GERMAN DESIGNS IN SWEDEN AND NORWAY
As far as insinuating, mental propaganda was concerned, Germany, as I
have said, had the advantage over 'Die dumme Schweden,' as the
Prussians always called them. 'The stupid Swedes' were the easiest
pupils of German world politics, but even the most German of the
Swedes never realised, until lately, what the Prussian dream of world
politics meant.
Before 1914, the Swedes had been led to believe that any general
European difficulty would throw them into the hands of Russia. The
constantly recurring difficulty of the Aaland Islands was before
their eyes. Look at the map of Northern Europe and observe what the
fortifying of the Aaland Islands by a foreign power means to Sweden.
We Americans do not realise that the small nations of Europe have
neither a Monroe Doctrine nor the power of enforcing one. And, so far
as Sweden was concerned, her only refuge against the power of Russia
seemed to be Germany.
When Austria made her ultimatum to Serbia, Sweden believed that her
moment for sacrifice or triumph had come. In August 1914, all
Scandinavia felt that the fate of the northern nations was at stake.
For Sweden the defeat of Germany meant the conquest of Sweden by the
Russians, for, sad to say, no little nation believed absolutely in
the good faith of a great one.
The United States, where so many Scandinavians had found a home,
what of her? Too far off, and the Swedish leaders of public opinion
knew too well what had been the fate of the attempts at the Hague
conference to abrogate the Machiavellian doctrines that have been the
basis of diplomacy almost since diplomacy became a recognised science
and art.
As for diplomacy, what had it to do with the fate of the little
nations? Scandinavia, among the rest of Europe, looked on it as a
purely commercial machine dominated essentially by local political
issues. Our State Department had a few fixed principles, but all
Europe believed that we were too ignorant of European conditions and,
more than that, too indifferent to them to be effective. The
slightest political whisper in Russia or the smallest hint from court
circles in Germany was enough to upset the equilibrium of
Scandinavian statesmen. American opinion really never counted,
because American opinion was looked on as insular. A diplomacy
labelled as 'shirt sleeve' or 'dollar' might delight those members of
Congress who had come to Washington to complete an education not yet
begun at home, but, from the European point of view, it was beneath
notice. It cannot be said that the United States was not looked on,
because of her riches and her size, with respect; but her apparent
indifference to the problem on which the peace of the world seemed,
to Europe, to depend, and her policy of changing her diplomatic
ministers or keeping them in such a condition of doubt that they kept
their eyes on home political conditions, had combined to deprive her
of importance in matters most vital to every European. This is not
written in the spirit of censure, but simply as a statement of fact.
The Swedes, the Norwegians, the Danes had flocked to our country. In
parts of the West, during some of the political campaigns, my old
and witty friend, Senator Carter, chuckling, used to quote:
'The Irish and the Dutch,
They don't amount to much,
But give me the Scan-di-na-vi-an.'
These people are a power in our political life; but they knew in
Minnesota, in Nebraska, wherever they lived in the United States,
that our country would not forcibly interfere with the designs either
of Russia or of Germany. And, in Sweden, while King Gustav and the
Conservatives saw with alarm the constant depletion of the
agricultural element in the nation by emigration to the United
States, their feeling towards our country was one of amiable
indulgence for the follies of youth. King Oscar showed this
constantly, and King Gustav went out of his way to show attentions to
our present minister, Mr. Ira Nelson Morris. Nevertheless, until
lately, American diplomacy was not taken seriously, and, when the war
opened, it was taken less seriously than ever.
Sweden, then, fearing Russia, doubtful of England, full of German
propagandists, her ruling classes looking on France as an unhappy
country governed by _roturiers_ and pedagogues, and, except in a
commercial way, where we never made the most of our opportunities,
regarding our country as negligible, Sweden, divided violently
between almost autocratic ideas and exceedingly radical ones, was in
a perilous position from 1914 to 1918. Frankly, there are no people
more delightful than the Swedes of the upper classes whom one meets
at their country houses. Kronoval, the seat of the Count and Countess
Sparre, is one of the places where the voices of both parties may be
heard. And, when one thinks of the Swedish aristocrat, one almost
says, as Talleyrand said of the _talons rouges_, 'when the old order
changes, much of the charm of life will disappear.' Under a monarchy,
life is very delightful--for the upper classes. It is no wonder that
they do not want to let go of it. It must be remembered, in dealing
with European questions, that the Swede and the Spaniard are probably
the proudest people on the earth. Another thing must not be
forgotten: the educated classes are imperial-minded. And of this
quality German intrigue makes the most.
A Scandinavian Confederacy, like the Grecian one, of which King
George of Greece dreamed, was not looked on with yearning by the
Pan-Germans. It must be remembered to the credit of King Gustav,
that, overcoming the rancour born of the separation, he made the
first move towards the meeting of the three kings at Malmö,[6] in the
beginning of the war.
