THE BERNADOTTES OF SWEDEN.

Otago Witness, Issue 2008, 18 August 1892, Page 39

THE BERNADOTTES OF SWEDEN.

The ever entertaining " Politikos " has something to say about Sweden which will (says a Home paper) doubtless interest our readers : —

" In the lively town of Pan, romantically situated in tho French Pyrenees, stands close by the Church of St. Jacques, a small grey one-storeyed unpretentious house. Over its door runs an Inscription, and from it the traveller may learn that Charles Jean Bernadotte,,'who became in after years King Charles XIV £ (John) of Sweden, was born in that house in 17G3. A truly romantic history that of the Bernadottes, who, thanks to an historical accident, were raised from simple obscure burghers of Pau to be rulers of the finest kingdom of Northern Europe. But if mere chance raised them to this proud position, it was .not mere chance that enabled them to retain it.

" What distinguished the Swedish Bernadotte3, and distinguishes all their descendants, is their truly noble and loving family life, whence spring grand and beautiful human beings, ennobled by this, the only truly potent factor, education. It was at the little Court of Wied that Prince Oscar first saw the woman who has been to him a true help-mate and loving consort. His meeting with her is told in his poem • Mon Repos,' the name of the Prince of Wied's family castlo. In 1857, he led to his far mountain home his ' Angel bright and good,' the Piincess Sophia of Nassau. A quiet, happy, retired life was that led by the young couple, the mother occupied with the cares of the baby boy who the following year came to charm their hearts and that of the delighted grandfather.

" Not long, however, could Prince Oscar then live the life of a simple burgher. In 1859 his father died, and his brother ascended the throne. As the new KiDg was still childless, it fell to Prince Oscar to fill the role of Crown Piiuce, and undertake all the onerous offices of that post, from which he never was relieved until his brother's sudden and unexpected death, in 1872, placed the Crown upon his own brow. His poetic gifts hence had to rest a while, but only for a while. In intervals of business, in spare moments, Oscar Frederick is always ready to use his pen. His vtry real and simple piety, too, finds an outlet in his poems. The • Easter Hymn ' can be worthily placed beside any of the best Evangelical Church songs. A German translation of these poems was by the Kirjg's express desire dedicated to the then Crown Prince Frederick William (Frederick III) as • the patron of works of peace and humanity.'

"When in 1872 the Duke of Oester Gotland (as Oscar Frederick was called till then) ascended the dual throne of Sweden and Norway, in his first address to his Riksdag he sketched the programme of the policy to which he has ever remained faithful. • Like my noble predecessors,' he said, ' I, too, have decided to choose a device. I am deeply penetrated with the sense that the Royal Crown which has fallen to me as heir is not lent to me for mere outer splendour ; rather, I know and admit that my responsible Royal mission, of which the Crown is the symbol, has been laid upon me to promote the welfare of the brother nations. May these words be my motto, " Brodrafolkens Val."' The device King Oscar chose for himself showed that he had realised of what nature would be his regal difficulties. Most earnestly, most conscientiously, has he striven to promote the welfare of the dual Scandinavian domain ; but it has been no 3asy task, nor can it be said to have been crowned with entire success. The fault, however, is not the king's, it lies inherent in the character of the position, which presents an insoluble difficulty. Two nations have been artificially put together into harness whose past historj and present aims are as far as the poles asunder.

"The one has along and varied history behind it, full of warnings and lessons — a history that tells of doughty deeds as well as of deep hurniliatioES ; the other counts its generation as a people by but few decades. Add to this a difference of language, an intense mutual jealousy, a fundamental leaning on the one side to Conservatism, on the other to Radicalism, and we have some faint idea of the problem with which King Oscar has to deal. Thus one of the first acts of the Riksdag on his accession was to cut down his moderate Civil List of 900,000 rixdollars by 100.0C0, and it is well known that the king was crowned at his own expense.

11 So far, KiDg Oscar's earnest desire to be a union king has not been realised. It is, indeed, a difficult task to rule with three chambers, of which Sweden has two, and No way one, the latter country having bj decree abolished the nobility and with it the Second House. That under these circumstances the king has never lost his personal popularity is almost marvellous, and yet so it is.

"By every means in his power King Oscar tries to get at the real requirements of his people. He travels much in the provinces, he interviews both public and private personages, he insists so far as in him lies on hearing the tiuth concerning all matters. He even often appears unexpectedly in the police courts to hear the trials himself, and frequently he exercises his Royal prerogative of pardoning if the offences be small. Since 1823 no Swedish king had availed himself of this right, and chat such actions and many

others of a like peaceful nature endear him to his subjects can easily be understood."