Evening star., 1896-11-28
AS ARBITRATOR
4 Pen Picture Of King Oscar of Sws-
den and Norway.
STUDENT AND MAN OF AFFAIRS
England and United States Choice
for the Venezuela Tribunal.
P ONALLY POPULAR
Prof. Harold HJarne in the Forum.

Prof. Harold HJarne in the Forum.
1t is admitted by all that King Oscar Of
Sweden ana Norway has used to the ut
most Of his capacities the opportunities
which were offered him of obtaining an
uncommonly high degree of intellectual and
artistic culture. He is an accomplished
orator. His strong. sonorous. musicaily
trained voice sends every word he utters
rentrating into the farthest recesses of
spacious assembly halls and is also heard
at great distance I'm the open air. His
speeches. several volumes of which have
been published. have been declaimed on
the most varied occasions, from the throne
10 the representatives Of The people. at
great national and local soiemnities, in
academies and other public societies, at
royal or private banquets. They are dis
tinguished by a lofty dictioa, by many
happy turns of phrase. profound thoughts.
and solid insight into the subject he is
treating of.
He speaks both the Swedish and the Nor
wegian languages equally fiueatty, a so
much the more difficult feat as they are.
properly speaking. but two dialects of the
same tongue. exceedingly wont 10 be con-
fused IN conversation. He expresses HIM
self with almost the same facility in
French, German, English and Italian, and
Is not devoid of some notions of Russian
and Spanish.
By wide travels from his youth upward
ne was educated as a naval ofiiceF-within
and beyond the bounds of Europe he has
trained his linguistic talents and acquired
discerning understanding of histori-
cal antiquities aid the requirements of
modern life His reading embraces the
literatures to large extent of all the Ian
guages that he steaks. lie is very well
versed, too, in Latin classical literature.
A Scandinavian Patriot.
Notwithstanding all these cosmopolitan
attainments he is at heart a true Scan
dinaVian patriot in the fullest sense of the
word. The Be-nadotte dynasty in its
later generations has shown itself as COM
plete!y assimila.el 20 the native senti-
ments and customs as any other family
OF foreign origin N Scandinavia. But the
position and sphere of twofold roy atty
raised as 1t is above the petty rivaries OF
common lie and the ineradicS BILE memories
OF the past-direct, Of course, is sympa-
thies 10 all the many things that bind
the two nations together rather than to
what is calculated to distur % the mutual
harmony. No great wonder, then, 1T ex-
treme EationalistS on either side Are not
always entirely satisfied with the attitude
OF the king on some critical questions,
though he does everything in his power
to Keep q fair balance even in outward
ceremonfals and the etiquette of official
documents.
king Oscar is a poet, too, though NEST
of his poems. including lyrical and era
matte. original pieces and translations, were
written in the earlier years before his ac-
cession to the throne. To a cycle of hister-
iCal romanceS and ballads, entitled "Epi-
sodes from the Annals of the Swedish
Navy, prize was awarded by the Swedish
Academy forty years ago, when he, fol-
lowing the example of one of his prede-
cessors, Gustavus HI, the founder of the