This is because caught up in the daily struggle your nation faces ever changing reality with a clear eye and rejects old practices accordingly It does not cling to customs which no longer have a reason for being it is constantly readjusting itself to new needs and necessities. That is why your country is today in the vanguard of the world peace movement Your Storting was the first parliament to uphold officially the idea of universal arbitration to set aside funds for the Interparliamentary Union and for the Bureau in Bern3 and ever since 1890 to encourage the King to lend support to arbitration treaties between Norway and the small nations Furthermore the memory of the recent attainment of your independence for which you strove so long in the midst of the gravest difficulties is still fresh in all our minds4 Your independence achieved as it was without violence or bloodshed is a living example of good sense and wisdom prudence and great tenacity and brings everlasting credit both to you who obtained it and to those who did not refuse it to you