_War With Sweden--Union of November 4, 1814_
After the final defeat of Napoleon, the allied powers, Russia, Prussia,
Austria, and England, granted the request of Charles John and promised
to urge Norway to accept the supremacy of Sweden. The special envoys
of the powers arrived in Christiania, June 30, 1814, bringing with
them, besides their instructions from their respective governments, a
letter from the Danish king to Christian Frederick, in which the latter
was again commanded, under pain of being disinherited and otherwise
punished, to abdicate and return to Denmark. The day after their
arrival the commissioners had an audience with King Christian Frederick
and acquainted him with the intention of the powers to demand the
acceptance of the provisions in the treaty of Kiel. The king declared
himself willing to convene the Storthing (Parliament) in extra session,
in order to open negotiations for a peaceable union, if, in the
meantime, the powers would guarantee an armistice and allow the free
importation of breadstuffs; but when the commissioners demanded that
the Norwegians should surrender to the mercy of the Swedish king, and
allow the forts to be occupied by Swedish soldiers, the king declined
to accept their propositions, and war commenced. The Norwegian army,
which stood along the frontier, was poorly equipped and ill-provided
with clothing and provisions. The king himself was no great soldier,
and the information that all the foreign powers were against Norway
had considerably lessened his courage. The Swedish fleet, under the
personal command of Charles XIII., took up a position outside of
Fredericksstad, which was insufficiently defended and was compelled
to surrender, August 4. About the same time, the main Swedish army,
under Charles John, crossed the frontier south of Frederickshald. One
division of it laid siege to the fortress of Frederickssteen, which
was bravely defended by General Ohme. The Norwegian army was eager
for a general action; but the king, who thought this would be unwise,
ordered a retreat across the Glommen River. North in Soloer, where
Lieutenant-Colonel Krebs had the command, the Norwegian forces were
much more successful. A Swedish force, under General Gahn, crossed the
frontier and marched in the direction of Kongsvinger, but was defeated
by the Norwegians at Lier, August 2. The Norwegians, under Col. Krebs,
afterward attacked the Swedes at Matrand and drove them back across the
frontier, August 5. The battle at Matrand was the most bloody encounter
during this war. General Gahn's loss, in killed, wounded, or captured,
was sixteen officers, seven non-commissioned officers and three hundred
and twelve men. The Norwegian loss, in killed, wounded or captured,
was five officers, four non-commissioned officers and one hundred and
thirty men. The number of dead was about equal on both sides, about
fifty men; of the wounded there was sixty-four on the Norwegian, and
one hundred and twenty-six on the Swedish side.
On August 5, Charles John took steps to communicate with the
Norwegians with a view to the arrangement of an armistice, offering
to recognize the Norwegian Constitution of May 17, if Norway would
agree to a union with Sweden. The result at these negotiations was the
Convention signed at Moss, August 14, by which Christian Frederick
promised to call an extra session at the Storthing to negotiate with
the Swedish king through commissioners appointed by him; he also
solemnly agreed to surrender the executive power intrusted to him into
the hands of the nation; in the meantime the country east of the river
Glommen and the fortress of Frederickssteen were to be occupied by
Swedish troops. According to a secret agreement Christian Frederick
was, under some pretext, to immediately transfer the executive power
to the ministers, who were to conduct the necessary functions of the
government until the Storthing had definitely decided upon the future
form of government. This ended the war, which had not been a very
bloody one. The loss, in killed, wounded, and captured, was about equal
on both sides; namely, about four hundred dead and wounded and three
hundred prisoners.
On the 16th day of August Christian Frederick issued a proclamation
ordering elections to an extraordinary Storthing to be opened at
Christiania, October 7, and on August 19 he ordered the cabinet to
take charge of the executive power, signing all executive acts "by
high command." The Storthing met at the time designated, the number of
representatives being eighty, of whom about twenty had been members of
the diet at Eidsvold. The Storthing was solemnly opened by the oldest
minister in the name of King Christian Frederick. Two days later a
committee of the Storthing, at the request of the king, had an audience
with him at his residence on Bygdö, when he surrendered the Norwegian
crown into the hands of the people, and for himself and his descendants
relinquished all rights to the country. On the same day he went on
board a ship and sailed from Norway.[14] The Storthing now, under the
presidency of Judge Christie, began negotiations with the commissioners
of the Swedish king, and on the 20th day of October it was decided,
by seventy-two votes in the affirmative to five in the negative, that
Norway as an independent state, upon certain conditions, was to be
united with Sweden under the same king. The changes in the Constitution
made necessary by reason of the union with Sweden were then made and
finally ratified, November 4, 1814, and, on the same day, Charles XIII.
was unanimously elected king of Norway.
[14] During the next twenty-five years Christian Frederick led an
unnoticed life in Denmark and was soon forgotten by the Norwegian
people. In 1839 he ascended the Danish throne as Christian VIII. He
died in 1848.
A committee of the Storthing, headed by Count Wedel-Jarlsberg, was sent
to Crown Prince Charles John at Frederickshald, to inform him of the
action of the Storthing; whereupon Charles John and his son, Prince
Oscar, proceeded to Christiania and delivered to the Storthing the
king's written oath to the Constitution. As soon as the report of the
action of the Norwegian Storthing had reached Stockholm, the Swedish
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Lars von Engeström, despatched a circular
to each of the Swedish representatives at the foreign courts, informing
them of the union of Norway and Sweden. In this circular the minister
said:
"The Norwegian Storthing having, of its own accord and by a free
election, chosen his Swedish majesty as king of Norway, it is plain
that it is not to the provisions of the treaty of Kiel, but to the
confidence of the Norwegian people, that we owe the Union of Norway
with Sweden."