willing ones, and they were in the main successful. Then followed a
most energetic propaganda in order to win European opinion on Norway's
side. The European press was well supplied with materials for forming an
opinion of the situation, and with articles in German and English
newspapers, it became possible to persuade the doubting ones at home,
that Norway's cause was a righteous one,--all Europe saw that.

[Sidenote: _Proposal from the Special Committee of the Storthing._]

When the ground was thus well prepared the Special Committee of the
Storthing presented their proposals.

This recommends as before mentioned the old well-known tactics of the
first days of the Consular dispute. The modifications which were added
were only designed to hasten events, so that agitated minds should not
have time to reflect, and reason in some way be restored. In the
beginning of the 90's the so-called State subsidy line was followed, that
is, a certain sum of money was voted for the purpose of establishing a
separate Consular Service within a given time. This measure had meanwhile
shown that a delay would occur which would under present circumstances be
exceedingly inconvenient. Therefore the so-called legal measure was
adopted. The Resolution on the Norwegian Consular Service should be
presented to the King in the form of a law, the advantage in this being
that according to the Norwegian Constitution, a law shall be laid before
the King immediately after the resolution passed by the Storthing. But
there was an obstacle to this: the King's right of veto! On the ground of
the fundamental law, that if the King refuses his sanction to a bill
three successive times after it has been passed by the unaltered
resolution of the Storting, it becomes the law of the land without his
assent, the personal wishes of the king with regard to legal matters had
of recent times been to a certain extent respected. Thus so recently as
1900 the law applying to Consular Fees had been refused sanction by the
Crown Prince-Regent against the decision of the Ministry, and the Prime
Minister had countersigned the decision. But now the last vestige of
Sovereign power was refused. By a resolution that the law should commence
to act on April 1st 1906 all possibility of the King pronouncing his veto
was cut off beforehand. The settlement of affairs should immediately be
brought to a climax.

The proposed law made no provisions as to the relations of the Consuls to