1.

Extracts from the Constitution of Norway.

Se. The Kingdom of Norway is a free, independent, indivisible, and inalinenable realm united with Sweden under one King.

Se. The King’s person is sacred. He must not be blamed nor accused.
The responsibility is incumbent on His Council.

Se. [ ] The Prime Minister reports the matters and is responsible for the documents issued being in accordance with the resolutions adopted.

Se. All matters dealt with in the Cabinet Council should be recorded. Each number of the Cabinet Council is bound to express, fearlessly, his opinion which the King is obliged to listen to. But it is reserved for the latter to take these resolutions according to His own judgment.

If a member of the Cabinet Council should find the Kings’ resolution incongruous with the form of government, or the public laws of the country, or else obviously harmful to the realm, it is his duty to make strenuous remonstrance and to have his opinon recorded. He who has not issued a protest in this way, is considered to have agreed with the King and is responsible for it in the way subsequently indicated, and the Odelsthing can proeced against him before the Court of impeachment.

Se. All orders (ezcepting matters of military command) issued by the King himself, should be countersigned by one of the Prime Ministers.

Se. Each law shall first be moved in the Odelsthing, either by its own members or by the Government through a Cabinet Minister. [ ]

Se. When a resolution passed by the Odelsthing has been approved of by the Lagthing, or by the assembled Storthing, it is sent to the King if present, or else to the Norwegian Government with the request of obtaining the sanction of the King.

Se. If the King approves of the resolution he shall attach His signature to it, through which it passes into law. If He does not approve of it, He shall send it back to the Odelsthing with the declaration that He does not find it suitable, at present, to sanction it. In this case the resolution must not again be laid before the King by the Storthing then assembled.

Se. If a resolution has, in unaltered form, been passed by three ordinary Storthings constituted after three different consecutive general Elections and separated from each other by at least two intermediate ordinary Storthings without that, in the interval between the first and the last adoption of the resolution, a divergent resolution has been passed by a Storthing, and if it is then submitted to the King with the request that His Majesty may be pleased not to negative a resolution regarded as useful by the Storthing after mature consideration, then it passes into law, even if the King’s sanction should not be obtained before the break-up of the Storthing.

Se. If experience should teach that some part of the Constitution of the realm of Norway ought to be altered, the motion for it shall be made at the first ordinary Storthing after a new general election and be issued from the press. But it can only to be one of the ordinary Storthings after the next general election, to decide as to whether the amendment moved should be accepted or not. Such an amendment, however, must never be contrary to the principles of this Constitution, but should only regard a modification of particular regulations, not affecting the spirit of this Constitution, and such an amendment should be seconded by two thirds of the Storthing.

2.

Extracts from the Act of Union.

Se. The King shall have the right to concentrate troops, commence war and to conclude peace, enter into and annul alliances, dismiss and receive ambassadors. [ ]

Se. Both the Norwegian Prime Ministers and the two Cabinet Ministers accompaning the King shall have a seat and vote in the Swedish Cabinet Council, whenever matters affecting both countries are there transacted. In such cases the opinion of the Government residing in Norway shall be consulted unless such a speedy decision be required that time does not allow of it.

When, in the Norwegian Cabinet Council, matters affecting both countries are transacted, three members of the Swedish Cabinet Council shall there have a seat and vote.

Se[72:1]. [ ] Matters concerning both the Kingdoms, but which in consequence of their nature, do not belong to the administration of any special Department, are reported by the Minister for Foreign Affairs and are despatched to each Kingdom, drawn up in its own language; to Sweden by the above mentioned reporter Minister and to Norway by her Prime Minister.

Diplomatic (Cabinet) matters are reported by the Minister for Foreign affairs, and are entered into a separate protocol[73:1]. [ ]

Se. Whereas the regulations contained in this Act of Union partly are copied from the Constitution of the realm of Norway, partly are additions to it, based on the right awarded to the present Storthing by the Constitution, they shall, with regard to Norway, have and retain the same authority as the Constitution of that realm, and they must not be altered but in the way indicated in Se of that same Constitution.

3.

The negotiations carried on in Stockholm during the last months of October, December, and January between the members of the Swedish and the Norwegian Government here subjoined, and regarding the Consular question, have been continued in Christiania during February and March.

During these negotiations the Swedish members maintained that the establishment of a separate Consular service for each of the United Kingdoms did not seem to them desirable in itself, and that they were not convinced that a dissolution of the existing community, in this respect, would convey any important practical advantages to either of the Kingdoms. On the contrary, there were reasons to apprehend lest this arrangement should lead to inconveniences.

Whereas, however, an opposite opinion has long been upheld by Norway and whereas, during the negotiations resulting from the report of the latest Consular committee made up by members from both countries, it has turned out not to be impossible to arrange, on certain conditions, such a system with separate consuls for each Kingdom as could, while it was meant to satisfy the desires expressed by Norway, also remove the principal apprehensions on the part of Sweden, the Swedish negotiators in order to attain the most important advantage of political concord between the two Kingdoms, have found it possible to recommend an agreement on the following terms:

1. Separate Consular services for Sweden and for Norway shall be established. The Consuls of each Kingdom shall be subordinate to the authority of their own country which the latter shall have to determine.

2. The relations of the separate consuls to the Minister for Foreign Affairs and to the Embassies shall be regulated by laws of th seame wording which cannot be altered nor abolished without the consent of the authorities, of both Kingdoms.

The Swedish negotiators have added to this that they realise in full and acknowledge that the position held for the present by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, does not correspond to the equality within the Union that Norway is entitled to claim. They have held forth the desirability of this question being made an object of negotiations, which, however, at present has not met with approval on the part of Norway. They have, however, declared themselves prepared to advise the King, whenever such a desire is expressed on the side of Norway, to lay before the Riksdag and the Storthing a proposition about such alterations of the Act of Union as can clear the way for the King to appoint a Swede or a Norwegian-Minister for Foreign affairs and render it possible to institute the minister’s constitutional responsibility before the national assemblies of both Kingdoms.

To this the Norwegian negotiators have answered that they naturally concur in the opinion that the existing arrangement for the administration of Foreign affairs does not agree with Norway’s justified claims on equality within the Union. It was therefore all the more evident that, on the part of Norway, no regulations could be accepted that were meant to bind it to this arrangement. At the same time, however, they wanted to express the hope that the question about a satisfactory arrangement of the administration of Foreign affairs might soon be made an object of negotiations between the Kingdoms.

When the present negotiations had been carried on by Norway under the supposition that the question about a change of this unsatisfactory state of things should be left untouched, it had been done so out of regard to the fact that the opinions about the best way of correcting this state of things were so different in the two countries that, for the present, an agreement could not be expected.

We Swedish and Norwegian negotiators, having thus been confined to try to bring about such an arrangement of the Consular question as will leave status quo undisturbed with respect to the position of the Minister for Foreign affairs and of the Embassies, have agreed upon that the relation between the Minister and the Diplomacy on the one hand, and the separate Consular Services on the other, should be regulated by laws of the same wording which cannot be altered by one of the parties alone and which both shall guarantee that the Consuls do not overstep the limits of their authority and at the same time shall add security to the necessary co-operation between the management of foreign affairs and the Consular Services of both Kingdoms.

In conclusion we also want to express the hope that the time shall not be remote when, by conciliatory advances on both sides, the question of arranging the management of Foreign affairs can be made an object of negotiations and find such a solution as can produce satisfaction in both countries and enduringly secure the futurity of the Union.

4.

I.

The Consular administration by which is understood the authority the Consuls are subordinate to, has to inform the Minister for Foreign affairs of:

a) the establishment, the suppression, the alteration, or the division of Consular Services, the appointement or employment of Consuls, their power of attorney, leave of absence, suspension, recall, or discharge:

b) the general regulations and precepts issued with regard to the Consular Service;

c) measures particularly regarding the relations to Foreign Powers, as e. g. regulations to be observed by Consuls in time of war; orders to, or proceedings against Consuls owing to complaints lodged by a Foreign Power against their actions; instructions to Consuls as to the interpretation and the application of international laws or agreements and as to matters simultaneously subject to Diplomatic and to Consular treatment.

III.

Of matters that have assumed or may be anticipated to assume a diplomatic or political aspect and that seem to require a speedy decision, the Consul has to send the Minister for Foreign affairs an exact statement. This proceeding shall particularly be observed in case of an infringement of international agreements; of obstacles raised by the local authorities to the Consul’s discharge of his official duties; of troubles for warships in foreign ports; of illegitimate confiscation of traders; of arbitrary imprisonment of citizens; of difficulties originating from outbreak of war or insurrection; and of reclamations already committed to diplomatic treatment, but requiring a speedy acquirement of additional information.

In matters of this kind where there is reason to apprehend lest a negligence of immediate interference should convey considerable inconveniences, the Minister for Foreign affairs can make direct inquires of, and give direct injunctions to a Consul concerning the diplomatic or political side of the matter.