[6] Malmö is a town on the Swedish side of the Sound, an hour and a
half by steamboat from Copenhagen. Lord Bothwell was imprisoned
there.
When Finland was annexed by Germany, the terror of Russia in Sweden
became less intense. Before that Sven Hedin, suspected of being a
tool of Germany, did his best to raise the threatening phantom of the
Russian terror whenever he could. The hatred and fear of Russia
revived. It was not in vain that sane-minded persons urged that
Russia would have enough to do to manage the Eastern question, to
watch Japan, to keep her designs fixed on Constantinople. The German
propaganda constantly raised the question of the fortification of the
Aaland Islands. Denmark and Norway were intensely interested in it;
it gave Count Raben-Levitzau much thought when he was Minister of
Foreign Affairs in Denmark, especially after the separation of
Norway from Sweden; and since then, it has been a burning question,
and the Foreign Office in Christiania was not untroubled. On the
question of the Aaland Islands neither the Russian nor the Swedish
diplomatists would ever speak except in conventional terms; but, when
I wanted light, I went to the cleverest man in Denmark, Count
Holstein-Ledreborg.
'De l'esprit?' he said, laughing, 'mais oui, j'ai de l'esprit. Tout
le monde le dit; but other things are said, too. Fortunately, a bad
temper does not drive out l'esprit. You are wrong; the cleverest man
in Denmark is Edward Brandès.' But this is a digression.
'The Swedes,' Count Holstein-Ledreborg said, 'are at heart
individualists. They would no more bear the German rule of living
than they would commit national suicide by throwing themselves into
the arms of Germany. England met with no success in Sweden in spite
of the tact of her envoys, because her ideas of Sweden are insular.
She scorns effective propaganda; she has never even attempted to
understand the Swedes. The bulk of the Swedes do not vote (1909). The
destinies of Sweden are in the hands of the Court. A king is still a
king in Sweden; but that will pass, and the movement of the Swedish
nation will be further and further away from the political ideas of
Germany.'
In 1911 modified liberal suffrage became a Swedish institution.
Still, the State and Church remain united. Religion is not free;
nobody can hold office but a Lutheran. The 'Young Sweden' party is
governed very largely by the ideas of the German historian,
Treitschke. The philosophy of his history is reflected in the pages
of Harald von Hjarne. He is patriotic to the core, but, whether
consciously or not, he played into the hands of the Prussian
propagandist. His history, a chronicle of the lives of Kings Charles
XII. and Gustavus Adolphus, displayed in apotheosis; and the
imperialistic idea, which carries with it militarist tendencies, is
illuminated with all the radiance of Hjarne's magic pen. Sweden must
have an adequate army.
When Norway threatened to secede, its attitude very largely due to
the bad management of the very charming and indolent King Oscar, the
Swedish army began to mobilise. The Swedes--that is the minority of
Swedes, the governing body--would not brook the thought that Norway
might become a real nation. 'We must fight!' Young Sweden said. The
Young Sweden, intolerant and imperious, did not realise that it had
Old and Young Norwegians to contend with. Now, if the Spaniard and
the Swede are the proudest folk in Europe, the Norwegian and the
Icelandic are the most stiff-necked. The Swedish pride and the
Norwegian firmness, which contains a great proportion of obstinacy,
met, and Norway became a separate monarchy with such democratic
tendencies as make American democracy seem almost despotism.
After the success of the Liberals in 1911, there was a reaction. The
German propaganda fanned the excited patriotism of the Swedish
people; 'their army was too small, their navy inefficient'; the force
of arms must be used against Russia. In fact, Russia had her Eastern
problems; the best-informed of the Swedish diplomatists admitted
this; but the propaganda was successful; the people were tricked;
nearly forty thousand farming folk and labourers marched to the
palace of King Gustav. They had made great contributions in money for
the increase of the fleet. 'That cruiser,' said a cynical naval
attaché, 'will one day fight for Germany--when the Yellow Peoples
attack us,' he added to ward off further questions.
Nevertheless the German influence made no points against the 'yellow
peoples.' It was against Russia all their bullets were aimed. The
Russians understood secret diplomacy well; but, either because they
despised the common people too much or because the writers on Russia
were too self-centred, nothing was done to meet this propaganda
effectively. The Swede was taught to believe that Germany was the
best-governed nation on the face of the earth, and Russia the worst;
that Germany would benevolently protect, while Russia was ready to
pounce malignantly. Russian literature gave no glimpse of light. It
was grey or black, and the language in which the Russian papers were
printed was an effectual barrier to the understanding of the Swedes,
who, as a matter of course, nearly all read German.
