The miserable dealing of the Parliament of 1890 with the question I shall have occasion to refer to further on.
In the same year, the question made surprising advance in Norway. On March 5th the Storting voted on the motion of Ullmann and many others, by eighty-nine votes against twenty-four, an address to the King, which begins thus:—
"The Storting hereby respectfully approaches your Majesty, with the request that your Majesty will make use of the authority given by the constitution in seeking to enter into agreements with foreign powers, for the settling by arbitration of disputes which may arise between Norway and those powers."
And concludes with these words:—
"In the full assurance that what the Storting here requests will be an unqualified benefit to our people, it is hereby submitted that your Majesty should take the necessary steps indicated."
A similar resolution was very near being voted by the Danish Folketing in 1875. The proposition as brought forward was, May 13th, unanimously recommended by the committee in charge, but on account of the dissolution of the House two days later, could not be acted upon.
Several years ago a petition was circulated in the various districts of Denmark, by which Parliament was urged to co-operate as early as possible in bringing about a permanent Scandinavian treaty of arbitration.
In such a treaty, binding in the first instance for thirty years, the petition affirms that the three northern kingdoms will have an efficient moral support when there is occasion to withstand the efforts of the great powers to entice or to threaten any of them to take part in war as allies on one side or the other. Such a treaty will, therefore, in great measure serve to preserve the neutrality of the northern kingdoms, and thereby their lasting independence.
This petition was dealt with in the Folketing, March 27th, 1888. After a short discussion, the following motion of F. Bajer was passed by fifty votes against sixteen.
"Since the Folketing agrees with the wish expressed in the petition, provided it is shared by the other States without whom it cannot be carried out, the House passes on to the order of the day."