The Consul must not refuse to submit to an inquiry or an injunction addressed to him by the Minister for Foreign affairs, because of finding the matter in question not to be of the kind alluded to above.

IV.

When the interest of the country or its citizens require being looked after, the legation is entitled to gather information from, and to give orders to the Consul concerned. Such orders must not conflict with actual law and statute, nor with instructions or other regulations given by the Home authority.

With regard to a Consul’s duty to obey the injunctions mentioned above, the last passage of Se should be applied.

5.

Extracts from the outlines for laws of the same wording drawn up by His Excellency Bostroem, in November 1904.

With regard to the relations between the Minister for Foreign affairs and the Consular administration, and in addition to general precepts as to their duty of mutual cooperation and of mutual interchange of information about such resolutions and steps, etc. as may be of importance for them to know it should be directed:

that a new Consulate must not be established until the Minister for Foreign affairs has stated as to whether any obstacles to its establishment are raised on the part of Foreign Powers;

that, before the appointment of a Consul, the Foreign Minister shall have an opportunity of making the remarks he may find appropriate, as to the persons possible to be taken into consideration for the appointment;

that, for obtaining a Foreign Power’s recognition of a Consul, the Consular administration has to make a proposition of it to the Foreign Minister just as is the case when, in other matters belonging to the province of the Consular administration the question arises about applying to the Government of a Foreign Power;

and that if, in matters being dealt with by the Consular administration, the Minister for Foreign affairs has given instructions to a Consul, the Consular administration must not give the Consul an order conflicting with such an instruction.

As to the Foreign Minister’s relation to the Consuls and vice versa, the law should say that the Consuls are subordinate to the Minister for Foreign affairs in such a way:

that, in matters belonging to his province, he has the right to request information directly from the Consul and to give him instructions;

and that the Consul on his part is bound not only to execute implicitly what he is thus requested to do, but also, in such matters dealt with by him as, owing to their nature and other circumstances, may be supposed to affect the relation to a Foreign Power, to send of his own accord a report of the origination of the matter as well as of its further development.

Besides it should be instituted:

that, in case a Consul should act in such a way as may have a disturbing effect upon the friendly relations between the United Kingdoms and the Foreign Power concerned, and also in case a Consul should neglect to execute the instructions of the Minister for Foreign affairs or the Legation, the Foreign Minister shall have the right to address a humble request to the King about the Consul’s revocation, whereupon the Consular administration concerned should be informed of the resolution.

In order to regulate the relations between the Legation and the Consuls concerned, it should, apart from the general precept of their duty of mutual cooperation, be laid down in the law:

that the legation is bound to guard the Consul’s rights and to lend him necessary assistance and, in matters belonging to the province of the legation, entitled to demand information from the Consul and to give him instructions;

that the Consul has the same duties towards the Legation as towards the Minister for Foreign affairs;

and that, if the Consul, by participating in political demonstrations or in another way, should openly disregard the consideration he is bound to have for the authorities of the country he is employed in, or if an action affecting his civil repute should he brought against him, the legation has the right to suspend him from his office until further notice.

6.

2. No approval on the part of Norway can be expected for an arrangement that would give Swedish authorities the possibility of interfering with measures taken by a Norwegian authority. Also in this respect we merely adhere to the Communique and the Protocols of December that, as a basis of agreement, give prominence to the establishment of a separate Consular service for Sweden and for Norway, in which case “the Consuls of each Kingdom shall be subordinate to the authority of their own country which the latter shall have to determine.” This arrangement does not however preclude, as is also presupposed in the Norwegian draft, a certain possibility for the Foreign Minister to address direct requests to the consuls.

With particular regard to the demand expressed in the “outlines” that the Swedish Minister for Foreign affairs shall have the right this is the, intention according to your Excellency’s verbal declaration to discharge in ministerial consequently in Swedish Cabinet Council a consul appointed in Norwegian Council, I ventured to point out 1) that this demand was entirely contrary to the Norwegian Constitution, 2) that an arrangement by which a Swedish authority of state might nullify a resolution adopted by a Norwegian authority of state would, according to the general principles of political and international law, impress upon Norway the stamp of a dependency, and 3) that it would therefore from a national point of view signify an enormous retrograde step as compared with the present arrangement of the Consular service.

7.

Extracts from the draft of laws of the same wording made by the Swedish
Government in December 1904.

Se.

If in a matter being dealt with by the Consular administration, the Minister for Foreign affairs has informed that he has taken such a measure as is alluded to in Se, it is for the Consular administration to observe that, from its side, no such instructions are given to the consul concerned as are conflicting with any reorder relating to this matter given by the Minister for Foreign affairs and known to the Consular administration.

Se.

The Minister for Foreign affairs has, in a matter belonging to his province, to request immediate information from the Consul of the country concerned and also give him instructions about what he has to observe in such a matter; and a consul is absolutely bound to fullfill what is thus requested of him.

Se.

If the Minister for Foreign Affairs should learn that a Consular employe has not acted with good and worthy behaviour towards the authorities of the country where he is employed, or that he has participated in political demonstrations, or secretely, or openly encouraged or supported attacks on the existing Government, or else behaves in a way that may have a disturbing effect upon the good relations between the United Kingdoms and the Foreign Power concerned, then the minister has humbly to give notice of it to the King in Joint or in Ministerial Cabinet Council whereupon the matter is submitted to the King’s consideration in the Cabinet Council of the country concerned.

Se.

If a legation should find a Consul guilty of a proceeding or a neglect alluded to in Se, or if a Consul should be prosecuted for a crime affecting his civil repute, the legation, if finding it justified by circumstances, has to suspend the Consul from his office; and the matter should immedately be reported both to the Minister for Foreign affairs and to the Consular administration concerned.

A Consul thus suspended from his office, must not again come into office until the King, after hearing the Minister for Foreign affairs, has resolved upon it.

8.

To Se. It is stated here that, when. in a matter being dealt with by the Consular administration, the Foreign Minister has given a Consul an order, it is for the Consular administration to observe that, from its side, no order conflicting with it is given to the Consul. It is difficult to understand what is meant by this paragraph, which is without a parallel in the present Consular statutes which do not direct any similar injunction to the Norwegian Consular department. To judge from reference to Se, it does not seem to have been intended to give the Foreign Minister the right, in whatever be which matter being dealt with by the Consular administration, to stop the function of the latter and to assert his own authority instead; for this would be equivalent to instituting a relation of subordination that no Governmental department can submit to. The intention, then, can only be supposed to have been the following: to try, in a consular matter, that has assumed a diplomatic aspect or that is simultaneously subject to a consular and a diplomatic treatment, to prevent the Consular administration from arbitrarily trespassing upon the province of the Foreign Minister. It stands to reason that this must not occur. But just because it stands to reason, the precept is superfluous. And what is of more importance: it is calculated to excite indignation. For, as it is obvious that an interference of the said kind must be a manifestation either of want of judgment or of disloyalty, it should be admitted that it is not very appropriate to give in a law, even in an indirect way, an expression to the thought that such qualities may prevail in the department concerned.

To Se. [ ] We should not however dwell upon these formal considerations which are of a merely secondary importance as compared with the far-reaching question: exclusively Norwegian or partly joint treatment of matters concerning the relations of Norwegian Consuls wheteher to the Foreign Minister, or to legations, or to Foreign authorities. In this connection we want to quote a passage from the report of the last Consular Committee made up of members from both countries where we read (Norwegian edition, : “Furthermore the Norwegian Consular administration has to leave it to the Foreign Minister (and the legations) to receive and reply to reclamations from Foreign Governments in the rare cases when subjects of contention arise by the actions of Norwegian Consuls. For this kind of correspondence, although dealing with the behaviour of Consuls, is owing to its nature diplomatic and not consular, and in as much as the matter has a political moment, the Foreign Minister should continue to keep the management of it; if the matter should become critical so as to grow into a real international conflict, he should report it to the King and procure the instructions necessary for its treatment. It stands to reason that he should not be debarred from influencing the course of the matter by informing the Norwegian Consular administration of his opinion as to the steps suitable to take with regard to the consul Concerned. But the very instructions to the latter or the disciplinary steps occasioned by the matter belong to the home consular management and should therefore be issued from the Norwegian department.” We concur in the opinion expressed here and the demand for an exclusively Norwegian treatment of questions concerning measures against Norwegian Consuls, appears still more justified in the cases when the matter is without a political moment, but the question regards the consul’s relation to the Foreign Minister and the legations. In the last-mentioned respect we want again to refer to the statement of the Consular Committee (Norwegian edition, pp. 25-26), from which it is evident that they did not intend any joint treatment of matters relating to the Consul’s disobedience of instructions or omission of duties; nor was this intention expressed during the negotiations that took place before the appearance of the Communique. Such a joint treatment that should precede the treatment from the Norwegian side, can only imply one of two things. Either it means to be a mere formality only calculated to delay matters perhaps requiring a speedy decision. Or else it means to be a real treatment, in which case, the Foreign Minister is intended to get influence on the settlement of the matter; but in this case it will signify an encroachment upon a department which, as it maintained, should be exclusively reserved for a Norwegian authority of State. Besides, it is self-evident that the Consular administration which may justly be supposed to be equally interested as the Foreign Minister in Norway not being compromised by her agents abroad, cannot forbear, when demands for a Consul’s revocation are made on the part of diplomacy, to make the matter the object of a humble report.

