As the minister in this way has made the matter into a cabinet question, there could not well, under the present conditions, be any question of the adoption of the bill.
In spite of this, however, the request of the Foreign Minister was not complied with, seeing the Second Chamber adopted an amendment after fifty-three members had voted for the acceptance of the original bill.
By the amendment which was adopted, the Chamber did not accept the grounds of the committee's opinion—which the Foreign Secretary approved—but, in the hope that the Government would spontaneously carry out the chief object of the bill, accepted for the present the report of the committee that no address be sent to the King on the subject.
By reason of this result in the Second Chamber no action was taken in the First on the matter.[21]
During the debate in the Second Chamber, April 28, the Foreign Secretary remarked that I must have overlooked the fact that the European powers had, ever since 1814, looked upon the two kingdoms of the Scandinavian peninsula as a political unity in questions relating to peace and war; why otherwise should I propose from the first that the sister kingdom should have the opportunity of expressing itself on a matter which concerned Norway equally with Sweden. This objection was without foundation.
During the drawn debate, March 3, I had already taken occasion to point out that it would not be seemly for one moving a resolution in the Swedish Riksdag to act as spokesman for Norway at the same time expressing my confidence that the Storting would meet us in a friendly manner, if the Riksdag approved the bill with respect to Sweden.[22]
That the neutralization ought to include not only Norway, but Denmark too, seems to be obvious.
A highly esteemed jurist, Count L. Kamarowsky, professor of law at the University of Moscow, puts it as a matter of great importance in the interests of the world's peace that international seas and coasts should be neutralized.[23] This particularly affects Denmark in connection with the other two Scandinavian States. Such a neutralization, he says, will lead to a disarmament in the Sound and Belts. These great traffic-ways would then be accessible for the merchant and war vessels of all nations. They must not be fortified, but the freedom of navigation would be watched over by an international committee.
At the Conference at Berlin in 1885, where fifteen States were represented, just principles were adopted for the navigation of the Congo and the Niger. Free navigation and commerce on these rivers was secured to the flags of all nations. The same principle was likewise extended to their tributaries and lakes, together with canals and railroads which might in the future be constructed to get past the unnavigable portions of the Congo and Niger. Not even in time of war may the freedom of communication and commerce be interrupted. The transport of contraband of war alone is forbidden. An international commission takes care that all these international agreements are kept in force. This authority, composed of delegates from each of the States which took part in the Berlin Conference, is independent of the local authorities in Congo-land.
Now, every free people has naturally an independent right to arrange its own affairs as it chooses, upon condition that it grants the same right to every other State.