32 2 Norway and the Nor'ivegians 



This Storthing or Paiiiameut of Norway consists of a 

 hundred and eleven members. The system of election 

 to it is different from the system of election to the 

 English Parliament, and resembles more nearly that of 

 the Congress of America ; that is to say, it is indirect. 

 In the rural electoral districts, each parish chooses 

 according to its population a certain number of electors ; 

 and the college of electors, thus nominated, proceeds to 

 choose a representative. The chief towns of the 

 country have one, or more, representatives of their 

 own ; the lesser towns are formed into group.s, which 

 elect a representative among them. But in tlie towns, 

 as in the country, the first business is the election of 

 the college of electors. Two-thirds of the Storthino- 

 (seventy-four members) are elected by the rural con- 

 stituencies, and the remaining third (thirty-seven mem- 

 bers) by the urban constituencies. 



The franchise is enjoyed by the following classes : — 

 (1) In the country, those who have been in the use of 

 — as tenants or proprietors — land on which they have 

 paid taxes for five years; (2) those who, in the towns, 

 possess a certain, although very small, amount of real 

 property, or who have a patent as tradesmen, or artisans, 

 or as captains of ships ; (3) those who Iiave held any 

 of the public offices, the nomination to which rests witli 

 the king. The possessors of real property, it will be 

 understood, are, in proportion, enormously in excess of 

 the same class in England ; forming, in fact, about two- 

 thirds of the cultivators of the soil. 



The Storthing is a triennial Parliament. Its sittings 

 are annual ; but they cannot, without the king's consent, 

 last more than two months of tlie year. Until lately, it 



