^ -^^/ /% '-%^*" /% ^^*' ^^''''^^^ ''%p*" /\ _ . °- -/\>;^'\ c,°^^a^^'^°o .//>:^/\ /.'^%-^-o .■^*'---'' * rO ^°-n.. 5> .^IL'^* > V » !, • ^''. '-o.^^ :;^^.% "^-^^o^' -.^e^*- '-.'f :i&m.\ "-n^.o^- «.^^'-. -ov* • U -i!^ '-^ ^iv rt 1^ . • • . v^^ "^aV * ^. 4 'bV A o^ •■ ^^^^^®' * sP "Tj V^ » ^•j^. \^ . » • 1 fe\ %.^'' yM£'^ S..^^ /JIK- %.^'' :l ^oV V. -0,0- .«• 'bV ^°--* l" ■«k*^ <-> ay .^ .0-.. '^-, J.* .^'•, '^^ ^\ u^^^ :^/k. ^.jf »*f!SiEs»'. -e^ A^' »'. .^"^°<* c°\.i^>>o .-^^.c:^, V /.'j^%^°o ./\v;^/V .c^.-^^^;-,"- ^ ■ U ERLNLSSIMO K I lO I h\ flSMMO PRINCIPI AC lX>Ml\ci: r>oMi\oc.\ir\vo ^[JOI pmo dg -s\ j-cokvm oothorvm tx v.\mj-\ -;^\ IOK\MRtOI MAOVO PKISCII'I H MAN UI.^, U\'C 1 KS IhMMA. r I t\ KM I •; IKIMISO INl.HI •. r. H\ Mil IMti OFrtRT L'Ot KiStm A,*ai,»^ 'hM GusTAF II. Adolph. Kopparstick af Lucas Kiliax. 1632. Kiiir/ of Sweden. 1611-16-ii. What Has Sweden Done for the United States? Bg LARS P. NELSON Second Edition PRICE 50 CENTS Copyright, i^, Bv LARS P. NELSON / )GI,Mf5'''560 Press of Augustana Book Concern Rock Island, III. 1917 m 25 >9<7 STATUE OF AXEL OXENSTJERNA AT KNIGHTS' HALL LN STOCKHOLM AIEMORIAL TABLE JN SOUTH ENTRANCE OF THE CITY HALL, PHILADELPKL-\ What Has Sweden Done for the United States? ^^ HE first attention given by the Swedish Government to the country now comprising the United States is recorded in a letter given by King Gustaf Adolph in 1624, to Willem Usselinx of Holland, authorizing him to organize a "company to trade in Asia, Africa, America and Magellanica." Given at Stockholm the 21st of December, 1624. The following year a company was organized and named "The Royal Swedish General Trading Company, to do business in Asia, Africa, Amei'ica and Magellanica." Part of its prospectus reads: "It must be well considered and weighed that God Almighty, in his incomprehensible wisdom and providence, has so foreordained and arranged that all which is necessary for the welfare and sustenance of mankind is not found in one place, unless God has blesssd with his gifts each country by itself. Consequently what is wanting in one country abounds in the other, and one country can not do without another." The next year, 1626, the King issued a charter to the company, entitled "Charter or Privilege, which the Mighty and most noble Prince and Lord, Gustaf Adolph, King of Sweden, the Gothes and Vendes, Grand Duke of Finland, etc., has graciously given by letters patent to the newly established Swedish South Com- pany." Its object is stated in a statesmanlike and Christian manner, thus: "Whereas, we find that it will considerably add to the welfare of our kingdom and of our subjects, and that it is necessary that the commerce, trades and navigation in our lands and territories should grow, be increased and improved by all suitable means ; and whereas, by the reports of experienced and trustworthy men we have received reliable and certain intelligence that there are in Africa, America, and Magellanica, or terra Australis, many rich countries and islands, with which it may not only be possible to carry on a large commerce from our kingdom, but it is also most likely that the people in those lands may be made more civilized and taught moraUti) and the Christian religion, by the mutual intercourse and trade; therefore, we have maturely considered and as far as in our power concluded that the advantages, profits and welfare of our kingdom and faithful subjects, besides the further propagation of the holy gospel, will be much improved and increased by the discovery of new commercial relations and navigation," etc. The thirty-first article of this charter shows how earnest the King was about this business. It reads: "In order to manifest the great pleasure which we have in Swedish Colonization in America the progress of this company, we promise that we will subscribe and invest a sum of four hundred thousand dalers, counting thirty-two round pieces to a daler, which we will risk for our own account, dividing profit and loss with the others." The charter is dated, "Royal Palace at Stockholm, in the one thousandth six hun- dreth and six and twentieth year after the birth of God's son, the 14th of June, 1626." (Signed) Gustaf Adolph. Speaking about the motives that prompted Gustaf Adolph in preparing for colonization in America, Dr. Stille, of Philadelphia, says: "It was not merely as a commercial enterprise that Gustaf Adolph planned to found a colony in America. If we wish to understand the real significance of the scheme, its paramount and controlling impulse, we must look upon the colony as the outgrowth of the Thirty Years' War, and its estahlishment as a remedy- for some of the manifold evils of that war, which had suggested itself to the minds of Gustaf Adolph and his Chancellor, Oxenstjerna. "A glance at contemporary history shows how novel and comprehensive were the views of colonization held by the King. The Protestants of Germany and Denmark were at that time in the midst of a pitiless storm, exposed to all its fury. The Thirty Years' War — unex- ampled in liistory for the cruel sufferings inflicted upon non-combatants — was at its height. The Protestants were yielding e\erywhere ; nothing could resist the military power of Wallen- stein. who, supporting his army upon the pillage of the country, pressed forward to the shores of the Baltic, with the intention of making that sea an Austrian lake. The Protestant leaders — Mansfeld, Christian of Brunswick, the King of Denmark — were all defeated, and their follow- ers were a mass of fugitives fleeing toward the North and imploring