What the Norwegians point out over and over again is the provision of the Communique that the Consuls of each Kingdom shall be under the authority of the country to which they belong, which matter the country concerned shall decide. Against this, it has been mentioned, is opposed the Swedish government's evident plans to arrange a "hierarchal" relationship between the Foreign Minister and the Norwegian Consuls. This decision, in itself, undoubtedly seems to speak for the Norwegian notion of the affair. But an honest method of interpretation tries to see individual particles in the light of their relation to the whole matter. Now, on the contents of the identical laws, the Communique confirms among other things that they shall "give guarantee that the Consuls do not exceed the proper limits of their occupation." What guarantee? The Norwegian negotiators, who scarcely paid any attention to this provision in their proposition, are said to have maintained verbally, that the best guarantee was the control exercised over the Consuls by the Norwegian Consular Office. But to this the Swedish government may justly object: "that was not the kind of guarantee intended by the Communique, as this had nothing to do with the internal relations between the Norwegian consuls and the Norwegian Consular service. The guarantee which the Communique mentions, can refer to nothing but the control to be exercised by the Foreign Minister and Ambassadors over the Consuls". If this interpretation is acknowledged as correct--and it is difficult to find any other--it is plain that the presupposition cited by the Norwegians only referred to _normal_ conditions and that it did not exclude in exceptional cases--as for instance, when Consular affairs were in any way connected with the Diplomatic Office--a hierarchal relationship between the Foreign Minister and the Consuls. Conclusive for the correctness of this interpretation, as represented by the Swedish government, _is the approval the Norwegian government itself gave this interpretation_ by conceding that the Foreign Minister might give direct orders to the Norwegian Consuls, which, in certain cases, implied a hierarchal relationship between the Foreign Minister and the Norwegian Consuls. This admission on the Norwegian side must not be regarded as a concession _beyond_ the demands of the Communique. It had already been made before the Communique was compiled, and must therefore absolutely be included in the frame of the Communique. The so much-disputed claims of Sweden imply nothing but an extension of the above hierarchal exceptional conditions, especially in an disciplinary sense, and are therefore within the frame of the Communique.