form of taxation. burdened. And so in general through the rema around the head of me had upper coasts of Sweden, := eems. to have met with 1 averace he says, burgher or jessant. vix is no found the poverty i naty plass er grat S arguments which he used among them he sleni uber is return in one extens" paper vich he hoped to ga pratel having perceived apparently viti seme surprise, that his gre vious writings were little incwn in these run and seduced regions, though as ir contradictions, he had beari nene anywhere, save from frimien fellows that sat on débouse benches railing without ground or reason."" He urges the rality of the manufacturing industries which He even holds the company would stimulate: these would furnish occupa tion in winter, when it was impossible to fish. out the possibility of regaining the Russian trade, quite against what he had said at Viborg: the cause of the change and the degree of its sincerity we shall see later. He confutes especially two objections: first, that if there were any such opportunities as represented, the Dutch would surely have taken them before this; second, that it is not a good time for such things while Sweden is engaged in war. But, he says among other arguments, the Dutch, when they be *** Korte aenwysinghe van eenighe besondere voordeelen, etc., written I sup pose between May 5, and May 29, 1628; (Bibliography, II., No. 37). The reader, I may observe, should not be misled by the word "Short," at the beginning of one of Usselinx's headings; e. g., this document covers, in my copy, thirty-three full pages of letter-paper. What he says of population in the regions last traversed may be worth preserving, though not material to my narrative. In Finland and Norrland he thinks there may be about 4,000 burghers (heads of families are meant); the 200 parishes probably contain on the average 200 peasants each, making 40,000 in all. If 200 peasants to a parish in Norrland seem too many, there are more than a hundred parishes, and in Finland the parishes are large. ј rundstyck, per week, that would be 260,000, which, with the subscriptions of the nobles, clergy, and military officers, would be enough to entitle Finland to a chamber." The practical man might easily reply that nations do not often subscribe with so ideal completeness; but the practical man might well envy Usselinx his courage, perseverance, and determination. At Viborg he seems to have succeeded fairly. The bishop helped heartily," and all the clergy of his diocese subscribed. But soon after he left a fire destroyed the town, and made his labors vain. Taking with him a citizen of Viborg, Anteunis Bryer, a Dutchman perhaps, he pushed on westward along the shore of the gulf. Borgå and Helsingfors, by the recent withdrawal of their commercial privileges, were too impoverished to do much. At Åbo, the chief commercial town in Finland, difficulties at first arose of a somewhat amusing sort. The Chancellor's letter, at first presented, was treated by the town-council with some suspicion. The governor thereupon summoned them to the castle, but none appeared, apprehending that they would be forced to subscribe whether they would or not. Usselinx then prepared one of those memorials of which he was so prolific, caused it to be hastily translated into Swedish and Finnish (for though the Swedish language was somewhat favored by the government and Usselinx's own language was not unknown in Åbo, even the cultivated classes still commonly used Finnish) and caused it to be read to the council.""1 They expressed their approval of the scheme, and explained that at first they had supposed it to be simply some new 218 Eight rundstycken made a mark; four marks a daler. 219 Usselinx had perhaps a special letter to the bishop, memorandum of June 12, 1627, (Stockholm MSS.). In 1618 the diocese of Viborg had again been set off as a bishopric; Olaf Elimaeus, who had been pastor of the principal church in Stockholm, but was of Finnish origin, was made bishop, (d. 1629). Yrjö Koskinen, Finnische Geschichte, pp. 210, 212. 220 Koskinen, pp. 206, 269, 270. Rühs, Finland och dess Invånare, p. 89. 221 This is preserved in the Swedish, Kort förklaringh, etc., Mar. 9, 1628, (Bibliography II., No. 36.). It scarcely differs from the memorial handed in at Viborg. He estimates that there are a thousand householders in Åbo. form of taxation, with which they were already greatly burdened. And so in general, as he continued his journey, passing through the remaining towns of Finland, and (perhaps around the head of the Gulf of Bothnia) southward along the upper coasts of Sweden, he seems, everywhere but at Gefle, to have met with a favorable reception. There was no one, he says, burgher or peasant, who did not wish to invest in the company, one saying he would rather sell a cow, another a horse, another his silverware, than not join it; but he had found the poverty in many places very great. The various arguments which he used among them he collected after his return in one extensive paper which he hoped to get printed, having perceived, apparently with some surprise, that his previous writings were little known in these rural and secluded regions, though as for contradictions, he had heard none anywhere, “save from drunken fellows that sat on alehouse benches railing without ground or reason." He urges the utility of the manufacturing industries which the company would stimulate; these would furnish occupation in winter, when it was impossible to fish. He even holds out the possibility of regaining the Russian trade, quite against what he had said at Viborg; the cause of the change and the