succor. Gustaf had not yet embarked in the German war, but his heart was full of sympathy for the cause in which these poor people were suffering, and this scheme of colonization occurred to him as a practical method of reducing the horrors which he was forced to witness. "The faith of the King in the wisdom of tiiis scheme never wavered. In the hour of his complete triumph over his enemies he begged the German princes whom he had rescued from ruin to permit their subjects to come to America and live there under the protection of his powerful arm. He spoke to them just before the battle of Liitzen of the proposed colony, which he called 'the Jewel of his Crown,' and after he had fallen a martyr to the cause of Protestantism on that field, his Chancellor, acting, as he said, upon the express desire of the dead King, renewed the patent for the colony, extended its benefits more fully to Germany, and secured the oflFicial confirmation of its provisions by the diet of Frankfurt. "The colony that came to these shores in 1638 was not exactly the colon\ planned by the great King. The commanding genius that could foresee the permanent settlement of a free state here, based upon the principles of religious toleration — the same principles in defense of which Swedish blood was poured out like water upon the plains of Germany — had been removed from this world. It has been said that the principle of religious toleration which was agreed to at the peace of Westphalia, in 1648, and afterward became part of the public law of Europe, is the cornerstone of our modern civilization, and that it has been worth more to the world than all the blood that was shed to establish it. With this conflict and this victory the name and 8 T.iK Peace of Westphalia fame of Gustaf Adolph is inseparably associatjd ; and glorying in that memory, we will also remember that when during the long struggle he sometimes feared that liberty of conscience could never be established upon an enduring ba is in Europe, his thoughts turned to America as the country where his cherished ideal of hunan society, so far in advance of the civilization of the age in which he lived, might become a glorious realit}." The treaty of peace of Westphalia which terminated the Thirty Years' War is one of the great historical mileposts in human progress, and not only the Prot- estant world, but Christendom as a whole, is under lasting obligation to the men and the nation who contributed to that peace and compelled the making of that treaty; and of all the human agencies which were employed and worked out that result, Gustaf Adolph and the 83,000 Swedes who laid down their lives on German bat- lefields during eighteen years of that horrible war, are entitled to the first consideration. The peace of Westphalia consists of two treaties, one between Swe- den and the Austrian Emperor, signed at Osnabriick, and one between France and the Em- peror, signed at Miinster. The two together make the famous compact designated in history as "The Peace of Westphalia," but the article that has made this peace famou.s — made it the "cornerstone of our modern civilization" — appears only in the Swedish treaty. It is the fourth article, and it stipulates that the peace treaty of Augsburg of 1555, which established liberty of worship for the Luther- ans, shall be left inviolate and confirmed, and its provisions and benefits shall be extended to the Reformed Church (the Calvinists), so that the three churches — the Catholic, Lutheran and Reformed — shall have equal rights, eqiialitas exacta mii- tuaqite. This principle of religious toleration, of liberty to worship God according to the dictates of men's consciences, was insisted upon and put into the treaty by the t AXEL OXENSTJERNA Prime Minister and Chnnci'Uor of Sweden. Iiill-lii.'i Colonij Founded by Oxenstjerna, 1638 Swedish delegates, Johan Oxenstjerna (son of the Chancellor) and Johan Adler Salvius. They were the chief representatives of the Protestants, and the Emperor and all the Catholic delegates from Austria, France, Spain and Italy had to submit and consent to the incorporation in the treaty of this great principle, much as it was against their will to do so. Both on the battlefield and in the councils of state Sweden wrought for the oppressed ; she sent her statesmen to plead with the mighty, and her soldiers to fight with their armies, with equal success. The world can never repay her for the great sacrifice of human lives which she laid down upon the altar of humanity in the Thirty Years' War. To no natio)i or people on earth has it been given to render such great service to hnma)iitii as that rendered b>i the Sivedish nation and people by fighting through the Thirty Years' War to success and thereby acquiring and establishing civil and religious liberty for mankind. The death of the King, November 6, 1632, prevented him from realizing his plan of American colonization, but he left it a legacy to his Secretary of State, the famous chancellor. Axel Oxenstjerna, by whom the project was carried out and the American Colonv established. After the death of Gustaf Adolph, his daughter Christina — then only six years old — was proclaimed Queen, and a regency, with Oxenstjerna at the head, was ap- pointed, which carried on the government during the Queen's minority. It was during this period, and under the direction of the Chancellor, that the Swedish Col- ony on the banks of the Delaware was founded in 1638. Ten expeditions in fifteen ships were sent by Sweden to America from 1637 to 1654, during the time that Oxenstjerna, as