Young Sweden believed that the first step on the road to greatness
was a declaration of war with Russia. Nothing could have suited the
plans of the Pan-Germans better than this, for it meant for Sweden an
alliance with Germany. The Swedish literary man and university
professors voiced, as a rule, the pro-German opinions of Young
Sweden. There were some exceptions; but there were not many. And the
worst of all this was that these men were sincere. They were not
bribed with money. They were flattered, if you like, by German
commendations. Every historical work, every scientific treatise,
every volume of poetry of any value, found publishers and even kindly
critics in Germany. Russia was the enemy, and, from the point of view
of the intellectual Swede, illiterate.
Russia had nothing to offer except commercial opportunities at great
risks. Swedish capital might easily be invested at home or, if
necessary, there was the United States or Germany for their surplus.
The pictures of Russian life given out by the great writers who ought
to know it, were not inspiring of hope in the future of Russia. There
was no special need for the Swedish scholar to complain of the German
influence in his country since it was all in his favour. The
Government honoured him--following the German examples--and made him
part of the State. Even the English intellectuals, who, as every
Scandinavian knew, ought to have distrusted Germany, acknowledged the
superiority of German 'Kultur' without understanding that it meant,
not culture, but the worship of a Prussian apotheosis.
One of the most agreeable of Swedish professors whom I met in
Christiania at the centennial of the Christiania University, went
over the situation with me. I had come in contact with him especially
as I had been honoured by being asked to represent Georgetown
University and further honoured by being elected dean of all the
American representatives, including the Mexican and South American.
This was in 1911.
'Frankly,' I said, 'are not you Swedes putting all your eggs into one
basket? What have you to do with the Teuton and Slavic quarrel? Do
you believe for a moment that the ultra-Bismarckian policy which
controls Germany will consider you anything but a pawn in the
diplomatic game? I think that, as Swedes, you ought to help to
consolidate Scandinavia, and your diplomatists, instead of playing
into Germany's hands, ought to make it worth her while to support
her, as far as you choose. You are selling yourself too cheap.'
His eyes flashed. 'You do not talk like an American,' he said. Then
he remembered himself and became polite, even 'mannered.' 'I mean
that you talk too much like diplomatists of the old school of secret
diplomacy.'
'I believe that there are secrets in diplomacy which no diplomatist
ever tells.'
'But you would have us attempt to disintegrate Russia, and, at the
same time, play with Germany in order to make ourselves stronger.'
'I did not say so. For some reason or other, the Germans call you
"stupid Swedes."'
'Not now. That has passed. The Germans recognise our qualities,' he
added proudly. 'The English do not. The Russians look on us only as
their prey. You, being an American, are pro-Russian. I have heard
that you were particularly pro-Russian. Not,' he added hastily, 'that
you are anti-German. The German vote counts greatly in the United
States, and you could not afford to be; you might lose your "job," as
one of your ministers at Stockholm called it; but you, confess
it!--have a regard for the Russians.'
'They are interesting. We of the North owe them gratitude for their
conduct during our Civil War. Anti-German? I love the old Germany; I
love Weimar and the Tyrol; but, speaking personally, I do not love
the Prussianisation of Germany. I have written against the
_Kulturkampf_. I dislike the "Prussian Holy Ghost" who tried to rule
us back in the '80's, but my German colleagues recognise the fact
that I see good in the German people, and love many of their
qualities.'
'Still,' laughed the professor, who knows one of my best friends in
Rome, 'they say that you came abroad to live down your attacks in the
_Freeman's Journal_ on the German Holy Ghost.'
I changed the subject; that was not one of the things I had to live
down.
'Germany is our only friend, our only equal intellectually, our only
sympathetic relative by blood. The Norwegians hate us, the Danes
dislike us. We have the same ideas as the Germans, namely, that the
elect, not the merely elected, must govern. It was Martin Luther's
idea, and his idea has made Germany great.'
'But there is nothing contrary to that idea in the Northern League,
which Count Carl Carlson Bonde and other Swedes dreamed about, is
there? You Swedes seem to believe that Martin Luther was infallible
in everything but religion. He would probably like to see most of you
burned, although you are all "confirmed."'
The Professor laughed: 'Paris vaut une messe,' he quoted. 'I admit
that Luther would not approve of the religious point of view of our
educated classes; but, at least, we have a semblance of unity, while
you, like the English, have a hundred religions and only one sauce.
Our Lutheranism is a great bond with Germany, as well as our love of
science and our belief in authority. As to the Northern League, Count
Bonde was a dreamer.'
'Everybody is a dreamer in Sweden who is not affected by the
Pan-German idea. Is that it?'
