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CONSTITUTION.
193
-over, were to be held responsible to the Estates. The King was not actually
■deprived of his share in 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 the sole 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 anyone
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 all branches of the administrative government
and, in case of need, set matters to rights. The principal regulations
concerning the constitution and the mode of procedure in the Riksdag were
contained in the Constitution Acts of 1719 and 17SO and in the Organic Law
for the Riksdag of the year 1723. These laws began to be called
fundamental laws.
The "Period of Liberty" (1718—72) is interesting from its attempt to organize
a free constitution in a legislative way: it is, moreover, one the earliest attempts
of its kind in the history of modern times. The legislators, however, had by
no means a clear idea of constitutional monarchy and its character. They dealt
chiefly with time-honoured Swedish forms and ideas of government, which they
merely sought to adapt to what were felt 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 development. As
is usual in such cases, excess was countered by excess; and this was so much
the- more dangerous because the new system was defined with the utmost possible
precision in law. The Kingship had, in set terms, been stripped of well-nigh
all its prerogatives and was treated with a deep suspicion; and 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
should become discontented with this condition of things, and were disposed to
intrigue against this form of government. The Ministry (The Council of the
Realm) soon acquired the character of a mere proxy of the Estates, taking its
orders from them. Under favourable circumstances, it is true, it could enact
the role of a leader; but towards the end of the period it entirely lacked the
power of doing so. 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 the members were expressly removed from their posts
hy the Estates. As the party system took a more definite shape, the assumption
of power by one party involved, it is true, a change in the composition of the
Council; but when that took place, it came as a species of punishment and
political persecution.
The Estates had become the depository of power; and it would have been
strange if they had not exceeded the bounds assigned to them by the
fundamental laws; they soon interfered in the administration, both of Justice and of
State, in a manner that imperilled the rights and security even of individuals.
This extension of their influence became specially disastrous in the sphere of
foreign politics, which now began to depend solely upon the prevailing majority
in the Riksdag. The four-chamber system was retained; but it was this very
system — together with the great numerical strength of the Chamber of the
JNobility and the ignorance of the members of the Chamber of the Peasantry —
that brought it about that almost all affairs of any importance were entrusted
ior settlement to a Secret Committee (consisting of 100 delegates of the Estates).
As this body conducted its business under the protection afforded by strict
13—133179. Sweden. I.
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