Governments and parties in continental Europe

Preface

The State has been represented at sundry times under different figures. In the frontispiece to Hobbes' Leviathan, in the edition of 1651, it is given the form of a gigantic prince whose body is composed of minute human beings of every kind. A more common symbol is that of a ship sailing the trackless ocean, with a venerable pilot at the helm, steering by the light of the everlasting stars. To the writer the State sometimes presents itself under the figure oi a stage-coach with the horses running away. On the front a number of eager men are urging the most contrary advice on the driver, whose chief object is to keep his seat; while at the back a couple of old gentlemen with spy-glasses are carefully surveying the road already traversed. Now, useful as all these persons undoubtedly are, there ought to be room also for the quiet observers, who watch the movements of the horses, and note the strain on the wheels, axles, and bolts ; who listen to the hubbub on the front seat, and the grave conversation at the rear. To drop the simile and speak directly, there is a real need to-day of a thorough examination into the actual working of modern governments, and in one vi PREFACE.

direction at least that need is still imperfectly satisfied. I refer to the activity of the parties, which furnish the main motive power in public life.

A great deal of discussion has taken place of late over the question whether political parties are a good or an evil, but from a scientific point of view this seems very like making the same inquiry about the winds and the tides. In reality parties are a fact, and as such their manifestations ought to be studied. Moreover, it is impossible to say that parties in the abstract are a good or an evil, because the result depends on the circumstances under which they act. In Venice, for example, the absence of parties, or factions, prevented the State from falling into anarchy and despotism like the other Italian republics. In England the existence of two strong parties enabled the people to control the crown, and made parliamentary government possible. In France the subdivision of parties has prevented the parliamentary system from being a success, and both there and in Germany it has been a constant obstacle to popular government ; while in Switzerland the subdivision and low development of parties has enabled the people to maintain one of the most perfect democracies the world has ever seen.

The phenomena of parties considered as a fact have been examined much less than they deserve. Perhaps the best work in this line is that of Dupriez, whose book, " Les Ministres dans les Principaux Pays d' Europe et d'Amerique," appeared while the following

PEEFACE. vii

pages were in preparation, and with whose conclusions the writer agrees in the main. Dupriez approaches the subject, however, from a somewhat different direction, for he deals primarily with the minister and treats of the parties so far as they affect his authority ; while the writer was interested first in the parties themselves, and considered the position of the cabinet from its bearing on their condition.

The present work deals only with a very small part of the great subject of political parties. It is simply an attempt to study the relation between the development of parties and the mechanism of modern government, and other questions are referred to only so far as they have a bearing on the main theme. In carrying out this object, a systematic order of arrangement has been followed so far as practicable. The treatment of each country begins with a description of its chief institutions, or political organization ; this is followed by a sketch of its recent history, in order to show how the parties actually work ; and, finally, an attempt is made to find the causes of the condition of party life. The investigation is limited to the principal countries where a division into two great parties does not prevail, and where there usually exists in its place a division into a number of more or less sharply defined political groups. This department of the subject seemed to separate itself naturally from the rest, and was selected mainly because it had been far less studied than the growth and influence of the bi-party system that prevails generally in Anglo-Saxon countries.

viii PREFACE.

For the convenience of students, the constitutions of all the nations dealt with that have written constitutions have been added in an appendix ; and they have been given in their original languages, because they are more valuable in this form than in a translation. In the case of Switzerland, where the constitution is officially printed in German, French, and Italian, the French text has been selected.

Boston, September 4, 1896.

Chapter I. France : Institutions

PAGE

Origin and nature of parliamentary government in England . . 2

The system imperfectly copied on the Continent ... 6

The French constitutional laws ....... 7

History of their creation ....... 8

The method of amendment ....... 12

Their legal and moral effect 13

The method of election, scrutin de liste and scrutin d'arrondisse-

ment 15

The Chamber a tumultuous body 18

Its functions and actual influence . . . ... .21

The ministers as a rule not responsible to it . . . . 22

The National Assembly 26

The President of the Republic ....... 26

-His powers really exercised by responsible ministers . . 28

The Council of State 30

The ministers .......... 32

Their responsibility to the Chamber of Deputies . . .33 Their enormous power (which is due to the four following matters) 33

The paternal nature of the government 34

The centralization of local government ...... 36

The department, with its prefect and general council . . 36

The arrondissement and the canton 40

The commune, with its mayor and communal council . . 40

Paris and Lyons 42

' The legislative powers of the executive 43

Ordinances and appropriations ...... 44 x CONTENTS.