Prime Minister and Chancellor, ruled ^Sweden. His instructions to Governor Printz — who was sent out in 1643 — says an American author, Edward Armstrong, "are minute and exhibit great knowledge upon the river, combined with great shrewdness and practical good sense. They form the most important State paper yst discovered relating to the settlement upon our shores, as connected with this period of our annals." /^ William Penn has been much praised for his treatment of the Indians, but few people know that Penn's Indian policy was originated by Axel Oxenstjerna, and that Penn merely adapted it from the Swedes, who had practiced it for more than forty years before Penn came into the country. When Minuit landed on Christina Creek with the first expedition he immediately sought the Indian chiefs who were in possession of the shores of the river, and bought and paid liberally for \ the land he wanted, on which to settle the colony. His orders from the Swedish lO Su'edish Indian PoUcij Adopted bi/ Penn Government were "to buy the land from the Indians and perfect the title by im- mediate settlement on it, and live in peace, amity and good fellowship with them." This policy was emphasized by the instructions to Governor Printz, dictated by Oxenstjerna, the ninth article of which reads as follows: "The wild nations bord- ering on all sides, the Governor shall understand how to treat with all humanity and respect, that no violence or wrong be done to them by Her Royal Majesty or SVENSKSTENEN, WILMINGTON, DELAWARE her subjects ; but he shall rather, at every opportunity, exert himself, that the same wild people may gradually be instructed in the truths and worship of the Christian religion, and in other ways be brought to civilization and a good gov- ernment," etc. Think of this — the government of Sweden instructs and commands its officers and agents to treat the Indians u-ith humanity and respect, to buy what they want II SivecJish Mi.-^sion in America from them, and not to steal it; to try to convert them to Christianity and a good life. William Penn was shrewd enough to see that this sort of honesty was the best policy, hence he adopted it, with profit to himself and all concerned. The progress of the colony, notwithstanding the change of masters, from Swed- ish to Dutch and from Dutch to English, was continuous and solid. The Swedes took root in the new soil and were the fi.'.st to plant Christian civilization in Penn- sylvania and Delaware. They flourished and increased, raising big families, in- termarried lai'gely with the English that came under William Penn, and are the ancestors of a great part of the present inhabitants of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and other states. Long after all political connection between the mother country and the colony had ceased the Swedish Govern- ment sent ministers of the gospel and thousands of books to the colony. "There is not upon record" — says an American author, William M. Reynolds — "a more remarkable instance of dis- interested care for its expatriated citi- zens than that of the Swedish Govern- ment for these members of its race, no longer bound to it by any political ties, and separated from it by the wide ex- panse of the Atlantic. From 1696 to 1786 the Swedish Government sent to the churches on the Delaware no less than thirty-two clergymen, giving them outfits and paying the expenses of their voyage from Sweden to America, as also of their return voyage, when, after many years of faithful labor, they returned to their native land, where they were again received with open arms, and often invested with pastorates of the most desirable character. How much money the Swedish Government thus expended it is now impossible to determine, but the amount cannot have been less than $100,000, and may have reached double that amount. The whole of it was given without thought DR. JESPER SVEDBERG Bishop of Skara. Sioeden, 170,i-n,l'>. Superintendent of the Sivedish Mission in America. JG!)6-n3o. 12 John Morton of material return or profit from the investment. It must also be borne in mind that money was scarce during that period, and that Sweden was then in straight- ened circumstances, and frequently suflFered from financial embarrassment. The country, exhausted by the expenditure of blood and treaure in the Thirty Years' War, was brought to the verge of bankruptcy by the dis- astrous conclusion of the reign of Charles XII. We cannot, therefore, but admire the liberality of Sweden toward the de- scendants of the colonists whom, in the days of her power and prosperity, she sent forth to Amer- ica, but whose spiritual necessities she was anx- ious to provide for even in times of her own deep- est depression." ^' Coming down from the early colonial to rev- olul^lonary times in 1776, we find one of the sons of the Swedish colonists sitting as judge in Up- land County, Pennsylva- nia. John Morton, sign- er of the Declaration of Independence, was the great-great-grandson of Marten Martensson, who arrived in the colony from Sweden with Governor Printz, in 1643. Morton was born in 1725, was well educated, became a member of the assembly of Pennsylvania and its speaker in 1772-1775. Soon after his entry into political life he attended the Stamp Act Congress in New York, in 1765. He was MAGISTER ERIC TOBIAS BJORK Pastor of Christina Congregation. Delaware. lC>!n-17/'i. Built Trinity Churili. Wilmingtoti. and dedicated it Trinitii Hundaii. IliHU. Sweden First to Moke Treaty irith United States, 1783 high sheriff of the county in 1766-70, and in his