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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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there is yearly exported Iron to the value of near Three hundred thousand pounds But of late years the number of these Forges has been so much increased that each endeavouring to undersell and scarce can be stopt till it come at some Lake or very large Plain In the Summer season the Fields are cloathed with variety of Flowers and the whole Country overspread with Strawberries Rasberries Currants and the like which grow upon every Rock In their Gardens Mellons are brought to good perfection in dry years but Apricocks Peaches and other Wall-fruits are almost as rare as Oranges they have Cherries of several sorts and some tolerably good which cannot be said of their Apples Pears and Plumbs that are neither common nor well-tasted all kinds of Roots are in plenty and contribute much to the Nourishment of the poor People The Sun at highest is above the Horizon of Stockholm Eighteen hours and an half and for some Weeks makes a continual Day In Winter the Days are proportionably shorter the Sun being up but five hours and a half which defect is so well suppli'd as to Lights by the Moon and the whiteness of the Snow and clearness of the Sky that Travelling by Night is as usual as by Day and Journeys begun in the Evening as frequently as in the Morning The want of the Sun's heat is repaired by Stoves within doors and warm Furs abroad instead of which the meaner sort use Sheep-skins and other the like Defences and are generally better provided with Cloathing befitting their Condition and the Climate they live in than the Common People of any part of Europe tho where any neglect or failure happens it usually proves fatal and occasions the loss of Noses or other Members and sometimes of Life unless the usual Remedy to expel the Frost when it has seized any part be early applied which is to remain in the Cold and rub the part affected with Snow till the Blood return to it again What has been said in relation to Sueden is in the main applicable to Finland except only that hitherto no Mines have been discovered there It s chiefest Commodities are Pitch and Tar all sorts of Wooden-ware Dried Fish Cattle Train Oyl c. The Remainder also of this Discourse in what relates to the Laws Government Customs and Natural Dispositions of the People equally belongs to them with this difference that the Finlanders are rather more hardy and laborious more Clownish Ignorant and Superstitious than the Suedes CHAP. II Of the Provinces and Cities of Sueden THE Country is divided into Twenty five Provinces each of which is governed by an Officer called Landshofdingh whose Authority comprehends that of Lord Leiutenant and Sheriff together except where there is a General Governor as in Finland and upon the Borders of Denmark and Norway to whom the Governor of each Province is subordinate and has thereby a more restrained Authority these Officers are placed by the King and take an Oath to keep the Province for his Majesty and his Heirs to govern according to the Laws of Sueden and such Instructions as they shall receive from his Majesty and to quit the Province whenever he shall call them thence To them and their Subordinate Officers who are all of the King 's chusing the Execution of Judicial Sentences the Collection of the King's Revenues the care of Forests Parks and other Crown Lands c. is committed Of Cities those of Stockholm Gottenburgh Calmar and Two or Three more may deserve that Name The other Corporations which in all make not an Hundred scarce exceed some Villages in England they are all Governed by Burgomasters and Counsellors Chosen by the King out of their own Body or at least such as are of the quality of Burghers no Gentleman accepting of those Employments Their Offices and Salaries are for Life or rather during their good Behaviour The Priviledges of Cities are derived from the King and for the most part are owing to the Wisdom of Gustavus Adolphus the Author of their best and most regular Constitutions at Home as well as of their Glory Abroad The City of Stockholm lies in 59 Degrees 20 Min. North Latitude and about 41 Longitude About 300 years ago it was only a bare Island with Two or Three Cottages for Fishers but upon the Building of a Castle there to stop the inroads of the Russians and the Translation of the Court thither it grew by degrees to surpass the other more Ancient Cities and it is at present the Metropolis of this Kingdom and supposed to be as Populous as Bristol The Castle here which is covered with Copper is a Place of no Strength or Beauty but of great use being a spacious Building that besides Entertaining the Court furnishes Room for most of the great Offices the National Court of Justice Colledges of War Chancery Treasury Reduction Liquidation Commerce Execution as also an Armory Chappel Library Archives c. It Lodges very few of the Inferiour Officers and Servants of the Court they together with the Foot Guards being Quartered upon the Burghers at their Landlords Charge for Lodging Fire and Candle In this City there are Seven large Churches built of Brick and covered with Copper besides Two more now Building and Three or Four Wooden Chappels The Palace of the Nobility which is the place of their Assembly at the Convention of Estates and the Depository of their Priviledges Titles and such other Records as concern their Body is a very stately Pile as is also the Bank built at the City's Charge which together with several Magnificent Houses of the Nobility are covered with Copper and make a handsome Prospect most of the Burghers Houses are built of Brick except in the Suburbs where they are of Wood and thereby exposed to the danger of Fire which commonly when it gets to a head destroys all before it in the Quarter where it happens to repair which Misfortune they sometimes send the Dimensions of the House they intend to build into Finland where the Walls and several Separations are built of Pieces of Timber laid one upon another and joined at the Corners and afterwards mark'd taken down and sent by Water to Stockholm there to be set up and finish'd and when they are kept in good Repair will last Thirty or Forty Years and are warmer cleanlier and more healthful than those of either Brick or Stone To prevent the Danger of Fire the City is divided into Twelve Wards and in each of these is a Master and Four Assistants who upon notice of any Fire are immediately to repair to it as also all Porters and Labourers and to range themselves under the Master of their respective Wards There is also a Fire-Watch by Night who walks about only to that purpose and in each Church-Steeple Watch is kept and a Bell Tolled upon the first appearance of any Fire The Government of this City is in the hands of the Great Stadtholder who is also a Privy Counsellor
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