During 1813 and 1814 a considerable number of pamphlets circulated across Europe discussing the so called ‘Norwegian question’ concerning the transfer of Norway from the Danish to the Swedish king against the expressed will of the Norwegian people. In this debate Norway was for the first time discussed in the European public sphere in proclamations, bulletins and tracts as well as in newspaper and journal articles. Almost 500 documents, including different editions and translations as well as handwritten pamphlets, circulated as part of this transnational propaganda war surrounding the cession of Norway to Sweden in 1814.
1 On the pamphlet war and the recorded publications, see R. Hemstad, Propagandakrig; R. Hemstad (ed.), ‘Like a Herd of Cattle’ and the 1814 Bibliography.The constitution itself played an important role in this war of opinion. As one of its last measures, the Constituent Assembly, gathered at Eidsvold Manor, chose an editorial board to publish in print its transactions, directed at the Norwegian as well as a foreign readership. The new constitution was adopted and signed on 17 May. The same day, the Danish Prince Christian Frederik, heir to the Danish and Norwegian throne and current governor of Norway, was elected king of Norway. By 31 May the constitution had been translated into French and English and published alongside the Norwegian versions. The editorial board ensured ‘that this fundamental law of the Kingdom of Norway and the documents annexed to it, are, word for word, conformable to the chief records of the National Assembly’.
2 The Constitution of the Kingdom of Norway (Christiania, 1814); Constitution du royaume de Norwège. The other documents annexed to the constitution were an address from the assembly to the Prince Regent and the answer from Christian Frederik, accepting the election as king of Norway. The English and French versions were printed by Jacob Lehmann, one of only three printers and publishers in the Norwegian capital of Christiania at that time.
3 Lehmann also published three Norwegian editions in different formats, which could be bought in all post offices around the country. R. Anker Nilsen, Hva fikk nordmennene å lese i 1814? En bibliografi (Oslo, 1997), pp. 73‒7.The writing, translation and printing of the new constitution, a revolutionary constitution based on the principle of popular sovereignty – although within a monarchical framework – were central parts of the struggle for national independence in a fundamentally unclear international situation. The constitution served as a declaration of independence, and the translations made the Norwegian policy known to a European public and may thus be seen as an effort of Norwegian
public diplomacy at the time by ‘engaging a foreign public through the explanation of policy’.
4 N. J. Cull, ‘A Region Speaks: Nordic Public Diplomacy in Historical Context’, Place Branding and Public Diplomacy, 12:2‒3 (2016), pp. 153. Additionally, at least four translations appeared during 1814, two of them by pro-Norwegian agents abroad. The first German translation of the May constitution, if only in part, was printed in Altona, at that time belonging to the Danish Empire, in June 1814. It was published as part of a propaganda tract defending Norway, comprising parts of the constitution alongside proclamations, letters, sermons and speeches
.5 ‘Entwurf eines Grundgesetzes für das Königreich Norwegen‘, Aktenstücke und Aufsätze die neueste Geschichte Norwegens betreffend (Altona, 1814).A complete German translation was published later that year in
Politisches Journal in Hamburg.
6 Politisches Journal nebst Anzeige von gelehrten und andern Sachen 2:9 (1814), 778‒86; 2:10 (1814), 880‒92. Another one followed in 1815 in the
Allgemeine Staats-Korrespondenz.
7 ‘Konstitutionen. Grundgesetz des Königreichs Norwegen’, Allgemeine Staats-Korrespondenz, ed. Bauer, Behr and Schott 3:8‒9 (1814‒15), 128–39; 415–35. The Norwegian constitution, or parts of it, was also published in the important German newspapers
Hamburgischen Unparteyischen Correspondenten, Augsburger Allgemeine Zeitung and
Rheinischer Merkur, thereby making it accessible to a broader German and international readership.
8 See S. Eisenträger, ‘The European Press and the Question of Norwegian Independence’, MA thesis, Norwegian University of Life Sciences (Ås, 2013).The Norwegian resistance against Swedish power politics was met with acclamation from liberals, not least in Britain. The first English translation published in London was part of another propaganda publication, a travelogue dated August 1814 and published by Jens Wolff, an Englishman with strong Norwegian connections through his family and business relations. As an interesting example of politicised travel literature, this account comprised a comprehensive political appendix, reprinting a range of proclamations and other relevant Norwegian and British documents.
9 J. Wolff, [A Northern Tour]: Sketches on a Tour to Copenhagen, through Norway and Sweden (London, 1814), pp. cxi‒cxxvi. Second edition 1816, reprinted 1820. The helpful mediator in this process was Carsten Anker, the old Norwegian friend of Prince Christian Frederik and the owner of Eidsvold Manor. Anker had been sent to Great Britain in early 1814 in order to try to persuade the British government and to influence Parliament, the press and British opinion in general. The extensive publication used as its frontispiece a lithography showing Christian Frederik as ‘King of Norway’ – indeed the only one of its kind ‒ and the book was dedicated to him. The translation of ‘The New Constitution of Norway’ is not identical to the official translation, indicating that this publication was not available to Anker and Wolff when editing the political appendix.
During the summer of 1814 the Swedish Crown Prince Charles John returned from the European battlefields and went to war against Norway. At the Convention at Moss of 14 August the Norwegians agreed to accept the union, and Charles John allowed the Norwegians to keep the new constitution with only minor changes. Christian Frederik had to abdicate, and the recalled extraordinary Norwegian parliament revised and signed the constitution and elected the Swedish king, Charles XIII, as king of Norway on 4 November 1814.
~
Plate 10.1. The Norwegian constitution was translated into English and printed in a comprehensive political appendix in Jens Wolff’s travel book, published August 1814 and dedicated to Christian Frederik as ‘King of Norway’ – the only known illustration of him during his few months in this position.
The revised constitution of 4 November was published in four editions (one of those was suppressed due to a missing article) for a Norwegian readership.
10 A. Nilsen, 1814, pp. 73‒7, 162‒70. It was not translated by the government, however – not in 1814, nor in the following years. It seems that there were no official translations of the November constitution until May 1905. The constitution was then, again, used in the renewed war of opinion against Swedish political claims. The first translated version of the revised constitution is tellingly in Swedish, published in Stockholm in December 1814.
11 Konungariket Norriges Grundlag, gifven af Riksförsamlingen i Eidsvold den 17 Maj 1814, samt i anledning af Norriges och Sveriges förening, närmare bestämd på Norriges utomordentliga Storting i Christiania den 4 November 1814 (Stockholm, 1814). The May constitution, with suggested amendments, was published in Allmänna Journalen, 1‒16 November 1814, the November constitution in Göteborgs-Posten, 27 December 1814 and following numbers. During the year of its proclamation, the Norwegian constitution was thus published in fourteen different editions, half of them translations, six of those of the May constitution. In addition, the constitution was translated and published in newspapers connected to the diplomatic struggle on ‘the Norwegian question’. The 1814 translations, and the range of translations that followed, made the constitution immediately known, or at least available, to a European public.