jected to the dictation of the nobility, and assumed dictatorial power. The diet was summoned, and with the army at his back Gustavus dictated terms to them and required the members to swear to support his constitution, which contained fifty-seven articles and placed all executive power in the king. The diet was still retained, composed of the four orders, but the king ceased to be dependent on its will.

. Christian VII, a weak, narrow minded, dissolute son of a very worthy man, who had been a good king, came to the Danish throne in 1766. His accession was but another illustration of the evil of transmitting power by inheritance, and of the certainty that good men will sometimes have bad sons. Christian traveled abroad and brought home favorites, chief among whom was Struensee, whom the king found practising medicine at Altona and took into such favor that he soon appointed him prime minister. His success in also gaining the confidence of the young queen led to his destruction. He was arrested and tried, if a proceeding before a commission of his bitter enemies who instigated the prosecution can be dignified by that name, and condemned to death, which was inflicted in 1772. From this time till 1784, when the king's son Frederick was associated with him and became the actual ruler, the queen dowager administered the government, though in Christian's name. The young prince displayed unexpected talents and virtues. Through the stormy period of the French revolution and the ensuing wars he succeeded in maintaining peace till 1801, when, having joined Russia and Sweden in an alliance to protect their commerce on the seas against searches and seizures by Great Britain, the Danish fleet was defeated before Copenhagen with heavy loss of men and ships. This defeat was followed by a disruption of the coalition and a change of policy hostile to France. In Sweden Gustavus III proceeded to rule without summoning the diet, till impelled to do so in 1772 in consequence of a memorial of the nobles. He merely made them a speech and dissolved the diet. In 1787 he joined the Turks in waging war on Russia, but officers and men refused to go out of the kingdom to wage an offensive war, which the national diet had not sanctioned, and his expedition

into Finland failed. The diet was afterward convened, and Gustavus proposed a change in the constitution, conferring on the king the power to declare war and make peace. To this the clergy, burghers and peasant orders assented, but the nobles opposed it. Thereupon Gustavus caused the arrest of the refractory nobles, recognized Levenhaupt, president of the nobility, as authorized to give assent on their behalf, and he having affixed his signature to the act, it was treated as duly concurred in by all the orders. The king then abolished the senate and in its place appointed a council divided into two departments, one composed of six nobles and six commoners constituted the supreme judicial tribunal, the other of eight nobles and four commoners had cognizance of minor matters. The war with Russia was resumed and several bloody battles followed, but on the conclusion of peace in 1790, each party was left with the same territory as before the war. Neither party had gained, but both had suffered from the struggle. With a view to obtain supplies for an invasion of France, Gustavus summoned a diet to meet in 1792 at Gefle on the Gulf of Bothnia. With a sufficient military force to overawe all opposition he succeeded in obtaining what an exhausted country could furnish. Shortly thereafter he was assassinated at a masked ball. His brother became regent and ruled in peace during the minority of his son, who mounted the throne as Gustavus IV. Gustavus conceived a bitter hostility to Napoleon, early joined the British in the coalition against him and persisted in his warlike attitude when Russia and Prussia had concluded peace. His obstinacy carried him so far as to cause a rupture with Russia and Denmark. He attempted an invasion of Norway but was driven out and in 1809 was deposed. Charles XIII concluded peace with Russia, abandoning all Finland. In 1810 the French Marshal Bernadotte was named as successor to the Swedish throne, and in 1813 he started with 20,000 Swedes to join the allies against Napoleon and his ally Denmark and compelled the latter to cede Norway to Sweden. He then invaded Norway and forced the unwilling people to submit to Swedish authority. The Danes, having been on the losing side, were forced to submit to the permanent loss of

Norway and ceased to be a prominent power. The duchies of Schleswig and Holstein at all times occupied a relation to the Danish crown different from that of other provinces and had been the cause of many wars. In 1848 there was war with Prussia over these dutchies, and the peace of 1850 confirmed the possession of Denmark, but in 1864 they were taken from the Danes by the combined forces of Austria and Prussia and thereafter retained by Prussia.

