not Power to administer an Oath nor to inflict any Corporal Punishment From them there lies an Appeal to the respective National Court and in some Cases to the King as in all other matters For matters relating to the Mines besides Inferior Courts and Officers settled in the respective parts of the Countrey a General Court called the College of the Mines sits at Stockholm of which most commonly the President of the Treasury is chief with a Vice-President and other Assessors the Laws in this regard are more exact and particular than in other matters and for the most part Justice very carefully administred The Power of executing all Judicial Sentences is lodged in the Governors of the Provinces the Stadtholders of Stockholm and other places and from them derived to Inferior Officers who are accountable to the National Courts whither they may be Convened and punish'd upon plain Proof of Default But the Proof being difficult and Ministers of Justice apt to favour each other they take great liberty to delay Execution or to arbitrate and put their own sense upon Sentences so that this part of Justice is administred the worst of all others and has an Influence not only at home but lessens the Credit of the Suedish Subjects abroad against whom Justice cannot be obtained without great difficulty The ordinary Charges of Law-Suits are no where more moderate than in Sueden the greatest burthen arising from a late Constitution That all Declarations Acts and Sentences must be written upon Seal'd Paper of different Prizes from Two pence to Seven Shillings a Sheet according to the Quality of the Cause the Benefit of which accrues to the King and is computed to bring in about 3000 l. a year other Charges are very few every man being permitted in Criminal Actions compelled to plead his own Cause Accordingly the Practice of the Law is below a Gentleman and rather the Refuge than the Choice of meaner persons who are very few in Number and for the most part very poor The Custom of a Jury of Twelve men is so ancient in Sueden that their Writers pretend it had its Original among them and was thence derived to other Nations but at present it is disused every where except only in the Lower Courts in the Country and there the Jury-men are for Life and have Salaries they have this peculiar to themselves that among them there must be an unanimous Concurrence to determine a Cause which in other Courts is done by a Majority of Voices Titles to Estates are rendred more secure and less subject to Contests by the Registers that are kept of all Sales and Alienations as well as of other Engagements of them The Purchaser running the hazard of having an After-Bargain take place of his if he omit the Recording of his Transaction in the proper Court In Criminal Matters where the Fact is not very evident or where the Judges are very favourable the Defendant is admitted to purge himself by Oath to which is oftentimes added the Oath of Six or Twelve other men who are all Vouchers of his Integrity Treason Murther Double Adultrey Burning of Houses Witchcraft and the like Heinous Crimes are punished with Death which is executed by hanging of Men and beheading of Women to which burning alive or dead quartering and hanging in Chains is sometimes added according to the Nature of the Crime Criminals of the Gentry and Nobility are usually shot to Death The Punishment of Stealing is of late instead of Death changed into a kind of perpetual Slavery the Guilty party being condemned to work all his Life for ☞ the King in making Fortifications or other Drudgery and always has a Collar of Iron about his Neck with a Bow coming over his Head to which is a Bell fastened that rings as he goes along Duels between Gentlemen if the one Party be kill'd are punish'd with the Survivor's Death and a Note of Infamy upon the Memory of both if neither be kill'd they are both condemned to a Prison with Bread and Water for two years to which is added a Fine of 1000 Crowns or one years Imprisonment and 2000 Crowns Reparation of Honour in case of Affront is referred to the respective National Court where Recantation and Publick Begging of Pardon is usually inflicted Estates as well acquired as inherited descend to the Children in equal Portions of which a Son has two and a Daughter one nor is it in the power of the Parents to alter this Proportion without the Intervention of a Judicial Sentence in case of their Children's disobedience only they may bequeath a Tenth of their acquired Possessions to such Child or other as they will favour Where an Estate descends incumbred with Debts the Heir usually takes two or three Months time as the Law allows to search into the Condition of the Deceased's Estate and then either accepts the Inheritance or leaves it to the Law which in that case Administers as lately besides other Instances was practised upon the decease of the late Rix Drost Count Magnus De la Gardier the King's Unkle CHAP. IV. Of the Natural Inclinations and Dispositions of the Suedes THE Nature of the Climate which affords a very healthful and dry as well as sharp Air disposes