Saturday press. [volume] (Honolulu, H.I.) 1880-1885, 1884-04-19
4 LnssoN rRon NoRm.lr


LESSON rROU NoRU.iT
" Uneasy lies the head that wears
q crown particularly if the sill that
wag, the royal pow runs counter To- the
popular viii by whose aulilrancc kings
reign and rule. and by whose deci ION
Kings are dethroncd, imprisoned cNied
and made to suffer death There is uo
civilized king OF kinsIy ruler ON any
throne 10 day who holds bis sovereignty
by any higher title than the will of those
he governs The " riaht divine is %
dead presumption II went out with
the last gasp ol icudllism and The fash
ions Of the Tory era that prolonged
the feudal teachings II died in civil
lied Europe under the Ere that moved
down the Swiss guard when the last OF
the line Of Louis was made prisoner
in his own palace. 1t is eating out It's
royal heart in the now highly civilized
vet still halfbarbarlan Russia, in vain
effort to stay the march OF events to
make time stand still The latest un
fortunate sticklef for prerogtatlvc w.
that fatal stumbling block over which
so many royal feet have trippcd is the
educated enlightened, progressive Os-
car Of Sweden. King Oscar has a
reputation among scholars equallcd by
no contemporary sovereign He Is not
only a patron Of science, philosophy,
letters, music, drama, art he is a dis
eliminating patron and a byno-means
contemplate disputant on the multluu-
dinous topics which are part Of those
great departments and a generally
popular executive OF the laws under
which he governs two kindred though
by no means homogeneous states But
an issue has recently arisen in facing
which the king hnds himself confronted
by large majority OF his subjects. The
issue is the kingly prcrogative of veto.
Z" l. the kings veto absolute ? The
custom has been and the constitution
expressly provides that bill passed
at three sessions of the Norwegian
Parliament shall become law, notwiih-
standing the royal veto. The king the
kings ministers and an arlstocratlc
minority among his subjects hold that
the veto is absolute and that it may
be intcrposed to prevent the passage OF
a bill, no matter how often passed, no
matter how large the popular vote in
its favor as expressed by the vote in
parliament. The legislative body in
Norway is called the Storthing.' The
storihing consists of eighty-iive mem
bcrs, elected by popular vote. After
election the storthing chooses twenty
nine members to sit in an upper house
called the Lagthing,' the other fifty
six members constituting the "Odels-
thing" Although virtually one body,
the two departments of the stOrthing
perform the functions of two houses
Bills pass first through the odelslhlng
and then through the lagthing II the
king veto bill, it may be passed
again at the next session il he vctoes
ii a second time, it may be voted at 4
third session and then (constitutionally)
becomes law But the kings minis
tiers hold (at least that seems to he the
iosi' III iIlSH lpHltoI'j t'ldl I'N l'ydl
prerogative is higher than the constitu-
ton that 10 take away the right of alb
sohte veto would be to degrade the
kngiy office to the purely clerical
function of registering the peoples will
which, in reality, the function Of
every ruler is: no less, no more.
For this opinion, and for advising the
king to act unconstitutionally, the prime
minister of King Oscar has been dis
missed from office by tie supreme court,
the "Rigsret," ON the charge OF
"hreach OF Office in advising the king
to do an Illegal thing.