later years president judge of common pleas, and a judge of the Supreme Court, as well as a member of the Continental Congress from its beginning, in 1774. On the question of separation from Great Britain the Pennsylvania delegation was divided. Franklin and Wilson voted aye ; Willing and Humphrey no ; Morris and Dickinson were absent. Taking his seat in the delegation late in July, Judge Morton showed his patriotism and courage by casting his vote for the Declara- tion, thus committing his state to the revolu- tion and offending a number of his friends who were royalists. The estrangement weighed upon his mind in his last hour, and he sent a message to his old friends to this effect: "Tell them they will live to see the day when they will acknowledge that my signing the Declaration of Independence was the most glorious service I ever rendered my country." He died in 1777, leaving a family of three sons and five daughters, and an honored name, of which we are all proud. x- JtJl^ / Section of tlie signatures of the Declaration of Independence. I Sweden is the only power in Europe that voluntarily offered its friendship to the United States when they were struggling for independence, and long before it was ^^recognized by Great Britain. The author of "Diplomacy of the United States," Boston, 1826, says: "The conduct of Sweden was marked with great frankness of a very friendly character. The United States could not expect much from that country or suppose that her example could have a great deal of influence on other nations. But it was highly gratifying that a state renowned as Sweden always has been for the bravery and love of independence of her people, should manifest so great sympathy in the arduous struggles for liberty of a distant country." The proposal for a treaty was entirely unsought for on the part of the United States. The only account we have of the transaction is in one of the letters of Dr. Franklin. The Swedish minister at Paris, Count Gustaf Philip de Creutz, called on Dr. Franklin toward the end of June, 1782, by direction of his Sovereign, Gustaf III., to inquire if he were furnished with the necessary 14 United States Consul in Gothenburg powers to conclude a treaty with Sweden. In the course of the conversation he remarked that "it was a pleasure to him to think, and he hoped it would be remembered, that Sweden was the first power in Europe which had voluntarily offered its friendship to the United States without being solicited." Dr. Franklin communicated the inquiry of the Swedish Envoy to Congress, and instructions were at once sent him to agree to a treaty, which was concluded at Paris on April 3, 1783, by Benjamin Franklin for the United States and Count Gustaf — ^ ^^ Philip de Creutz for Sweden. The treaty was ratified by Congress on July 29th, and a proclamation that the treaty was in force, and directing all the citizens and inhabitants, and more especially all officers and others in the service of the United States, to observe it, was issued by Congress on the 25th of September, 1783. Well, some one may remark, what did this amount to? A treaty with Sweden in those days did not benefit the United States very much. Let us see. The 26th article of the treaty stipulates that "The two con- tracting parties grant mutually the liberty of having each in the ports of each other consuls, vice consuls, agents and commissaries," etc., and thereby hangs a tale, a very pretty tale, which I will relate. In pursuance of this treaty and the particular article 26, cited above, the United States had appointed as its consul in Gothenburg, Sweden, Mr. Richard S. Smith, of Philadelphia. The time when he was stationed at Gothenburg was in the early part of the last century, during the time of the great Napoleonic wars of Europe. By the decrees of Berlin and Milano, and the British order in council, all ports in Europe were closed to neutral vessels save those of the Baltic. The United States, not being in the contest, had a great commerce with those Northern ports, and when there appeared one morning in the roadstead of Gothenburg an American vessel without a cargo, but with orders to call at Gothenburg and then GUSTAF III. King of Su'i'den. 7777-/7.'',.'. C'liiliuunl nil Ituijr /> 15 <:^^*/ca^^^^^ , /J GUSTAF \-. King o1 Sicerlcii. 'J9th ruler of the Kingdom of Sweden. WOODROW WILSON 28th President of the United States. Saves American Ships from Capture bij the English in 1812 hurry on farther to some Russian port in the Baltic, Mr. Smith detected in the mysterious appearance of this ship enough to satisfy him that war had broken out between the United States and Great Britain. Mr. Smith himself tells the story as follows : "In the month of July, i8l2, it was the law in Sweden that every vessel arriving from America should come to anchor in the quarantine harbor, fourteen miles from the city, and, being boarded by the master of ciuarantine, the necessary manifest of cargo, clearance, etc., were ex- hibited, and a memorandum thereof made and immediately dispatched by a boat to the proper health officer of the city. Being anxious to be prompth- advised of every arrival, I made arrange- ments with the man who navigated the boat between the station and the cit\- that he should exhibit all the papers to me of all American ships before he took them to the Health OfHce. (There was no breach of trust in this.) It so happened that on the morning of the 2?rd of Jul^-, 1812, between five and six o'clock, the quarantine boy brought me the papers of the pilot boat schooner Champlain, cleared by Minturn