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that the Storthing should promise allegiance to the Swedish king,
before the negotiations concerning the conditions of the union were
opened; but the Storthing handed over the government of the
country to the council of state, and as its number was no longer
complete, it was reinforced with men who enjoyed universal esteem.
The Norwegians were firm in their determination not to enter into
any union with Sweden, if, in so doing, they would have to give
up a particle of their constitutional liberty. They therefore desired,
through the Storthing, to make their own conditions for the union;
and if the Swedes would not accept them, the war should be continued.
Six commissioners came to Kristiania to negotiate with the
Storthing on the king of Sweden’s behalf. They brought with them a
proposal for alterations in the fundamental law, drawn up at the instigation
of Carl Johan. The Storthing, however, determined that the Eidsvold
constitution should form the basis of the new one, and that only
such alterations should be made in it as a union with Sweden
demanded. The Storthing would not negotiate directly with the
commissioners, but appointed a committee of 9 men, who were to
receive the necessarv information from them.
On the 20th October, when the end of the armistice was
approaching, the Storthing resolved that Norway should be
united to Sweden as an independent kingdom. Before, however,
proceeding to the election of a king, unanimity was arrived at on
the subject of the changes in the constitution. The amended
constitution became law on the 4th November, and immediately after,
Carl XIII was chosen king of Norway. On the 10th November,
Carl Johan was present in the Storthing, where he took the king’s
oath to the constitution.
Thus, by accommodating the conditions of the union to the
constitutional conditions established in Norway, by yielding to the
will of the Powers, and by giving the Norwegian Storthing free
choice, Carl Johan had succeeded in bringing about the union,
and achieving all that could be achieved. To the European Powers,
the Swedish Minister for Foreign Affairs declared on behalf of the
crown-prince that the Peace of Kiel was given up. «It is not to
the Treaty of Kiel», he said, «but to the confidence of the
Norwegian people in us, that we owe Norway’s union with Sweden.»
But there was a party in Sweden, whose real opinion found
expression in the words attributed to the old king, namely, «that
it was a union to weep over.»
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