To Se. It is proposed here that the legation shall have the right to suspend a Consul guilty of such conduct as is spoken of in Se, or prosecuted for a crime affecting his civic reputation. In this connection it should be remembered that, according to the present consular statute, the right to suspend a consular official does not lie with the legations, but with the Foreign Minister who, after having taken his measures, has to submit the matter to his Majesty. As to the right to suspend future Norwegian consular officials, this right, just as is done with regard to other state officials, shall according to the Constitution be exercised by the King (see the Constitution, Se and Aschehoug, Norges nuvaerende statsforfatning, ii, 474.) To transfer this right upon the legations would be incongruous with the Constitution. But not even with regard to consular functionaries who are not state officials, and who, during the present community in Consular service, are suspended, by the superior consul concerned, the right of suspension should be granted to the legations. For, the view is held, in accordance with the Consular Committee of the joint Kingdoms (see their report, Norwegian edition, pp. 24, 25) that between consular functionaries exclusively subject to Norwegian authonity and ambassadors exclusively subject to a Swedish minister, there is no possibility of establishing truly hierarchic relations: [ ]

After the considerations made above, it will be obvious that from a Norwegian point of view, these paragraphs appear as unacceptable, partly because they are incongruous with the Constitution of Norway or with the claims that in this country are put upon the contents and the forms of independecy, partly because, by this, the aim cannot be gained, that is intended by the whole negotiation, viz to use the words of the Swedish negotiators to establish a separate Consular service for Sweden and for Norway The Consuls of each Kingdom are subject to the home authority that each country decides for itself. (see the Communique of March 24, 1903).

On this account we recommend to omit from the Swedish draft the paragraphs 5, 6, 8, 11, 16, and 19. If they should be adhered to, further discussion about the Swedish draft will be futile.

9.

In the memorandum of the Norwegian Cabinet Council it is suggested that Se of the Swedish draft can be interpreted so as to be meant with regard to any matter being treated by the Consular administration, to give the Foreign Minister the right to stop the function of the latter and to assert his own authority instead. But as it is expressly indicated in the draft that the precept concerned is meant to be relevant only to a certain case specially mentioned, the opinion expressed does not seem to be justified. The precept has in view to regulate the relations between the Foreign Minister and the Consular administration, if, in a matter subject to consular treatment, the Foreign Minister, owing to the origination of diplomatic or political circumstances, has found reason to interfere by virtue of the right the laws are meant to bestow upon him. When thus a matter is simultaneously treated by different authorities, that each within its province has to treat it, the possibility of a conflict can hardly be denied, and still less so as the limits between the diplomatic and the consular province, as is generally acknowledged, are extremely uncertain, and as on both sides there is a natural tendency to extend the sphere of activity to departments formerly looked upon as exclusively belonging to the other party. It cannot therefore be incongruous with the laws now being under discussion to insert regulations for the case alluded to; on the contrary, it seems to be entirely in consistency with the basis of these laws and with the end of their institution that such regulations should be given. And it can hardly be denied that in this case that authority, is the Foreign Minister, who represents both countries, and in the present case it must be considered that attention to the interests most important to the joint countries should be preferred.

The precepts of Sec and 16 contain the particular instructions meant to guarrantee that the Consuls shall not transgress the due limits of their province. Such a guarrantee cannot be dispensed with in the opinion of the Swedish Cabinet Council. For, cases may be imagined when in a foreign country a Consul behaves in a way threatening to disturb the good relations between the Government of the country and the United Kingdoms. To deprive the representatives of the United Kingdoms, as to their relations to Foreign Powers; i. e. the Foreign Minister and the legations, of all possibility of interfering against the Consul under such circumstances would, in the opinion of the Swedish Cabinet Council, hardly be compatible with the dignity of the United Kingdoms and might, with regard to the Foreign Power, involve a danger that should be escaped. The Norwegian and the Swedish draft alike contain regulations enjoining upon the Consul the duty of obedience towards the Foreign Minister and the legation. Also in case the Consul should violate his duty of obedience, the proper consideration and regard for the position held by the Foreign Minister and the legation seem to demand the possibility for them to interfere. For this interference, however, such a form has been proposed that the decision of the Consul’s conduct, of his remaining in office or his dismissal would be made by the King in the Cabinet Council of that country represented by the Consul.

In support of his standpoint that “a joint treatment of matters concerning the Consul’s relations whether to the Foreign Minister, or the legations or the Foreign Authorities” must not occur, the Norwegian Cabinet Council refers to the contents of the report of the Consular Committee and quotes especially a passage terminating in these words. “But the very instructions to the latter (i. e. the consul) or the disciplinary steps that may be occasioned by the matter, belong to the internal consular management and must therefore be issued by the Norwegian department.” To this the objection should be made that the opinion of the Consular committee is naturally not binding to the Swedish Cabinet Council, and that besides the Norwegian Cabinet Council has itself given up the same opinion in granting in its draft the Foreign Minister and the legations, the right to address “injunctions” that the Consul cannot forbear to pay heed to. This seems to imply a giving-up of the claim that, in the diplomatic part of a matter, Norwegian consuls shall be exclusively subject to Norwegian authorities.

From the detailed statement given it may be gathered that the Swedish Cabinet Council considers itself neither bound nor, out of regard to the welfare of the Union, justified to cancel outright, in the way demanded in the Norwegian memorandum, the abovementioned paragraphs of its draft. This does not however imply that from the Swedish side alterations and modifications of the precepts proposed cannot be granted, but what is important in them must however be adhered to; and concerning possible modifications, which can be exactly stated only by continued negotiations, there is at present no occasion for entering into particulars.

10.

His Excellency the Minister for Foreign Affairs gave, in all humility, an account of a humble report about terminating the negotiations for the establishment of a separate Consular service for Sweden and for Norway. In answer to the Foreign Minister’s recommendation in Joint Swedish and Norwegian Cabinet Council of the 6th inst., this proposal had been made by Royal Norwegian Government on the same day, and a copy of it has been appended to this Protocol.

After having given an account of the contents of the report of the Norwegian Government, the Minister proceeded to say:

“The report of the Norwegian Government does not lead to any alteration of the recommendation[84:1] previously made by me. I venture however, to draw attention to the fact that, if it has been impossible to come to terms about the present question, the principal cause of it should be sought in the present arrangement for treating questions affecting the relations between the United Kingdoms and Foreign Powers. That this arrangement does not satisfy the positions of the two countries within the Union, has long been admitted.

In connection with what was expressed by all the Swedish and the Norwegian Cabinet Ministers who signed the above-mentioned document of March 24, 1903, I want therfore, to emphasize the desirability that the question as to arranging on other principles the management of Foreign affairs should again be taken up for negotiations between the two countries. I do not, however, find any reason now to make proposal as to taking steps to that end; I only refer to what I have previously advocated”.

What the Minister had thus stated and recommended, was endorsed by the other members of the Swedish Cabinet Council.

The Norwegian part of the Cabinet Council referred to the Norwegian Government’s humble report of the 6th inst. and proceeded to state that in its opinion a solution of the question at issue might, in the way expressed by the Swedish Cabinet ministers in the document of March 24, 1903, also have been found with the present arrangement for treating Foreign affairs. The Norwegian part of the Cabinet Council naturally agreed upon the opinion that this arrangement did not harmonize with the positions of the two countries within the Union. Whereas, however, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, on the plea of the document of March 24, 1903, had pointed out the desirability that the question as to arranging on other principles the management of Foreign affairs should again be taken up for negotiation between the two countries, the Norwegian part of the Cabinet Council could not forbear to hold forth, partly that the said document presupposed a solution of the question as an independent case, partly that, after the recent occurrences in the Consular question, the chances of further negotiations between the two countries, concerning the above-mentioned matters, were considerably clouded.

His Majesty the King was hereupon pleased to dictate:

“In the present state of things I find Myself unable to take any other resolution than to assent to what has been recommended to Me by the Minister for Foreign Affairs. But I cannot forbear to express to My peoples My heart-felt desire that the two Kingdoms, united almost a century ago, shall never suffer any differences of opinion to endanger the Union itself. The latter is truly the safest security for the independence, the safety and the happiness of the Scandinavian Peninsula and her two peoples”.

Upon this, the Norwegian part of the Cabinet Council stated that they, in all humility, had ventured to dissuade His Majesty from making this dictate.

