In my own boyhood,
which coincides with Bjoernson's early manhood, I heard on all hands
expressions of self-congratulation because the doubt and fermenting
restlessness which were undermining the great societies abroad had never
ruffled the placid surface of our good, old-fashioned, Scandinavian
orthodoxy. How heartily we laughed at the absurdities of Darwin, who, as
we had read in the newspapers, believed that he was descended from an
ape! How deeply, densely, and solidly ignorant we were; and yet how
superior we felt in the midst of our ignorance!
All this must be taken into account, if we are to measure the
significance, as well as the courage, of Bjoernson's apostasy. For five
years (1870-74) he published nothing of an aesthetical character. But he
plunged with hot zeal into political life, not only because he needed an
outlet for his pent-up energy; but because the question at issue engaged
him, heart and soul. The equal and co-ordinate position of Norway and
Sweden under the union had been guaranteed by the Constitution of 1814;
but, as a matter of fact, the former kingdom is by all the world looked
upon as a dependency, if not a province, of the latter.
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