the place of the king, the Storthing appointed the members of the
Norway Council of State to act as a temporary government for the
nation. The Storthing further declared that Norway had no ill feeling
against King Oscar or his dynasty of Sweden, and asked the king to
cooperate in selecting one of his own house to be king of Norway.

The Riksdag of Sweden met in extraordinary session, June 21, 1905,
at the call of King Oscar, to consider the action of the Norwegian
Storthing in declaring the dissolution of the union between the
two countries. The opening of the session was marked by the usual
ceremonial pomp, but also by a gravity and solemnity befitting the
unusual occasion. The emotional feeling was intense and repressed with
difficulty by both speakers and audience. The king, in his address
to the Riksdag, maintained with dignity that he had acted within his
constitutional rights and that Norway had not the power to dissolve
the union which legally could be effected only by mutual consent.
Nevertheless, it was with great sadness that he now urged negotiations
for the severance of the ties between the two nations, believing that
"the union was not worth the sacrifice which acts of coercion would
entail." The bill prepared by the government was immediately presented
to the Riksdag. It was of the same tenor as the king's address, and
asked for authorization to negotiate with the Norwegian Storthing for
the establishment of a common basis for the settlement of the question
involved in the separation of the two kingdoms. The bill encountered
strong opposition, both in and out of the Riksdag. In the Senate it
was referred to a committee of nine anti-government members, while in
the lower house the composition of the corresponding committee was
equally divided between the two opposing parties, with the addition
of two independent members. The Riksdag authorized the government to
negotiate a loan of $25,000,000 for works of defense, and declared the