In accordance with the recommendations made by the Swedish and the Norwegian Cabinet Council, His Majesty the King was pleased to resolve that the commission entrusted to the Swedish and the Norwegian Cabinet Council in persuance of the King’s resolution of December 21, 1903, shall not lead to any further steps, and also to decree that the Protocols of the Cabinet Council regarding this matter shall be published!

11.

The note of the Crown-Prince-Regent to the special committee of the Storthing. Dated February 28, 1905.

It is my wish to make the following declaration to the Committee. In these fatal days I feel it a necessity to open My heart to you and I do so now only in the capacity of Norway’s Regent.

I fully understand the sentiments the Norwegian people, in these days, are animated with and that you as the loyal sons of the Fatherland in passing your resolutions will solely have in view the welfare of Norway. But what is Norway’s welfare, nay, I say with the same emphasis, what is the welfare of both countries? I do not hesitate a moment to answer this question with the one word: Union.

It is therefore my sincerest hope and my strongest exhortation to you not to enter upon a way that leads to a rupture between the two peoples. It has so often been said that the dynasty tries to look after its own interests, but this is not true. The Union is not of paramount interest to the dynasty, but it should be so to the two peoples, for it is a vital condition for their happiness and future.

The Royal power has never tried to prevent Norway from obtaining her own Consular service. The only condition for the fulfilment of this desire is, and must be, that the relation to the joint administration of Foreign affairs should be arranged in a way securing the Union and that this matter regarding both countries cannot be definitively settled until after being treated in accordance with Se of the Act of Union. From My standpoint as the Regent of the United Kingdoms I can never act otherwise than as I consider useful to the existing Union to which I hold Myself bound to adhere.

An attempt has now been made on the way to partial reform, which I am sorry to say has been unsuccessful. But one should not therefore give up everything and enter into a way that, at any rate, cannot lead to the obobject preserved. But the logical consequence of this is to enter into new negotiations with Sweden on a larger basis. And to such negotiations on the basis of complete equality between the countries I declare Myself fully prepared to lend my assistance.

I consider it my imperative duty openly to hold forth to you the great dangers and the fatal consequences for each people to follow their own course. United, we have at any rate a certain power and importance in the European system of states but separated how much the less the word of Norway or of Sweden would then weigh! Therefore, may these peoples assigned by nature itself to hold together, also do so for the future!

When I see all this stand out clearly to My inward eye, you, too will understand with what sincere and intense, and heart-felt sorrow I consider thesituation we are in and the threatening turn matters now seem to take.

In conclusion I want only to add this: when you go to your task, do so with entirely open eyes and consider carefully all consequences of your actions. Each one may act according to his best convictions! God leads the destinies of the peoples. May He give you and us all prudence so as to enter into the way that leads to the true welfare of the Fatherland and of the North.

I want this my address to be published.

GUSTAF

12.

His Royal Highness the Crown-Prince Regent declared:

“I have to-day summond you to Joint Cabinet Council in order to make the following address to you:

I herewith exhort the Cabinet Councils of the United Kingdoms, on both sides without an one-sided adherence to standpoints formerly held, to immediately enter into free and friendly negotiations concerning a new arrangement of all matters affecting the Union, upon the fundamental principle that full equality between the countries should be tried to be established.

The way which, in My opinion, ought to be chosen and in which, as far as I know, with a little good intention on both sides a solution of the difficulties satisfactory to all parties can be attained is this: Foreign Minister in common, be he a Swede or a Norwegian, responsible to both countries or to a joint institution; separate Consular service for each country arranged however, in such a way that the Consuls, in everything regarding the relations to Foreign Powers, should be under the Foreign Minister’s direction and control.

If, in the course of the negotiations, another form could be found for arranging the affairs affecting the Union, always however with the preservation of the community in the management and charge of Foreign affairs, which is an indispensable condition to the existence of the Union, I herewith declare myself, prepared to take also this form into earnest consideration.”

Mr. Berger, Chief of the Swedish Justice-Department, made the following statement:

“In connection with what your Royal Highness has been pleased to declare and while emphasizing the desirability of opening further negotiations as to arranging the Union affairs, I recommend in all humility to request in persuance of Se of the Act of Union, a report from the Norwegian Government as to the proposition of opening such negotiations.”

What the president of the Justice-Department had thus stated and recommended, was endorsed by the other members of the Swedish Cabinet Council.

The Norwegian section of the Cabinet Council stated that, at present, it did not find any reason to give its opinion on the reality of the matter, but, with reference to Se of the Norwegian Constitution and to Se of the Act of Union, it confined itself in recommending the request of a report from the Norwegian Government.

His Royal Highness the Crown-Prince Regent was graciously pleased to decree that the Norwegian Government’s report of the matter should be requested.

13.

Motion on the Union question in the First Chamber of the Swedish Riksdag.

According to notification made in the “Post-och Inrikes Tidningar” of April 6, this year, the Crown-Prince Regent has on the 5th of the same month in Joint Swedish and Norwegian Cabinet Council made the following declaration:

Whereas, through the exhortation thus addressed by the Crown-Prince Regent to the Cabinet Councils of the United Kingdoms, a suggestion of new negotiations has been made, which ought to be able to lead to such a solution of the Union affairs as may be approved of by both peoples, and whereas the present state of things seems to occasion the Riksdag to give already its opinion on the matter, we move,

that the Riksdag, in an address to His Majesty, may announce its support of the declaration made by the Crown-Prince Regent in Joint Swedish and Norwegian Cabinet Council on April 5th this year with a view to bring about negotiations between the Swedish and Norwegian Governments concerning, a new arrangement of the Union affairs.

Stockholm, April 12, 1905.

14.

Motion on the Union question in the Second Chamber of the Swedish Riksdag.

The declaration made by the Crown-Prince Regent in Joint Cabinet Council of the 5th inst. and published the day after in the “Post-och Inrikes Tidningar”, has given great satisfaction to us and certainly also to other friends of the Union, to whom the relation arisen between the sister countries after the failure of the consular negotiations, has caused a great deal of anxiety. That new negotiations if brought about, will have a decisive influence on the future of the Union, is obvious. The worth of the Union, as well as the prospect of maintaining it for a considerable time to come, depend upon the two peoples voluntary adherence to it in the conviction that the Union involves advantages well worth of those restrictions in each peoples absolute right of self determination as are necessarily conditioned by it. Again, the failure of the negotiations would evidently produce among the two peoples a general and settled opinion that an arrangement satisfactory to both cannot be found within the Union, and such a conviction is sure to undermine its existence.

Because of this, it proves to be of importance for the Riksdag not to pass in silence the suggestion of negotiations given in the above-mentioned declaration, but to second it, if found satisfactory.

It seems to us that the Riksdag should not hesitate to take the latter alternative, since the declaration, while holding in wiew the necessary communion in the management of Foreign affairs and in the two peoples’ control of it, at the same time in consideration of its latter portion, has the bearing that it should not preclude the possibility to attain a solution satisfactory to both peoples.

On that account we beg leave to move:

that the Riksdag, in an address to His Majesty, may announce its support of the declaration made by the Crown-Prince Regent in Joint Swedish and Norwegian Cabinet Council on April 5th this year with a view to bring about negotiations between the Swedish and Norwegian Governments concerning a new arrangement of the Union affairs.

Stockholm, April 12, 1905.

15.

The Norwegian Governments’ report of April 17th 1905.

His Excellency Michelsen, Prime Minister, and Chief of the
Justice-Department, has in all humility made the following statement:

In making this matter the subject of a humble report the Department desires to state: As is well known the Norwegian people have made a unanimous demand for the establishment of a separate Norwegian Consular service and have with equal unanimity asserted that the decision of this matter, as lying outside the community established between the countries through the Act of Union, should be reserved to the Norwegian constitutional authorities. For the treatement of this matter the Norwegian Storthing has appointed a special Committee and in the immediate future, this committee will prepare a motion that, in the present sitting of the Storthing, a bill be to passed with regard to the establishment of a separate Consular service.

Inasmuch as the scheme propounded in Joint Cabinet Council should be based on the supposition that the further advancement of the Consular question should, for the present, be deferred Norway’s approval of such a supposition would, in the opinion of the Department be equivalent to giving up of the Norwegian people’s unanimous desire to now see a just right carried through which is due to Norway in her capacity of a Sovereign realm and is secured in her Constitution, and for a reform requested with cumulative force by the development and the conditions of industry, instead of entering into negotiations between the countries, which, after renewed experience, may unfortunately be apprehended to prove fruitless or at best, to delay the realisation of the matter.

For there is no denying the fact that the scheme for negotiations now propounded is nothing new, but that similar schemes in the earlier history of the Union have repeatedly been tried in vain. The three Committees affecting the Union and made up of Norwegian and Swedish men, that in the past century, after previous treatment in 1844, in 1867, and in 1898 propounded schemes for new regulations concerning the mutual relations of the countries did not lead to any positive result. The report of the first Committee was in 1847 subject to a treatment on the part of the Norwegian Government, but was afterwards not favoured by the Swedish Government; the report of the second Committee, which did not give expression to Norway’s equality in the Union was rejected by the vast majority of the Storthing in 1871 and in the third Committee no proposal of a future arrangement could obtain plurality among the Norwegian and the Swedish members.

