The increasing consumption of spirits due to the right to distil for household needs, called forth anxiety and led to a temper ance movement conducted by warm-hearted individuals like Peter Wieselgren, a pastor. Private distilleries were done away with by the Riksdag of 1853-54 and the distilling of spirits was regulated by the State. Ever since the middle of the 19th century the question of temperance had affected parties.
The social changes which had come about in the life of Sweden necessitated a new form of electoral representation and increas ingly the general feeling was that it must be solved by giving up the division into four estates and that a Riksdag with two cham bers should be founded instead. The minister of justice, Louis De Geer (q.v.) took the lead in the matter and the Government submitted a bill in the Riksdag of 1862-63.
The new constitution was finally accepted by all four estates in the Riksdag of 1865-66; this consisted of two chambers, which, unlike the English houses of parliament, have in most respects similar powers and also exercise a veto on each other in questions of legislation ; in the event of conflicting divisions on questions of finance a joint vote is taken. Members of the first chamber were elected by the provincial assemblies (landsting) together with the town councillors of the larger towns for nine years ; the second chamber was elected by collective vote (without any division of the electors into classes), a certain census being necessary for the right to vote. In Jan. 1867 the first Riksdag of this kind was assembled and it soon became evident that it was the peasants who had benefited most by the reform; within a couple of years they dominated the second chamber and their party—the so called Lantmanna party—was a power to reckon with. The Riksdag now meets every year.
Through the influence of the finance minister, Baron J. A.
Gripenstedt, Sweden was led more in the direction of free trade, and its treaty of commerce with France in 1865 was an epoch making event in the development. All duties on grain were done away with. The right of trading was extended in 1864. Among more important reforms may be mentioned the new criminal law and the new maritime law of 1864. The wars which were in progress on the continent caused the Riksdag to grant large sums for armaments but the Government's proposal for a reorganiza tion of the national defences was rejected. After a prolonged illness Charles XV. died in Sept. 1872 and was succeeded by his brother Oscar II. (1872-1907). The most noteworthy event in
the latter's reign was the dissolution of the Union with Norway. Dissolution of the Union.—The Union plans of 1815 were never quite clear, and great doubts had always existed regarding the documents in question and their precise bearing. The Nor wegians, apprehensive of Swedish domination, had sought always to give the narrowest possible application to the provisions of the Act of Union, while the Swedes, generally speaking, sought to give them a wider application, although with increased powers for Norway.
The first great crisis arose over the question of the post of Stathallarc, or Governor, of Norway. At first this post had been held by Swedes, but as this had invited opposition they were succeeded by Norwegians. In 1859 the Storting resolved to abol ish the post altogether but in Sweden it was contended that as the post was provided for in the Act of Union it could not be done away with by Norway alone. The question was shelved for a time and in 1873 Oscar II. sanctioned the resolution of the Storting. The first great union committee met in the '405 and was followed by several smaller committees and in the year 1865-67 by a great committee which worked out a plan for a new agree ment between the two kingdoms. This was rejected however by the Storting in 1871. The position of the sovereign of the two kingdoms was now becoming extremely difficult, because modern parliamentarianism had progressed much further in Norway than in Sweden and the powers of the sovereign had consequently become much less extensive in Norway. Thus the king had been forced to make continual concessions to the Norwegians. In the year 1835 it had been decided that the premier or another member of the Norwegian Government should be called into the Swedish Norwegian ministerial council whenever questions concerning the foreign affairs of Norway alone or both kingdoms should be under discussion. In the '8os a dispute arose about this joint ministerial council. From 1891 onwards the Storting demanded Norwegian consulates for Norway. Also, it reduced the annual grant for the court. Owing to the protectionist demand of Sweden a Swedish-Norwegian joint law (dealing with recipro cal freedom from customs duties) ceased to exist in 1897, and in 1898 the king ratified a decision of the Storting to remove the Joint Union emblem in the upper right hand corner of the Nor wegian flag; it disappeared afterwards from the Swedish flag. A small union committee put forward in 1902 a proposal for sep arate consular services but joint Foreign Office. Negotiations took place and in 1903 understanding seemed to be in sight. The Swedish plan provided that the foreign minister might be either a Norwegian or a Swede. But from both sides there came charges of breach of faith and in Norway all parties demanded dissolution of the union. The Swedes were astonished when on June 7, 1905, the Storting declared the union with Sweden to be dissolved. The Riksdag acquiesced in the dissolution of the Union upon certain conditions, such as that Norway should destroy certain frontier fortresses erected near the Swedish frontier, that the regions adjoining the frontier should constitute a neutral zone without fortifications and military manoeuvres, etc. King Oscar laid down the Norwegian crown on Oct. 26,1905.