Peasants have been members of parliament for more than five hundred years, and now constitute more than half the membership of the second chamber—intelligent, well-educated mechanics and farmers, who take a deep interest in the affairs of the government and generally are on the right side. The agricultural peasants are invariably loyal supporters of the king. The mechanics from the city are usually opposed to him.

The annual session of the riksdag opens immediately after the holidays with a great deal of pomp and ceremony. It is one of the most imposing functions in all Europe. The members of both houses meet at their respective halls, attend divine service at the cathedral, where they receive the sacrament and listen to a sermon of admonition. Then they march in a body to the royal palace, where they are received by the king's ministers with great formality, and escorted to what is known as the throne room. As they enter, each man bows reverently to a silver throne which stands upon a dais at the other end of the apartment. The members of the first chamber are seated on the right side of the great hall, and those of the second upon the left.

When the sound of trumpets is heard, all rise, and the master of ceremonies enters in gorgeous apparel, followed by four pages in dress of the sixteenth century. Behind them is a squad of trumpeters, then the grand marshal of the court, preceded by four heralds and followed by the assistant marshals, the grand chamberlain, the lord steward, the master of the horse, and other officers of the royal household, the eighteen judges of the supreme court, the archbishop and bishops, and the members of the king's cabinet.

Then follows a guard of honor, composed of the highest nobles of the kingdom in glittering uniforms and carrying old-fashioned weapons, such as were once used in actual warfare. They surround the king, who wears his royal robes, and, as he enters, the band plays the favorite air of the people, "From the Depths of the Swedish Heart." He wears the crown of state and a purple robe bordered and lined with crimson the two corners of which are carried by chamberlains Upon the right side of the king walks the prime minister of Sweden. Following the king walk his sons, the princes of the royal house.

When the king has reached the center of the room, he stops, turns with great dignity and bows first to one chamber and then to the other, and then to the queen, who has taken her position in the balcony, attended by the princesses and other members of the royal family and the officers of the court. Then he proceeds slowly until he ascends the dais and seats himself upon the throne, his minister of state occupying a position on his right. Before the separation of the Union, the Norwegian minister of state sat upon his left.

The grand marshal steps forward and strikes the floor three times with a long staff of silver, tipped with jewels. At this signal all arise again except the king. In old-fashioned Swedish the heralds command silence. The king, seated upon his throne, reads his speech, which always begins, "Good gentlemen and Swedish men." The prime minister then reads a review of the acts of state since the adjournment of parliament, which he skims over as rapidly as possible, because the printed copy will be placed in the hands of every person present as soon as the ceremony is over. The presiding officers of the two houses of parliament step forward and make speeches of congratulation, and reassure their sovereign of their loyalty and respect. The king then rises, bows first to the queen, and to each house in turn, and slowly leaves the chamber accompanied by the procession that followed him in.

The courts of Sweden are conducted upon the French plan, and no jury is ever impaneled except in cases concerning the liberty of the press. When a newspaper is accused of libel or sedition, the complainant, whether he be a member of the police or any other official of the government, chooses three jurymen, the defendant three, and the court three. These nine men hear and decide the merits of the case without application of such strict rules of evidence as prevail in the legal practice of the United States. All judicial procedure in Sweden is based upon the assumption that the court is sufficiently intelligent and impartial to determine the reliability of witnesses and to judge of the application of facts laid before it. All judges and judicial magistrates are appointed for life on good behavior, but they can be impeached by processes similar to those authorized by the Constitution of the United States.[g]

CHAPTER VIII

THE ARMY AND NAVY

Everybody in Norway, that is every man, has to serve five years in the army, so that every citizen is a soldier—the first year after the twenty-third birthday seventy days, and thirty days or so each year thereafter for four years more. The organization has a nominal strength of 80,000 men of three divisions known as the landstrom, or reserves (25,000); the landvern, or militia (55,000), and the opbud, or regulars, who numbered about 5,000, garrison the different fortresses along the coast. Every able-bodied Norwegian, except pilots and clergymen, is obliged to serve in any position to which he is assigned by the king, who is commander-in-chief. The sailors and fishermen are enrolled in the navy and must serve aboard a man-of-war at least twelve months. The land forces require five months' service for infantry, seven months for cavalry and artillery, and six months for engineers, which is distributed over a period of five years. Training camps are established every summer in convenient localities from two to three months. Every man capable of bearing arms is in time of war liable to do service in the reserves, from the eighteenth to the fiftieth year of age.