les of the
Union, and he finally refers to the decisions of himself and Sweden "if
Norway's attack on the existing Union should lead to its _legal_
dissolution".

[Sidenote: _Address of the Storthing 19th June 1905._]

The reply to this address of the King was an address[62:2] from the
Storthing on June 19th formally to His Majesty the King, but in reality
to the Swedish nation. In this it is explained that the Norwegian people
entertain no feelings of dislike or ill-will to the Swedish people, and
appeals to the Swedish State powers to promote a peaceful agreement on
both sides. The Storthing addressed this appeal to the people who by
their magnanimity and chivalry had won such a prominent place in the
ranks of Nations.

The Swedish nation had good cause for thinking that it might have
received this compliment _a little sooner_, instead of the overwhelming
mass of infamous accusations which it had formerly had to accept with a
good grace. And above all, it is their opinion that if Norway had
formerly adjusted its actions in accordance with their present ideas of
the Swedish nation, the present situation would now have been different
in all respects.

The document of the 19:th June contains also one detail, which has since,
step by step, been forced to the front by the Norwegian agitation, and
therefore deserves its separate explanation. This said that the Swedish
government on the 25:th April had emphatically refused to resume
negotiations, with the dissolution of the union as an alternative, in
case unity on the new forms of the union could not be arrived at, and on
this account, from Norway's side they have tried to cast the blame on
Sweden for the revolution of June 7:th under the pretext that Sweden had
already refused settlement by negotiation. What are the real conditions?

In the Norwegian Government's proposal of the 17:th April negotiations
are firmly _refused_, before the Consular question has been settled.
Therefore Norway has never proposed negotiations respecting the
situation which followed upon the 27:th May, when the King exercised his
veto against the Consular law. Furthermore, attention must be drawn to
the Norwegian government's wording of the _presuppositions_ for an
eventual negotiation. It should be carried on "_on an entirely free basis
with full recognition of the Sovereignty of each country without any
reservation or restriction whatever_", and among other matters, it was
stipulated, that