Frederick's ministers and agreed to meet with the king himself informally, stressing that nothing he did should be construed as a recognition of Norwegian independence. Christian Frederick asked the British government to mediate between Norway and Sweden, but Morier never deviated from his government's prior rejection of refusing to recognize an independent Norway. Morier offered to bring the Norwegian emissaries Niels Aall and Wilhelm Christie to Britain onboard his ship, but ended up failing to follow through on his promise. He informed the Norwegians that they could expect no diplomatic support from the British government, and asked that his government's position be printed in all Norwegian newspapers. On 10 June the Norwegian army was mobilized and arms and ammunitions distributed. On 13 June Christian Frederick also ordered a census in preparation for parliamentary elections. On 16 June Carsten Anker sent a letter to Christian Frederick in which he made references to discussions he had recently had with a high-ranking Prussian diplomat. He learned that Prussia and Austria were waning in their support of Sweden's claims to Norway, that Alexander I of Russia (a distant cousin of Christian Frederick's) favoured a Swedish-Norwegian union but not with Bernadotte as the king, and that the United Kingdom was looking for a solution to the problem that would keep Norway out of Russia's influence. Prelude to war On 26 June emissaries from Russia, Prussia, Austria, and the United Kingdom arrived in Vänersborg in Sweden to convince Christian Frederick to comply with the provisions of the treaty of Kiel. There they conferred with von Essen, who told them that 65,000 Swedish troops were ready to invade Norway. On 30 June the emissaries arrived in Christiania, where they rudely turned down Christian Frederick's hospitality. Meeting with the Norwegian council of state the following day, the Russian emissary Orlow put the choice to those present: Norway could subject itself to the Swedish crown or face war with the rest of Europe. When Christian Frederik argued that the Norwegian people had a right to determine their own destiny, the Austrian emissary made the famous comment: The people? What do they have to say against the will of its rulers? That would be to put the world on its head. In the course of the negotiations, Christian Frederick offered to relinquish the throne and return to Denmark, provided the Norwegians had a say in their future through an extraordinary