126 LEGISLATIVE PEERS. 



of nuncios. In 1807, Napoleon having re-created tbe duchy of War- 

 saw from the wrecks of ancient Poland, gave it a constitution by 

 which the institutions of the preceding constitutions were re-estab- 

 lished. The first chamber was to be composed of eighteen senators, 

 viz. six bishops, and twelve palatines, or cortillans, appointed for life 

 by the king. The senate could not negative any project of law voted by 

 the nuncios, but in certain particular cases, such as when they ap- 

 peared to be fraught with danger to the state, the constitution, &c. 

 When the senate refused their sanction, they invested the King with 

 the necessary authority to annul the deliberation of the nuncios ; and 

 in case of refusal the King had the power of creating twelve senators, 

 and of laying the bill again before them. Lastly, the King could^ 

 notwithstanding the refusal of the senate to pass the bill, give his 

 sanction to it, and it then became the law of the land. The chamber 

 of nuncios was composed of sixty, appointed by the districts, or as- 

 semblies of nobles of each district, and of forty deputies of the 

 " communes." All these articles, with the exception of some modi- 

 fications, were incorporated in the charter given by the Emperor 

 Alexander in 1815, the perpetual violation of which was the prin- 

 cipal cause of the late heroic struggle, which will hold up the Polish 

 name to the admiration of the latest posterity. To the members 

 composing the senate, according to the preceding acts, we must add 

 the princes of the imperial and royal families, who take their seats 

 and have the privilege of voting at the age of eighteen. The number 

 of senators must never exceed half that of the nuncios and deputies. 

 The King appoints twelve senators for life. No one can be elected 

 until he has attained his thirty-fifth year, and unless he pays an 

 annual contribution of 2000 Polish florins. 



Norway received in 1814 a special constitution, instituting a re- 

 presentative body, which subdivides itself into two chambers. The 

 following are the principles by which are effected the once singular 

 and democratic composition of an upper chamber. The 49th article 

 of the constitution enacts that the people shall exercise the legislative 

 power through the Diet, called Storthing, and which is com- 

 posed of two chambers, under the names of Laything and of Odels- 

 thing, which may be translated thus : chamber of legists and cham- 

 ber of proprietors. The members of the Storthing are elected by 

 electors who are themselves elected in primary assemblies, to the 

 number of one for every fifty citizens who possess the right of voting. 

 No one can be elected who is not thirty years of age, and has resided 

 ten years in the kingdom. Every representative receives an indem- 

 nification from the public treasury for his travelling expenses to the 

 place where the Diet holds its sittings. The Diet is assembled every 

 three years, except on extraordinary occasions. As soon as it is consti- 

 tuted, it chooses from among its own members, one-fourth to form the 

 upper chamber, or the Laything ; the remaining three-fourths compose the 

 second, or the Odelsthing. Each of them has its own particular 

 assemblies, and appoints its president and secretary. Every bill 

 must first be brought into the second chamber, and is then sent up to 

 the first, which approves or rejects it : in the latter case, if sent back 

 with observations to the second chamber, the latter having again 

 examined, remits it to the upper chamber with or without amend- 