With regard to the last-mentioned Committee we beg leave to draw particular attention to the fact, that all the Swedish members of the Committee certainly agreed upon founding the Union on the principle of parity and equality, inasmuch as they proposed that the Foreign affairs should be entrusted to the charge of a joint Foreign minister of Norwegian or Swedish nationality. But at the same time the two fractions wherein the Swedish members of the Committee were divided, proposed such an arrangement of the constitutional responsibility not only for those members of the separate Cabinet Councils of the countries, who at the side of the Foreign Minister take part in the treatment of diplomatic affairs, but also for the Foreign Minister himself, so that no member of the Norwegian Committee could in this respect support any of the Swedish schemes. In addition to the establishment of a joint Foreign Minister office, all the Swedish members recommended an extension of the constitutional community between the countries which no member of the Norwegian Committee could second and lastly, the scheme for a separate Foreign Office for each country which already was the expression of the opinion prevailing among the Norwegian people, could not gain any support from the Swedish side.

In this connection it should also be remembered that equally fruitless proved the negotiations about the arrangement of the ministerial Cabinet Council, carried on between the two Governments in 1885-86 and in 1890-91.

If thus the results of the above-mentioned efforts have been but little encouraging, this can, in a still higher degree, be said to have been the case with the negotiations just now terminated concerning questions connected with the establishment of a separate Consular service for each country. After these negotiations, brought about on Swedens initiative, had led to a preliminary agreement presupposing a separate Consular service for each country, subject to the home authority which each country decided for itself, and after this agreement had been approved of by the King and the Governments of the two countries in Joint Cabinet Council on December 21, 1903, the matter, as is well known, fell through owing to the so called bills of the same wording that were meant to regulate the relations between the separate Consular services on the one hand, and the Foreign Minister and the legations on the other hand. This negative result was attributed to the circumstance that from the Swedish side a number of demands were finally made and adhered to, which are partly considered as incongruous with the Constitution of Norway and with our rights as a Sovereign realm, partly would exclude what had been presupposed in the preliminary agreements viz. that the Consuls of each country should be subject to that home authority which each country decided for itself. Through this, a deep disappointment has arisen in Norway which, if strengthened by new unsuccessful schemes, will imply the greatest danger to the good relations between the two peoples which in a far higher degree than agreements laid down in treatises or juridical forms are the basis of the concord and the strength of both peoples.

Under these circumstances the Department finds it necessary to dissuade from entering into new negotiations on the Union affairs ere a separate Norwegian Consular service has been established. Not until this has been done, will the confidence return which is the condition of any friendly and successful consideration of embarrassing and delicate Union affairs, and the Department will then be able to recommend the opening of negotiations for arranging the management of Foreign affairs and of the diplomacy and about the present Union based on the Act of Union, and questions connected with this matter. But, if so, these negotiations must be carried on an entirely free basis with full recognition of the Sovereignity of each country without any reservation or restriction whatever and consequently also in conformity with what occurred in 1898 embrace the arrangement proposed by the Norwegian side as to the establishment of a separate Norwegian and a separate Swedish Foreign Office administration in such forms as each country will consider necessary for its objects and interests. In harmony with this it should, besides, be agreed upon that, if also new negotiations should prove fruitless one must not return to status quo so as to adhere to the present untenable state of Union affairs. There should be a binding presumption that the present state of things must not prevent either country from exercising its right of self-determination, but that instead each country can freely decide upon the future forms of its national existence. For not a coercive union but only the mutual confidence and feeling of solidarity of the free and independent nations can safeguard the future and the happiness of both peoples and the independence and integrity of their countries.

With reference to the above-mentioned statement endorsed in substance by the other members of the Cabinet Council, it is recommended in all humility:

that a copy of the present humble report made in Joint Cabinet Council on April 5th this year, concerning new negotiations affecting the Union may graciously be ordered to be delivered over to the Swedish Iustice-Department.

16.

Mr Berger, Cabinet Minister and Chief of the Swedish Justice-Department gave, in all humility, a notice of the Norwegian Government’s humble report in consequence of the question raised in Joint Cabinet Council on the 5th inst. vith regard to opening new negotiations concerning the arrangement of the Union question; this report is appended to this Protocol.

After the chief of Department had given an account of the contents of the report, His Excellency Ramstedt, Prime Minister made the following statement:

“What in the Norwegian Governments report has been said about the reason why the latest negotiations, regarding the Union did not lead to any result, does not, in my opinion, now require a reply, but in this respect, I only refer to the Swedish Cabinet Council’s declaration of January 30, 1905, appended to the Protocol made in Joint Cabinet Council on the 6th of February last.

In the declaration made by your Royal Highness on the 5th inst. and put on record, the Swedish Cabinet Council expected to find a method of settling the differences of opinion as to the Union affairs. Therefore the Swedish Cabinet Council gave its support to your Royal Highness’s declaration.

The condition of the new negotiations, however, was, according to the same declaration, that the negotiations should embrace all matters affecting the Union and consequently also the Consular question.

Whereas now from the Norwegian side the thought of further negotiations is rejected, ere a separate Norwegian Consular service has been established and whereas besides, for eventual new negotiations, such a condition is made from the Norwegian side as incompatible with the Union and the Act of Union, it is obvious that negotiations on the basis indicated by your Royal Highness cannot now be opened with any chance of success”.

This statement was endorsed by the other members of the Swedish Cabinet Council.

The Norwegian part of the Cabinet Council stated:

“The section of the Cabinet Council refers to the report of the Norwegian Government from which it appears that on the Norwegian side there is willingness to bring about negotiations between the countries on the conditions put forward in the report. It is also obvious from the report that from the Norwegian side the intention is not to try to dissolve the present Union. On the other hand, one finds it necessary to demand that such a dissolution should be within the bounds of possibility and that negotiations presupposing this eventuality with the consent of the Constitution authorities of both countries, should be compatible with the Act of Union.

Under these circumstances, however, the section of the Cabinet Council that negotiations concerning the Union affairs cannot, agree for the present, opened with any chance of success.”

His Royal Highness the Crown-Prince Regent was hereupon pleased he to declare:

“Whereas the Norwegian Government has unfortunately been unwilling to accept my proposition of new negotiations concerning all the affairs affecting the Union, I must, while sincerely regretting it, let the matter abide by the declarations made by the Cabinet Councils.”

17.

The Riksdags address to the King on the Union question, on May 15, 1905.

TO HIS MAJESTY THE KING.

In both Chambers of the Riksdag resolutions have been submitted with the object of expressing, in an address, to your Majesty the Riksdag’s support of the declaration published in the “Post-och Inrikes Tidningar” and made by the Crown-Prince Regent in Joint Swedish and Norwegian Cabinet Council on the 5th of April last.

This declaration is to the following effect:

The Riksdag realizes to the full the importance of this declaration of the Crown-Prince Regent, as involving a possibility of bringing about a new satisfactory arrangement of the Union affairs.

It is therefore with an expression of regret that the Riksdag has learned from the publishment of the Protocol drawn up in Joint Swedish and Norwegian Cabinet Council on the 25th of April last, that negotiations founded on the basis indicated in the above-mentioned declaration of the Crown-Prince Regent cannot now be opened with any chance of success.

Although thus the question of such negotiations seems to have been dropped for the present, the Riksdag, however, considers itself bound to express its opinion on a question of such a far-reaching importance as the present one, and consequently the Riksdag has resolved to announce herewith its support of the declaration made by the Crown-Prince Regent in Joint Swedish and Norwegian Cabinet Council on April 5th this year, and recommending the opening of negotiations between the Swedish and Norwegian Governments concerning a new arrangement of the Union affairs.

Stockholm, May 13, 1905.

With all loyal veneration.

18.

TO HIS MAJESTY THE KING.

In case Your Majesty should find yourself unable to acquiesce in the Norwegian Government’s recommendation to sanction the Storthing’s resolution for the establishment of a separate Norwegian Consular service, we venture, in all humility, to apply for permission to immediately resign our posts as members of Your Majesty’s Cabinet, since none of us well be able to countersign a resolution considered by us as noxious to the country. A rejection of this unanimous recommendation of the Government concerning a Norwegian law unanimously adopted by the Storthing and issued by the whole Norwegian people to be carried through cannot, in our opinion, be grounded on regards paid to the interests of Norway, but would involve an abnegation of the Sovereignity of the country, and would be a manifestation of a personal Royal power in opposition to the Constitution and to constitutional practice.

Christiania, May 26, 1905.

19.

To the President of the Norwegian Government.

The Section of the Cabinet Council herewith presents the following report.