'You are badly informed,' he said. 'Your Danish environment has
affected you. As long as we can control our people, we shall be
great. We have only to fear the Socialist. The decision in essential
matters must always rest with the king and the governing classes. Our
army and navy will be supported by popular vote, as in Germany; they
are the guarantees of our greatness.'
This was the opinion of most of the autocratic and military--and to
be military was to be autocratic--classes in 1911.
Later I spoke with one of the most distinguished of the Norwegians,
Professor Morgenstjern. He seemed to be an exception to the general
idolatry of German Kultur.
It was impossible to get the Swede of traditions to see that
Germany's policy was to keep the three Northern nations apart--not
only the Northern nations but the other small nations. When, just
before the war, Christian X. and Queen Alexandrina visited Belgium on
their accession the German propagandists in Scandinavia were shocked;
it was _infra dig_. It was 'French.' 'The King and Queen of Denmark
will be visiting Alsace-Lorraine and wearing the tricolour!' a
disappointed hanger-on in the German Legation said.
It was my business to find out what various Foreign Offices meant,
not what they said they meant. 'Of open diplomacy in the full sun,
there are few modern examples. Secrecy in diplomacy has become
gradually greater than it was a quarter of a century ago, not from
mere reticence on the part of ministers, but to a large extent from
the decline of interest in foreign affairs.'
The writer of this sentence in the _Contemporary Review_ alluded to
England. This lack of interest existed even more in the United
States. And then as militarism grew in Europe, one's business was to
discover what the Admiralty thought, for in Germany and Austria, even
in France, after the Dreyfus scandal, one must be able to know what
the military dictators were about. The newspapers had a way of
discovering certain facts that Foreign Offices preferred to hide. But
the most astute newspaper owing to the necessity of having a fixed
political policy and the difficulty of finding men foolish enough or
courageous enough to risk life for money, could rarely predict with
certainty what Foreign Offices really intended to do. Besides
Foreign Offices, outside of Germany, were generally 'opportunists.'
Few diplomatists of my acquaintance were deceived by the Kaiser's
professions of peace. That he wanted war seemed incredible, for he
had the reputation of counting the cost. He was indiscreet at times,
but his 'indiscretions' never led him to the extent of giving away
the intentions of the General Staff. That he wanted to turn the
Baltic into a German sea was evident. The Swedish 'activist' would
calmly inform you that, if this were true, Germany would treat
Sweden, and perhaps the other Scandinavian countries, as Great
Britain treated the United States--the Atlantic, as everybody knew,
being a 'British lake' and yet free to the United States!
There was no missing link in the German propaganda in Sweden. Prussia
used the Lutheran Church as she had tried to use the German Jesuits
and failed. The good commonsense of the Swedish common people alone
saved them from making German Kultur an integral part of their
religion. When it filtered out that, notwithstanding the close
relationship of the Tsaritza of Russia with the German Emperor, the
Prussian Camorra had determined to control Russia, to humiliate her,
to control her, there were those among the leaders who saw what this
meant. They saw Finland and the Aaland Islands Germanised, and their
resources, the product of their mines and of their factories, as much
Germany's as Krupp's output. The bourgeoisie and the common people
saw no future glory or profit in this.
The knowledge of it filtered through; the Lutheran pastor, with his
dislike of democracy, his love for the autocratic monarchy, 'all
power comes from God,' I heard him quote, without adding that St.
Paul did not say that 'All rulers come from God,'--could not
convince the hard-thinking, hard-working Swede that religion meant
subjugation to a foreign power. The Lutheran Church, which, like all
national churches, was hampered by the State, could give no
intelligent answer to his doubts, so he turned to the Social
Democrats. The governing class in Sweden seemed to take no cognisance
of the growth of democracy in the hearts of the people. Germany was
alive to it and feared it; but, in Sweden, rather than admit it and
its practical effects, the rulers ignored it, were shocked by the
great tide of emigration to the United States, yet careless of its
effects on Swedish popular opinion.
On one occasion in Copenhagen, King Gustav asked me why so many of
his people emigrated to my country. The King of Sweden is a very
serious man, not easily influenced or distracted from any subject
that interests him, and the good of his people interested him very
much. It was a difficult question to answer, for comparisons were
always odious.
'I can better tell you, sir, why your subjects prefer to remain at
home:--when they get good land cheap, and when they see the chance of
rising beyond their fathers' position in the social scale.'
He began to speak, but etiquette demanded a move. When I met him
again he returned to the subject. It was better that he should talk,
and he talked well. It became evident to me that there was little
good agricultural land in Sweden to give away, and the division
between the classes was not so impassable as I had believed. He made
that clear.