and Champlin, in ballast from New York to Eastport, Maine. It was at once clear to my mind that this vessel was dispatched with most important intelligence affecting the interests of this principal New York firm, that I did not hesitate a mcjment, but procured a boat and in less than an hour, with my consular commission in my pocket, I was on my wa\- to the quarantine ground. Arriving there, I called on an old officer in charge and was allowed to go out to the vessel. I was not allowed to go on board, and the old officer, therefore, passed my commission up to the captain of the schooner, who, having read it, said he recognized me as consul, but was a good deal annoyed at being detained even a day, before he coidd visit the city and forward important letters to various correspond- ents of his owners. I told him I would facilitate his intentions b\ all the means in my power, and added, that as there could be no doubt the information to be thus conveyed was of a char- acter highly important to all Americans in charge of vessels and property in neighboring ports, I thought he should communicate freel\- with me, whose duty it was to protect the interests of his countrymen within my reach. He said that, being intrusted with a commission affecting the private interests of the house who had dispatched the vessel, he was not at liberty to say more. Apprehending that he might not he willing to sa\- more or speak out in the presence of another, I asked the old Swede if he would land me on the rocks in sight of the schooner and allow me the use of his skiff, that I might have a confidential talk with the captain. Consenting to this, I rowed out alone in the boat and told the captain of the schooner that I feared war had been declared against England, and if so, I ought to be informed, as there were millions of dollars at stake, which I could protect and secure if I were clearly advised of the fact. He repeated his former assertion that he had a commission to perform for his owners, and he would not go beyond that. I directed his attention to a fleet of several hundred vessels lying in Winga Roads, distant a mile from the quarantine grounds. I told him I knew over fort\- American vessels in that fleet waiting English con\o\-, and of course under the guns of British cruisers. I told him the English had great facilities in receiving and forwarding all impcjrtant information affecting their interests, and that, doubtless, the English admiral would have the information within a day or two, and it would be a lasting sorrow to him to know that one word in confidence to me might have saved millions to his countrymen, which otherwise, by his silence, would be captured b\' an enemy. At this he was much agitated, and said that he could not, in that view of the John Ericsson case, remain silent. He said war was declared h\ an act of Congress on the 17th day of June, and that on the next day Commodore Rogers had sailed to look for British cruisers off Hali- fax, and no doubt hostilities had commenced. "Having obtained this important information, with a strong, fair wind, I hurried back to the city and hastily assembled the Americans in my office. I aston- ished and startled them by the news I had obtained. Some of them were captains of vessels lying down in the roads under convoy, and were crazy to get to their ships. "The wind, which had been so fair to bring me up to the city, was now almost a gale against a passage down. It was suggested that we should all set to work writing a circular which I prepared, and that a horse and carriage should be pro- cured, with which two or three of the number should proceed to Mar- strand, a seaport a few miles to windward, from which, by boat, the fleet could easily be reached and the circulars delivered to the American vessels, warning them unless they weighed their anchors and ran up the river above the Swedish batte- ries, they were liable at any momeni to British capture. All parties were cautioned to keep strict silence in the city until these vessels were se- cured. Happily, the expedition to Marstrand and thence to the Heet was a success, and before the next morning the \essels, over forty in number, were safe under the protec- tion of Swedish batteries, to the great surprise of the British officers got into the Yankees that they had all gone up the river." In this way, and by his sagacity and energetic promptness, Mr. Smith saved from capture, by the British warships which were lying outside, the whole of that American fleet. It was a great service to his country, but it was only made possible by and on account of the treaty then in force, which had been made b.y the Govern- ment of Sweden twenty-nine years before, at the invitation of the then reigning King Gustaf III. 19 JOHN ERICSSON who wondered what had The Monitor On the occasion of the celebration of the 250th anniversary of the first landing of the Swedes on the Delaware, held in Minneapolis, Minn., Sept. 14, 1888, the chief orator of the festival, Mr. W. W. Thomas, United States Minister to Sweden, said : When our forefathers rose in arms to throw oft the yoke of Great Britain, in that long struggle of the revolution, that time that tried men's souls, let not America forget that next after our all}', P'rance, it was the gallant Kingdom of Sweden, that, first among the nations of the world, recognized our new-born republic, made with us a treaty of friendship, and welcomed us into the great sisterhood of nations. "We, of this generation, can never forget the incidents of the great American Rebellion, that Titanic