In the Cabinet Council held by the King at the Royal Palace in Stockholm on May 27th the Norwegian Government presented their proposal respecting the sanction of the Storthing to the Norwegian Consular law. After which the members of the Section expressed their unanimity respecting the proposals, and urgently appealed to the King to sanction them. They emphasized the reform in question for the development of the country in a national and economical respect, which was unanimously approved of both by the National Assembly and also the whole of the people of Norway. There might be many differences of opinion and divergencies on various public affairs, but in this case, there was complete unanimity among all parties and communities. The Storthing, in conjunction with the government, had omitted from the law such questions as might have reference to the points that touched upon the Foreign and Diplomatic administration and dealt with the Consular question alone.

Therefore it was thought that all cause of opposition would, on this side, be removed. It was therefore the nation’s sincere hope, that His Majesty would graciously incline to their appeal.

The King

thereupon read the following reply.

“The Crown-Prince as Regent in a joint Cabinet Council on the 5th April has already pointed out the only way, in which this important matter can be presented, and all difficulties thereby be removed, that is, by negotiation. I give this decision my entire approval, and do not find the present moment suitable for sanctioning the law, which implies a change in the existing partnership in the Consular Service, which cannot be dissolved except by mutual agreement. The present regulation is established in consequence of a resolution in a Joint Cabinet Council, and therefore a separate Consular Service cannot be established either for Sweden or for Norway before the matter has been dealt with in the same Constitutional forms prescribed by the Act of Union Se. In refusing now to give My sanction to this law, I am supported by Sec and 78 in the Constitutional law, which give the King this right. The equal love I bear to my two peoples, makes it my duty to exercise this right.”

The Section of the Cabinet Council resolved first to institute further negotiations in the Cabinet Council in Christiania, in order that His Majesty might deal with this important matter, which might lead to a serious crisis in the government then in office.

The King

declared Himself unwilling to assent to this appeal and pointed out that the Norwegian government’s proposal was received and dealt with.

Thereupon the Section of the Cabinet Council made the strongest representations in reference to His Majesty’s decision, which would rouse complaints in Norway, where they had hoped that the persistent and loyal efforts to solve the problem through negotiations with Sweden, would have led to happy results in reference to the rights and claims of the Kingdom. In this case Norway’s interests in the Union were equal with those of Sweden. For that Norway’s rights were respected, was a necessary condition for a safe guarantee of the Union. A resolution after His Majesty’s decision against the unanimous proposal of the government, and after a declaration which was given with Norwegian advice, would have incalculable results. It was in conflict without Constitutional law, it was denial of the right according to fundamental law of independent decision on the matter, and a violation of its liberty, independence, and Sovereignty. It would inevitably lead to the dissolution of the Union.

The Section of the Cabinet Council further stated that no member of the present Council would countersign such a resolution, and thus give it constitutional legality. They must therefore tender their letters of resignation.

His Majesty the King

then read the following reply:

“As it is evident to Me that a new government cannot now be formed I cannot consent to he resignation of the Ministers.”

Furthermore His Majesty referred to the Constitution Se, and affirmed that the Ministers had now dutifully “expressed their opinions with boldness”, and “made strong representations” against His decision; therefore they were free from responsibility. But the same paragraph reserved to the King the right to make his decisions, “according to His own judgment.” He was therefore entitled, according to fundamental law, to make the above mentioned decision, and it was the duty of the Ministers to draw up and countersign the protocol respecting the negotiations and agreements on the matter.

The Section of Ministers hereupon alleged that according to the Constitutional law Se the Prime Minister was the responsible executive for the accepted resolutions. Until the decision had been countersigned, it was not obligatory; a report could, naturally, be given of the negotiations, but not the customary protocol, including also a Royal decree.

Countersignature implied responsibility for the King’s decisions, but in this case the government could not take that responsibility. It was prescribed in the Constitution Se for all commands issued by the King (except affairs relating to military orders). But this conclusion was not a regular rule for the members of the Cabinet; it was a prescription for the forms to be observed in order to give a command legal validity. Occasions might therefore occur when it was not only right, but also a duty to refuse countersignature. The Section of the Cabinet Council had appealed to the Justice-Departement for enlightenment on the subject, and they knew that there had been several occasions when the Norwegian side had maintained the same opinions as those now presented.

The Departement now comes to the same conclusion as in 1847 when it discussed the question in another agreement namely in a Resolution on the intended proposal for a new Act of Union; in this there is a reference to the Norwegian conception that there is nothing to prevent a member of the Council from refusing countersignature and resigning his office. This Resolution is accepted by the Government then in office: Lovenskiold, Krog, Sibbern, Schmidt, Pettersen, Herm. Foss and Fr. Stang and by the members then forming the Section of the Cabinet Council, Due, J. H. Vogt and Fleischer.

The Section of the Cabinet Council finally decided that as a refusal to sanction would manifestly not be only injurious to the Kingdom, but also a denial of its Self-dependence, it had become a necessity to refuse countersignature, in order to avoid being a party in the matter. The Norwegian who did countersign would from that moment lose all national rights.

After which the letters of resignation from the Norwegian Government, and from the Section of the Cabinet Council were delivered and read in the presence of the King. Respecting this matter, the customary protocol has been drawn up.

Kristiania 30:th May 1905.

J. Lovland. E. Hagerup Bull. Harald Bothner.

20.

The King’s telegraphic protest against the declarations of the Norwegian Government. Dated Stockholm, May 29, 1905.

Stockholm, May 29. On account of what the Norwegian Government has declared not only in writing in their resignations, but also verbally in the Cabinet Council of May 27 after my rejection of the Consular service law I must declare that I, most decidedly, protest against the comments made there on Me and my method of action. I adhere to everything I have stated to the assembled Cabinet Council as to my constitutional right. I beg the Premie minister to give publicity to this as soon as possible.

Oscar.

21.

In response to our humble resignations, Your Majesty has in Cabinet Council at the Palace of Stockholm on May 27th, decreed: “As it is clear to me that no other Cabinet can at present be formed, I decline to accept the resignations tendered by the Cabinet Ministers.”

According to Norway’s Constitution it is incumbent on the King to procure a constitutional Government for the country. In the same moment as the Kings policy is an obstacle to the formation of a responsible Council the Norwegian Royal power has become in-operative.

By your Majesty’s resolution therefore, the constitutional relation between Your Majesty and the responsible Ministers of the Crown has assumed such an aspect as cannot be maintained. No Government and none of its members individually can, in a constitutional country, be forced against their wishes to remain in office with a Ministers responsibility, when their responsible advice in great questions decisive to the Fatherland is not followed by the King who, in persuace of the constitution, is exempt from responsibility whereas under these circumstances it is the undoubted right of each member individually as a free man to resign his post, this will also, as a rule, be a duty towards the Fatherland in order to maintain its constitutional rights.

Your Majesty has declared that no Government can, at present, be formed. Your Majesty has found this so clear that Norway’s King in these fatal days has remained at the Palace of Stockholm without making an attempt at bringing the country back to constitutional conditions.

The policy manifested in Your Majesty’s attitude towards the question of sanctioning the Consular service law is, in our opinion, incompatible with the Norwegian Constitution. But no more than a new Government is able to take upon itself the responsibility of this policy, no more are we able in office to render us participant of it by remaining in office. It is therefore our duty to resign our posts and to immediately give the Storthing the necessary communication of it.

This shall now be done. Deep and discordant political divergencies have thus burst the frame of the constitutional Norwegian Monarchy. Circumstances have been stranger than the desire of the individual. But the final settlement on the dissolution of the Union, that through Your Majesty’s resolution no doubt passed with a heavy heart, but also with full knowledge of its consequences has now been started, will however, this is our hope turn out before long to have been the introduction to better and happier days for the two peoples, whose happiness and welfare have always been dear to Your Majesty’s heart.

In conclusion we venture to tender Your Majesty our humblest thanks for the personal kindness and amiability shown to us during the time we have had the honour of being members of Your Majesty’s Council.

We beg Your Majesty to accept the assurance of our full recognition of Your Majesty’s difficult position and of our invaried esteem. But paramount are our duties towards the Fatherland.

Christiania, June 6, 1905.

Chr. Michelsen. J. Loevland. Sofus Arctander. Gunnar Knudsen.
W. Olssoen. E. Hagerup Bull. Chr. Knudsen. Harald Bothner.
A. Vinje. Kr. Lehmkuhl.

22.

The King’s telegraphic protests against the abdication of the Norwegian Government.

To the Prime Minister.

I have received the communication of the Cabinet Ministers and I record a most decided protest against the method of action of the Government.

Oscar.

To the President of Storthing.

Having this morning received from the Government the communication of the Cabinet Minister’s resolution to resign their posts and to inform the Storthing of it I want herewith to make known that, in a telegram to M. Michelsen, Prime minister, I have recorded a most decided protest against their method of action.

Oscar.

23.

