great as in the whole o f Great Britain and Ireland. Hence the great
power o f the nobility. Sweden is in fact a great aristocracy. To this
may be ascribed the unsteadiness o f the government, and the numerous
revolutions to which it has been subjected. The nobility all possess
the same general privileges, which consist in an exemption from the
poll-tax, and in the capacity o f holding various civil employments
about the king’s person and court, which cannot be filled by any o f the
lower orders. The head of every noble family is a member o f the
Diet, and represents the whole of his family. So that the number of
iioblemen who have a seat in the Diet amounts to about 1200.
2. The second House of the Diet consists of the Clergy. The religion
in Sweden is the Lutheran: and the different orders o f clergy
are bishops; domprosts or deans; prosts or archdeacons; pastors or
rectors; and eomntinisters, or perpetual curates. Hiere are twelve
dioceses; namely, one archbishopric and eleven bishoprics. These
are the archbishopric o f Upsala, and the bishoprics o f Hernbsands,
Strángnas, Vesteros, Carlstads, Linköping, Raimare, Yexio, Skara,
Gottenburg, Lunds, and Visby. There are 17« archdeacons, and 3,620
rectors and perpetual curates. Before the separation of ¡Finland from
Sweden, the whole of the clergy, including women and children,
amounted to ig20i.
The representatives of the clergy consist of the twelve bishops who
aTe members o f the Diet, ex-officio, and a certain number o f ecclesiastics
who are elected by the rest. When the king’s writ for the
meeting of the Diet is issued, the ecclesiastical court o f each diocese
sends a circular letter to the archdeacon of a district having the right
o f -election, who communicates the summons to the clergymen of
the different parishes. Every person possessed o f a benefice, and all
the masters o f the royal schools, have the right both of electing and
being elected. The election is decided by a majority o f votes. The
bishops are usually paid from fifteen shillings a day to ten Shillings; and
the inferior clergy from six shillings to five shillings during the continuance
of the Diet, by the diocese and the members of the district
which has elected them. The number o f representatives o í the clergy
is uncertain, because each district may either send up a representative
o f its own, or join with the neighbouring district and send one between
them. They usually vary from fifty to about eighty.
_ 3. The third House o f the Diet consists o f the Peasants, a class of
men that do not exist at all in Great Britain, and therefore require to
be particularly explained. In Sweden there is no class o f men equivalent
to our British farmers; that is to say, men who pay a certain
annual rent to the proprietor of the farm, in order to be allowed to
cultivate it. The only farmers in Sweden are either proprietors o f the
land, similar to our country gentlemen, or they are peasants. How a
Swedish peasant is a man employed in agriculture, possessing land o f
a certain tenure, who has never followed a trade nor enjoyed a civil
office. So that a peasant is a man whose ancestors have been always
farmers. Neither a nobleman, citizen, or country gentleman, though
he may purchase the peasant’s estate, is considered as a peasant; nor
is he entitled to be elected a representative o f the peasants, nor to
vote at such an election. The land qualifying a peasant to vote must
be either erown land or his own property. The value o f such lands o f
course must differ enormously.
Before the separation o f Finland from Sweden, the whole body o f
peasants including doubtless their servants, amounted to the numbers
contained ki the following table:
Married. Widowers.' Widows.
Do. under 15 years
Unmarried above
15 years of age.
of age. Total.
Males. Females.
1
Males. I Females. Males, i Females.
*37802 438540 «4602 1 10221* 302816| 314616 ¡42303-81 424977 2,478,605
But nearly a third part o f this number must be subtracted in consequence
o f the separation of Finland.
The peasants may be divided into two classes, l. Those who are
possessed of crown lands, which they enjoy for life, on the payment of
a certain quit rent. On the death o f such a peasant the lease is almost
always granted to his eldest son. 2. Peasants who have bought - the
perpetuity o f their farms, either from the crown or the nobility, at six
years purchase, on the payment of a quit rent. So that Swedish pea