contest that for four years raged over the continent. We can never forget our bright days of victory, nor our dark and gloomy days of defeat and disaster, when everything that was dear and sacred to us as a nation seemed trembling in the balance. Shall we ever forget one mem- orable morning when the rebel ram, Merrimac, steamed out of Norfolk harbor, and, with lier prow of iron, came down upon our wooden walls of defence, hing at anchor at Hampton Roads? How cruelly that monster iron-clad gored one after another of our brave ships to the death, while the shot from our cannon rattled off her coat of mail harmless as hailstones. How bravely went down the good ship Cumberland, with the stars and stripes still floating at her masthead, and with three hundred immortals on board, who fired the last broadside as the waters of the ocean poured into the muzzles of their guns. Then all was terror and consternation. Telegrams were sent from headquarters to New York, Boston and Portland, to all maritime cities: 'The Merrimac has escaped. She has broken the blockade. She has sunk the bravest ships of our navy. We have nothing that can cope with her. Take care of yourselves; we cannot protect you." "I recollect well how the news was received in Portland. How our citizens consulted to- gether. How it was proposed to construct rafts of long lumber, and chain them across the har- bor, to save, if possible, our beautiful city by the sea from the shot and shell of this rebel mon- ster. For a few short hours that rebel ram was 'Mistress of the Seas.' "Then what! A little nondescript craft comes steaming in from the ocean, 'a Yankee cheese- box on a raft,' it was called in derision. But she steams straight for the ]\Ierrimac, the big tur- ret. 'The cheesebox' begins to revolve; the big guns are run out, and the big cannon balls are hurled, one after another, with crushing effect against the mailed armour of the Confederate cruiser. The contest was long; the fight was hard; but at its close this rebel ruler of the waves, crippled, disabled and defeated, was glad to crawl out of the fight, to roam the seas no more. "This is all familiar to you as household words; but let us not forget that the inventive geni- us who planned and built and gave us the Monitor, that apparently insignificant means of de- fence, which in that hour, under God, was the salvation of our navy, our blockade, and our pres- tige on the seas — let us not forget, I say, that he, the inventor of the jMonitor, was no American born, but the Swede, John Ericsson, the son of a Swedish miner, born and bred in the backwoods of old Sweden." Of all the nationalities and peoples irho have immigrated to the United States, no nation or people has furnished in a single person a man who has done so great and important service to the people and government of the United States as John Ericsson, the native backivoods man of Sweden. 20 Jenny Line! From the giim realities of war it is a relief to turn to the gentle arts of the sweet singers, who have made us forget for the nonce life's burden and lifted us to realms of nobler aims and higher impulses. During the last century Sweden gave to the world two of the sweetest singers that ever charmed rapt audiences with divine melody, Jenny Lind and Christine Nilsson. Jenny Lind was born in Stockholm, October 6, 1820. She received her early JOHN ERICSSON BUST, NYBROPLAN, STOCKHOLM training in the school of singing attached to the Royal Theatre in Stockholm, and made her debut in opera at that theatre in March, 1838, as Agatha in Weber's "Der Freischiitz," and made an instant hit; afterward singing Alice in "Robert le Diable," and Giulia in "La Vestale," all with brilliant success. In June, 1841, she went to Paris and took lessons from Garcia for nine months. Meyerbeer, who happened to be in Paris at the time, heard her, was delighted, and predicted for her a billiant future. She obtained a hearing at the opera in 1842, but no engagement followed. Naturally hurt at this, she is said to have determined never to accept an engage- 21 Jenny Lind ment in Paris; and, whether that is true or not, it is certain that in March, 1847, she declined an engagement at the Academie Royale, nor did she ever appear in Paris again. She went to Berlin and studied German, but returned to Stockholm in September, 1844, to take part in the fetes at the crowning of King Oscar I. She returned to Berlin in Octo- ber and obtained an engage- ment at the opera, through the influence of Meyerbeer, who had written for her the principal role in his "Feld- lager in Schlesien," after- ward remodeled as "L'Etoile du Nord." She appeared first December 15 as Norma, made a hit in that character, and afterward sang with equal success her part in Meyer- beer's new opera. In the fol- lowing year she sang at Ham- burg, Cologne and Coblentz, and in Copenhagen on her re- turn to Stockholm, enjoying everywhere a triumphant suc- cess. The next year, 1846, she was engaged in Vienna and appeared there for the first time, April 18, 1846. On May 4, 1847, she made her first appearance in London at Her Majesty's Theatre, as Alice in "Robert." Moscheles had already met her in Berlin, and wrote thus of her performance in "The Camp of Silesia:" "Jenny Lind has fairly enchanted me. She is uniiiue in her ways, and her song, with two concertante flutes, is perhaps the most incredible performance, in the way of bravura singing, ever accomplished. How lucky I was to find her at liome! What a glorious singer she is and so un- pretentious withal." Mendelssohn wrote of her: "In m\- whole