Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1883-04-07
cessive parl;aments becomes law iii spite

cessive Parliaments becomeslaw iii spite
of the Kings veto. Accordingly, when
the act passed the third time the Hing
had no alternative but to claim an abso-
Lutte veto or to %promulgate the law. dc
was foolish enough to choose the former
course. He contended that wish respect
to amendments 10 the Constitution he
had the right of absolute veto. The
Constitution had been in effect since
| 1914, and no such discovery had been
previously made. 1t can only be main
tanned BY a vast amount of legal quib-
bling. The points in dispute were re-
ferred to the law faculty OF the unlver-
sity of Christiana and were decided in
the Kings favor. The year following,
after the King had refused to scccde to
the will of the people in this respect, the
Storthing by a very large majority rati-
fed the vetoed measure and thus placed
themselves in direct opposition to the
King. The King, in refusing to promul-
gate a law that had been passed over
his veto, violated the Constitution and
himself became revolutionary. The
Parliamentary majority up to the pres
ent day has not committed a single act
which can be construed as revolutionary.
1t is the peculiar genius of the Norwe.
gian people to be l~aw-abidlng. The
points at issue are: First, as TO the
Kings right OF absolute veto in legisla,
ton relating to the Constitution, and
second. as to the validity Of the pro-
| mitigation OF the law wlthoutroyal sane.
ton.
"During a long period the Govern.
ment of Norway has had noParliament'
airy majority. The present Premier is
a man of mediocre ability and of Il re-
dictionary type, as are all the members
OF his Cabinet. This Government has
been guilty Of several distinct cncroacll-
ments upon the rights of the people,
especially in refusing to pay out money
that had been voted by the Storthing,
thus practically arrogating to itself the
right Of veto In the matter of appropria-
tons. Again, the Storthing had APP
pointed a committee to revise the Or
ga~nization Of the army and navy. The
Government threw every possible OBJ
stacle in the way, and appointed a royal
commission to accomplish the same
work. In these and a number of other
minor matters, which are strictly un-
constitutional, the Government has laid
itself open to censure, and the present
Parliament, which has an enormous
Liberal majority-the numbers stand
e%ighty-one to twenty-three, if | am not
mistazen--have decided to impeach the
Ministers and hold them responsible for
these unconstitutional acts. The present
Norwegian Parliament consists very
largely of peasant landowners. Norway
has no land-owning nobility. These
peasant proprietors take a lively interest
in politics. The Norwegian people are
proud and independent, and it is impos.
sible for any ruler with arbitrary ten.
denotes to curb their independent spirit.
The King does not understand them. He
has thrown down the gauntlet and he
may be sure they will reply by taking
up his challenge. As to the outlook, ii
is an ominous fact that the Government
organs talk continually of a coup d'ctat.
They insist that by the recent alliance
of the house of Bernadotte with the
house Of H%ohenzollern by the marriage
Of the Crown Prince of Norway and
Sweden to the granddaughter of the
Emperor of Germany, King Oscar II
has pledged himself to stem the tide o.
Liberal encroachments in his own coun.
tries as Bismarck has done so e~ffectually
in Germany"
In conclusion, Professor Boyesen said
that he believed the King would ulti
mately recede from his position; thai
there was nc real danger of German in,
reference; that the Norwegians were
not at all DESTROYS of separation from
Sweden, and that many members of the
Swedish Parliament and large numbers
OF the Swedish people sympathize will
the N%orwegians in the brave struggle
they are making to retain their consti
tutional rights and privileges.-N. T.
World.