the Natives to a vigorous Constitution and that confirm'd by a hardy Education course Fare hard Lodgings c. qualifies them to endure whatever uneasy Circumstances befal them better than those that are born in a more moderate Country and more indulgently bred But on the other side it seems as if the severity of the Clime should in a manner cramp the Faculties of their Bodies and indispose them for any great degree of Dexterity and Nimbleness and the same may be said in a great measure of their Minds too which seldom are found endued with any eminent share of Vivacity or Pregnancy of Wit yet by Industry Experience and Travelling not a few of them arrive at a mature and solid Judgment being led by their Genius to serious things in which they that have Patience to go through with the Studies they apply themselves to become Excellent and merit the Title of great and able Men but this seems not to be the Talent of this Nation they being generally more apt to sit down with superficial Acquisitions than to pursue their Studies to a fundamental degree This Disposition of Body and Mind qualifies them more for a Life of Labour and Fatigue than of Art and Curiosity and the effect of it is visible in all Orders of Men among them The Nobility mostly apply themselves to a Military Life in which they are more famous for Courage and enduring Hardships than for Stratagems and Intrigues They that are employed in the Administration of Civil Affairs tho they are indeed Laborious and Indefatigable in their business yet they seldom raise their Speculations above what the necessity of their Employments require their Abilities proceeding not so much from Study as Experience in the Tract of
he sits once a Week in the Town House and presides also in the College of Execution assisted by an Under Stadtholder and the Bailiff of the Castle next to him are the Four Burghmasters one for Justice another for Trade the Third for the Polity of the City and the Fourth has the Inspection over all Publick and Private Buildings and determines such Cases as arise on that account with them the Counsellors of the City always sit and give their Votes the Majority of which concludes Their Number is uncertain but usually about Twenty most Merchants and Shop-keepers or such as have served the King in some Inferior Employments and besides their Salary they have an Immunity from such Impositions as are laid on the Inhabitants to support the Government of the City which pays all its Officers and Servants and maintains a Guard of 300 men and defrays the Charge of all Publick Buildings and Repairs To support this Expence besides a Duty belonging to the City upon Goods Imported and Exported which is about 4 per Cent. of the Customs paid the King and amounts to about 4000 l. per An. the Magistrates impose a Yearly Tax on the Burghers in which they are assisted by a Common-Council of Forty eight which chuses its own Members and meets every Spring to proportion the Payments for the ensuing Year On the Richer Traders they usually impose 40 50 or 60 l. sterling and upon others of a meaner Condition as Shoe-makers Taylors c. 5 or 6 l. and no Housekeeper less than 15 s. besides Quartering the Guards Inferior Officers and Servants of the Court with other lesser Charges which all together would be thought a great burthen even in Richer Countries neither is it otherwise esteemed by the Inhabitants of this City who can scarce be kept in heart by the Priviledges they enjoy as well in Customs as in the Trade of the Place which must needs pass through their hands the Natives of other parts of the Kingdom as well as Foreigners being obliged to deal only with the Burghers except those of the Gentry that make Iron who have a Privilege to sell it immediately to Strangers This City is in a manner the Staple of Sueden to which most of the Goods of their own Growth viz. Iron Copper Wire Pitch Tarr Masts Deals c. are brought to be Exported The greatest part of the Commodities Imported from abroad come to this Port where there is a Haven capable of receiving 1000 Sail of Ships and has a Bridge or Key near an English Mile long to which the greatest Vessels may lye with their Broadsides The only Inconvenience is That it is Ten Miles from the Sea and the River very crooked and no Tides CHAP. III. Of the Laws of Sueden THE Laws of Sueden were anciently as various as the Provinces were numerous each of which had Statutes and Customs peculiar to its self enacted as occasion required by the Lagh-man or Governor of the Province who was chosen by the People and Invested with great Authority especially while the Kingdom was Elective his Suffrage concluding the Province he governed This variety was necessarily attended with great Confusion for remedy whereof about Four-score Years ago one Body of Laws was compiled for the direction of the whole Kingdom yet this Collection is but an imperfect piece and the Laws so few and concieved in such general terms that in most cases they need the assistance of the Civil Law and after all the Final Determination depends much upon the Inclinations of