nderating political question was that of substituting
for this essentially mediaeval arrangement a modern bicameral
legislative system. In 1840 the Riksdag itself insisted upon a change,
but the king, Charles XIV., refused to give his assent. During the
reign of Oscar I. (1844-1859) several proposals were forthcoming, but
none met with acceptance. It was left to Charles XV. (1859-1872), in
collaboration with his able minister of justice, Baron Louis Gerhard
de Geer, to effect the much-needed reform. In January, 1863, the
Government submitted to the Estates a measure whereby there was to be
constituted a Riksdag of two chambers--an upper one, which should be
essentially an aristocratic senate, and a lower, whose members should
be elected triennially by the people. In 1865 all of the four estates
acted favorably upon the bill and, January 22, 1866, the measure was
promulgated by the crown as an integral part of the fundamental law of
the kingdom. September 1, 1866, there were held the first national
elections under the new system. Since 1866 the upper chamber has
represented principally the old estates of the nobles and clergy, and
the lower has comprised the combined representatives of the townsmen
and peasants. The one has been conservative, and even aristocratic;
the other, essentially democratic. But the reform has contributed
greatly to the breaking up of the ancient rigidity of the Swedish
constitution and has opened the way for a parliamentary leadership on
the part of the commons which was impossible so long as each of four
orders was in possession of an equal voice and vote in legislative
business.

*654. The Upper Chamber.*--The membership of both houses of the Riksdag
is wholly elective, that of the upper indirectly, and that of the (p. 592)
lower directly, by the people. The upper house consists of 150 members
chosen by ballot, after the principle of proportional representation,
for a term of six years by the twenty-five Landsthings, or provincial
representative assemblies, and by the corporations of five of the
larger towns--Stockholm, Goeteborg, Malmoe, Norrkoeping, and Gaefle. These
electoral bodies are arranged in six groups, in one of which an
election takes place in September of every year. The franchise
arrangements under which they are themselves chosen are still
determined principally with reference to property or income, but they
are no longer so undemocratic as they were prior to the electoral
ref