The Social Democrat in Sweden wants an equal opportunity, no wars to
be declared by the governing classes, and the abolition of the
monarchy. He is not concerned greatly with the Central Powers or the
Entente. He was glad to see the Hohenzollerns displaced, but he is
German in the sense that he is affiliated with the German Social
Democrats who, he believes, were forced to deny their principles
temporarily or they would have been thrown to the lions; and as,
above all things, he prizes a moderate amount of material comfort for
himself and his family, he will not go out of his way to be martyred;
but even he was the victim of modified German propaganda; he was too
patriotic to accept it all.
Of late, as we know, the Liberal Party has gained strength, and the
designs of a small activist military coterie were frustrated by a
series of circumstances, of which the Luxburg revelations were not
the least; but the main reason was the coquetting of the Government
with Germany, one of the signs of which was that the Allied blockade
was not treated as a fact, while the mythical blockade by Germany was
accepted as really existing.
Personally, I had respect for Dr. Hammarskjold, the Premier of the
conservative cabinet that ruled Sweden in the beginning of the war.
He was formerly a colleague in Copenhagen, and, with the exception of
Francis Hagerup, now Norwegian Minister at Stockholm, he is the
greatest jurist in Northern Europe. He is a Swede of Swedes, with all
the traditions of the over-educated Swede. Neutrality he desired
above all things--that is, as long as it could be preserved with
honour; but he evidently believed that, for the preservation of this
neutrality, it was most necessary to keep on very good terms with
Germany. Hammarskjold's point of view was more complicated, more
technical than that of Herr Branting, and it is to Herr Branting's
raising of the voice of the Swedish nation that a serious difficulty
with the Entente was avoided. Nevertheless, it would be wrong to put
down Hammarskjold as pro-German, for he is, first of all,
pro-Swedish.
Edwin Bjorkman, an expert in Swedish affairs, says, after he has paid
the compliments of an honest man to the wretched Prussian
conspiracies in Sweden:--
'For this German intriguing against supposedly friendly nations
there can be no defence. For the more constructive side of
Germany's effort to win Sweden, there is a good deal to be said,
not only in defence, but in praise. It was not wholly selfish or
hypocritical, and it was directed with an intelligence worthy of
emulation. All the best German qualities played a conspicuous and
successful part in that effort,--enthusiasm, thoroughness,
systematic thinking and acting, intellectual curiosity,
adaptability, and a constant linking of national and personal
interests.'[7]
[7] _Scribner's Magazine._
Men, like Hammarskjold, were naturally affected by an influence which
no other nation condescended to counteract. Besides, as a good Swede,
Hammarskjold knew that, in a possible conflict with Germany, Sweden
had nothing to expect, in the way of help, from the Allies. The
German propaganda had convinced many Swedes that it was England that
deprived King Oscar of Norway with the view of isolating Sweden and
assisting Russia's move to the sea.
The late Minister of Foreign Affairs, Herr Wallenberg, was regarded
as a friend of the Entente, and was less criticised than any other
member of the Government. Many of his financial interests were
supposed to be in France, and he has many warm friends in all social
circles in that country. He is a man of cosmopolitan experience. He
has the reputation of being the best-informed man in Europe on
European affairs.
Dr. E. F. Dillon, in one of his very valuable articles said: 'As
far back as March 1914, he gave it as his opinion that the friction
in the Near East would in a brief space of time culminate in a
European war.' To Dr. Dillon the English-speaking world owes the
knowledge of the points of view of certain activists, entirely
under German influence, as expressed in _Schwedische Stimmen zum
Weltkrieg--Uebersetzt mit einem Vorwart verschen von Dr. Friedrich
Steve_. The real title is best translated _Sweden's Foreign Policy in
the Light of the World War_. It was a plea for war in the interests
of Germany, representing those of Germany and Sweden as one. They
were anonymous--now that some of them have had a change of mind it is
well that their names were withheld. They were evidently pro-Germans
of all Swedish political parties. It may not be out of place to say
that the papers of Dr. Dillon, such as those printed in the
_Contemporary Review_, are documents of inestimable diplomatic-social
value.
It was the leader of the Socialists, Herr Branting, who helped to
make evident that a change had been slowly taking place among the
Swedish people. Herr Branting is of a very different type from the
generally received idea of what a Socialist is. He would not do on
the stage. In fact, like many of the constructive Socialists in
Scandinavia, he is rather more like a modern disciple of Thomas
Jefferson than of Marx or Bakounine. He knows Europe, and he brings
to the cause of democracy in Europe great power, well-digested
knowledge, and a tolerance not common in Sweden, where religious
sectarianism among the bulk of the people was as great an enemy to
political progress as the Prussian propaganda.
The most influential man in Sweden, Herr Branting, was obliged to
renew his formal adhesion to the Lutheran Church, which he had
renounced, to hold office. The strength of Herr Branting's position,
which has lately immensely increased, may be surmised from the fact
that, in 1914, the Radicals gave 462,621 votes as against 268,631.
