Tilboðið, Alberti og danska stjórnin: ein søga um eina politiska mytu

This article explores certain aspects of the so­called „offer“, which the Faroese self­rule leader and member of the Danish parliament, Jóannes Patursson, introduced to the Faroese Lagting in 1906. The „offer“, which according to Jóannes Patursson was given to him by the Danish government, would have given the Faroese Lagting greater administrative and financial self­rule in internal Faroese matters. The Faroese people rejected the offer in 1906, and the Danish legislative minister, Peter A. Alberti, who had signed the letter with the offer to the Lagting, was in 1908 forced to leave the government and was sentenced eight years imprisonment as a result of his involvement in a financial scandal. It has since been said that, according to the Danish government, the offer given to Jóannes Patursson was a private offer from Peter A. Alberti, of which the Danish government had no knowledge. This article argues, that the offer was given to Jóannes Patursson by the Danish government, and that the Danish government never accused Peter A. Alberti of having given Jóannes Patursson a private offer. This story is a myth, created later, totally without any historical foundation. Peter A. Alberti was a likely candidate to blame for an unsuccessful political offer, but in this case, he is certainly not guilty in any violation of governmental authority.