Christian Frederick returned to Denmark, where, at the death of his cousin, he became king under the name of Christian VIII. The following year a convention was negotiated with Sweden, fixing the terms of the union (_Rigsakten_). The Bank of Norway was established in Drontheim, and a Supreme Court in Christiania. [Illustration: CHARLES XIV. JOHN. (BERNADOTTE.) KING OF NORWAY AND SWEDEN.] To all appearances Norway had now regained her independence. Considering the desperate position in which the country was placed in 1814, resisting single-handed the decree of the powers, there can be no doubt that the terms of the union were more favorable than there was reason to expect. For all that, there was one feature of it which was incompatible with the idea of independence, and that was the presence in the capital of a Swedish viceroy (_Statholder_), representing the authority of the king. Bernadotte, who, at the death of Charles XIII. (1818), succeeded to the throne under the name of Charles XIV. John (1818-1844), scarcely regarded, at first, the independence of Norway seriously, but rather allowed the Norsemen to deceive themselves with an illusion of liberty, as long as their illusion was harmless. But he showed plainly his irritation when he found that the _Storthing_ began to oppose his measures, and to insist upon a stricter interpretation of the constitution. One of the first causes of contention was the question of the payment by Norway of a part of the Danish public debt which Charles John had guaranteed in the treaty of Kiel. The _Storthing_ was of opinion that, as Norway had never accepted the treaty of Kiel, it could not be bound by any of its stipulations. A compromise was finally effected by which the king renounced his civil list from Norway for ten years for himself and his son, the crown prince, and the _Storthing_ of 1821 agreed to pay about three million dollars. Simultaneously came the struggle about the abolition of the nobility. Three successive _Storthings_ passed a law, abolishing noble titles and privileges, and the king, who feared a conflict with the powerful nobility of Sweden, in case he sanctioned it, made repeated efforts to induce the _Storthing_ to abandon its position. He urged that Norway was watched by the powers of Europe, and that the democratic spirit which manifested itself in its legislative assembly would arouse suspicion and hostility abroad. The _Storthing_, however, remained inflexible, and finally the law was promulgated, though in a slightly modified form. Those of the privileges of the nobility which were in conflict with the constitution were forthwith abolished; their exemption from taxation and all personal privileges should cease on the demise of the nobles then living, and should not be inherited by their descendants. This postponed the final abolition of nobility for one generation.