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A57454
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An account of Sueden together with an extract of the history of that kingdom.
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Robinson, John, 1650-1723.
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1694
(1694)
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Wing R1690; ESTC R12230
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47,457
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212
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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-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
and the frequent and heavy Taxes imposed by the States are no less sensible to those of inferior Degrees that perhaps the King of Sueden has lost as much in the Affection of his Subjects as he has gain'd in his Revenue yet this is not like to produce any bad Effects since the King knows so well how to make himself obeyed and has such effectual means in his hands not only to restrain any disorders but to engage the greatest part of the Nation to his Interest For the Distribution of all Imployments of any Value in the Kingdom belongs to his Majesty and the Nobility and Gentry as well as others are under a greater necessity than ever of rendring themselves acceptable to him that they may get Employments Besides his Majesty has lately thought fit to cause all that are in Office to renew their Oath of Fidelity the Tenor of which has been accommodated to the present Government The Instructions also of all Governors of Provinces and other both Civil and Military Officers have been revised and renewed And as a new Body of Laws Ecclesiastical is already published so the Common Laws of the Kingdom are under Consideration to be rendred more plain full and suitable to the present State of things according to the mind of the King and those that are his Advisers in this Change yet all this Power and Provision is not by the Court it self thought sufficient to keep an Oppressed People from Disorders nor would it likely long do so if the King did not by great Applications and Deferences court the Clergy and by no small degrees of Compliance with them not only in Ecclesiastical but even in Civil Affairs cultivate their Fidelity and Affection and this because the Priests have very great and uncontroulable Interest and Authority among the Common People who only can make Disturbances and can at their pleasure inflame or appease them CHAP. X. Of the Privy-Council THE Ancient Constitution which gave them the Title of Senators of the Kingdom gave them also Authority not only to advise in all business of Importance but in some Cases to admonish and over-rule the King who was not at Liberty to transact any weighty Affairs without the Concurrence of a majority of the Senate and tho the King chose them yet the States received their Oath which rather exprest their Fidelity to the Kingdom in general than to the King their Office was for Life and not only attempts upon their Person but Defamation of them was accounted Treason But the Late Revolution has effectually delivered the King from this as they call it Encroachment upon Royalty and Prerogative and reduced those Officers to the Title and proper Duties of Privy-Counsellors putting it into the King's Power to employ them as he thinks fit to ask their Counsel as he sees occasion and to lay such of them aside as he finds convenient which his Majesty accordingly practices some of them being laid aside and the remainder together with those the King hath added to them are disperst into various Imployments and very rarely meet in a Body his Majesty transacting all Affairs both Domestick and Foreign with the proper Officers to whom they are immediately intrusted without the Participation of the whole Council The number of Privy-Counsellors is at present about Eighteen each of them has a Salary of 300 l. a year and most have other beneficial Employments CHAP. XI Of the States of Sueden THE Boundless Liberality of the three last Sessions of the States hath left that Body little more than its Ancient Name and a Power of Consent to such Impositions as the King's Occasions require which he chuses rather to receive through their hands than imploy his Authority in a matter so apt to Administer occasion of Discontent Their usual time of Assembly is once in three Years or oftner if the Affairs of the Kingdom require it The Letters for calling them together are sent to the Governors of Provinces who thereupon write to each Nobleman and Gentleman in their Province and to the Bishops who cause the same to be published in all Churches The Body of the Nobility and Gentry are represented by one of each Family of which there are about a Thousand in Sueden and with them the Collonel Lieutenant-Collonel Major and one Captain of each Regiment sit and vote For the Clergy besides the Bishops and Superintendents in each Rural Deanery or Ten Parishes one is chosen and maintained at the Charge of his Electors these make a Body of about Two hundred The Representatives of the Burghers are chosen by the Magistrates and Common-Council of each Corporation of which Stockholm sends Four others Two and some One who make about One hundred and fifty The Peasants of each District chuse one of their own Quality to appear for them whose Charges they bear and give him Instructions in such matters as they think need Redress they are about Two hundred and fifty Their first meeting when at Stockholm is in a large Room in the Castle called the Hall of the Kingdom where his Majesty being seated on a Throne and the Privy-Counsellors sitting at some distance the President of the Chancery makes them a Complement in the King's Name and then a Secretary reads his Majesty's Proposals to them in which they are acquainted with the State of Affairs since their Recess and the present occasion of their Advice and Assistance To which first the Marshal of the Nobility who is chosen by the King returns an answer and kisses the King's hand and after him the Archbishop in the Name of the Clergy the first Burgher master of Stockholm for the Burghers and one of the Peasans for his Brethren They then separate into four several Houses and chuse a Secret Committee composed of an equal Number of each Body who receive from the King's Ministers such further Informations of his Majesty's Pleasure as are not thought fit to be communicated in publick and thereupon prepare such matters as are to be proposed to the several Bodies In each House matters are concluded by majority of Voices and if one or more of these Bodies differ in Opinion from the rest they are either brought over by persuasions or the point remains unconcluded When the Affairs proposed by the King are finished they then insinuate their Grievances each Body severally to which the King returns such Answers as he thinks sit and to each Member of the three Inferiour Bodies an Authentick Copy is delivered as well of the general Conclusion made by the whole States as of the King's Answer to the Grievances of his respective Body which he carries home to his Electors CHAP. XII Of the Revenue of the Kingdom THE standing Revenues of the Kingdom of Sueden arise from Crown-Lands Customs Poll-Money Tythes Copper and Silver-Mines Proceedings at Law and other less considerable Particulars which are calculated in all to near a Million of Pounds a Year of which the Lands make above one Third and the Customs