The reign of Charles XIV. produced a new line of eminent scientists and was the golden age of Swedish literature. The remarkable genius of J. J. Berzelius remolded the science of chemistry, placing it on a basis where there are hardly any limits to its scope. Elias Fries devised a new system of botany. Sven Nilsson, a distinguished zoölogist, also became the founder of a new science, comparative archæology. K. J. Schlyter edited a complete collection of the old provincial laws, a work of equal importance to philology and jurisprudence. P. H. Ling invented the Swedish system of gymnastics and founded the Central Institute of Gymnastics in Stockholm, where the Swedish massage or movement cure has won a scientific development worthy of its world-wide fame. E. G. Geijer, as a philosopher, was a noble follower of Hœijer, while as a historian he is the greatest genius of his country. As a poet and composer Geijer is also noteworthy. Professor of history at Upsala, he was once accused of heterodoxy, but acquitted. His political career was remarkable. Geijer was a firm supporter of the government and conservative principles, until fifty-seven years of age, when he joined the opposition.
The world of letters was divided in parties as bitterly opposed to each other as those of the political world. The old Gustavian school, of which Leopold remained the last representative, was attacked by the “New School,” which, inspired by German Romanticism, was brimful of inspiration, imagination and feelings, but very little that was original, clear or national. Of this so-called “phosphoristic” school Atterbom was the distinguished leader. Stagnelius, a poet of rare attainments, but who died early, belongs in this group. The New School was in turn attacked by the “Gothic Society,” a school of national Swedish Romanticism, which introduced a cult of the Old Northern spirit of individuality, terseness and power. Ling and Geijer were among the leading men of this school, whose enthusiasm for everything national had a lasting influence upon the research for, and gathering of, folk lore, songs, traditions, customs, and every trait of the popular culture of bygone days. In Franzén and Wallin, Sweden had two religious poets of the very first rank. More famous than any of these was Esaias Tegnér, the second great national poet of Sweden, whose “Frithiof’s Saga” was destined to become the most celebrated literary work of all Europe in its day, appearing in a vast number of translations in a great number of languages. Tegnér was in sympathy with the old Gustavian school, but a member of the Gothic Society, and by his choice of subjects in harmony with the national school. There is a wonderful richness of sparkling life and wit in Tegnér’s poems, but they are sometimes overladen by the vivid ornamental images in which they abound. Tegnér was a man of extremely broad and liberal views on every phase of human life and effort. He hated with the whole power of his fiery soul the mysticism, obscurantism and morbid sensualism of his age. He was the sworn enemy of the “Holy Alliance” and the reactionary powers in state, church and literature. In his chivalrous spirit and love of the great individuals, he became the admirer of Charles XIV., whose policy he therefore supported. Tegnér is not the one who in the grandeur and faultlessness of his creations has attained the very highest rank among Swedish poets, but is the greatest and most unbiased thinker among them, and has as such exerted a beneficial influence upon the national consciousness and cultural development. Tegnér’s judgment upon one of his Gustavian precursors may be repeated in his own case: “Perchance the greatest not as poet, but as genius.”
Oscar I. was forty-five years of age at the death of his father. He was the only son of Charles XIV. and Queen Desideria, the latter a daughter of a French merchant by the name of Clary. Oscar was, in 1823, married to Princess Josephine of Leuchtenberg, a granddaughter of the French empress of the same name. It was a difficult position, the one held by the heir-apparent. Charles XIV. was jealous of his own power and popularity and suspected his son of being in sympathy with the opposition. The prince, distanced as far as possible from the affairs of state, devoted himself to the study of social and economic subjects. He gave a great deal of attention to the study of prisons and the care of prisoners, seeking by pamphlets to spread his sympathies for the latter and to improve their conditions. Oscar I. was fondly devoted to the fine arts, himself a talented painter and composer. He did not possess his father’s brilliant genius or power of personal influence, although an upright man of great talent and exceedingly prepossessing in appearance. Oscar was of a mild, sagacious disposition, who liked to go into detail and take time for investigation and decision. He was not a man of action, and lacked somewhat consistency in carrying out plans of a wider scope. Oscar I. had a little of the autocrat of the father in him and often acted on his own judgment, without taking the advice of his cabinet. Being the loyal, highly cultured and patriotic man that he was, he in various ways furthered the development of his country.
Few kings have ascended a throne under such enthusiasm and joyful aspirations on the part of the people as King Oscar I. Several important reforms were enacted at the Riksdag which met in 1844, and the king gave his sanction to them all. It was decided that the Riksdag should meet every third instead of every fifth year, the liberty of the press was augmented, and to women were given equal rights in the stipulations of inheritance and marriage. The last-mentioned reform was bitterly opposed by the nobles, who feared it would, to a great extent, annul their privileges. The law was passed by the three lower Estates, in spite of the nobles, and was sanctioned by the king. Oscar I. took great pains to have the industries freed from the restraint under which they had been suffering during the reign of his predecessor.
