RELIGIOUS LIBERTY IN SWEDEN.

Evening Post, Issue 146, 27 July 1865, Page 3

RELIGIOUS LIBERTY IN SWEDEN.

It will perhaps be remembered that in the y<;ar 1858 six women were condemned to exile from Sweden on account of their having adopted the Koman Catholic religion. In consequence of the general outcry which was excited by this display of intolerance, an ordinance was passed in 1860, which to some extent modified the severity of the law. The first article of this ordinance enacts "that whoever publicly announces or propagates in any manner, with a view to proselytism, doctrines in opposition to the pure evangelical creed will be punished by fines of from 50 to 300 rixdalers, or from two months to one year of prison." A severe punishment is inflicted upon those who, by threats or promises of temporal advantage, should endeavour to convert a Swede from the official religion. If the guilty person is not a Swede, he is requested to leave the kingdom. Half the fine is to belong; to the person who gives information. This was all the advancement in toleration that could be obtained from the Swedish ' clergj, who form one of the four estates^ of tbe realm. It now appears that M. Schutze, the husband of one of the women j who was banished in 1856, applied last .year for a divorce and obtained it. Madame < Schutze was not heard before the tribunal, and her property was confiscated. The following is the official document in which the Consistory of Stockholm pronounced the divorce: — "Considering that Anne ( Schutze, the wife of Charles John Schutze, I has been condemned to banishment from the kingdom of Sweden, for apostacy to the pure evangelical doctrine ; that for this reason the civil tribunal of Stockholm, by decree of the 17th March last, declared the marriage tie dissolved; that the husband producing this decree before the Consirtory, and asking to have it put in force, the Consistory, by virtue of this decree and the Royal ordinance of the 27th April, 1810, declares the marriage tie between C. 3. Schutze and Anne Schutze dissolved." The signatures and seal of the Consistory are attached to this document.

The Emperor Napoleon sent the key of his box ai; the Italian Opera to the United States Consul-General, and the Consul, not being a musical man, gave it to his domestics, who, to the intense astonishment of the audience, filled the Imperial box during a performance. Thu •' light fantastic toe" may now trip along to its own peculiar music, in the form of musical pumps, a pair of which, or at least of musical boots, has been exhibited to the Emperor. The pressure of the foot itself in dancing or walking evolves the music to which the foot keeps time. The following simple method of preserving small quantities of Ice is said to have been practised with success. Put the ice in a deep dish or jug, cover it with a plate, and place the vessel on a pillow stuffed with feathers, and cover the top with another pillow carefully, by this means excluding the external air. Feathers are well known bad conductors of heat, and in consequence the ice is preserved from melting. It is stated that six pounds of ice have been thus preserved for eight days,