The modern constitution of Denmark was drawn up by an assembly elected for that purpose in 1849 and ratified by King Frederick VII in 1850. It provided for a diet of two houses, both elective. The first, called the Folksthing, deals with the budget and general affairs, and is composed of one member for every 16,000 people, elected for a term of three years. The second chamber, called the Landsthing, under the revision of 1866 consists of sixty-six members, twelve of whom are named by the king, and the others are elected for terms of eight years by districts. Its functions are confined to local matters. The king is the executive head and is assisted by a privy council. In its educational system Denmark takes high rank. It is directed by a royal commission, composed of a president and four assessors, who appoint the professors at the university of Copenhagen and all teachers of grammar schools. Attendance at the schools is compulsory, and nearly all can read and write. Lutheran is the religion of State and confirmation is compulsory. Denmark is still afflicted with class distinctions and an hereditary aristocracy with an undue share of wealth and exemption from taxes and burdens. The perpetuation of the aristocratic class is fortified by the law of primogeniture, and other traces of the feudal system still abide there. On the whole, however, Denmark has gained far more in the last century from a more useful government than it did from a more powerful one in former years.

The union of Norway and Sweden was recognized by the congress of Vienna in 1814 and maintained till the peaceful separation in 1905. Since the fall of Napoleon, Sweden and Norway, so long given over to almost ceaseless warfare, have enjoyed a long period of peace and growing prosperity. The

two countries were united under one king in accordance with the Riksact of 1815, which left each free from the other as to all internal affairs, their foreign relations only being joint; both being under the same king, as executive head, and bound to defend each other in case of war. Bernadotte ruled Sweden and Norway under the style of Charles XIV from 1818 till 1844. He devoted much of his energy to internal improvements and those useful duties, which tend to the comfort and happiness of the people instead of their destruction. No material change was effected in the internal constitution of Sweden, either on its union with Norway or during his reign. In 1866 the constitution was amended and a diet established, consisting of two chambers, one elected for nine years by the provincial assemblies and towns, and the other for three years by vote of all natives possessing the required property qualification. The executive power is vested in the king, acting under the advice of a council of ministers, who are responsible to the diet. Legislation may be initiated either by the king or the diet, but must be concurred in by both. The council of state consists of ten members, seven of whom are respectively the heads of the several departments of justice, foreign affairs, army, navy, internal affairs, finance and ecclesiastical and school affairs. The Riksdag annually appoints a board to examine the record of the proceedings of the council and with power to indict them before the Rikratt. The Riksdag meets annually. To be eligible to the upper house a person must be thirty-five years old, own land worth 80,000 crowns or have paid taxes on an annual income of 1000 crowns. Members of the upper house serve without pay, but members of the lower house receive 1200 crowns per year, and are chosen by voters possessed of a property qualification of the value of 1000 crowns or farm lands worth 6000 crowns, or who pay taxes on an income of 800 crowns. All electors are eligible to the lower house. Sweden is divided into twenty-four counties with representative local governments, which levy local taxes and regulate local affairs. The judicial system consists of courts of three grades. 1. The haradsratter consisting of a judge and seven to twelve assessors elected by the people, in

which the assessors, if unanimous, may decide contrary to the opinion of the judge. In the towns there are radhusratter, boards of magistrates. 2. Three hofratter (higher courts) in Stockholm, Jonkoping and Christanstad and 3. the Supreme Royal Court, two members of which attend sessions of the council when questions of law are settled. Jury trials are not allowed except in cases relating to the liberty of the press. The educational system is of a high order. Attendance of the schools is compulsory. The universities of Upsala and Lund are flourishing institutions of high rank.

On the acceptance of the union of Norway with Sweden by the Storthing, the Norwegian representative assembly, the king sanctioned the constitution made at Eidwald on May 17, 1814, and promised that no change in it should be made without the consent of the Storthing. The fundamental law of Norway consists of 112 articles and made it an hereditary constitutional monarchy with the same king and the same rules of succession as those of Sweden. The constitution required the king to take the following oath before the Storthing: "I promise and depose that I will govern the kingdom of Norway conformable to its constitution and laws, so help me God and His holy writ." The cabinet is to consist of Norwegians only, who "shall carry on the government in the name and on behelf of the king," three of whom shall constantly attend the king while in Sweden. The ministry are accountable to the Storthing. The organization of the Strothing is peculiar. It is divided into two bodies, a Lagting and an Odelsting. The members of both are elected by districts merely as members of the Storthing, and the whole body selects from its members onefourth its number, who constitute the Lagting, the other three fourths constituting the Odelsting. All bills are first introduced in the Odelsting by a member or a minister. If passed, a bill goes to the Lagting, which may concur or reject it. In case of a rejection by the Lagting it is again considered and if again passed with or without amendments it is once more submitted to the Lagting. If then rejected it is considered by the whole Storthing, sitting as one body, a two third vote being required to pass it. When passed the act went to the king,