ded in the acquisition of Norway. The Danes were beaten and their king
disheartened, and in the peace of 1814 he ceded Norway to Sweden,
receiving Swedish Pomerania in exchange.

For centuries Sweden had sought to absorb Norway, and now, by the action
of this crown prince from a foreign land, the result seemed achieved. But
the brave Norwegians themselves remained to be dealt with. They did not
propose, if they could avoid it, to be forced into vassalage to the
Swedes. A party arose in favor of the independence of Norway, a
government was formed, and their Danish governor, Prince Christian
Frederick, was elected king of Norway.

It was a hasty act, which could not be sustained against the trained army
of Sweden. Norway was poor, her population small, her defences out of
order, her army made up of raw recruits under untried officers, yet the
old viking blood flowed in the veins of the people and they were bent on
striking for their freedom.

Bernadotte returned to Sweden in the summer of 1814 and at once led his
army into Norway. Little fighting took place, the Swedish crown prince
showing himself favorably disposed, and peace and union finally came,
Charles XIII. of Sweden being elected king of Norway. Yet it was not as a
subject nation, but as an independent and equal kingdom that Norway
entered this union. All her old rights and privileges were retained and
the government remained free from any interference on the part of Sweden.

It was to the wisdom of Bernadotte that this result was due. An enforced
union, he knew, would yield only hatred and bitterness, and to drive a
brave people to the verge of despair was not the way to bring them into
the position of satisfied subjects. Norway remained as free as ever in
her history, dwelling side by side with Sweden, with one king over both
countries.

In 1818 the weak Charles XIII. died and the strong Bernadotte, or Charles
John, ascended the throne as Charles XIV. The remainder of his reign was
one of peace and growing prosperity, and when he died in 1844, leaving
the throne to his son Oscar, the grateful people of Sweden felt that they
owed much to their soldier king.

_THE DISMEMBERMENT OF DENMARK._

The time once was when, as we have seen, all Scandinavia, and England
also, were governed by Danish kings, and Denmark was one of the great
powers of Europe. Since that proud time the power of the Danish throne
has steadily declined, until now it is but the sha