The Government would have been wise to have heeded this warning in
time; but the men who had engineered the Activist movement, who had
worked the Swedish folk up to their demand for stronger defences and
a greater army and navy, seemed to think that Sweden was still to be
governed from the top.
The Swedes are not the kind of people who can be led hither and
thither by bread and the circus. They know how to amuse themselves
without the assistance of their Government and to earn their bread,
too; but when the Government, through its presumably pro-German
policy, seemed to be responsible for the curtailment of the
necessities of life, they turned on their leaders and read the riot
act to them. Sweden boldly defied Pan-Germanism.
A great day in Sweden was April 21st, 1917. It was a turning point in
the nation's destiny. The people took matters in their own hands.
Hjalmar Branting had forced the Swartz-Lindman Cabinet into a corner;
no more secret understandings, no more disregard of the feelings of
the voters who felt that, to help their nation intelligently, they
must know what was going on. Appeals to Charles XII. or the shade of
Gustavus Adolphus no longer counted. What Germany liked or disliked
was of no moment to Branting.
On the first of May we were all anxious in Denmark. Our Minister at
Stockholm, Mr. Ira Nelson Morris, understood the situation; he
expected no great outbreak as a result of Branting's action in the
Rigstag, revealing the existence of a secret intrigue to raise, on
the part of the Government, a guard of civilians to protect the
'privileged classes,' as the Socialists called them, against
disturbances on the part of the proletariat. Branting gave a
guarantee that no tumult among the people should take place.
Nevertheless, the German propaganda kept at work; the people were not
to be trusted. On May 1st, the party in power protected the palace
with machine guns and packed its environs with troops. It was a
rather indiscreet thing to do, since Branting had given his word for
peace, providing that the pro-German protectorate did not make war.
On May 1st at least fifty thousand of the working classes, 'the
unprivileged classes,' made their demonstration in procession quietly
and solemnly. In the provinces, on the same day, half a million
Swedes sympathetically joined in this protest against the pro-German
attitude of the Government.
When we entered the war the ruling classes declared, either privately
or publicly, that we had made a 'mistake'; they hinted that Germany
would make us see this mistake--this out of no malevolence to America
as America, but simply from a complete lack of sympathy with our
ideals. It must be remembered that an aristocracy, a bureaucracy
without privileges is as anomalous as a British Duke without estate.
The French Revolution was a protest, as we all know, against vested
privileges. When Madame Roland, the intellectual representative of a
great class, was expected to dine with the servants at a noble
woman's house, a long nail was driven into the coffin of privilege.
In Sweden the fight is on against the privileges which the higher
classes in Sweden have expected Germany to help them conserve.
On October 19th a new cabinet was formed; the people demanded a
Government which would be neutral. This was the result of the
election in September. On this result--the first real step in the
Swedish nation toward political democracy--they stand to-day.
Unrestrained or uninfluenced by Prussia, the classes of Sweden who
love their privileges, will accept the situation. The death-blow to
the landed aristocracy will doubtless be the suppression of the
majorats and the conversion of the entailed estates into cash. This
seems to be one of the fundamental intentions of the new order. The
classes who look to Germany as their model and mentor are now
non-existent--naturally!
Germany allowed to the upper classes in Sweden no intellectual
contact with the democracies of the world. The world news dripped
into Sweden carefully expurgated. Her suspicions of Russia were kept
alive as we have seen; the good feeling which existed in Denmark
towards Sweden (due to the help the Swedish troops had given when
they were quartered at Glorup, near Odense, in readiness to meet the
Prussian attack in 1848) had been gradually undermined. While Sweden
owed much of her suspicions of the other two countries to German
influence as well as her fears of Russia, Denmark was confronted with
a real danger.
Whatever progress Sweden has made towards democracy is not due to
intelligent propaganda on the part of America or England. It needed a
war to teach the Foreign Offices that diplomatic representatives have
greater duties than to be merely 'correct' and obey technical orders.
German propaganda had little influence in Norway, but German methods
have been used to an almost unbelievable extent in the attempt to
lower the morale of this self-respecting and independent people. The
German propaganda could get little hold on a nation that cared only
to be sufficient for itself in an entirely legitimate way. The
Norwegian can neither be laughed, argued, nor coerced out of an
opinion that he believes to be founded on a principle, and he looks
on all questions from the point of view of a free man thinking his
own thoughts.