degree of its sincerity we shall see later. He confutes especially two objections: first, that if there were any such opportunities as represented, the Dutch would surely have taken them before this; second, that it is not a good time for such things while Sweden is engaged in war. But, he says among other arguments, the Dutch, when they be 229 Korte aenwysinghe van eenighe besondere voordeelen, etc., written I suppose between May 5, and May 29, 1628; (Bibliography, II., No. 37). The reader, I may observe, should not be misled by the word "Short," at the beginning of one of Usselinx's headings; e. g., this document covers, in my copy, thirty-three full pages of letter-paper. What he says of population in the regions last traversed may be worth preserving, though not material to my narrative. In Finland and Norrland he thinks there may be about 4,000 burghers (heads of families are meant); the 200 parishes probably contain on the average 200 peasants each, making 40,000 in all. If 200 peasants to a parish in Norrland seem too many, there are more than a hundred parishes, and in Finland the parishes are large. gan, were as much afraid of the superiority of the Spanish and Portuguese as you now are of theirs. And as for war, this is as necessary as the war, and helps to provide resources for it; and if we were to wait for wars to cease, we might wait forever. Usselinx arrived in Stockholm on the third of April, after a journey whose discomforts and dangers, in the seventeenth century, in the depth of winter, and to a man of sixty, must have been very great. He found that little had been done as he wished, and much had been done that he did not wish. Per Andersson, the first of his assistants whom Usselinx regarded as efficient, had got subscriptions of 10,000 dalers at Nyköping, of 14,000 at Norrköping, but had since done little. It seems to have been reported that Usselinx was dead." At all events, the directors had concluded to use the money in the Russian trade. Usselinx was strongly opposed to this; but in this purpose of theirs lies no doubt the secret of the change of his opinions on this subject between the date of his memorial written at Viborg and that of the general address to all Finlanders and Norrlanders written at Stockholm. They had entered into an agreement with the Belgian immigrant Louis de Geer, famous for his services in fostering Swedish industries, but who was not even a member of the company, to buy hemp and manufacture cordage extensively." They had been induced by Johan Sparre, governor of the Copper Company, to take up some unsalable property which that company had in Russia. Schemes of trade with Spain, of a monopoly of salt, had been broached, while opportunities of gain in the regular sphere of the company had been neglected. The three directors paid no attention to the injunctions of the charter, seldom came together, did no work, and did not even remain in Stockholm. 223 So Usselinx states in the letter of Sept. 11, 1636; Kronijk of the Historisch Genootschap te Utrecht, xxix., pp. 137, 138. The other facts here given are from the letter of July 19, 1628, to Oxenstjerna. 224 The king gave them land for a rope-walk in Norrköping, behind the brick-sheds of the church, by a grant of Apr. 24, 1628, of which I have a copy ; För General Handels Compagnie på een Reparebaan, Stockholm Archives, Riks Registrat., 1628, fol. 290, v. This was no way, Usselinx thought, to manage a great trading company; "it must be done very differently, if it is not to be a Tower of Babel instead of a South Company." We need not suppose that all these complaints of Usselinx were well founded. He was really furnishing materials for a criticism of himself while he thus censoriously criticised others. But at any rate they let us see how great were the difficulties which beset the establishment of such a company in such a country. They show us how far its actual workings were likely to vary from the elaborate constitution and plans framed for it. For the framing had been done by one educated in the strict school of regular commerce and little skilled to adapt himself to the irregular methods of an uncommercial people and the crude expedients of infant industries. After all, the chief factor was the government. Upon its course Usselinx naturally passed little criticism beyond declaring his belief that so many new companies ought not to have been started while this was on foot,-an iron company, a silk company, a Finland company, a Russian company, and now there was even talk of a tar company,—all which was simply putting the shirt on over the coat, and turning the water from the right mill; the new depreciated copper money had also done much harm. In general, it had to be confessed that the government was not remiss in the matter. It had ordered that the first instalment of all subscriptions should be paid in by May 1st, on penalty of due indemnification to the company, the king at the same time agreeing to pay in his own (which, by the way, he did not do).225 The king having given land for a rope-walk, the council urged on Per Andersson to the manufacturing of cordage. After a conference with Usselinx, they approved the translating and printing of his last discourse, and resolved to collect at once the subscriptions he had got in Livonia and 925 A. A. von Stiernman, Samling utaf kongl. bref, stadgar och förordningar, etc., i., p. 958, under date of Jan. 11, 1628. A manuscript copy of this is to be found among the Mickley papers in the library of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. A translation is printed in N. Y. Col. Docs., xii., pp. 15, 16. |