The judicial powers of the executive 47

Difference between English and French history ... 47 In England the royal power grew early and took a judicial

form 48

In France it developed late and took an administrative

Effect of the doctrine of the separation of powers . . .54 Questions of the legality of official acts withdrawn from the

ordinary courts 55

The administrative courts and the court of conflicts . . 57

The state of siege 63

Effect of the French system on the position of the ministers . . 64

Note on Gneist's views on English and French history ... 65

Chapter II. France : Parties

The influence of parties in popular government . . . .69

The parliamentary system normally produces two parties . . 70

It cannot work well otherwise ....... 72

In France there are many parties or groups 74

History of parties under the Third Republic 75

The presidency of Thiers 76

The presidency of MacMahon . 77

His struggle with the Republicans 79

The progress towards the Left . 80

The growth of personal politics 83

The career of Boulanger ........ 85

Its effect on the Right 87

The Church accepts the Republic 89

The policy of Republican concentration and its failure . . 91

The cabinet of Casimir-Perier 94

His presidency 95

The breaking up of the Conservative majority .... 96

Bourgeois' Radical cabinet 98

The Conservative cabinet of Meline . . . . • .99

Causes of the subdivision of parties ...... 101

Lack of a political consensus 101

Theoretical character of French political opinions . • . 105

Lack of the habit of political organization 106

The election of the deputies by majority vote . . . 108

CONTENTS. xi

The system of committees in the Chambers . . . . Ill This undermines the authority of the cabinet and its ability

to hold the majority together 114

The use of interpellations 117

This has a similar effect 118

It is due to jealousy of the ministers 124

Results of the subdivision of parties 127

A change of ministry does not mean change of party . .127

The cabinets short lived 128

As a rule they are coalitions and therefore weak . . . 129

They must confer favors on the deputies to win votes . . 130 The deputies in turn must curry favor with the local nominating

committees and the constituents ...... 132

Prospects of the Republic 137

Since the Revolution there has been no change of the party in

power without a revolution 138

Financial dangers 142

Possible organic changes 144

CHAPTER.aiI.

ITALY : INSTITUTIONS.

The formation of the kingdom 146

The Statuto 150

The King 152

The ministers 153

The franchise, the method of election, etc 157

The administrative system 161

The ordinance power 165

The civil service . „ , 166

The judicial system 170

The courts and the officials 171

Administrative law and the administrative courts . . .173

Weakness of the judicial system 176

The church 178

The doctrine of a free church in a free state .... 179

The monastic orders , 181

The Pope, and the law of the Papal Guarantees . . . 182 Embarrassing situation of the Vatican 186 xii CONTENTS.

Chapter IV. Italy : Parties

Cavour's relation to parties 189

Government by the Right 190

Effect of the advent to power of the Left in 1876 . . .191

The Depretis-Nicotera cabinet 193

The Cairoli-Zanardelli cabinet . 195

The Cairoli-Depretis coalition 197

Successive cabinets of Depretis, and the Transformismo . . 198

The cabinets of Crispi and his fall 200

The bank scandals, the Sicilian insurrection, the restoration of

Crispi and his defeat 201

Causes of the condition of parties 204

The attitude of the Clericals ....... 205

The system of committees ....... 206

The political character of the people as shown in the lack of

unity in the cabinets • 212

The prominence of the personal element ..... 214 The social disorganization in the south ..... 215

The political cliques 216

And their relation to the deputies 218

The connection between national and local parties in France and

Autocratic power inconsistent with a parliamentary system . . 226

The need of a stronger judiciary 228

Outlook for the future 230

Chapter V. Germany : The Structure Of The Empire

The Holy Roman Empire . . '232

The growth of Prussia 233

The Germanic Confederation and the Diet ..... 234 The failure of the Liberal attempt at union in 1848-49 . . 236

Bismarck and the war of 1866 237

The North German Confederation and the Empire . • . 240

Nature of the federal union 243

Legislative centralization and executive decentralization . . 243

CONTENTS. xiii

Inequality of rights among the members .... 246

The privileges of Prussia 246

The privileges of the other states 249

The Reichstag : its composition 252

Its powers 256

The Bundesrath : its composition 259

Its character and the position of the members . . . 262

Its internal organization 265

Its powers and privileges ....... 267

Its actual influence 272

The Emperor 273

Interlacing of his powers as Emperor and as King of Prussia . 274

The Chancellor 276

He is not responsible to the Reichstag ..... 278 His functions and substitutes 279

The judicial system: The Reichsgericht ...... 281

Power of the courts to hold statutes unconstitutional . . 282

General character of the federal system 284

Chapter VI. Germany : Prussia And The Smaller States

Prussia : The constitution 286

The King 288

The ministers responsible only to him ..... 288 Their independence of each other ..... 290

The bureaucracy 293

Administrative justice, and the administrative courts . . 294

The Landtag : its powers and procedure .... 297

The House of Peers 301

The House of Representatives 303

The three-class system of election, and its effects . . 303 The new local government ....... 308

The objects of the reform 310

The principles of the system 311

The province and its organs 314

Berlin 318

The Regierungsbezirk • 318

TheKreis 321

The rural commune, and the manor 325

The city 327

Actual working of the system ...... 331 xiv CONTENTS.

Saxony . 334

Bavaria : Institutions 337

Parties 338

Wurtemberg : Institutions 340

Parties 343

Baden : Institutions 344

Parties 345

Hesse 347

Oldenburg 348

Brunswick 350

Anhalt 351

Waldeck 353

Lippe-Detmold . 354

Schaumburg-Lippe 355

Saxe- Weimar 356

Saxe-Meiningen 357

Saxe-Coburg-Gotha > • . . 358

Saxe-Altenburg 359

Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt 361

Schwarzburg-Sondershausen 361

Reuss-Schleiz 362

Reuss-Greiz 363

The two Mecklenburgs 364

Hamburg, Bremen, and LUbeck ^. .368

Alsace-Lorraine 372

The vitality of monarchy in Germany 376

GOVERNMENTS AND PARTIES IN CONTINENTAL EUROPE.