132 Ellen Key because, with true national feeling, she had counselled the Swedish people to act like Swedes, that is—^justly, intelligently, nobly, and sanely. While she may have over- estimated the Norwegian national spirit, that only shows the natural one-sidedness of that righteousness which forces one to close the eyes to the weakness of the person one believes oppressed. Ellen Key, as she herself says, is no Norway fanatic. She does not absolve Norway from all blame in the Union conflict. She concedes that the Norwegian politicians have occupied themselves too much with party politics instead of principles, with side issues instead of the main cause. But she also points out what had been accomplished in Norway during the nineties alone, in the line of political, judicial, religious, and social justice, and remarks that nearly all of these reforms had been repeatedly proposed during these years in our Swedish Riksdag, but had been tiuned down; and she adds: "Since from my point of view the expression of justice and humanity in legislation is the most deeply effective work of civilisation, I consider it proven that in regard to this kind of culture Norway shows itself an able, active youth, tied to one temporarily crippled." However