The Somerset reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1868-1909, 1905-06-15

NoI"hy anu = wa
For 90 years past Norway has been
under the rule Of the King of sweden.
Prior to that time for about 400 years
Norway had been associated with Dem
mark but in 1914 by the treaty of KEEL
Denmark was obliged to purchase peace
at the expense of this long partner of
her state and sign compact resignng
Norway to sweden reservng as indem-
nlty some small Swedish territory aud
the leland Of Kugen. The Norwegians
demonstrated against the treaty of kiel.
nominated Prince Christian, heir pre-
sumptive of Denmark. as regent and
subsequently az King, and drew up
constitution based on the French con-
stitution of 1871. These measures were
not supported by other nations and
found no favor with allied powers. The
Crown Prince of Sweden led an army
into Norway capturing the principal
cities. The Norwegiaus were Obliged to
accept the proposals made to them by
the Swedish king for a union with
Sweden under the conditions that they
should retain their newly promulgated
constitution and enjoy full liberty and
independence within their own bound
aries. harles XIII was declared Joint
king of Sweden and Norway in 1918.
There has been considerable friction at
different times between the two peoples
ocoasioned by jealousy and distrust but
upon the whole the Kingdom has been
well governed and rapid progress made
toward political security and prosperity,
greater than under the Danish dominion.
There ia no serious feeling of ill-will
existing between the people of the two
counties, except that the owedes be-
lieve that the Norwegans are unreason-
able, and the Norwegians believe that
the Swedes are endeavoring to get out
of the union more than their compact
rights. But the request addressed to
| King Oscar, that he select one of his
sons to occupy the throne of Norway,
shows that IL is independent existence
that the Norwegians desire, rather than
any wish to overthrow the established
monarchical form of control.
There has been for more than half a
century a desire on the part of the
people of Norway that its government
should take upon itself the appointment
of consuls; but twenty years ago. in 1885,
/ the Swedish constitution which preyi-
/ ously had exempted the minister of
foreign affairs, under whose control con
snls were placed, from parliamentary
responsibility, made him, like the other
ministers, a member of the cabinet re-
sponsible to Parliament. Before that
! time the minister of foreign affairs in
Sweden had been appointed by the King,
was responsible only to him, and as the
direct appontee of the King was as
closely identified with Norway as with
| Sweden.
Another feature in this contention is
the different commercial interests of the
two nations. Sweden is the larger and
Weather country, having more than
twice the population and about double
the revenue of Norway, but its dealings
are to quite an extent with the countries
bordering on the Baltic sea, Norway
on the other hand has large Atlantic
trade, and. furthermore. it has mer
chant shipping which performs the SER
vice of common carrier for people all
over the world. In this latter respect
Norway has much more need of consular
jurisdiction than Sweden, and this is,
perhaps the material basis for the con-
tention which has been going ON between
the two countries, aud which has eul-
minated in the action of dissolution
taken.
A first King Oscar declined to receive
the address of the Norwegian storthing
and stated that he would not consent to
the appointment of prince of the king
dom to be king of Norway, but it ap
pears he thought better of this and con-
templates proposing the name of his
grandson William for that place 1t s
considered at Christiania that this is a
sign that the Swedish government has
modified its position, 1t is recognized
there that Sweden has three courses,
first to declare war; second to agree to
Norway's proposals; and third. refusal
to recognize Norways's independence
and to appoint sovereign. The first
was hardly to be thought of under the
circumstances, and it was feared that
the third would have the effect of driv-
ing Norway into the establishment of a
republic. Hence the advsability of
taking the middle course and keeping
Norway in the family of monarchies, as
we'll as in the family of Bernadotte.
They do not like republics in Europe
at least the governments do not.
They consider that it has bad effect
on their business. They have two per-
nicious examples already to deal with,
those of France and Switzerland, and
they fear to have Norway make another
1t is considered that a Norwegian re-
public "would not be welcome to
Europe, that it would have bad effect
on the sociaistc parties and would
not be likely to enhance the stability of
monarchs', which is quite likely.