King Oscar surrounded himself with men of a more modern type than his father’s advisers. They were in touch with the principles of the opposition, although far from radical, and more respected for their character than for their ability. The opposition, which had been so harsh during the administration of Charles XIV., was toned down considerably; but complaints were soon heard that the new government was neither consistent nor resolute in its liberal policy and that courtiers and young officers won an unduly rapid promotion. Soon an opposition of a new order was organized against the administration. The conservatives, finding that it leaned too much on the liberal principles, attacked it for this reason. A powerful conservative party at the Riksdag was organized, with Hartmansdorff as the leader among the nobles and Archbishop Wingard among the clergy. Attacked by liberals and conservatives alike, and not supported by either, the government was of an undecided and vacillating tenor.
The French revolution of 1848 influenced Swedish politics in several ways. The “friends of reform,” viz., the party desiring a parliamentary reorganization, were incited by the republican tendencies. The masses of Stockholm on one occasion gave vent to their feelings by demonstrations which were of a menacing character. Great crowds collected outside the place where a “reform banquet” was held. There it was resolved to attack the houses of Hartmansdorff and several other leading conservatives. The owners placed themselves in safety, but the windows of the houses were broken by the mob, who also threw stones at the troops. The tumult was quenched, but not without bloodshed. The press was greatly agitated for a long time afterward, using language against the government that was by no means choice. The liberals in the Riksdag commenced to take an attitude as decided as the one held by the conservatives. From this time on King Oscar showed great coldness to the liberals, and surrounded himself with advisers more in harmony with the conservatives.
The proposition for a reorganization of the Riksdag, made in 1840, was not accepted, but a committee was appointed in 1848 to make a new proposition, which failed to please either government or Riksdag. The king then had a new proposition prepared, based upon general elections. The liberals did not think the royal proposition democratic enough and offered one of their own. Both of these were defeated at the Riksdag of 1850, thanks to the opposition of nobility and clergy. A third one was made by Hartmansdorff, but also failed to please, not being conservative enough for the nobles. Hartmansdorff aroused so much hatred among his fellow nobles that they refused to be seated on the same bench with him during the sessions. After a period of perfect isolation the old conservative leader was judged with greater leniency by his former followers. Shortly before his death, in 1856, he sent them the following greeting: “Ask the nobles not to stand up so long for their privileges, they will lose nothing by surrendering them.” It seemed as if the interest for parliamentary reform had died out during the latter part of King Oscar’s reign, but such was not the case; it only gathered force in the quiet, and the king was right when defining it as a “question which could never fall.”
The influence of the revolution of 1848 also was felt in the foreign relations of Sweden. The German population of Holstein and Schleswig tried to sever their connections with Denmark in order to effect a union with Germany, Prussia taking upon herself to liberate said provinces. Denmark made various efforts to gain the active support of Sweden. The so-called “Scandinavism” was a good means to obtain this end. This movement, which aimed at the establishment of a closer union between the three Scandinavian countries, based upon the fact of the common origin of their inhabitants, had originated at the University of Copenhagen. The meetings of scientists and students, in 1842 and 1843, at Stockholm, had given growth to this movement, which was of a very high-strung nature, but, as far as the Danes were concerned, also of an egotistical motive. Charles XIV. had been averse to this “students’ policy,” but Oscar I. was sympathetically impressed by it. “Scandinavism” rose high in 1848, especially at the universities, and King Oscar sent a communication to the Prussian government to the effect that he was resolved to oppose any attack on the Danish isles. An army of 20,000 men was ordered to Scania to give weight to this statement. A smaller division of it was even for a time quartered in the island of Funen. The German troops which had invaded Jutland soon retired and hostilities ceased for some time. King Oscar effected an armistice of seven months in August, 1848. As a result of the war between Denmark and Germany during the next few years an agreement followed, according to which Holstein and Schleswig would for some time remain under Danish supremacy.
King Oscar had, from the commencement of his reign, tried to meet all demands for reform made by his Norwegian subjects, who were anxious to demonstrate to the world the perfect independence of their country. The king himself took the initiative steps to give Norway a national flag of its own, the two countries up to the reign of Oscar having had one common official flag. He also instituted the Norwegian knightly order of St. Olaf in resemblance to the older Swedish orders of Seraphim, Vasa, etc., and gave permission to place the name of Norway before that of Sweden in the Norwegian royal title. For these reasons public opinion in Sweden expected Norwegian concessions in regard to the Act of Union, which seemed in need of revision. A committee of men from both countries was appointed to make the revision, but the Norwegian members opposed all measures involving any change, expressing themselves in such emphatic terms that it was found best to leave the deliberations of the committee unpublished. In 1854 the Norwegian Storthing decided to abolish the office of a governor-general. King Oscar refused to sanction this law, but allowed the office to remain vacant during the rest of his reign.