They also had a fine sight of Lapland deer dogs, and bought one for 10s.; I suppose that quarantine was not invented then!
After a good deal of brandy drinking the travellers departed with some difficulty, for the Finns got so riotous that it was with force they got them from the horses' heads, holding on to the bridles to prevent their departure.
The Diet at Stockholm (November 1828) was opened with great pomp and ceremony. My father was present and went in the suite of Lord Bloomfield, our Minister at the Swedish Court. The ceremony began at 10 A.M., the King and Crown Prince going in state to the church where divine service was performed. From there a procession to the palace.
The nobles, Ministers of State, &c., with bands of music met them, the King and Crown Prince walking under a canopy with their crowns on their heads. Then followed Foreign Ministers with their suites, then twelve men in armour with large helmets (a bodyguard established by Charles XII), and more burghers, clergy, and peasants; guards on one side, artillery on the other, and on entering the square of the palace, the Horse Guards lined the way. The King took his seat on the throne at the upper end of the Riks Salon, the Crown Prince on his right a little below him; the Ministers of State at the foot of the throne, behind officers of the household, below in a semicircle the guards in armour. At each side on seats the members of the Diet, in a gallery on the left sat the Queen and Princess Royal with their ladies. In another gallery opposite the throne sat the Foreign Minister and strangers of distinction. The King then delivered his speech to the Crown Prince, who read it, silence being obtained by the chief minister striking his baton three times on the ground (which reminds one of a beadle in a Roman Catholic ceremony!).
The marshal of the ceremony also struck his baton three times on the ground—the signal for the speakers from the Diet to deliver their respective addresses, after which the whole procession left the Riks Salon as it came.
'Carl Johan did the King to admiration, though he looked weary and distressed.
'The Prince was more at his ease, he put one in mind of the pictures we see of our old Saxon Kings, the crown being made to that shape.'
On November 17 my father received a summons from the King at 7 P.M., and was most kindly received.
'He first conversed on Norway, and asked about the new road between Norway and Sweden. "You, I think, have been in Egypt," said he, "the Pasha is a most extraordinary man?" I replied, "One of the most extraordinary men in the world." "Egypt is well governed, is it not?" "Perhaps so, sire, to answer the Pasha's own ends, but horridly tyrannised over, and the people dreadfully oppressed." "But they are a barbarous people, and must be ruled with severity, are they not?" "True, sire, barbarous, yet his system of Government must militate against his own wishes; for example, he would fain contend with your manufactures in the market, yet he will not allow the manufacturer to work for himself, and do his best to get the best price, but will have the article made for his own sale, paying only so much a day for his labour." "Perhaps," said the King, "in Egypt the people are slaves, but in Europe, Kings are the only slaves. In England and Sweden, your King and I myself are the only slaves. Eh? is it not so?"
'"If your Majesty will use any other word than slave, I shall be happy to agree."