German propaganda, during the war, took the form of coercion. The
ordinary influences brought to bear on Sweden would not be effective
in Norway. Socialism seemed to be less destructive to the existing
order of things in Norway than it was in Sweden, because it had fewer
obstacles to overcome. It was against the Pan-German idea that the
three Scandinavian countries should form the Northern Confederation
dreamed of by Baron Carlson Bonde and others. When the late King
Oscar of Sweden came under German influence--through all the
traditions of his family he should have been French--he began to give
the Norwegian causes of offence, and his attitude intensified their
growing hatred of all privileges founded on birth, hereditary office,
or assumption of superiority founded on extraneous circumstances. As
we know, the form of Lutheranism accepted in Norway has little effect
on the political life of the people, who, as a rule, are attached to
their special form of Protestantism because of traditions (part of
this tradition is hatred of Rome, as it is supposed to represent
imperial principles) and because it leaves them free to choose from
the Bible what suits them best. It is a mistake to imagine, as some
sociologists have, that the Lutheran Church in Norway inclined the
Norwegians to sympathy with German ideas. I have never, as yet, met a
Norwegian who seemed to associate his religion with Germany or to
imagine that he owed any regard to that country because 'the light,'
as he sometimes calls it, came to him through that German of
Germans, Martin Luther. In his mind, as far as I could see, there
seemed to be two kinds of Lutheranism--the German kind and the
Norwegian kind. I am speaking now of the people of average
education--who would dare to use the phrase 'lower classes' in
speaking of the Norwegians as we use it of the Swedes or the English?
An 'average education' means in Norway a high degree of knowledge of
what the Norwegian considers essential.
This shows that racial differences are much more potent than
religious beliefs; and yet, in considering the problems of the world
to-day, it would be vain to leave religious affairs out of the
question, worse than vain--foolish. The Crown Prince of Germany,
having studied the Life of Napoleon Bonaparte, knew this; the Kaiser,
knowing Machiavelli, understood it too well. Lutheranism in Norway is
not a political factor owing to the peculiar temperament of the
people; therefore, Germany could not make use of it. With the
intellectual classes, the independent thinkers, it has ceased to be a
factor at all. Ibsen, who was in soul a mystic, is accused of leaning
towards German philosophies even by some of his own countrymen; but
there was never a more individualistic man than he.
In my conversation with learned and intellectual Norwegians, I
discovered no leaning whatever to autocratic ideals. They were only
aristocrats in the intellectual sense.
'Even our upper classes,' said a Swede, an ardent admirer of the
ideas of the Liberal Swede, Count Hamilton, 'are changing. You ought
to know our people as you know the Danes. A nation as plastic as
ours, capable of breaking its traditions by making a king of Marshal
Bernadotte, a person not "born" has great capacities for adaptation;
and this is the reason why my country will not be divided between
Germanised aristocrats and a Socialistic proletariat.'
This, after all, represents the essential attitude of the best in
Sweden. That German ideals were propagated and well received by the
ruling classes is true, but, to generalise about any country, simply
because of the attitude of the persons one meets in society, is a
mistake that would lead a diplomatic representative into all manner
of difficulties.
To assume that Sweden could have been governed as Germany was
governed, because German is the fashionable language among the
aristocracy and the intellectuals, or because Sweden is Lutheran, or
because the university and military education is founded on German
methods, is too misleading. The Swedish folk are not the kind that
would tamely submit to the drastic rule of the autocratic
Hohenzollern.
The German attitude toward Norway was frankly antagonistic. There was
no power there to persuade the citizens of that country that all
kultur should come from above. The Norwegian is a democrat at heart.
He believes, with reason, in the industrial future of his country; he
understands what may be done with his inexhaustible supply of 'white
coal'; he knows the value of the process for seizing the nitrates
from the air. When he heard that supplies of potash had been
discovered in Spain, a distinguished Norwegian said: 'Poor Spain! The
Prussians will seize it now; but we should be willing to meet all the
Prussian fury if we could discover potash in Norway!'
It is an open secret that Norway, at the time of her separation from
Sweden, would have preferred a republican form of government. The
Powers, England and Russia and Germany, would not hear of this, and
the Norwegians consented to a very limited monarchy. German or
Russian princes were out of the question, and Prince Charles of
Denmark, now King Haakon, who had married the Princess Maud of Great
Britain and Ireland, was chosen. King Edward VII. was pleased with
this arrangement; he had no special objection to the cutting down of
monarchical prerogatives, provided the hereditary principle was
maintained, and the marriage strengthened the English influence in
Norway. As King Haakon and Queen Maud have a son--Prince Olav--the
Norwegians are content, especially as King Haakon knows well how to
hold his place with tact, sympathy, and discretion.
