The Storthing, or Parliam...
The StoTrthing, or Parliament of Norway, was prorogued by the lxc on the 9th ullt- T1he speech fromn the throne, and that in reply to it by the President, have been publishe(d at length: they are of a mriingledl character, containing many expressions of mutual good-will ; but betraying, in regard to a question ot' the highest interest, and unider the forms of superabundant courtesy and decorumn, a feeling on one side of deep dissatisfaction, and on the other, of calm and resolute self-respect. 'I'he KING has repeatedly urged upon the Storthing, the necessity of granting, wbat the consti- tution of Norway has refiused, an absolute veto to the So- vereign. This prerogative appears, indeed, at firstsight, to be essential to the existence of a kingly Government; since, without it, the Prince is excluded from even a negative share in the power of legislation. This, however, is more thle aspect of thiings as they appear upon the surface, than wlhen they are thoroulghly understood. Can the veto ever be excrcised without producing the most lively agitatioll throughoiut the counti y ; or without placing the Sovereign in open an2I nanifest opposition totthe wishes of his subjects, the great bodly of whoin would oin such an occasioni make comnmon) cause with their representatives? In England, wlhere the veto is absolute, wlho, for a whole century, has ever seen it brought into play ? Wlhat Mlinister wonld dare to recommend to his Sovereign the employment of so o(dious a power? We are the more surprised at Kinig C.Anrs> Jo.-,, of Bwod.n attolohing -suh infinite in- portance to this prerogative, because he has shown himself in many instances a man of practical sense, and capable of dliscrimninating between real and fictitious value. Whatever difference may exist in the attributes of their executive governments, a limited monarchy, and an absolute repub- lic, come nearer to each other in the nature andl distribution of' their legislative powers, than men in general bavc supposed. In both it is the national feeliigwhich legis- lates, and the interposition of a veto, except in cases where public opinion is much divided, would carry with it such an air of separate interests and objects from those of' the nation, that the person txercising the royal authority would hardly wish to make the same use of it again. Tile desire expressed by CHARLLS JoHN for the institu- tion of orders of nobility among his subjects appears upon the face of it to be more consistent witih the real waflts of a Constitutional Monarchy ; but there, likewise, the States of Norway have shown little deference to the Royal solici- tation. On the closing of this session the KtNrO adllits that many useful laws have becn passed, and is in his turn congratulated by the Storthlng on the increasinig prosperity and general happiness of the Norwegian people.