New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-12-28
EFFICIENT PARTY GOVERNMENT.

the forces of political parties are highly organ
lied and evenly balanced. The practical de-
fects and malign influences OF party govern
ment and political partisanship are most appar-
ent when there are loose and imperfect organl-
cation and an unequal distribution OF forces
or when the agencies of faction are multiplied
Domestic legislation is impracticable In Ger
MANY. not because the people are too enlight-
ened to become politicians, rs Bismarck once
remarked. but because there are so many par
ties and factions within parties that 1t Is I'M
possible to obtain a majority for any measure
except an ordinary vote in supply. In the
Prussian Diet elected last October, there are
three Liberal groups, two Conservative fac
tons, the Vatican Centre, and dozen MINOR
divisions; and if under exceptional circum-
stances the factions can he massed INTO parties,
there will bs three main divisions, each averag-
ing a third of the actual membership OF the
Chamber. What chance Is there OF counter
acting the centralizing tendencies OF BIS
marck's system, of tightening the intOlerable
burdens of taXatICn, or of amelloratlng 10y
nositiye LEGISLATION the social condition of the
people? With system of local institutions
and municipal government that may well e1'
cite the envy CT tie most democratic cOun-
tries of the world, Germany has inefficient leg
islatiye assemblies, which meet, wIangle and
adjourn year after year, without ace mplsl-
Ing ANYTHING, and without giving IN impetus to
anv national movement or evolving any dis
tinctive policy. This paraly sis Of legislative
and political functions is to be ascribed to the
lack of homogeneous party organization.
In France there has been over-acton rather
=. Il In. 10, Oft, 4
uIar CHAMBER, divided into bureaus and leg
islating by committees. has 10 the course Of a
few years exhausted its energies in levclling
one institution after another, recasting every
department of executive administration, re-
fashiOning the military system, the methods OF
france, the procedure of Justice and the bust
ness If municipalities, discipluing Presidents
and Ministers and menacIng the Senate, assall-
ing the clergy and unsettling the relations OF
Church aud State. But while there has been
frenzy OF activity there have been compare
lively few thoroughly digested reforms
Every thing has been disturbed; nothing has
been spared; and what has been recllessy
torn down has not been replaced by scientific
construction. The Presidency has been
sighted; the Premiership has been degraded
the accepted canOns of parliamentary govern
ment have been disreGarded the regulations
of all the leading men in public life have been
exhausted, and the country has emerged from
a period of overweight legislative activity
and ceaseless change disquieted and agitated
The recurrence of Ministerial crises, the Social
istc outbreaks, the instability of the central
administration, and the inherent want of per-
manence in the new methods of government
III fool Of,
and alarm. These simultaneous assaults upon
all the institutions of the State have left the
country in "a state OF painful suspense, and
signs of political reaction are not wanting.
Frenchmen are already beginning to ask them
selves whether the Republic can survive the
rack and rum of these years of legislative rcck-
lessness. And what has been the source OF
these disturbing influences Why has there
been so little systematic reorganization with
such continuous DISCRIMINATION There is a
simple explanation. The party in power has
had an overwhelming majority and cOnse-
quently has not been under any restraint. 1t
has not felt the SOLDERING influence of response
bility for its acts. If the political forces of the
Chamber could have been concentrated in two
main bodies, the processes of legislation would
have been more deliberate. Ministries would
have become more stable, and the Government
of the country would have been conducted I'M
der a rational system of checks and balances.
This question has been considered thus far
in it's negative aspects. Recent events in Eng
land have afforded positive evidence that the
efficiency of government by political parties is
promoted alike by homogeneous organization
and systematic opposition. Mr.. Gladstone
Il Il
the Irish question if he had not been the leader
of composite party in which lines of cleavage
were constantly showing themselves and if
his labOrs are now less arduOus and halassng,
it is because he has succeeded by adroit man
agement and personal influence in uniting his
followers. The collapse of the Liberal OppO-
sition during Lord BeacOnsfieds Premiership
was most disastrous triumph for him, for it
put him off his guard, made him reckless and
finally alured him 10 his downfall. An easy
going Premier naturally looks with grave con-
Germ upon dsOrganzed and undisciplned
body of supporters, and if he be far-sighted he
will not be anxious to find timorOus, ineili-
cient and feeble minority on the Opposition
side. A powerful, well-cOnducted Opposition
has the double effect of making the Govern
ment cautious and moderate III its policy and
Jealous and progressive in its tendencies. The
sclf-restraint and self-pOssession evinced by
the Gladstone Ministry in the early stages of
the Egyptian complications were induced by
the vigilance of the Opposition and the ardor
with which the Liberal leaders, i'll order to com
pensate for the failures and dlsappontments of
three Irish sessions, are advocating bills for
equalizing county and borough suffrage. for
reforming the government OF the metropolis,
for abolshing thinly populated bOroughs, for
simplifying local government in counties,
and many other long -deferred measures is u