Norway is naturally friendly to the United States and England, and,
in spite of the Kaiser's regular summer visits, it was never at all
friendly to him. The treatment of Norway, when the Germans found that
the Norwegians were openly against their methods, was ruthless. The
plot of the German military party against the capital of Norway,
which meant the blowing up of a part of the city, has been hinted at,
but not yet fully revealed. The reports of the attempt to introduce
bombs in the shape of coals into the holds of Norwegian ships bound
to America were well founded, and the misery and wretchedness
inflicted on the families of Norwegian sailors by the U-boat
'horribleness' has made the German name detested in Norway. After the
crime of the _Lusitania_, the German Minister was publicly hissed in
Christiania.
Remaining neutral, Norwegian business men kept up such trade with the
belligerents as the U-boat on one side and the embargo on the other
permitted. War and business seem to have no scruples, and the
Norwegian merchant, like most of ours, before we joined the Allies,
felt it his duty to try to send what he could into Germany. The
British Minister at Christiania, the British Admiralty, and a
patriotic group of Norwegians did their utmost in limiting this, and,
when the United States entered the war, they were ably seconded by
the American Minister, Mr. Schmedeman. The Norwegians, in spite of
all dangers, kept their boats running, and they were shocked when the
United States tightened the embargo, with a strangle grip.
The Norwegian press openly said that we, the friend of the little
nations, had proved faithless, and pointed to their record as friends
of democracy. The American Minister, in the midst of the storm, did
an unusual thing; he published the text of the prepared agreement,
which Nansen had sent to Washington to negotiate. There was a time,
before this, when the name of our country, formerly so beloved and
revered, was execrated among the Norwegians. Mr. Schmedeman's quick
insight calmed a storm which arose from disappointment at the
stringent demands of a nation they had hitherto considered as their
best friend. This constant friendship for us was shown on all
occasions in Copenhagen by Dr. Francis Hagerup and Dr. John Irgens,
two of the most respected diplomatists in Europe. Dr. Hagerup's
reputation is widely spread in this country.
No human being could be imagined as a greater antithesis to the
Prussians than the Norwegians; the Norwegian is in love with liberty;
he is an idealistic individual; it is difficult, too, to believe that
the Norwegian, the Swede and the Dane are of the same race. The
Norwegian is as obstinate as a Lowland Scot and as practical; he is a
born politician; he calls a spade a spade, and he is not noted for
that great exterior polish which distinguishes the Swede and the
Dane of the educated classes. A Norwegian gentleman will have good
manners, but he is never 'mannered.' For frankness, which sometimes
passes for honesty, the Norwegian of the lower classes is unequalled.
This has given the Norwegian a reputation for rudeness which he
really does not deserve. He is no more rude than a child who looks
you in the eye and gives his opinion of your personal appearance
without fear or favour; it does not imply that he is unkind. There is
a story of a Norwegian shipowner, who, asked to dine with King
Haakon, found that a business engagement was more attractive, so he
telephoned: 'Hello, Mr. King, I can't come to dinner!'
A Norwegian told me, with withering scorn, the 'stupid comment' of an
'ignorant Swede' on the Norwegian character: 'You have no Niagara
Falls in Sweden, no great city like Chicago, no Red Indians!' He had
said, 'We have finer cataracts than your Niagara Falls, a magnificent
city, Stockholm, the Paris of Scandinavia, and many Red Indians, but
_we_ call them Norwegians!'
One summer day, two well-mounted German officers, probably attending
the Kaiser or making arrangements for his usual yachting trip to
Norway, came along a country road. They were splendid looking
creatures, voluminously cloaked--a wind was blowing--helmets
glittering. Our car had stopped on a side road; something was wrong.
A peasant, manipulating two great pine stems on a low, two-wheeled
cart, had barred the main road, and, as the noontide had come, sat
down to eat his breakfast. One of the officers haughtily commanded
him to clear the way, expecting evidently a frightened obedience. The
peasant put his hands in his pockets and said,--'Mr. Man, I will
move my logs when I can. First, I must eat my breakfast, you can jump
your horses over my logs; why not? Jump!'
The officer made a movement to draw his revolver; the Norwegian only
laughed.
'Besides,' he said, 'there is a wheel half off my cart; I cannot move
it quickly.'
The language of the officers was terrifying. Finally, they were
compelled to jump. Neither the sun glittering on the fierce eagles
nor the curses of the officers moved this amiable man; he drank
peacefully from his bottle of schnapps and munched his black bread
and sausage as if their great persons had never crossed his path, or,
rather, he theirs.
Neither art, literature nor music has been Germanised in Norway. Art,
of later years, has been touched by the French ultra-impressionists.
There is no humble home in the mountains that does not know Grieg.
And why? When you know Grieg and know Norway, you know that Grieg is
Norway.
Norway is the land of the free and the home of the brave. There was
no fear that German ideas would control it, and the Prussians knew
this. What is good in German methods of education the Norwegians
adopt, but they first make them Norwegian.