Having on behalf of the Storthing received open information from the head of the Government that the several members of the Cabinet council have one and all resigned hereby declare: We were all prepared for the situation in which we now find ourselves. In meetings of the representatives, the question has therefore been discussed as to what measures would be taken by the Storthing to meet the necessities of such a situation. Every representative has had an opportunity for making known his personal opinions at these meetings respecting the situation and its demands. On this day the Storthing must make known its decisive resolutions. I must also permit myself to express the wish, that these resolutions may be unanimously accepted, and without debate.

In respect to the communication given by the head of the Government I propose that the Storthing shall make the following resolutions:

The different members of the Council having resigned office,

His Majesty the King having declared Himself unable to form a new government, and the Constitutional Sovereign having resigned his powers,

the Storthing authorizes the members of the Council who resigned this day, to assume until further notice, as the Norwegian government, the authority granted the King in accordance with the Constitution of the Norwegian Kingdom and its valid law with the changes that become necessary through the fact that the Union with Sweden under one King is dissolved as a consequence of the King having ceased to act as King of Norway.

24.

Your Majesty,

Whereas all the members of the Cabinet have to-day, in the Storthing, resigned their posts, and whereas Your Majesty in the Protocol of May 27 officially declared that Your Majesty did not see your way clear to create a new Government for the country, the Constitutional Regal power in Norway has thereby become inoperative.

It has therefore been the duty of the Storthing, as the representative of the Norwegian people, without delay to empower the members of the resigning Cabinet to exercise until further notice as the Norwegian Government the power appertaining to the King in accordance with the Constitution of the Kingdom of Norway and the existing laws with the changes which are necessitated by the fact that the union with Sweden, which provides that there shall be a common King, is dissolved in consequence of the fact that the King has ceased to act as King of Norway.

The course of developments, which proved more powerful than the desire and will of the individual, has led to this result.

The union entered into in 1814 has from its first hour been differently interpreted by the two nations both as regards its spirit and letter. Efforts have been made on the Swedish side to extend the Union, and on the Norwegian side to confine it within the limits laid down in the Act of Union, and otherwise to assert the independent power of both States in all matters which are not defined in that Act as coming under the Union. The difference of principle in the interpretation of the character of the Union has provoked much misunderstanding between the two peoples, and has caused much friction. In the interpretation which, during the last negotiations between the two countries, has been laid down by the Swedish Government as against Norway, the Norwegian people were bound to perceive an injury to their constitutional right, their independence, and their national honour.

The Union was justified as long as it could contribute to promoting the welfare and happiness of both peoples, while maintaining their independence as Sovereign States. But above the Union their stands for us Norwegians our Norwegian Fatherland, and for the Swedes their Swedish Fatherland. And more valuable than a political union are the feelings of solidarity and voluntary cohesion of both peoples. The union has become a danger to this feeling of solidarity between the Norwegian and Swedish people which should secure the happiness of both nations and constitute their strength abroad.

When the union is now severed, the Norwegian people have no loftier wish than to live in peace and good harmony with all, not least with the people of Sweden and the dynasty under the direction of which our country, despite many and bitter disputes affecting the union, has attained such important intellectual and material development.

As evidence of the fact that the work and the struggle of the Norwegian people for the full independence of the Fatherland have not been formed on any ill-feeling towards the Royal House or the Swedish people, and have not left behind any bitterness towards any of these, the Storthing respectfully solicits your Majesty’s co-operation to the end that a Prince of your Majesty’s house may be permitted, while relinquishing his right of succession to the Throne of Sweden, to accept election as King of Norway.

The day upon which the Norwegian people elect their own King to ascend the ancient throne of Norway will open up an era of tranquil conditions of industry for Norway, of good and cordial relations to the Swedish people, and of peace and concord and loyal co-operation in the north for the protection of the civilization of the people and of their freedom and independence.

In full assurance of this, the Storthing ventures to express the sincere hope, that the present events, will turn out to be for the good of all, also for their Majesties, for whom personally the Norwegian people will preserve their respect and affection.

25.

The King’s telegraphic protest against the resolution of the Storthing. Despatched June 8th 1905.

As We hereby declare that We do not approve of the revolutionary measures which have been deplorably taken by the Storthing in violation of the Constitution and Act of Union, and in revolt against their King, We refuse to receive the deputation proposed by the Storthing.

Oscar.

26.

His Excellency Mr. Ramstedt, Prime Minister, stated:

“According to information received from Norway the Norwegian Storthing has, on the 7th inst. passed the following resolutions:

’The members of the Cabinet having resigned their office and the King having declared himself unable to form a new government; and the Constitutional Sovereign thereby having resigned His powers, the Storthing authorises the members of the Council who resigned this day, to assume until further notice, as the Norwegian Government, the authority granted to the King according to the Constitution of the Norwegian Kingdom and its valid law with the changes that become neccessary through the fact that the Union with Sweden under one King is dissolved, in consequence of the King having ceased to Act as King of Norway.’

Through this revolutionary measure, the Storthing has not only without the King’s assistance, but also without referring to Sweden arbitrarily passed a resolution respecting the dissolution of a Union which has existed on the grounds of legal mutual agreements between the two countries and cannot without mutual consent be broken.

The Storthing, having thus by this resolution, violated Sweden’s prerogative it becomes undeniably necessary that an extra session of the Diet be immediately summoned in order to debate as to what measures should be taken on Sweden’s side, with reference to what has thus occurred. Herewith I appeal that Your Majesty will resolve on the summoning of the Diet, at the same time Your Majesty intimates disacknowledgement of the government, proclaimed by the Storthing”.

In this address the rest of the members proclaimed themselves unanimous;

And His Majesty the King consented to this, and in accordance with the Prime Minister’s recommendation was graciously pleased to decree, by open letter and edict, the import of which are contained in the appendage to this protocol, that the members of both Chambers of the Diet be summoned to an extra session in Stockholm on Tuesday June 20th.

27.

Address from the King to the President of the Storthing.

To the President of the Storthing!

To you, and through you to the Storthing and the entire population of Norway, I address the following words, in answer to the address and decision both of the Norwegian Cabinet and the Storthing:

The oath that the King of Norway takes according to the Constitution Se on his accession to the throne, “that he will rule the Kingdom of Norway in accordance with its constitution and law”, makes it a kingly duty for Me not to pay any attention to the statement of the Norwegian Cabinet in reference to my decree on May 27th ult., in which I declared, that, for the present, I did not find it suitable to sanction the Storthing’s proposal respecting the establishment of a separate Norwegian Consular Service. The Cabinet thereby declared that this decree, being in conflict with the unanimous recommendation of the Norwegian Cabinet would imply a depreciation of a right in accordance with the Norwegian fundamental law, independently to settle the matter in question, and also implied a violation of Norway’s freedom, independence and Sovereignty, and at the same time the Cabinet declared that no member of the Ministry then sitting would be willing to countersign My Decree, and thereby, according to the opinion of the Cabinet, give it legislative validity.

The Norwegian King’s prerogative, when he thinks the welfare of the kingdom demands it, to refuse His sanction to a proposal presented in due form by the Storthing is unconditional. From this rule, there is no exception even though the Storthing were to present the same resolution ever so many times in precisely the same terms. Meanwhile according to the fundamental law (Constitution Se the decision of the Storthing becomes the law of Norway without the sanction of the King, but in order to accomplish this, are required unaltered resolutions from three Storthings drawn up after three consecutive elections, which resolution must be laid before the King, “with an appeal, that His Majesty will not refuse to sanction the resolution, which the Storthing after the most careful considerations, believes to be advantageous. In the case now in hand, there was no question of any such resolution from the Storthing, and therefore the regulation in the fundamental law Se: could be suitably applied: “If the King sanctions the resolution, He signs it with His superscription, on which it becomes the law. If He does not sanction it, He returns it to the Odelsthing (Lower House) with the declaration that for the present He finds it unsuitable to sanction.” And the paragraph continues: “The resolution may not again on that occasion be laid before the King by the members of the Storthing then assembled.” By this last mentioned prescription the Constitution has evidently meant to protect the Norwegian King’s liberty in the exercise of the legislative powers which are his indisputable right.

My resolve, not to sanction a law providing for a separate Norwegian Consular Service, can consequently not be considered to imply any transgression whatever of the legislative power, which according to the fundamental law is the King’s right, not even, if the matter in question happened to be an affair which concerned Norway alone. But on the grounds of the valid Union agreement between Norway and Sweden, it was not only My right, but also My duty as King of Norway to refuse My sanction, for the dissolution of the existing identical Consular Office could only be effected through Norway’s consent to free and friendly negotiations concerning agreements for altering the Union on the basis of full equality between the United Kingdoms, to which not only the Powers Royal, but also the Diet of Sweden had unanimously themselves agreed. That such a respect to the demands of the existing Union should imply an attack on Norway’s independence and sovereignty, is so much the more unfounded, as the fundamental law explicitly connects Norway’s independence with its Union with Sweden. Norway’s King must ever hold in sight the 1:st paragraph of its Constitution:

“The Kingdom of Norway is a free, self-dependant, integral and independent Kingdom, united with Sweden under one King.”

