ted with the recent historic and
economic condition of Norway, of which we have given some account in our
present number,[104] he might have quoted that country as a warning
rather than an example. The 'Storthing,' or Parliament of Norway, is
omnipotent, and two-thirds of its representatives are permanently in the
hands of the peasant proprietor. The King has only a suspensive veto on
Bills enacted by the Storthing, which therefore become law, if passed in
their original form by three successive triennial Parliaments. The
recent dispute between the King and the Parliament, to which Mr.
Gladstone alluded, related to the right of the King to exercise an
absolute veto in the case of Bills affecting the principles of the
Constitution. The existence of such a right was denied by the Radical
majority in the Storthing, which established in 1884 a Supreme Court of
Justice composed exclusively of Radical members, and the Judges of the
ordinary High Court of Justice. It was a packed Court, bound to secrecy;
and the tribunal thus constituted condemned, in violation of the first
principles of justice, all the King's Ministers in Norway to deprivation
of office and to pecuniary fines, for having advised their master, that
the Constitution could not be altered without his sanction. The King was
compelled to yield, though he was supported in his opposition to the
Storthing by his Swedish Cabinet; and his ultimate submission to the
Radical majority in Norway was followed by a Ministerial crisis in
Sweden. The Swedes rightly argue that, if the King has no absolute veto
on matters affecting the principles of the Constitution in Norway, there
is no obstacle to an abolition of the Monarchical form of government in
that kingdom, or to a repeal of the union between the two countries.
There is in consequence much discontent in Sweden at the conduct of
Norway; and the Norwegians, on their side, have an intense and
ever-growing 'hatred and aversion' to the Swedes. Hence has arisen a
considerable tension in the official relations between the two countries
instead of the 'constantly growing sympathy' of which Mr. Gladstone
spoke. It is characteristic of the Prime Minister's mode of stating a
case, that he tells us the Norwegian controversies are 'not with Sweden
but with the King of Sweden.' Sweden has nothing to say in Norwegian
affairs, except in the person of the King. The King is the only
connecting link between the two countries. If the Dublin