family.[a]




CHAPTER II

NORWAY IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY


As early as 1790 negotiations took place between Count Armfeldt on
behalf of Gustavus III of Sweden and various patriotic and influential
Norwegians with a view to effecting a union between Norway and Sweden
on equal terms, but the Norwegian negotiators expressed themselves
unwilling to accept for Norway the government prevailing in Sweden. A
minority of the patriots thought that the Danish yoke could only be
broken by means of a union with Sweden, while a majority aimed at
nothing less than absolute independence at any cost.

Such was the condition of Norway when by the treaty of Kiel (Jan.
14, 1814) the allies compelled the king of Denmark to cede Norway to
Sweden and made Charles John Bernadotte crown prince of Sweden and
Norway. The Norwegians denied the right of Denmark to Norway, refused
to recognize the treaty of Kiel as having any binding force on them,
as they were not parties to it, and invited Prince Christian Frederick
of Denmark to accept the Norwegian throne from its people and to
govern pursuant to a constitution adopted at Eidsvold, May 17, 1814.
Among the provisions of this instrument are the following: That Norway
should be a limited hereditary monarchy, independent and indivisible,
whose ruler should be called a king; that all legislative power