life I have not seen an artistic nature so noble, so genuine, so true, as that JENNY LIND 22 Jenny Lind of Jenny Lind. Natural gifts, study, and depth of feeling I have never seen united in the same degree ; and. although one of these qualities may have been more prominent in other persons, the combination of all three has never existed before." In London she leaped at once to the pinnacle of fame. "The town, sacred and profane, went wild about the Swedish Nightingale," says Chorley. Her voice, with a compass from D to D, with another note or two occasionally available above the high D, was a soprano of a bright, thrilling and remarkably sympathetic quality. She was an unrivaled coloratui'a singer, and showed exquisite taste in her cadenza, which she usually invented. Her wonderfully developed length of breath enabled her to perform long and difficult passages with ease, and to fine down her tones to the softest pianissimo, while still maintaining the quality unvaried. One writer said about her: "What shall I say of Jenny Lind? I can find no words adequate to give you an idea of the impression she has made. We have heard an artist who makes a conscience of her art." Next to the great gift of her wonderful voice, that was undoubtedly the grand thing about Jenny Lind, "she made a conscience of her art." In the smallest town she would put the same zeal, the same verve into her singing that she would if she were making her debut in Her Majesty's Theatre in London. She never concerned herself about what her critics, friends or enemies, would say about her; she put her whole soul into her art, and gave the best that was in her, in her best and most powerful man- ner, to her audiences, whether made up of lords and princes or of people from the humbler walks of life. In 1850-52 she visited America under the management of Mr. Barnum. She was married to Mr. Otto Gold.schmidt, a German pianist from Hamburg, in Boston, on February 5, 1852, and the marriage turned out to be a happy one. Long before her marriage she had left the operatic stage and betaken herself to the concert hall. "How she sang there," says Chorley, "many of the present generation will still remember — the wild, queer Northern tunes brought from her native land — her careful expression of Mozart's great airs, her mastery over such a piece of execution as the Bird Song in Haydn's 'Creation,' and lastly the grandeur of in- spiration with which the 'Sanctus' of angels in Mendelssohn's 'Elijah' was led by her. These are the triumphs which will stamp her name forever as one of the brightest in the golden book of singers." Her private life was as admirable as her public repute ; her generosity was unbounded, her modesty and nobility of soul have been the theme of enthusiastic euloiy. She died at her villa, Wynds Point, Malvern Wells, England, November 2, 1837. A marble medallion of her head was put up in the poets' corner in Westminster Abbey, and unveiled on April 20, 1894. Christine Nilsson Christine Nilsson was born August 20, 1843, in the parish of Wederslof, near Wexio, Sweden, where her father was a small farmer on the estate of Count Hamilton. Her first teachers were the Baroness Leuhusen and Frans Berwald in Stockholm. She was afterward taken to Paris by the Baroness and studied singing under M. Wartel. She made her debut at the Theatre Lyrique, October 27, 1864. as Violetta in "La Traviata." She made an instant success and remained at the Lyrique nearly three years, after which she came to London and made her first appearance at Her Majesty's Theatre, as Violetta, on June 8, 1867, making a great hit, subse- quently singing Lady Henri- etta and Elvira, but making her greatest success as Mar- guerite in "Faust." The same season she sang at the Crystal Palace, and at the Birming- ham festival in oratorio, for which she was instructed by Mr. Turle, the organist of Westminster Abbey. On Oc- tober 23, she took farewell of the Theatre Lyrique by cre- ating the principal part in "Les Bluets" of Jules Cohen. She was then engaged by the Academic de Musique for the part of Ophelia in Ambroise Thomas' "Hamlet," in which she appeared on its first production, March 9, 1868, with very great success. In 1868 Christine Nilsson reappeared in Italian opera at Drury Lane Theatre, London, with the same eclat as before, and added to her repertoire the roles of Lucia and Cherubino. In the autumn she sang in Baden-Baden, appearing for the first time as Mignon, and in the winter returned to the Academie in Paris. In 1869 she sang Ophelia in the production of "Hamlet" in Covent Garden, and at CHRISTINE NILSSON Comtcsse Miranda. 24 Christine Nilsson Exeter Hall in "The Messiah," "Creatioi," "Hymn of Praise," etc., and returned to Paris for the winter. From the autumn of 1870 to the spring of 1872, Christine Nilsson toured in the United States, singing in opera and concert under the management of M. Strakosch. She returned to Drury Lane in London, in the summer of 1872, and on July 27 was married to M. Auguste Rozaud in Westminster Abbey. From 1872 to 1877 Madame Nilsson sang every season in Italian opera at Drury Lane and Her Majesty's, creating Edith in Balfe's "Talismano," and Elsa in the production of "Lohengrin" at Drury Lane in 1875. During the winter and spring of these years she sang at the opera of St. Peters- burg, Moscow and Vienna. In 1873-74 she paid a second visit to America, being everywhere received with unbounded en- thusia-sm. She made her third visit to America in 1884. Her first husband hav- ing died in 1882, she married Count Casa di Miranda, a