the Bench which in a poor Countrey where Salaries are small is often filled with such as are of Weak Parts and subject to Corruption upon very small Temptations The Effects of this would be more visible if each Superior Court did not keep a Cheque upon the Lower and the King's Court of Revision over-awe them all to which all Civil Causes importing the Sum of 70 l. are appealable and very few end before they have been brought thither In this Supreme Court his Majesty very frequently sits with great Patience and Application and in Seven Years time has determined more Causes than the Senators did in Twenty before His Majesty is observed always to make a short Mental Prayer at first sitting down there In this Court the President of the Chancery and Two or Three other privy Counsellors do also sit so does the Chancellor of the Court an Officer next in degree to a Privy Counsellor who is President of the Under Revision where he and Two Secretaries do put Business into a Method fit to be brought before the King The Courts of Justice inferior to this are of three Degrees of the lowest Degree of first Instance there is one in each Corporation besides Stockholm in which there are Three as also in each District or Territory whereof every Province contains several some above Twenty in the former Cities an Alderman or Counsellor presides and has some of his Brethren for Assistants in the latter the Governor of the Territory with a standing Jury his Court is Ambulatory and usually kept near or upon the place where the Fact or Trespass was committed In these Courts Examinations are taken and matters not exceeding Forty Shillings are determined the rest transmitted to the next Superior Court of which in every Corporation there is one where the Burghmaster is President and the Aldermen Assistants and so in every Province there is one or more of these Courts the President whereof retains the name of Lagh-man without other Authority than that of a Judge from these all Causes of Blood must be transmitted to the respective National Courts where they are determined without further Appeal and thither also all Civil Actions not exceeding 20 l. may be appealed of these National Courts there are Three one for the Kingdom of Sueden held at Stockholm another for the Kingdom of Gothia kept at Iencopingh and a Third for the Dukedom of Finland at Abo In each of these a Privy Counsellor is President and above half the Assessors are to be Gentlemen All these Courts sit continually or at most have but short Vacations and not being pestered with too much Formality give Causes a speedy dispatch unless they be retarded by some under-hand Engagements Actions relating to the Sea are Triable in the ordinary Courts according to their sea-Sea-Laws founded upon those Ancient ones of Wisby in Gothland which have formerly been as famous in the Baltick Sea as the Laws of the Rhodes and Oleron in other places The Court of Admiralty has not any peculiar Jurisdiction in the Administration of these Laws but only in such matters as directly concern the King's Fleet and in some places that belong immediately to the Admiralty For Causes Ecclesiastical there is a Consistory in each Diocess of which the respective Bishop is President where Causes of Bastardy Contracts of Marriage and other matters of that nature are try'd and Church-Censures of Penance Divorce c. inflicted These Courts have
at first received Governour of the Kingdom and two Years after had the Regal Dignity conferr'd on him and as the Danes and Norwegians had also expell'd King Christiern who had married Charles the 5th's Sister and repaired to the Imperial Court for Succour which he could not obtain to any purpose being upon his Landing in Norway defeated and taken Prisoner in which State he continued to his Death Therefore Gustavus was freed from all further trouble on that account and at liberty to redress the Disorders of the Kingdom which were great His first Contest was with the Clergy who had been the Authors of much Confusion in former Reigns to prevent which for the future he took all occasions to diminish their Revenues reuniting to the Crown all the Lands that had been given to the Church the last Hundred Years which together with the Reformation of Religion disquieted the first Ten Years of his Reign and occasioned frequent Commotions Which being over the remainder of his time pass'd without any disturbance at home or Wars abroad save only with Lubeck and sometimes with Moscovy Hitherto the Kingdom of Sueden had for several hundred Years been Elective but was at this time made Hereditary to the Male Issue of Gustavus in a right Line of Succession with reservation that in default of such Issue the Right of Election should return to the Estates Gustavus by his three Wives had four Sons and several Daughters his eldest Son Erick was to succeed to the Crown Iohn was made Duke of Finland Magnus Duke of Ostrogothia and Charles Duke of Sudermanland whereby those Provinces were in a manner dismembred from the Crown An Error in Policy that Sueden has so oft smarted for that they have since