The Time And
Place Of Meeting Are Fixed By Law, And The King Has No Power To
Prevent Or Postpone Its Assembly.
It consists of about a hundred
members, who divide themselves into two houses.
The members must
not be under thirty years of age, and must have lived for ten years
in Norway. The electors are required to be twenty-five years of
age, and to be either burgesses of a town, or to possess property of
the annual value of 30l. The members must possess the same
qualification. The members of the Storthing are usually plain-
spoken, sensible men, who have no desire to shine as orators, but
who despatch with great native sagacity the business brought before
them. This Storthing is the most independent legislative assembly
in Europe; for not only has the king no power to prevent its meeting
at the appointed time, but should he refuse to assent to any laws
that are passed, these laws come into force without his assent,
provided they are passed by three successive parliaments. - ED.
{49} The present king of Sweden and Norway is Oscar, one of the few
fortunate scions of those lowly families that were raised to royal
power and dignity by Napoleon. His father, Bernadotte, was the son
of an advocate, and entered the French army as a common soldier; in
that service he rose to the rank of marshal, and then became crown-
prince, and ultimately king of Sweden. He died in 1844. The mother
of Oscar was Desiree Clary, a sister of Julie Clary, wife of Joseph
Bonaparte, the elder brother of Napoleon.
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