cers of the government and the directors of the
national bank are elected by the storthing, which appoints a committee
every six months to revise and audit the accounts of officials who
have to do with the disbursement or collection of money. When an
irregularity or improper expenditure is discovered, the legislature is
asked to decide whether the minister in charge of the department shall
repay the sum from his own pocket and repair the damage that has been
caused by one of his subordinates.

In the same manner the storthing regulates all loans, on the theory
that the money belongs to the people. The members of the ministry may
be impeached by the odelsthing for a violation of the constitution and
tried before the lagthing and the supreme court.

The following eight executive departments are in charge of ministers:

1. For ecclesiastical matters and public instruction, which also has
charge of charities, insurance companies, and matters relating to the
relief of the people.

2. The department of justice.

3. The department of the interior, which has jurisdiction over
everything that is not under the other departments.

4. The department of agriculture.

5. The department of public works.

6. The department of finances and customs.

7. The department of defense.

8. The revision of public accounts department.

For administrative purposes, Norway is divided into twenty districts,
viz.: The cities of Christiania and Bergen and eighteen "Amts" or
provinces, which coinside with the diocese of the church, and there
is a very close relation between the ecclesiastical and the civil
authorities. The chief magistrate in each of the counties, nominated
by the king, is known as an "Amtmand." His duties are similar to
those of the French prefects, although the theory of home-rule and
self-government is carried into each county and each municipality and
parish, where every magistrate is responsible to a council elected by
the people from among their own number. They make the laws for the
magistrate to administer. There are few countries in which the theory
of self-government is carried to such an extent as in Norway. The
sovereignty of the people is absolute and their rights are jealously
guarded. Norway is divided into ecclesiastical parishes, which are the
voting districts, as in England, and are governed in a similar way.

The Norwegian constitution of 1814, based upon the principle of
popular self-government, decl