The ancient Scandinavian peninsula, land of the Scald and the Rune, with its Vikings and Beisckers, has sent down to us many a legend of war and conquest, but few of social manners or moral relations. The high esteem in which the ancient Germans held their women, and the affinity of laws and customs between the Norsemen and the Teutons, justify us in believing that the blue-eyed maids of the Scandinavian heroes were as much respected for virtue as beloved for beauty. The eternal virgins in the Walhalla of Western mythology were not associated with the grosser pleasures with which the impure fancy of the Koran invested the houris of the Mohammedan Paradise; and the Norsemen, through their posterity, the Normans, introduced, among the other amenities of chivalry, that prominent obligation of true knighthood, “devoir aux dames,” perhaps not the least humanizing incident of the institution.
Passing, by a long stride, at once to modern times, we find in the joint kingdom of Sweden and Norway two territories as distinct in their social condition as they are in their geographical divisions. Norway has always been remarkable for a simple and hardy population of fishermen and small farmers, elements in the highest degree favorable to virtue and independence, and their poverty and isolation from the continental interests of Europe have exempted them from politics and war. Sweden, on the other hand, though not much wealthier as a nation, has had an hereditary nobility, and the ambition and ability of some of her monarchs, especially of the great Gustavus, caused her to play a part in history wholly disproportionate to her territorial importance. If, however, the historical significance of Sweden be somewhat greater than that of the less pretentious sister kingdom, statistics do not accord to the former the same estimation, in point of morals, as they concede to the latter.
The average of illegitimate births, though not infallible, is generally accepted as a fair test of the immorality of a people. Taken by this standard, Sweden ranks lower than almost any country of Europe. But if the character of the general population be indifferent, that of Stockholm “out-Herods Herod.”
In Stockholm, in 1838, there were 1137 illegitimate to 1577 legitimate; in 1839 there were 1074 illegitimate to 1492 legitimate births.
The average of illegitimate to other births in the capital and throughout the country was as follows:[286]
| 1835. | 1838. | 1839. | ||||
| In Stockholm | 1 in | 2·44 | 1 in | 2·47 | 1 in | 2·38 |
| In other towns | 1 in | 6·18 | 1 in | 6·18 | 1 in | 6·40 |
| In the country | 1 in | 20·41 | 1 in | 20·01 | 1 in | 20·01 |
| Throughout the kingdom | 1 in | 15·20 | 1 in | 14·69 | 1 in | 14·94 |
As regards the average of the whole kingdom, the proportion is much the same as that of England and France. What, then, must be the condition of the towns, and, in particular, of the capital?[287] The figures are such as to justify the allegation against Stockholm of being the most immoral capital in Europe, and also the presumption that the late decrease in its population, from which it is but recently recovering, is a direct consequence of the vice that stains it.
With so large an amount of illegitimacy, it is not surprising that infanticide should be of common occurrence. The penalty of this crime is death, although, from a growing aversion to capital punishment, it is generally commuted.
There are numerous foundling hospitals throughout the kingdom of Sweden; one in particular, the Stora Barnhorst in Stockholm, established by Gustavus Adolphus, originally intended for the children of military men of broken health and fortunes. It has been perverted from the simplicity of its original foundation, and now receives children of all comers, who pay an entrance fee of about thirty-five dollars. No questions are asked on the presentation of an infant to the asylum, and, excepting the fee, it is in no respect different from the ordinary foundling hospitals. This very fee, however, it is considered by some writers, makes all the difference, as it in some measure justifies those parents who, having adequate means, choose to release themselves of the care and expense of their offspring, and who use this payment as a salve to their consciences, considering that they have to that extent done their duty. The Stora Barnhorst is wealthy, having an income of above one hundred and fifty thousand dollars per annum.
In 1836, prostitution was forbidden, by express enactment, throughout all Sweden, and women who had not a legally recognized occupation were liable to imprisonment as disorderly characters. The prostitute, of course, came within the category. It was asserted at the time that there was no common prostitution, but a counter statement was made by the jurist Angelot, who affirmed that every house of entertainment was a brothel, and every servant a loose woman.