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The members of this Committee soon went against the majority of the government, and therefore, when the State Secretaries MICHELSEN and SCHÖNING at the end of February protested against Mr HAGERUP'S proceeding, in sending in his resignation, a complete crisis within the Cabinet was reached.
In Norway they afterwards complained, especially the Radicals, of that »Massive instrument.» To this State Secretary MICHELSEN sharply replied, that »Mr BLEHR'S explanation was only the explanation of the Norwegian government on the subject of the Communiqué.» Other explanations in the Storthing of the divergencies of opinions on this point are to all intents unacceptable.
That even Mr MICHELSEN, one of the parties to the negotiations on the Norwegian government side, in a debate at the Storthing, during the Spring 1904, cast friendly glances on the old lines, showed plainly how little they had forgotten the old talk of taking matters into their own hands.
In his address delivered to the newly arrived sovereign on board the battleship Heimdal, Herr Michelsen, President of Council, and for six months virtual President of Norway, used these significant words: "For nearly six centuries the Norwegian people have had no king of their own.
In these days much is said of »necessity» in the development of events. »Necessity», it is said, »has been stronger than the wishes of individuals». To those who in any degree believe in personal influence and personal responsibility, and not only the needs in the progress of history, it may be of interest to observe how those who now advance to the front in Norway MICHELSEN, LÖVLAND, BERNER, ARCTANDER belong to the old ranks of radicals from the beginning of 1890.
But the King having vainly tried to form a Conservative Ministry and matters becoming serious, a retreat was sounded, the Storthing itself taking the initiative, this time, strange to say, receiving the hint from Mr MICHELSEN. The requests of the Ministers to resign were withdrawn, and the Consular Question was postponed to a future date.
The Crown Prince found it necessary to consent to a change of Ministry. Mr MICHELSEN, who was pointed out as the man equal to the situation, was summoned, also a so called mixed Cabinet consisting of Ministers of different parties; the two Prime Ministers, however, Mr MICHELSEN und Mr LÖVLAND, were rank radicals.
Christiania, June 6, 1905. Chr. Michelsen. J. Lövland. Sofus Arctander. Gunnar Knudsen. W. Olssön. E. Hagerup Bull. Chr. Knudsen. Harald Bothner. A. Vinje. Kr. Lehmkuhl. The King's telegraphic protests against the abdication of the Norwegian Government. To the Prime Minister.
Norwegian separatists, among others MICHELSEN himself, long ago, in a moment of rare sincerity, have acknowledged that other motives besides the practical have been at the root of the claim for reform. A Norwegian Consular Service meant, in itself, a step in the direction of the rupture of the bonds of Union, and was therefore even then an object worth striving for.
The Holstener Michelsen, who has a professorship at Jena, assembled a number of friends one evening, and in a graceful and cordial toast for me, expressed his sense of the importance of Danish literature, and the healthy and natural spirit which flourished in it.
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