b° ° k amounts to about i and in thefmaller to cs. a s . or 2J. 6ii.
V I I . <- • i— , -per day during their attendance at the diet.
The number o f members who.reprefented this order was
never precifely the fame. Each ftaple town has indeed the
right o f fending tw o ; fome of the largeft, fuch as Gothe-
borg, Nordkioping, Geffle, and a few others, three; and
Stockholm always deputed ten but fometimes one or two
fmall towns joined to elect only one deputy; and at other
times each appointeditsown members. The ufual number
leldom fell fhort of 100, and never exceeded 200.
IV. The fourth houfe is that o f the Peafants, whofe re-
prefentatives are chofen .by, and from, the following order
o f fubjedts.
The definition o f a peafant is a farmer employed in agri*
.culture, poifeifing land o f a certain tenure, who lias never
followed any trade, or enjoyed any civil office. This defcrip-
tion includes only thofe .whofe anceftors were alfo farmers,
and does.not-entitle-either nobles, citizens, or even country
gentlemen, though they may purchafe the peafant’s eftate,
either to vote, or to be returned a member.
The.land qualifying th e farmer, who is a peafant, to be
an elector, muft be either crown land, or his own property.
The moft valuable o f thefe eftates may be worthy 1300,
and the pooreft about £30. I f the land is pofieffed by two or
.more peafants, the vote is fplit among the feveral proprietors,
each enjoyingthat iliare o f the vote which is proportionate
to his Share of the farm - f b u t each o f them is qualified to
b e a reprefentative.
* O f th is number fou r are ele&'ed from f T h u s a peafant h a vin g o f an eflate
th e ma y o r and aldermen,, two from the qu a lify in g fo r jc vo te , h i i i o f a v o te :
who.’ efale merch an ts , two from reta il /and thefe fractions f r e all ad d ed tog e tlier ,
:tra.clei;s- and two from perfons en g a g ed .in w h ich freq u en tly makes a n ' ’election for a
jju in4ic r a f t .trades:. ' , mem b er o f the diet a very complicated bn-
• liiaefs.
T h e peafants who thus-enjoy the privilege o f nominating c ^;AiPdeputies,
or o f being eledted themfelves, may be divided into -— »_-
three claffes: i . Peafants whofe farms confift o f crown
lands, which they enjoy for life upon payment o f an annual
quit-rent, and from which they cannot be removed but for
being formally proved guilty of having negleCted their culture.
Upon the death o f the proprietor the leafe is almoil
always granted to the eldeft fon. 2. and 3. Peafants who
have bought, at fix years’ purchafe, either from the crown,
or the nobility, the perpetuity o f their farms on the payment
of a quit-rent.
The mode o f election is as follows. The writ being ifiued
to the governor of the province, he fends it to the county
judges, each o f whom fummons the peafants within his jurisdiction
to meet in the court o f juftice, and in his prefence,
on the day appointed for the election. The members are
chofen by the majority o f voices. The conffituents join ill
contributing the fum o f three, four, or five ihillings per day
towards defraying the expences o f their deputy at the diet.
The eledtors who ufually affemble in each diftrict are feldottl
lefs than 30, or more than to o . The number .of repre-
fentatives in the-houfe o f peafants is extremely uncertain,
.as two diftriCts occasionally unite in fending only one deputy,
and at other times eledt tw o ; but, upon an average, they
ufually amount to about 100.
It -is a very remarkable circumftance, that, in a conftitu-
tion fo free as that o f Sweden, in which even the peasants,
as landholders, are - returned members to the diet,
the country gentlemen., be their'landed property ever lo
large, are not reprefented in the Slates •, of the kingdom %
* T h e renfon o f the cotintry g entlemen c o n f tk u r io h o f Sweden ; b y which the in ha-
being excluded from a lf ih are in the leg ifla -- .bitants w e re , as in moft o th er countries p.f
l|on> was, that the form o f government eftay E u ro p e / divided into nobles, c le r g y , citi*
a«iihed in 1720, was l’auudcd cn the ancient ze n s , and peafants,
Von. IL. C c c have