Seeking Domestic and International Legitimacy
On May 22, the newly elected king made a triumphant entrance into Christiania, exactly one year after he first arrived as viceroy to Norway. The cannons at Akershus Fortress sounded off the royal salute, and a celebratory service was held in the cathedral. There was continuing concern about the international climate, and on May 24 the government decided to send two of the delegates from the constitutional assembly to join Carsten Anker in England to plead Norway's case.
On May 25 the first council of state convened, establishing the nation's supreme court.
On May 31, general major Johannes Klingenberg Sejersted proposed to take a stand against invading Swedish forces at the river Glomma, but some maintanined that the Swedes should be stopped at the border.
On June 5, the British emissary John Philip Morier arrived in Christiania on what appeared to be an unofficial visit. He accepted the hospitality of one of Christian Frederik's ministers and agreed to meet with the king himself informally, stressing that nothing he did should be construed as a recognition of Norwegian independence. It was rumoured that Morier wanted Bernadotte deposed and exiled to the Danish island of Bornholm.
Christian Frederik asked Great Britain to mediate between Norway and Sweden, but Morier never deviated from the British rejection of an independent Norway. He offered to bring the Norwegian emissaries Niels Aall and Wilhelm Christie to England on his ship, but did not follow through on his promise. He demanded that Norway subject itself to Swedish supremacy, and also that his government's position be printed in all Norwegian newspapers. On June 10, the Norwegian army was mobilized and arms and ammunitions distributed.
On June 13, Christian Frederik also ordered a census in preparation for parliamentary elections.
On June 16, Carsten Anker sent a letter to Christian Frederik in which he made references to discussions he had recently had with a high-ranking Prussian diplomat. He learned that Prussia and Austria were waning in their support of Sweden's claims to Norway, that Tsar Alexander I of Russia (a distant cousin of Christian Frederik's) favored a Swedish-Norwegian union but not with Bernadotte as the king, and that Great Britain was looking for a solution to the problem that would keep Norway out of Russia's influence.
Read more about this topic: Norway In 1814
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