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{|width="100%" her own official language, bank, accounts, currency, and flag. The king exercises the executive power through a council of state, consisting of two ministers of state and seven councillors. Two of the councillors and one minister reside near the king at Stockholm, and the remainder are at Christiania. With the consent of the council the king may declare war, make peace, and conclude and abrogate treaties. The king must pass some months of every year in Norway, and on his accession to the throne must be crowned as king of Norway at Drontheim. The judiciary comprises courts of reconciliation in every parish, the arbitrators being chosen by the householders every three years; law courts sitting once a quarter in each of the 64 Sorenskriverier into which the kingdom is divided; the Stiftsamt in the chief town of each stift, composed of three judges with assessors; and the høieste Ret, a court of last resort, in Christiania, which is composed of a president and eight assessors. Capital punishment is not inflicted. The judges are liable in damages for their decisions. The budget for 1873 showed a revenue of 6,453,000 specie dollars, and an expenditure of 6,310,000. The principal items of the annual revenue were: customs, 3,638,000 specie dollars; excise on domestic brandy, 603,000; excise on grain, 362,000; interest on active capital, 635,000; post office, 343,000; mines, 192,000; telegraph, 192,000; stamps, 135,000; tolls on bridges and roads, 169,000. The chief items of expenditure were: civil list, 127,000; storthing, 75,000; council of state and government, 206,000; religion and public instruction, 214,000; justice, 328,000; interior, 496,000; army, 1,123,000; navy (including posts and telegraph), 1,233,000; foreign affairs, 131,000; finances, 1,298,000; railway construction, 793,000; bridge and road construction, 179,000. The public debt at the end of 1873 amounted to 7,998,500 specie dollars; the active capital of the state at the end of 1872 was 10,476,300. The army consists of troops of the line, Landvœrn, civic guard, and Landstorm. In time of peace the line consists of 12,000 men, and cannot be increased without the consent of the storthing to more than 18,000. The Landvœrn is only for the defence of the country, and the civic guard for the defence of the different localities. The Landstorm is organized only in time of war. The line is filled by the conscription of young men 22 years old. The time of service is seven years in the cavalry, and in the infantry, artillery, and engineers ten years, of which five are passed in the line, two in the reserve, and three in the Landvœrn. At the end of his term of service, each subject is liable to duty in the civic guard and the Landstorm until 45 years old. The navy in 1873 consisted of 27 steamers, of 2,670 aggregate horse power and 151 guns, and two sailing vessels, of 24 guns. Four of the steamers are monitors of two guns each. There are
 * width="5%"|510
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 * } with the Norwegian army. Norway preserves

also 57 gunboats, propelled by oars, carrying 114 guns, and 35 smaller ones carrying 35 guns.—The history of Norway prior to the 7th century rests upon tradition. The descendants of Odin are represented to have been the first kings, the earliest whose name has been transmitted to us being Sœming. Nor, the scion of an ancient Finnish family, established himself upon the site of modern Drontheim early in the 4th century, and subjugated the neighboring territory. Authentic history begins with Harald Harfager or the Fair-Haired, who subdued the petty kings or jarls of Norway, and united the tribes as a nation (A. D. 863-933). In his conquest he is said to have been animated by the love of Gyda, daughter of the jarl of Hardaland, who vowed not to wed him until he had subjugated the whole country. His victories induced many of the defeated princes to emigrate, and hence began the more famous maritime and piratical adventures of the Northmen. (See .) His son Haco the Good, who had been educated in England at the court of Athelstan, introduced Christianity; but the old religion was not completely eradicated until three centuries later. Olaf or Olaus I., who came to the throne in 995 after a successful revolt, destroyed the pagan temples, and laid the foundations of Drontheim. He was killed in battle with the Danes, and for fifteen years following Norway was a prey to Swedish and Danish marauders. In 1015 Olaf II. (St. Olaf) determined to complete the work of his predecessor, and persecuted the pagans, though with less cruelty than Olaf I. In 1028 Canute the Great of Denmark and England landed in Norway, drove Olaf out of the kingdom, and was elected king. Olaf subsequently returned with an army, and was defeated and slain at Stikklestad in 1030. Canute deputed his son Sweyn to govern Norway, but after the death of his father Sweyn was driven out by Magnus I., the son of St. Olaf. Harald III., surnamed Hardrada from his severe discipline (1047-1066), invaded England, and, after capturing York, was slain in battle by the English king Harold II. at Stamford Bridge, in Yorkshire, Sept. 25, 1066. His grandson Magnus III. (1093-1103) conquered the isle of Man, the Shetlands, Orkneys, and Hebrides, and invaded Ireland, where he was killed in battle. His son Sigurd I., the great hero of Scandinavian song, is famous for various exploits against the Moors in Portugal and at sea, and for a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, where he offered his arms to Baldwin, and with him reduced and plundered Sidon. His death (1130) was followed by 54 years of civil war, interrupted only temporarily by the efforts of the English cardinal Nicholas Breakspear, afterward Pope Adrian IV., who came to establish an archbishopric at Drontheim, and instituted many excellent reforms. Order was restored by Sverrer in 1184. His illegitimate son Haco IV. was succeeded by Guttorm and Haco V. (called by some of the