made solemn Resolutions never to be guilty of it again thus having in his Reign of Thirty six Years brought the Kingdom into such a flourishing Condition as it had not seen in many Ages and entail'd a Crown upon his Family in which it still continues He left it to his Son Erick who was thereby hindred from prosecuting his intended Voyage to England with hopes to marry Queen Elizabeth He Reigned Nine Years Five of which he kept his Brother Iohn close Prisoner upon Suspicion of his designing to supplant him as he finally did but not before Erick his making a Peasant's Daughter his Queen and by several cruel and dishonourable Actions had lost the Affections of all his Subjects so that he was without much difficulty deposed and condemned to a perpetual Prison where he ended his Life Upon his Deposition the Crown came to Iohn III. notwithstanding the States of the Kingdom had engaged their future Allegiance to King Erick's Son that he had by the Queen before Marriage The War with Moscovy which began in King Erick's time about Liefland was carried on by this King with good Success and several Places taken to which not only Muscovy but Poland and Denmark also pretended for as the Knights Templers had transferr'd their Right to Liefland upon Poland so the Muscovites had agreed to deliver it to Magnus Duke of Holstein the King of Denmark's Brother in consideration of a small Acknowledgement to the Czar of Muscovy as the Supream Lord So that Four great Nations claimed this Country at once which possibly might facilitate the Suedish Conquests This Prince's Reign was disquieted by his Attempt to alter the Establish'd Religion in which he made considerable progress but was sometimes in doubt whether he should endeavour an Vnion with the Latin or Greek Church to the former of which he at last declared himself but could not prevail with his Subjects to follow his Example He kept his Brother Erick Ten Years in Prison and then thought it necessary for Safety to have him poyson'd according to the Advice which it is said the States of the Kingdom had given His Brother Magnus did not Minister any Cause of Suspicion being disturbed in his Brain and uncapable of having any Design But his Brother Charles gave him sufficient occasion of Jealousie and it was not without great difficulty that things were kept from coming to an extremity between them After a Reign of Thirty six Years King Iohn died by the Fault of an ignorant Apothecary there being then no Physicians in Sueden to him succeeded his Son Sigismund whose Mother was Catharine a Princess of the Iagellan Family in Poland To which Crown Sigismund had been Elected Five Years before his Father died His Brother Iohn was in his Minority so that his Uncle Charles had the Government of the Kingdom till Sigismund came from Poland to be Crowned in Sueden which was not till about a Year after his Fathers decease His Coronation was retarded some Months by the Difficulties that arose about the Points of Religion and the Confirmation of Priviledges All which were at last accommodated and the King after a Years stay in Sueden returned to Poland leaving the Kingdom in great Confusion which daily encreas'd So that at his return some Years after he was met by his Uncle at the Head of an Army which defeated the Forces the King brought with him Whereupon an Accomodation being patched up he returned to Poland leaving his Uncle to manage the Government Which Post he held till the States being weary of Sigismund and having in vain brought him to consent to his Son's Advancement to the Crown which his Brother Iohn also refused They conferr'd it upon his Uncle Charles the 9th who thereby became engaged in a War with Poland as he was already with Muscovy the Scene of both being in Liefland where the Suedes lost Ground till the Affairs of Muscovy fell into such Confusion that they were forced to give Sueden a Peace that they might have its Assistance against the Poles and Tartars which was granted upon Terms very advantageous for Sueden and sent under the Conduct of Count Iacob de la Gardie who did Muscovy great Service but the Muscovites failing to perform the Conditions stipulated he broke with them and took the City of Novogrod and disposed the Inhabitants with others of the Neighbouring Provinces to desire Prince Charles Phillip the King 's younger Son to be their Czar which was so long in treating about that the Opportunity was lost The Year before this King's Death a War broke out with Denmark in which State he left the Kingdom to his Son Gustavus Adolphus who having ended the War with Denmark by the Mediation of Iames the 1st of England applied himself to that in Leifland and Muscovy To the Borders of which he sent his Brother not with an Intention to procure his Establishment in that Throne which he rather aimed at for himself But to induce the fortified Places adjacent to Finland and Liefland to accept of Suedish Garisons in Prince Charles Phillip's Name which succeeded in a great measure till another was chosen Czar with whom after various Success on both sides a Peace was concluded by the