A further and a long step has been taken towards
the separation of Norway from Sweden. On Saturday last the Norwegian Delegation of Cabinet Ministers, which acts at Stockholm as the Norwegian Cabinet, requested King Oscar to sign the Norwegian law just passed by the Storthing of Christiania establishing a separate Consular Service. The King declined, whereupon the Norwegian Ministry resigned in a body. The King refused to accept the resignation; but as he himself admits that no other Ministry can be formed, and as the population of Norway is unanimous in insisting upon the law, this is only a temporary expedient. The people are asserting that the veto, which the King maintains to be constitutional, is equivalent to an act of abdication, the King of Norway thereby disregarding the unanimous wish alike of the Storthing and of the population. As Sweden will not use force, the next step, it is said, will be the appointment of a new Ministry by the Storthing instead of the Crown; but it is probable, in the present temper of the country, that Parliament may go a step further, and proclaim Norway independent either as a Republic, or, as we hear is more probable, as a kingdom under a new dynasty. The difficulty in the way of the latter scheme, which as an alternative is seriously discussed, will be to find a King. Although Norway is twice the size of England and Wales, it contains barely two millions of people, it is very poor, and, as this very quarrel shows, the people are not inclined to allow to the Sovereign much personal authority.
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