Spanish nobleman, in 1887. Since her retirement from professional singing she has made Paris her home, and from there makes annual visits to her native land of Sweden where she has bought farms and presented to the mem- bers of her numerous family, making them all happy and prosperous. The introduction of the above sketch- es of the two great singers may not be exactly germane to the subject of this brochure, but so many of our younger generation have heard the names of these famous singers without knowing the particulars of their history (I have heard young people contend that Jenny Lind was born in England and was an English woman), that I think it will be a pleasure to a great many to learn who Jenny Lind and Christine Nilsson were, what they did, and where they came from. DR ERIC iNURELlUS For sixty years Swedish Lutheran Minister in the United States. Tivice President of the Augnstana Synod. 25 Swedish Immigrants Prosper in United States The great adaptability of the Swedes to the circumstances and customs of a new country is acknowledged on all sides. Whenever and wherever they have transplanted themselves, whether in England in the eighth and ninth centuries, in Normandy in the tenth, in Sicily in the eleventh, or in America in the seventeenth and nineteenth, the same progress of transformation has taken place. No other people in all history have such a record. In the United States they have eagerly learned English. Their passion for the possession of land and for the independence that goes with it has char- acterized them from the earliest times, and it is that which has made them so valuable as citizens of the great Northwest, in which they have settled so largely. Of course they are not all land owners. Thousands of them have made a record as able and skilled mechanics in our manufacturing estab- lishments, and in every city and town we find them en- gaged in commercial enter- prises and the professions with marked success, but the great majority are far- mers. It is an old saying that the apple falls not far from the tree. For more than forty generations the Swedes have behind them the lives of their ancestors saturated with hard work, thrift and economy, and an independence that never became the slave of priest, landlord or king. Is it any wonder, then, when such a race is transplanted into a richer soil and a more genial climate, that they flourish and make for the good of the state in which they have taken up the white man's burden? An American author, Hendrick C. Babcock, justly remarks: "The hundreds of thousands of immigrants from Sweden that have settled in the West and brought prosperity to that country, are no longer pilgrims and strangers. They are not simply in the better country, they are of it, and of its people. It is to the immi- 26 IRA NELSON MORRIS United States Minister in Sloekholm. statistics of Swedish Immigirdion grants of this class and especially thosa from Sweden, Norway and Denmark, that the Northwest is largely indebted for its marvelous development." / A glance at the statistics of Swedish immigration into the United States during the nineteenth and first fifteen years of the twen- tieth century, shows that, from 1280 to 1915, inclusive, 1,481,965 persons arrived from Sweden and settled in I the United States. Political economists have calculated that each of these immigrants is worth $875 to the country and that they bring with them on an aver- age $50 each, which increases their value to $925. This is admitted to be a low estimate, but even thus, it shows an addition to the wealth of the United States of $1,370,817,- 625, and a corresponding loss to Sweden. This is the pecuniary sac- rifice that the Swedish nation has made to the United States during the last century. Swe- den in return has gained something by money remit- tances from her former sons and daughters to their rela- tives in Sweden, but this does not amount to one-twentieth part of the value she has lost. As individuals the Swedes who have settled in the United States have pros- pered and gained immensely by the change ; as a nation Sweden has made a sacri- fice that can never be repaid. The burden of propagating the Christian religion and civilizing the globe is W. A. F. EKEXGREX S'lcecUsfi Minister in Washington. 27 tr z .= z^l 1^ Km*' a ^^ -J i State Street, Xew York. MARTIN MAURD, Cleiieral Western Ai^eiit, 183 Xo. Dearborn Street, Ohieasi'o. NILS NILSON='\ (feneral Northwestern Asjent, 127 S. Third St., Miiineapdlis. BRATTSTROM & CO., General Paeifie As'ents, 117 Cherrv St.. Seattle. Wash. A. HALLONQiJIST, (General Agent. ;i!)(i Logan Ave.. \VinHi|ieg. Man., Can. RATES. To Scandinavian Points: Kirsl Class, .$10:1 and nii. Sccdnd (.'lass -^SO. TliinI Class ^4!). APPLY TO NEAREST AGENCY FOP SAIL1N(; DATES *) Mr. Nils Nllson is also general agent in America for The Hweclisli Tourist Societii (Svenska Turistforeningen) , the greatest and most successful tourist society in the world, with 67,000 members. Its 32nd annual yearbook for 1917 has just been issued, a splendid publication of .500 pages and over 300 illustrations of Swedish scenery. By sending $1.10 to Mr. Nils Nilson, 127 S. Third Street, Minneapolis, Minn., he will at once send a mem- bership card and a copy of the book in return. The book alone is easily worth $2.50 in the book trade. ^•^^'?- ^^'\ ^« 4- "^J* * ^-tf^^^J*^' -^ /t, »>^^/V' "^x^ c'4'' •I o **''*< r ..'••» •^..^^^ ." ^^ -0... f'r, -V* ..'"^ ^A** Tit * %/ ••^•- ^^/ -'Jk- **'^* >' .^^-nK :- '-^'^o^ «, ^oV ,0 ^^ V ^^. 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