfamiliar names of these old Chaldee
and Assyrian times more slowly, distinctly, and in a
more English, though no doubt less correct, manner.