No. 593.
Mr. Stevens to Mr. Evarts.
Stockholm, June 16, 1880. (Received July 3.)
Sir: It may be considered in the line of my duty to give information to the Secretary of State as to what is now transpiring in Norway in a political sense. Of the two countries of which, the dual kingdom is composed, it is generally admitted that there is more political thought and feeling in Norway. For some time there has been under consideration in Norway the proposition to so amend the constitution as to have the Norwegian ministers of the crown occupy seats in the Storthing and answer questions and give explanation of the measures, action, and expenditures of their respective departments, according to the manner in vogue in most constitutional countries; Sweden has had in exercise for some time this provision in its constitution. As the legal theory of Norway’s union with Sweden is one of entire equality of the two countries, it is not strange that the Norwegians desire the same access to and control over, their ministers as the Swedes enjoy. Recently matters in this regard have reached what may be deemed a crisis. Paragraph 1 of the Norwegian constitution is as follows:
The kingdom of Norway is a free state, independent, indivisible, and inalienable, united to Sweden under the same king. The form of government is that of a constitutional and hereditary monarchy.
Treating of legislation and projects of law, paragraphs 78 and 79 of the same constitution read as follows:
- 78.
- If the King approves the resolution he will thereto place his signature, and from then it shall have the force of law. If he does not approve of it, he shall return it to the Odelsthing [the lower chamber of the Storthing], declaring that for the present he judges it not useful to sanction it.
- 79.
- In that case the Storthing then assembled can no more submit the resolution to the King, who can act in a like manner if the following Storthing ordinary proposes to him de novo the same resolution. But if after having been discussed de novo, it is again adopted without change by the two houses of the third ordinary Storthing, and afterwards submitted to the King with the demand that his Majesty may be pleased not to refuse his sanction to a resolution which the Storthing, after the most mature [Page 938] deliberations, believe to be useful, it shall have the force of law when even the sanction of the King shall not be given before the dissolution of the Storthing.
Touching amendment of the constitution of Norway, the following is the one hundred and twelfth paragraph of that document:
If experience demonstrates that any part of the present fundamental law of the kingdom of Norway ought to be modified, the proposition to this end shall be made to an ordinary Storthing and published through the medium of the press. But it shall not appertain except to a following ordinary Storthing to decide if the change proposed should have place or not.
Such change, however, must never be contrary to the principles of the present fundamental law; it should have for object only some special dispositions, which alter not the spirit of the present constitution, and two-thirds of the Storthing must be of accord on such change.
After weeks of deliberation and much discussion, the Storthing, by a vote of 70 to 40, for the third time, adopted the amendment to the constitution, which provides that the ministers of the crown shall be admitted to the debates of the Storthing, the veto of the King having been given some weeks since.
The existing excitement in Norway has been somewhat intensified by this refusal of the King to sanction the amendment, inasmuch as the Storthing now assembled passed it prior to his veto by a vote so nearly unanimous as 93 out of 114, and particularly as the King’s absolute veto has now been employed for the first time since Norway became an independent nation under its free constitution.
About twenty years ago the royal government itself advocated that the ministers should take part in the discussions of the Storthing, and there, face to face to the representatives of the people, explain the measures taken by the executive power. But it has since entirely changed its position in this regard, and has systematically refused to sanction the amendment, which is considered by the liberal party as a vital condition for further progress in Norway’s political life.
The following are the terms of the amendment which the King has vetoed and the Storthing reaffirms:
When discussions in the Storthing have been opened in accordance with the seventy-fourth paragraph of the constitution, the ministers and councillors of state have the right to be present in the Storthing, as well as in its two houses, on equal terms with members of the same, without the right to vote, to take part in the debates that may arise, as far as these are public, but in regard to measures discussed with closed doors, only so far as may be allowed them by the Storthing in session.
Soon after the royal veto of this proposition was communicated to the Storthing, its president, Johan Sverdrut, the indefatigable leader of the Norwegian liberals, made a proposition to the Storthing in the following terms: “That the amendment, notwithstanding the King’s refusal to sanction it, shall be promulgated as a part of the fundamental law of the country.” This decisive declaration was sustained by the Storthing by a vote of more than two-thirds.
It is said to be the opinion of the most eminent jurists and commentators of the Norwegian constitution that the King is entitled to an absolute veto to proposed amendments thereof; of course this involves directly the old question so long in debate among statesmen and peoples to whom belongs original sovereignty. Obviously the absolute right of royal veto of constitutional amendments is not specifically declared in the constitution itself. The Storthing, as previously indicated in this communication, plants itself on what it holds to be its sovereign rights and the powers given it by paragraph 112 of the constitution above given, touching amendments, and has declared by its vote that the amendment before stated shall form a part of the fundamental law of the country.
[Page 939]It remains to be seen what will be the result of this direct issue between the King and the parliamentary authority of the Norwegian people, now nearly two millions in number, among whom there is more democratic sentiment and more political interest than in either of the other Scandinavian countries.
On the other side the government contends that it would be impossible to allow the ministers to go into the Storthing without at the same time strengthening the executive power by new constitutional guarantees providing for the election of an upper house in a manner to give it a more conservative character than the present upper chamber, and conferring on the King the right to dissolve the Storthing. At present the excitement in Norway is said to be without parallel.
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I have, &c.,.