The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1877-07-30

Tho motto of the intractablcs was freedom
and reform first, always, and at all haz-
ards, and the fidelity OF the Progress
lists to this principle has been more con-
spicuous than their political dexterity. They
have given a frank support to all Govern
mcnt measures OF liberal intent, but they
have stubbornly set themselves against all
projects looking to strengthening OF the
central power They opposed, for example,
the law by which the Rcichstag abdicatcd
for seven years the control of the army
budget and they voted. we need scarcely
add, against the law reGstablishing the con-
sorship Of the press. Ministerial speakers
accuse the Progressists Of wishing TO i'm
port English institutions into Germany, an
aspiration which, since tho work Of DIR.
GNEISr on the British Constitution, seems
To have gone to some extent out Of fashion,
That compact, numerous and well disci-
plined party which fills most the benches Of
the Left Centre, which has patiently done Bis
MARcK's work, yet is not allowed TO frame n
Cabinet, has name which condenses its
whole history. National-Libcrals they
are appropriately called who, in 1896,
chose 10 subordinate their republican
yearnngs TO the creation Of the
German nation, who adopted for their
watchword Union first and Liberty after
ward. Perhaps no party in the constitutional
history Of modern times has had a greater
work TO do. or has more completely full
filled its mission. In the judgment of
its opponents, however, that work is
done, the vital substance OF the National
Liberals has vanished, and there Is no prin-
cipc of cohesion left in the great party cx-
ccpt a hunger for official spoils and an in
vetcrate vicious habit of sclf-surrcnder to
the will Of the Chancellor. This is the view
which has found wide currency In the def
milton of the khdirdddusch. A National
Liberal Is n man who votes no on the first
and second reading Of bill, and yes Oh
the third.
1t Is n striking feature Of German parlla-
mcntary history that services 50 loyal and
effective as those Of the National-Libcrals
should have received such mcagre recogni-
tion. We shall sean the Cabinet in vain for
the names of BAMBFRGTR, LAsKER GNTIsT,
and BENN1NGsES. On the contrary, We have
had the anomalous spectacle of Prime
Minister governing by means OF Liberal
majority yet with Conservative Cabinet
his CONDUCTORS In Office and who have been
rather species of upper clerks than rcspon-
sible Ministers, belong almost without cx-
ccption to faction known Gs Government
Conservatives or the German party q the
empire, which We have grouped with the Ma
tional-Libcrals in the Left Centre. 1t IL, how
ever, rather coterie than a party, cor
responding to the so-callcd Kings Friends
in the early Parliamcnts of GEORGE Ill, and
composed of some mediatized Princes who
have accepted the new order of things to-
gcther with high and lucrative office, Of GER
tain bankers who are willing TO oblige the
existing Ministry without riskng their
chances with the next, and Of a few jurists
who cannot rise to the National-Liberal
level. The Prince Of HoHENLoHE Is sam
pie and an ornament Of this party
From this brief analysis Of the German
Parliament, it would seem that there is no
longer any great liberal party, as the COM
bincd Prugrcss-ts and Nationals are often
called. Certainly it seems that the old
names arc beginning To lose their meaning.
aud that in the Rcichstag as at Westminster
Hall, two capital principles stand face to
face-thc progressive and the reactionary.
Yet the German empire will never be in
fact, as il is in name, constitutional State
until it is governodby responsible Cabinet
representing the parliamentary majority.