Sweden, on the other hand, is essentially an aristocratic country, with
a landed nobility and many other remnants of feudalism in her political
and social institutions. Two countries so different in character can
never be good yoke-fellows. They can never develop at an even pace, and
the fact of kinship scarcely helps matters where the temperaments and
the conditions are so widely dissimilar. Brothers who fall out are apt
to fight each other the more fiercely on account of the relationship.
Bjoernson certainly does not cherish any hatred of Sweden, nor do I
believe that there is any general animosity to the Swedish people to be
found anywhere in Norway. It is most unfortunate that the mistaken
policy of the Bernadottes has placed the two nations in an attitude of
apparent hostility. In spite of the loud denunciation of Norway by the
so-called Grand Swedish party, and the equally vociferous response of
the Norwegian journals (of the Left) there is a strong sympathy between
the democracy of Norway and that of Sweden, and a mutual respect which
no misrepresentation can destroy.
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