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172
III. CONSTITUTION AND ADMINISTRATION Of SWEDEN.
On the death of Charles XII, the period of Sweden’s greatness as a political
power came to an end, and a considerable share of the blame for the misfortunes
that had brought the country to the verge of ruin was attributed in Sweden to
the absolute monarch. To a very essential extent it was owing to the Estates of
the Realm that the restoration of the kingdom both in internal and in external
relations was effected. Without disturbing the foundations of the old fabric of
the State, which the King, the Council, and the Estates were considered to
constitute, the last-named endeavoured, merely by transposing the preponderance of
power and by other precautionary measures, to provide against a recurrence of
the abuse of the royal prerogatives. The King was still at the head of the
government, but he was not expected to issue decrees on his own judgment alone,
but to take and adopt good counsel. It was thought that this would be ensured
by the ordinance that, in case of vacancy in the Council of Realm the Estates
were to propose a list of candidates, from which the King had to choose one, and
that all important matters were to be decided by voting in the Council, at which
the King should have two votes besides a casting one. The Council was, moreover,
to be held responsible to the Estates. The King was not actually deprived of
a share in the legislation, but he was constrained to promise always to abide
by the decision of the Estates of the Realm, which consequently in actual fact
became legislative bodies. They decided on the budget estimates, moreover, and
naturally exercised the right of taxation. By the ordinance that they were to
meet at stated times, provision was made that their influence should not be
circumvented. Finally, the Estates became the highest court of appeal in
practically all questions, owing to the ordinances that any one should be permitted to
lodge a complaint with them if he considered that he had been wronged and
could not obtain redress by other means, and that the Estates had the right to
examine into the administrative government in all its branches and, in case of
need, set matters to rights. Comprehensive stipulations were made for the
organization of the mode of procedure in the Riksdag in the Constitution Acts of
1719 and 1720 and in the Organic Law for the Diet of the year 1723.
The Constitution of the State during the »Period of Liberty» (1718/72)
is an interesting study from its being the result of an attempt to arrive at
parliamentary constitution; it is, moreover, one of the earliest attempts of its kind
in the history of modern times. The legislators, however, had by no means a
clear conception of constitutional monarchy and its character. They dealt chiefly
with time-honoured Swedish forms and ideas of government, endeavouring to get
them to suit what were known to be the needs of the moment. The whole
reform wears the aspect of a reaction against the excesses of an earlier period,
excesses that had entirely broken the normal course of previous development. This
being so, explains the excess of which they on their side, as so often happens,
were guilty in response, in this case, though, of a more serious kind, since it was
defined with the utmost possible precision in set terms. Royalty had been stripped,
in so many words, of well-nigh all its prerogatives and was treated with a
suspiciousness that knew no bounds; in the so-called Royal Declarations, moreover,
a further means had been devised for fettering the hands of a new King. It was
natural that the occupants of the royal dignity became discontented with this
condition of things, and were liable to intrigue against this form of government.
The Ministry (The Council of the Realm) soon acquired the character of a proxy
of the Estates, taking its orders from them. Under favourable circumstances,
it is true, it could exercise a leading part, but towards the end of the period it
lacked the power of doing so entirely. The modern conception of a ministry,
moreover, was so far from people’s minds at that day that the Council was
considered to be permanently appointed, unless its members were expressly removed
from their posts by the Estates. As the party system came into vogue, the as-
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