In Midsummer Days, and Other Tales Part 17

"The deuce you did! Who won them?"

"Charles X."

"Well, and then?"

"Nothing else."

"Is that all?"

Somebody knocked on the table.

"Erich the saint wishes to speak," said Gustav Wasa.

"My name is Erich Jedvardson, and I never was a saint. May I be allowed to ask Swede what became of my Finland?"

"Finland belongs to Russia, by its own wish, after the peace of Fredrikshamn in 1809, when the Finnish nation sore allegiance to the Czar."

Gustavus II., Adolfus, asked permission to speak.

"Where are the Baltic provinces?" he asked.

"Reclaimed by their rightful owner," answered Swede.

"And the emperor? Is there still an emperor?"

"There are two; one in Berlin. and one in Vienna."

"Two of the House of Habsburg?"

"No, one of the House of Habsburg and the other of the House of Hohenzollern."

"Incredible! And the Catholics in North Germany--are they converted?"

"No, the Catholics form the majority in the German Parliament, and the emperor at Berlin is trying to put pressure on the College of Cardinals, with a view to influencing the choice of the next Pope."

"There is still a Pope, then?"

"Oh! yes, although one of them has just died."

"And what does the Hohenzollern want in Rome?"

"No one knows; some say that it is his ambition to become Roman-German emperor of the Evangelical Confession."

"A syncretistic emperor dreamt of by John George of Saxony! I don't want to hear anymore. The ways of Providence are strange, and we mortals, what are we? Dust and ashes!"

Charles XII. asked permission to speak.

"Can Swede tell me what has become of Poland?"

"Poland is no more. It has been split up."

"Split up? And Russia?"

"Russia recently celebrated the foundation of Petersburg, and the Lord Mavor of Stockholm walked in the procession."

"As a prisoner?"

"No, as a guest. All nations are on friendly terms now, and not very long ago a French army, commanded by a German field-marshall, invaded China."

"Delicious! Are people now the friends of their enemies?"

"Yes, they are all penetrated by a Christian spirit, and there is a permanent Committee for the Preservation of Peace established at the Hague."

"A what?"

"A permanent Committee for the Preservation of Peace."

"Then my time is over! G.o.d's will be done!"

The king closed his visor and remained silent.

Charles, XI. claimed attention.

"Well, Swede, what about the finances of the old country?"

"It's difficult to answer your question, for I'm afraid they know nothing of keeping accounts. But one or two things are certain: that quite half kingdom has been pledged to the foreigner for about three hundred millions."

"Oh! Lord!"

"And the munic.i.p.al debts amount to about two hundred millions."

"Two hundred!"

"And in the years 1881 to 1885 one hundred and forty-six thousand Swedes emigrated."

"Enough! I don't want to hear any more!"

Gustav Wasa knocked on the table with his hammer.

"As far as I can understand the matter, the country is in a bad way.

Sluggards you are, lazy, envious, irresponsible sluggards; too idle to bestir yourselves, but quick enough to prevent anybody else from doing anything. But tell me, Swede, what about my church and my priests?"

"The priests of the church are farmers and dairy-keepers. The bishops have an income of thirty thousand crowns, and collect money, exactly as they did before the Recess of Vesteraes; moreover, nearly all of them are heretics, or free-thinkers, as they call themselves. Men are beginning to expect some sort of a Reformation."

"Indeed?... And what is the meaning of this music and singing up here?"

"This is the 'Fort.' That is, a mountain, where they have a collection of all the national keepsakes, just as if the nation were antic.i.p.ating its end and making its last will and testament, gathering together all the mementoes of the past. It shows reverence for the ancestors, but nothing else."

"What we have heard on this commemoration day seems to prove that the deeds of our forefathers have been engulfed in the ocean of time. One thing swims on the surface, another sinks to the bottom. Here we are sitting like the shadows of our former selves, and to you, who are alive, we must remain shadows.... Put out the lights!"