The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1897-10-28
THE BERNADOTTES
Some Effects of Their Policy of Treat
ing Norway as an Equal.

Some Effects of Their Policy of Treat
Ing Norway as an Equal.
Scandinavia has been so accustomed
throughout her history to trouble and
turmoil that she rather resents the
peace and sunshine which have been
hers without interruption from the
time the Bernadottes came to the
throne till the present day The grave
| error of Karl Johan and his descend
ants, in the eyes of the western half of
the peninsula, and also, to certain ex-
tent, in those of the eastern portion, is
that they have treated the Swedes and
the NorWegians as one and the same
people, Now, every patriotic Norwe-
gian declares that he stands poles
apart from the Swedes; that his coun-
trymen possess no more characteristics
in common with their neighbors than
does hts country with the land to the
further side of the border; and, after
| pointing out the dissimilarity in pro-
| nunciation of the two languages
| spoken, he haughtily states that so
far as he himself is concerned, he cam
not even read a volume written in
| Swedish until it has been translated
into his own tongue When travelling
or in residence abroad the inhabitants
, of the two kingdoms are content to al
low the subject of discord and differ
| ence to lie in allegiance; but once re-
turned home they seize the cudgels
| with renewed ardor and, refreshed by
| the respite, they lay about them with
such good will that even the most fair
minded foreigner concludes they must
have unusually good ground of COM
plant against each other Considera-
ton of the question, however conscien-
| tious, fails to disclose what that COM
plant may be, and, compared with the
| greater evil of separation, any lesser
| ills which now exist, even when sur
veyed through the magnifying glass of
| the Left Storthing, may, as the stran-
ger considers, be lightly endured. To
! do the SwedeS justice, they are ever
| ready to hold out the olive branch to
| the brother country and, short of sepa-
| ration, seem prepared to consider with
| great good humor and forbearance any
| scheme which may be proposed for bet
| tering the relations between the two
nations But Norway, a very Hibernia
| of the North. will hear of no compro-
mise, she did not submit to the union
of her own free will. and she has since
| placed landmarks in each decade of the
| century to bear witness to her disap-
prevail of it.
| Unlike Ireland however Norway can
! point to no dark chapter in the story of
her connection with Sweden which may
be said to justify or authorize her ami
mostly From Denmark, whose prey
| -, ,,n1y. -1>a
| was freed by no effort of her own she
received treatment which was not al
ways beyond reproach; but each of the
| Bernadotte princes appears to have
We'd with the other in granting conces-
sions to Norway, in raising her status,
| and in relieving her of her obligations,
| till her independence, except with re-
gard to distinct foreign representation,
has been established in all but name.
| That old giant, Bernadotte, Who-after
passing through the various DISCUSSES
of marshal of the French republic,
Prince of Pontecorvo, Carl Johan, heir
apparent to the throne at the age of
eighty, under the title of Charles XIV.
lis still better known in history by his
birth name of Bernadotte, seems to
have nourished a secret preference for
| Norway over Sweden, else why should
he have given the former country a
constitution and prerogative which
have ever since made her thorn in the
side of the dominant power? However,
he did we'll for both Kingdoms, and took
| care that, whoever else might be
wronged, his realm had it's rights;
| while, from the time of the signing OF
| the treaty of Kiel, he stoutly MAN.
tanned the independence of Scandinavia
even against the great powers, who had
| practically secured the concession to
him. For instance, when, at the con-
| greSs Of AiX-la-Chapelle, in 1918, a dis
! pute arose as to the share of Norway in
the state debt of her late liege lord,
| Denmark, Bernadotte refused to allow
interference in the matter, saying it
was one which concerned the Morse ma
tons alone, and carried his point, even
|; though he had against him the repre-
| sentatives of united Europe
Oscar l., son and successor of Berna-
dotte, who as boy of fifteen had taken
an oath of allegiance to Charles XIII,
last of the reigning Vasas, also made
SO many concessions to Norway that
the home policy of his successors has
| ever SLICE btcIl HAIL eIeu ny
This monarch, whose first act as a
sovereign was to annul the prohibition
of 1872 which forbade any Swede to
hold communication with the exiled
house of Vasa, has been reproached
with weakness in his administration
but he suffered of course from compar-
ison with one who was q king among
men before he became king among
kings. A single advantage he had over
his mighty sire, for he spoke the Swe-
dish and Norwegian tongues as to the
manner born, while ignorance of the
Morse languages on the part of the first
Bernadotte caused much trouble to the
monarch himself, and more to his min
| listers. Among the good deeds of Oscar
1. are that he abolished slavery in the
island of Martinique, then d Swedish
possession, and that he reformed the
criminal code, and inaugurated sys-
| tenn for the working of prisons which
placed the country in advance of any