Frederic Austin Ogg - The Governments of Europe

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
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THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
1918

All rights reserved

Copyright , 1913.
By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
Set up and electrotyped. Published February, 1913.
Reprinted July, December, 1913; June, 1914; August, 1915; July, 1916; September, 1917.

It is a matter of common observation that during the opening years of the twentieth century there has been, in many portions of the civilized world, a substantial quickening of interest in the principles and problems of human government. The United States is happily among those countries in which the phenomenon can be observed, and we have witnessed in recent times not only the organization of societies and the establishment of journals designed to foster research within the field, but also a notable multiplication and strengthening of courses in political science open to students in our colleges and universities, as well as the development of clubs, forums, extension courses, and other facilities for the increasing of political information and the stimulation of political thinking on the part of the people at large. It is the object of this book to promote the intelligent study of government by supplying working descriptions of the governmental systems of the various countries of western and central Europe as they have taken form and as they operate at the present day. Conceived and prepared primarily as a text for use in college courses, it is hoped none the less that the volume may prove of service to persons everywhere whose interest in the subject leads them to seek the sort of information which is here presented.

The content of the book has been determined, in the main, by three considerations. In the first place, it has been deemed desirable to afford a wide opportunity for the comparative study of political institutions, especially by reason of the familiar fact that the governmental system of a minor country may, and frequently does, exhibit elements of novelty and of importance not inferior to those to be observed in the political organization of a greater state. Hence there are included descriptions of the governments of the minor as well as of the major nations of western and central Europe; and the original purpose to attempt some treatment of the governments of the eastern nations has been abandoned, somewhat reluctantly, only because of the demands of space, and because it was felt that this portion of the projected work would perhaps meet no very serious need in the usual college courses. In the second place, it is believed that the intelligent study of present-day governments must involve at all stages the taking into careful account of the historical origins and growth of these governments. Hence a considerable amount of space has been devoted to sketches of constitutional history, which, however, are in all instances so arranged that they may readily be omitted if their omission is deemed desirable. In the case of countries whose political system underwent a general reconstitution during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic era it has been thought not feasible to allude, even briefly, to historical developments prior to the later eighteenth century. In the third place, it has been considered desirable to include in the book some treatment of political parties and of the institutions of local administration.

Within a field so expansive it has been possible to undertake but an introduction to a majority of the subjects touched upon. In the foot-notes will be found references to books, documents, and periodical materials of widely varying types, and it is hoped that some of these may serve to guide student and reader to more intensive information.

The preparation of the book has been facilitated by the encouragement and the expert advice accorded me by a number of teachers of government in colleges and universities in various portions of the country. And I have had at all times the patient and discriminating assistance of my wife. For neither the plan nor the details of the work, however, can responsibility be attached to anyone save myself. I can only hope that amidst the multitude of facts, some elusive and many subject to constant change, which I have attempted here to set down, not many seriously vitiating errors may have escaped detection.

Frederic Austin Ogg.
Cambridge, Massachusetts,
January 10, 1913.

PART I.GREAT BRITAIN

CHAPTER

I. The Foundations of the Constitution

II. The Constitution since the Seventeenth Century

III. The Crown and the Ministry

IV. Parliament: The House of Commons

V. Parliament: The House of Lords

VI. Parliament, Organization, Functions, Procedure

VII. Political Parties

VIII. Justice and Local Government

PART II.GERMANY

IX. The Empire and its Constitution

X. The Imperial Government: Emperor, Chancellor, and Bundesrath

XI. The Imperial Government: Reichstag, Parties, Judiciary

XII. The Constitution of PrussiaThe Crown and the Ministry

XIII. The Prussian LandtagLocal Government

XIV. The Minor German StatesAlsace-Lorraine

PART III.FRANCE

XV. Constitutions since 1789

XVI. The President, the Ministry, and Parliament

XVII. Parliamentary ProcedurePolitical Parties

XVIII. Justice and Local Government

PART IV.ITALY

XIX. Constitutional Development in the Nineteenth Century

XX. The Italian Government System

XXI. State and ChurchPolitical Parties

PART V.SWITZERLAND

XXII. The Constitutional SystemThe Cantons

XXIII. The Federal Government

PART VI.AUSTRIA-HUNGARY

XXIV. Austria-Hungary Prior to the Ausgleich

XXV. The Government and Parties of Austria

XXVI. The Government and Parties of Hungary

XXVII. Austria-Hungary: The Joint Government

PART VII.THE LOW COUNTRIES

XXVIII. The Government of Holland

XXIX. The Government of Belgium

PART VIII.SCANDINAVIA

XXX. The Government of Denmark

XXXI. The Swedish-Norwegian Union and the Government of Norway

XXXII. The Government of Sweden

PART IX.THE IBERIAN STATES

XXXIII. The Government of Spain .

XXXIV. The Government of Portugal

1. Political Pre-eminence of Great Britain.George III. is reported to have pronounced the English constitution the most perfect of human formations. One need hardly concur unreservedly in this dictum to be impressed with the propriety of beginning a survey of the governmental systems of modern Europe with an examination of the political principles, rules, and practices of contemporary Britain. The history of no other European nation, in the first place, exhibits a development of institutions so prolonged, so continuous, and so orderly. The governmental forms and agencies of no other state have been studied with larger interest or imitated with clearer effect. The public policy of no other organized body of men has been more influential in shaping the progress, social and economic as well as political, of the civilized world. For the American student, furthermore, the approach to the institutions of the European continent is likely to be rendered easier and more inviting if made by way of a body of institutions which lies at the root of much that is both American and continental. There are, it is true, not a few respects in which the governmental system of the United States to-day bears closer resemblance to that of France, Germany, Switzerland, or even Italy than to that of Great Britain. The relation, however, between the British and the American is one, in the main, of historical continuity, while that between the French or German and the American is one which arises largely from mere imitation or from accidental resemblance.