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260 from that there is a final appeal to the supreme court, which sits at Christiania, and is composed of a judiciary and six assessors. Besides these courts there are ecclesiastical and military tribunals for the trial of offences against ecclesiastical and military law, and in time of peace an appeal may be made from the judgments of a court-martial to the supreme court, whose deliberations are assisted on such occasions by two officers of high rank named by the king. The Rigsret or high court of the realm has been already described. Its functions are strictly limited to the trial of offences against the State.

Each province is presided over by an amtmand, to whom the care of all civil matters is committed. There are eighteen amts, each of which is divided into bailiwicks, with a foged over each of them, who collects the taxes, sees that the decisions of the courts of law are executed, and generally concerns himself with the maintenance of the laws. In each parish, again, there is a tensmand, or chief constable, who acts as the deputy of the foged, preserves order, and attends to purely parochial matters, such as the superintendence of the posting stations in the parish. The executive powers, which in the country districts are vested in the fogeds, in the towns are committed to the judges of the courts of first instance. The management of the affairs of the parish is placed in the hands of a council, chosen by the peasants, which deliberates on all matters which concern the parish, such as the making of new roads, the application to the central government for assistance, and the repairing of the parish church. In like manner the provinces have their councils, the members of which are chosen by the different parishes. These provincial councils discuss matters which affect the whole province, and make representations to the Storthing or to the government.

The Norwegian Church is deeply rooted in the affections of the people, and the clergy hold a most influential position in the country districts, but in the towns their influence is less. The clergy, who are well educated and intelligent, but not learned, receive their appointments from the government, which is said to exercise its patronage well. The parishioners have no concern with the nomination of the parish priest, but seem generally to be quite satisfied with the appointments which are made. Next to theology, the Norwegian priest must be well acquainted with farming, for his emoluments consist almost entirely of the returns which he can obtain by his own skill and labor from a farm which he occupies rent-free. The effect of this combination of secular and sacred pursuits seems to be wholly good. The Norwegian priests are practical men, who combine an acquaintance with the rules of husbandry with the precepts of religion, and are saved from the spirit of a priestly caste by having to depend on their own exertions for their support, and on their superior intelligence and knowledge for their influence over their congregations. The form of Church government is episcopal, and the country is divided into six bishoprics, that of Throndhjem being an archbishopric. All civil servants must belong to the national Church, and the peasants regard this provision as one of the safeguards of the country, which they would not willingly part with; but a feeling is growing in the towns, and among the educated classes, that the exaction of such a test from civil servants is inexpedient. In the mean time, however, it is unlikely that it will be soon abolished.

Such is a sketch of the constitution of Norway, and the impression left on one's mind by a study of its various parts is, that it is of a thoroughly practical character, and that good government has been the end aimed at by its founders, rather than any elaborate system of philosophical principles, which might have proved less beneficial to the country, although more symmetrical and of greater pretence.

 

 

was accustomed to have to wait even on cold evenings a long time at his own door before it was opened to him, and he had learned to shut his ears, when at last he was admitted, to a good many sounds of scuffling feet and sharp voices, which told of hasty preparations to receive him. He did not care now to probe beyond the outside surface of decorum and order, which was indeed too thin to deceive eyes that did not court deception. There had been a time when he had stood up for his right to know everything that passed 