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successor, Oscar I, hastened to comply with several of the wishes
expressed by the Norwegians. He immediately decided, for instance,
that Norway’s name shonld stand first in all documents concerning
the internal government of that kingdom. After allowing the
union-committee to lay before him their opinion concerning the
Norwegian arms and union-flag, he resolved, on the 20th June, 1844,
that both Norway and Sweden should have their national flag as
naval flag, with the badge of union next the pole. At the same
time it was decided that the merchant-flag of both kingdoms should
bear the badge of union, and that only ships sailing under this
flag could claim the protection of the state. The arms of Norway
were immediately after altered by the substitution of an axe for
the halberd held by the lion. No further results appeared from
the labours of the first union-committee. It did, indeed, at last
bring forward a plan for a new Act of Union, and the Norwegian
government gave their opinion upon it; but both were put on one
side by the Swedish government.
Both the latter years of Carl Johan’s reign, and the whole
of King Oscar’s reign are marked by the carrying out of important
legislative work, and reforms in the municipal self-government, in
intellectual freedom, in means of communication, and in trade.
The conditions of the people especially were considerably improved
in Oscar I’s time by quiet, but hard work, which was still further
aided by a peaceful policy. The united kingdoms escaped being
mixed up in the European wars, although it was once or twice
difficult to keep out of them, e.g. in the Holstein rebellion in
1848—51, and the Crimean War (1854—56). On the other hand,
the country was not unmoved by the great financial crises that
passed over Europe after the February revolution and the Crimean
War. In connection with the former of these, there was an
agitation of a socialistic character got up among workmen, which
caused some uneasiness, but was quelled by the imprisonment and
conviction of the leaders. It acquired its greatest significance from
the fact that it drove in the first wedge between the peasant groups,
and caused a division which was most prominent in the latter part
of King Oscar’s reign. The bureaucratic party who had joined the
king, now found a support in the large farmers of the east country,
the latter being opposed to the representatives of the small farmers
who lived mostly in the west. These were joined by a liberal fraction,
nick-named the «lawyer-party», and led by Johan Sverdrup.
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