Mr. Campbell to Mr. Seward.
No. 52.]
Legation of the United States,
Stockholm, January 30, 1867.
Sir: The two chambers of the Swedish diet,
according to the change in the organic law adopted at the last session,
met on the 19th instant, in the grand hall of the palace, to hear the
address from the throne. The members of the diplomatic corps were
present by invitation. The address (of which No. 1 enclosed is a copy,
and No. 2 a translation) was read by the King in person. Its most
noticeable feature is the distinct ground taken against interference
with continental questions, and the policy expressed of maintaining the
present limits of Sweden and Norway, which the King regards as the
natural boundaries of the united kingdoms. This is looked upon by those
who favor a union of all the Scandinavian countries as a distinct
declaration that the government will not countenance any such project.
The administration has unquestionably adopted the most prudent line of
policy, and in the long run it will be found more safe than
intermeddling with Danish and German questions. The elections, under the
altered condition of the law, were conducted without popular excitement,
and indeed, it appeared, without popular interest. This may be owing to
the absence of questions of a local or political character sufficient to
create interest in the public mind. Contrary to general expectation, the
nobility have one-third of the representation in the reconstructed
chambers, the peasants rather more than one-fourth, and the remainder is
divided between the burghers and the clergy. Thus it appears the
nobility and peasants maintain their ground, while the principal
sufferers by reform, so far as the exclusion from representation is
concerned, are the clergy and burghers. It is claimed that the liberals,
or progressive party, who inaugurated the new order of things, have a
decided majority in both branches. The chambers elect their respective
committees. The King appoints the presiding officers. But reforms, like
revolutions, never go backwards, and already the press and members of
the diet demand that the officers shall be elective by the bodies over
which they shall be called to preside. Nothing of more than ordinary
local interest, it is thought, will come before the chambers at this
session. At present they are occupied in perfecting their organization
under the changes recently adopted.
The winter thus far has been unusually severe. Great quantities of snow
have fallen, and railroad communications are frequently interrupted.
The mails arrive irregularly, and at this time I have been two weeks
without mails from America.
I have the honor to be, sir, very respectfully, your obedient
servant,
Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State, Washington, D. C.
[Translation.]
Good Gentlemen and Swedish Men: We have
just inaugurated, by common prayers addressed to the All Powerful
imploring His protection and His blessings, the new epoch upon which
our country has entered in surrounding its ancient liberty with
rejuvenated forms. These same prayers proceed from the bottom of my
heart in saluting you, sirs, to-day, when for the first time you are
assembled for the purpose of assuming in the quality of
representatives of the Swedish people the important functions
exercised during centuries by the general states of the kingdom. In
the persuasion that I shall find you yourselves deeply penetrated
with a sense of the high influence that your first steps in this
career will
[Page 711]
exercise on
the future, I take pleasure in asserting my conviction that in
working for the progress of society in the direction that our era
demands you will advance with prudence towards the goal in
preserving carefully the rights which we have inherited from our
ancestors. Jealous of maintaining the friendly relations happily
established with all foreign powers, and nourishing no desire to
take part in the solution of the litigious questions which have
agitated, or which still threaten to agitate, other parts of Europe,
I flatter myself with the certain hope that the united kingdoms,
surrounded on all sides by natural boundaries, (frontiers,) will
continue to enjoy the blessings of peace. The events of which we
have recently been witnesses have, however, renewed the warnings
which past experience had already furnished, and have reminded us
that for the maintenance of our independence we should confide in
the Divine Providence, relying in the first place on ourselves and
our own means of defence. Until the plan for the organization of the
army presented to the last Diet can be readjusted, in view of the
amendment decided by the general states, nothing can be of higher
importance for the development of our means of defence than the duty
of furnishing both the army and navy with a perfected arm,
(material.) Convinced of the desire of the nation to submit itself
to the indispensable sacrifices necessary for the obtainment of this
result, I have not hesitated to ask of you considerable
appropriations for the acquisition of guns of the new model,
although we shall be obliged to cover this expense by means of a new
tax.
As to the rest, you will be convinced by the proposition on the
revenues and expenses of the state (which, conformably to the
provisions of the constitution, will be submitted to you to-day)
that I have thought right to recommend the most strict economy. Even
concerning the railroads I have decided on planting myself on the
actual financial situation that these works in the immediate future
should be circumscribed to the continuation of the principal road
destined to unite still more closely the people brothers.
Projects of several laws and ordinances of major importance have also
been designed. Thus one has been worked out for the revision of the
compact of union with Norway for the repurchase of the land loan,
for the military code, for the general regulation of soldiers,
retiring pensions, for the institution of land loans and hypothetic
registers, as well as for the rights and duties resulting from the
application of hydraulics to our inland waters. The short time which
has elapsed since the last sitting of the Diet has not allowed of
the definitive formation of these projects, and during this brief
delay so many new wants have not arisen as during the period usually
more prolonged between the reassembling of the national
representation.
I regard as an advantage not having to present to you a greater
number of questions, in order that you can agree on the regulated
dispositions necessitated by the new representative forms, as well
as on the more important subjects which can originate from your
initiative in the time fixed for the session by the fundamental law,
and which, since your reunions are annual, should not be exceeded
except in extraordinary cases.
Our principal industries, agriculture and the working of the mines,
have been compelled to struggle for a long time against unfavorable
circumstances, and almost all the branches of industry have felt the
injurious influence of the wide spread financial crisis, in which
credit has suffered. An ameliorated condition of affairs has,
however, already commenced to make itself felt, and the most
efficacious remedy for the still existing difficulties depends less
upon the measures taken by the government than on individual
exertion.
I salute with joy this day on which I see you assembled around me for
the first time. I count with confidence on your wise concurrence in
everything tending to the assurance of the public welfare; and I
hope that your labors will produce such fruits as will authorize
your grateful country to count you among the number of those who
have contributed in a durable manner to her glory and
prosperity.
In declaring the present session opened I offer to yod, good
gentlemen and Swedish men, the assurance of my affection and my
royal good will.
CARL.
Stockholm,
January 19, 1867.