The statement made by the Council that My resolve, not to sanction the Consular law, proposed by the Storthing, would have no legal validity, as none of the members of the Cabinet had found themselves able to countersign the Royal Decree supplies a supposition which I must declare is in conflict with fundamental law. The question of the significance of contrasignature according to Norwegian State law, is not a new question brought up to day, but is older than the present Norwegian Constitution. It was already solved at the Convention of Eidsvold. A proposal was then made that Countersignature was requisite in order that the King’s commands should become valid, but was opposed on the grounds that it was against the general principles of the Constitution for the division of supreme power. The same standpoint was taken in the fundamental law of the 4th November. This opinion was also expressed by the Constitutional Committee without contradiction on two occasions, 1824 and 1839, when the Storthing had even opposed a proposal concerning another matter. The change, which Se in the Constitution has since undergone, gives increased support to the opinion that the Prime Minister’s Countersignature is intended for nothing else than a witness that the King has made a Decree of certain import.

And that Se is unconditional in its prescription of the duty of the authorised countersignature of the Prime Minister is a conception that is acceded to by those writers on State law who have framed the Constitution. When the Cabinet quoted an opinion of the Norwegian government in 1847 when the proposal for a new Act of Union was under consideration, the Cabinet has overlooked, firstly, that this opinion, in a manner that applies to Swedish government regulations Se, was intended only to refer to orders issued but not the Decree of the King included in the protocol, secondly that the Norwegian Government could not prove that the Norwegian Constitution really provided any law respecting the right to refuse countersignature. The Constitution on the contrary emphatically prescribes in Se: “But to the King it is reserved the right to form his decision according to His own judgment”, and in Se: “All Commands issued by the King himself (Military Orders excepted) shall be countersigned by the Prime Minister (before 1873 the Norwegian Prime Minister).

That under these circumstances I feel Myself entitled to demand respect for a Decree formed by the King of Norway in a Constitutional manner, is a matter for which no one can blame me. The powers which the Constitution grants the King, in order to further the good of the country to the best of his convictions, are not greater than that they ought to be preserved to the supreme power, so that no constitutional practices in conflict with the principles of the fundamental law are introduced, which, according to the explicit prescriptions in Se may not be done, even by an alteration of the fundamental law.

One of the chief principles of the Constitution the most important of all, in point of fact is that Norway shall be a Constitutional Monarchy. It is incompatible with this, that the King should sink to be a helpless tool in the hands of His Ministers. If, meanwhile, the members of the Council should have the power, by refusing countersignature, to hinder every future Royal Decree, the Norwegian King would be deprived of participating in the government. This position would be as lowering to the Monarch as injurious to Norway herself.

To the circumstances that can thus be adduced against the validity, according to fundamental law, of the Prime Minister’s refusal of Countersignature, and against the efficacy of the dogma that the King’s Decree in order to be valid, must bear the responsibility of some member of the Cabinet, can be added, in questions touching the Union situation, two more reasons, which have their foundation in the fact that the King of Norway is also King of the Union.

However opinions may have varied, respecting the conception of the unity which the Union agreements have created for the binding together of the two Kingdoms, one fact remains clear, that Royal power is also an institution of the Union. This position of the King’s as being not only King of Norway or of Sweden, but also as Monarch of the United Kingdoms, makes it the King’s duty, not to form decisions in conflict with the Act of Union Se, respecting the settlement of matters in one country, which would also affect the other. The King’s duty in the aforesaid respect is incompatible with the opinion that the one Kingdom, by the refusal of Countersignature by its Prime Minister or otherwise, could undo a Royal Decree, by which he refused to make a resolution prejudicial to the other Kingdom or injurious to the Union. In Norway, when they endeavoured to adhere to an opposite opinion, when the Norwegian people claimed the right to force the King to form his decision in conflict with what he considers his right as King of the Union to concede, there was no other way of attaining this object than making the Union, and also the King of Sweden, in his actions, totally dependent on the will of the Norwegian people, its Storthing and its Cabinet.

A Sovereign power of this kind I must characterize as being in strife with the Union between the Kingdoms as confirmed by the Act of Union

It has been My constant endeavour to give Norway that position within the Union to which it has a just claim. My Royal duty has forced Me, even in conflict with general opinion in Norway, to try to maintain the legal principles of the Union.

My coronation oath and the good of the United Kingdoms prompted My Decree concerning the settlement of the Consular question, but in this I have been met, not only by the Norwegian Cabinet’s refusal of Countersignature, but also the resignation of its members. When I declared, “As it is clear to Me, that no other government can now be formed therefore I cannot consent to the resignation of the Cabinet”, the Cabinet answered by the threat that the Norwegian who assented to My Decree would in the same moment lose all national rights. I was therefore placed in such a situation that I must either break the oaths I took under the Act of Union, or expose Myself to being without Ministers. I had no choice. After having in conflict with the fundamental law, tried to undo the King’s lawfully made resolution, the Council, by resigning their office at the Storthing, have left the King without advisers. The Storthing has approved of this breaking of the law, and by a Revolutionary proceeding declared that the lawful King of Norway has ceased to reign, and hat the Union between the Kingdoms is dissolved.

It now becomes the bounden duty of Sweden and Myself as King of the Union to decide whether Norway’s attack on the existing Union shall lead to the legal dissolution of the same.

May the opinions of our contemporaries and also those of posterity judge between Me and the People of Norway!

28.

The Norwegian Storthings documentary address to the King. Dated Christiania June 19th 1905.

To the King’s Most Excellent Majesty!

Norway’s Storthing appeals, in all humility, to Your Majesty and through the Your Majesty to the Diet and the People of Sweden to be allowed to express the following:

That which has now happened in Norway is the necessary results of the late events in Union politics, and cannot be undone. And as it is certain that the nation does not wish to return to the old conditions of the Union, the Storthing considers it impossible to resume negotiations on the different constitutional and state-law questions, which in Your Majesty’s address to the President of the Storthing are referred to, in connection with the settled decisions, and on which the Storthing and Government have previously fully expressed themselves. The Storthing fully understands the difficult position of Your Majesty, and has not for a moment doubted that Your Majesty’s decree is made with the full conviction that Your Majesty has considered it to be the right and duty of Your Majesty.

But it is the desire of the Storthing to address an appeal to Your Majesty, to the Swedish Diet and Nation, to assist in a peaceful arrangement for the dissolution of the Union, in order to secure relations of friendship and cooperation between the two peoples of the Peninsula. From statements made in Sweden, the Storthing finds that the resolution the Storthing considered it its duty towards the fatherland to adopt, by declaring the Union between the United Kingdoms to be dissolved, has, in its form and the manner of carrying it out, been looked upon as an insult to Sweden. This has never been our intention. What has now happened and must happen in Norway, was simply done in order to maintain Norway’s constitutional rights. The nation of Norway never intended an insult to the honour of Sweden.

Your Majesty having on the 27th May declared it impossible to sanction the unanimous decision of the Storthing to establish a separate Norwegian Consulate, and as no Norwegian Government could be formed by Your Majesty, the constitutional situation became out of joint, so dislocated that the Union could no longer be upheld. The Norwegian Storthing therefore found the position untenable and was forced to get a new government for the country. Every other resource was excluded, so much the more so as the Swedish government of Majesty had already in April 23:rd emphatically refused fresh negotiations, he alternative of which was the dissolution of the Union, if new regulations for the continuance of the Union could not be arranged.

The Storthing has already, before hand, stated that the Norwegian people do not entertain any feelings of bitterness or ill-will towards Your Majesty and the people of Sweden. Expressions to the contrary which may possibly on different occasions have been heard, have alone been caused on the grounds of the displeasure of Norway at her position in the Union. When the cause of this bitterness and ill-will on account of the dissolution of the Union has been removed, its effects will also disappear. A ninety years’ cooperation in material and spiritual culture has inspired in the Norwegian people a sincere feeling of friendship and sympathy for the Swedish people. The consequences will be, that when Norway no longer stands in a position so insulting to its national sense of independence, a friendship will be established that will serve to confirm and increase the mutual understanding between the two peoples.

With the confidence that the Swedish people will also share these opinions, the Storthing appeals to the authorities of State in Sweden, in acknowledging the new situation in Norway, and its rights as a Sovereign State, to consent to the negotiations which are necessary for the final agreements in connection with the now dissolved Union. The Storthing is ready, on its part, to accede to any fair and reasonable wish, that, in this respect, may contribute to the guarantee of self dependence and integrity of the two Kingdoms.

In a legislative sense the two peoples are hereafter separated. But the Storthing has a certain conviction that happy and confidential relations will arise to the benefit of the interests of both. If the above statement can find support, without prejudice and without bitterness, the Storthing is firmly convinced that what has now happened will be to the lasting happiness of Europe. On behalf of the welfare of the countries of the North, the Storthing addresses this appeal to the people who, by their magnanimity and chivalry, have won such a prominent place in the ranks of Nations.