374                           FOREIGN- RELATIONS.

dinary session of the althing when he pleases, and decides how long such
a session is
to last. 7. The King can prorogue the regular althing for a certain time,
but never
longer than four weeks, unless the althing consent to it, and never more
than once a
year. 8. The King can dissolve the althing, in which case new elections shall
becalled
within two months from the date of dissolution, and the althing be summoned
for the next
year following the dissolution. 9. The King can order draughts of bills and
resolutions to
be laid before the althing. 10. The consent of the King is requisite before
any resolu-
tion of the althing can acquire the force of law. The King takes care that
the laws
be promulgated and obeyed. If the King have not sanctioned a draught of a
bill passed
by the althing before the next regular session of the althing, it is thereby
annulled.
I1. When especial need requires, the King can issue ad interim laws between
two regu-
lar sessions of the althing. Such laws may not, however, conflict with the
constitution,
and in all cases they must be laid before the next althing. 12. The King
has the power
of reprieve and of general amnesty.  13. The King grants, directly or through
the
proper officials, privileges and exemptions from the law, according to the
rules by
which such questions have been regulated heretofore.
  According to Chapter II, sections 14-18, as to the constitution and composition
of
the althing, thirty deputies are to be elected by the nation, and six chosen
by the King.
The number of the deputies elected by the people may be altered by law. The
election of
the deputies is generally valid for a period of six years, the commission1
of those chosen
by the King to remain unafitected in case of dissolution. If a deputy die
or a seat be
otherwise vacated, the commission of the new member is to last only for the
remainder
of the period for which the althing then sitting is elected.
  These royal commissioners have given very keen offense to the Icelanders,
who are
intensely loyal, and take the provision as an affront. Remonstrances have
already
appeared in print against this particular measure, and loud protestations
to the effect
that no royal functionary could be got to sit in the name of the King more
loyal than
any of the national deputies chosen at random. The effect will only be to
create bad
blood by creating an artificial opposition, the object of which could not
be to defend
any royal or dynastic interests, which require no defense in Iceland, but
to back up a
Danish minister in anti-national and Danizing tendencies.
  This particular provision is borrowed from the Danish constitution of 1849.
In Den-
mark, where it is well known the people are leavened through a nd~through
by repub-
lican elements, it may be necessary; but for the Icelanders, an aristocratic
community
throughout, and, like all people who have a compact historical tradition,
strongly
conservative in a national direction, the provision is, politically speaking,
entirely off
the mark, and mischievous from every point of view considered. 15. The althing
is
divided into two houses, the upper and lower.  In the upper house twelve
mem-
bers have seats; in the lower, twenty-four. These numbers, however, may be
altered
by law. 16. The (six) king-chosen deputies have all seats in the upper house;
the
other six are chosen out of the number of the rational deputies by the whole
althing
(both houses joined) for the whole period to which the elected althing extends.
If a
seat of a national deputy be vacant in the upper house during the period
to which
the althing has been elected, then, when the electoral district has returned
its member,
both houses of the althing meet in order to elect a deputy to the vacated
seat in the
upper house. Seventeen and eighteen regulate the franchise and define the
civil con-
ditions of those who are eligible to the althing; but they introduce no new
regulations
beyond those in force already.
  Chapter III, sections 19 to 41, defines the legislative functions and co-operation
of
the two houses. 19. The regular althing shall meet the first working-day
in July every
other year, unless the King has previously fixed 'some other day for the
meeting. 20.
The place of meeting shall be Reykjavik. Under peculiar circumstances the
King may
fix upon another spot for the meeting. 21. Each chamber has a right to propose
and
pass draughts of bills; as either also has a right to send an address to
the King. 22.
Either house has a right, during the session of the althing, to appoint commissions
in
order to investigate matters of general interest. Either house can enable
such com-
missions to demand information, by word of mouth or in writing, as they choose,
both
from public functionaries and private individuals. 23. No tax may be imposed,ý
al-
teýred, or removed, except by law. No loan compulsory on the nation
may be made, nor
any national property be sold or transferred, unless sanction be given thereto
by law.
24. No item of expenditure may be paid unless-it be authorized in the general
or the ex-
traordinary budget. 25. As soon as the regular althing meets, a budget for
the next
biennial finance period shall be laid before it. Among the income shall be
entered both
the fixed contribution and the sinking contribution, which, according to
the law regu-
lating the position of Iceland in the realm, ofthe 2d-of January, 1871, sections
5 and 6,
is paid toward the home affairs of Iceland, yet iný such a manner
that the expenditure
out of this contribution toward the highest public functionaries in the country
and the
royal commissary at the althing takes precedence of every other expenditure
from the
sanme. The draught of the budget to be laid always first before the lower
house. The
sting of this paragraph will not he understood by outsiders without an explanation.