The king’s insistence was viewed by the people as a sign of absolutist tendencies, and naturally excited fresh alarm. In the eyes of the people the members of the opposition in the Storthing were the true champions of the rights and the independence which they had gained in 1814.
For several years the Norwegians had been celebrating the 17th of May as their day of independence, it being the anniversary of the adoption of the constitution of 1814; but as the tension between the Norwegians and the king increased, the latter began to look upon the celebration in the light of a demonstration directed against himself, The king’s absolutist tendencies. and when Collett, the minister of finance, was impeached before the supreme court of the realm for having made certain payments without the sanction of the Storthing, he also considered this as an attack upon his royal prerogatives. His irritation knew no bounds, and although Collett was acquitted by the supreme court, the king, in order to express his irritation with the Storthing and the action they had taken against one of his ministers, dissolved the national assembly with every sign of displeasure. The Swedish Viceroy at the time, Count Sandels, had tried to convince him that his prejudice against the celebration of the 17th of May was groundless, and for some years the king had made no objection to the celebration. In 1827 it was, however, celebrated in a very marked manner, and later in the same year there was a demonstration against a foolish political play called The Union, and this being privately reported to the king in as bad a light as possible, he thought that Count Sandels, who had not considered it worth while to report the occurrence, was not fitted for his post, and had him replaced by Count Beltzar Bojilaus Platen (1766–1829), an upright but narrow-minded statesman. Count Platen’s first act was to issue a proclamation warning the people against celebrating the day of independence; and in April 1828 the king, against the advice of his ministers, summoned an extraordinary Storthing, his intention being to wrest from the Storthing the supremacy it had gained in 1827. He also intended to take steps to prevent the celebration of the 17th of May, and assembled a force of 2000 Norwegian soldiers in the neighbourhood of the capital. The king arrived in Christiania soon after the opening of the extraordinary Storthing. He did not succeed, however, in his attempt to make any constitutional changes, but the Storthing met the king’s wishes with regard to the celebration of the 17th of May by deciding not to continue the celebration, and the people all over the country quietly acquiesced. The following year trouble broke out again. The students had decided to celebrate the 17th of May with a festive gathering, which, however, passed off quietly. But large masses of the people paraded the streets, singing and shouting, and gathered finally in the market-place. There was a little rioting, The “battle of the market-place.” and the police and the military eventually dispersed the people and drove them to their homes with sword and musket. This episode has become known as the “battle of the market-place,” and did much to increase the general ill-feeling against Count Platen. His health eventually broke down from disappointment and vexation at the indignities and abuse heaped upon him. He died in Christiania at the end of the year, and his post remained vacant for several years, the presidency of the Norwegian government in the meantime being taken by Collett, its oldest member.
By the July Revolution of 1830 the political situation in Europe became completely changed, and the lessons derived from that great movement reached also to Norway. The representatives of the peasantry, for whom the constitution had paved the way to become the ruling element in political life, were also beginning to Increased political power of the peasantry. distinguish themselves in the national assembly, where they now had taken up an independent position against the representatives of the official classes, who in 1814 and afterwards had played the leading and most influential part in politics. This party was now under the leadership of the able and gifted Ole Ueland, who remained a member of every Storthing from 1833 to 1869. The Storthing of 1833 was the first of the so-called “peasant Storthings.” Hitherto the peasantry had never been represented by more than twenty members, but the elections in 1833 brought their number up to forty-five, nearly half of the total representation. The attention of this new party was especially directed to the finances of the country, in the administration of which they demanded the strictest economy. They often went too far in their zeal, and thereby incurred considerable ridicule.
About this time the peasant party found a champion in the youthful poet Henrik Wergeland, who soon became one of the leaders of the “Young Norway” party. He was a republican in politics, and the most zealous upholder of the national independence of Norway and of her full equality with Sweden in the union. A strong Wergeland opposed by Welhaven. opposition to Wergeland and the peasant party was formed by the upper classes under the leadership of another rising poet and writer, Johan Sebastian Welhaven, and other talented men, who wished to retain the literary and linguistic relationship with Denmark, while Wergeland and his party wished to make the separation from Denmark as complete as possible, and in every way to encourage the growth of the national characteristics and feeling among the people. He devoted much of his time, by writing and other means, to promote the education of the people; but although he was most popular with the working and poorer classes, he was not able to form any political party around him, and at the time of his death he stood almost isolated. He died in 1845, and his opponents became now the leaders in the field of literature, and carried on the work of national reconstruction in a more restrained and quiet manner. The peasant party still continued to exist, but restricted itself principally to the assertion of local interests and the maintenance of strict economy in finance.
The violent agitation that began in 1830 died away. The tension between the king and the legislature, however, still continued, and reached its height during the session of 1836, when all the royal proposals for changes in the constitution were laid aside, without even passing through committee, and when various other steps towards upholding the independence of the country were taken. The king, in his displeasure, decided to dissolve the Storthing; but before it dispersed it proceeded to impeach Lövenskiold, one of the ministers, before the supreme court of the realm, for having advised the king to dissolve the Storthing. He was eventually sentenced to pay a fine of 10,000 kroner (about £550), but he retained his post. Collett, another minister who had greatly displeased the king by his conduct, was dismissed; but unity in the government was brought about by the appointment of Count Wedel Jarlsberg as viceroy of Norway. From this time the relations between the king and the Norwegian people began to improve, whereas in Sweden he was, in his later years, not a little disliked.
When the king’s anger had subsided, he summoned the Storthing to an extraordinary session, during which several important bills were passed. Towards the close of the session an address to the king was agreed to, in which the Storthing urged that steps should be taken to place Norway in political respects upon an equal footing with Sweden, The national flag question. especially in the conduct of diplomatic affairs with foreign countries. The same address contained a petition for the use of the national or merchant flag in all waters. According to the constitution, Norway was to have her own merchant flag, and in 1821 the Storthing had passed a resolution that the flag should be scarlet, divided into four by a blue cross with white borders. The king, however, refused his sanction to the resolution, but gave permission to use the flag in waters nearer home; but beyond Cape Finisterre the naval flag, which was really the Swedish flag, with a white cross on a red ground in the upper square, must be carried. In reply to the Storthing’s address the king in 1838 conceded the right to all merchant ships to carry the national flag in all waters. This was hailed with great rejoicings all over the country; but the question of the national flag for general use had yet to be settled. With regard to the question raised in the address of the Storthing about the conduct of
