Εικόνες σελίδας
PDF
Ηλεκτρ. έκδοση

House of Representatives, and although an incomparably greater volume of important and urgent business comes before each of those assemblies. The British House of Commons contains 670 members; the French Chamber of Deputies, 581; the House of Representatives, 357. From the numerical view-point the popular branch of our Federal legislature corresponds most closely to the German Reichstag, which has 397 members, but which has more work to do, since, in addition to its legislative functions with regard to federal affairs, it has to make laws for the Federal District, or Reichsland, of Alsace-Lorraine, which has no legislature of its own, but which contains more wealth and population than all of our Territories combined. As regards the volume of urgent and important business devolving on the French Chamber of Deputies and the British House of Commons, this must needs be far greater than that transacted by our House of Representatives, for the obvious reason that both France and the United Kingdom, instead of being confederations of semi-independent and mainly self-governing States, are intensely centralized and absolutely unified commonwealths. If we should suppose that our House of Representatives, in addition to the Federal business, which now properly comes before it, had to perform all the work now done by our forty-five State legislatures, we should get but an approximative idea of the vast scope of the law-making duties devolving upon the French Chamber of Deputies and the British House of Commons. We say that the idea would be only approximative, because, first, the Chamber of Deputies not only has to do for France all that our House of Representatives and forty-five State Legislatures do for the United States, but also to legislate for Algeria, for French West Africa, for French Farther India, and for the French possessions in the West Indies, in the Indian Ocean, and in the Pacific. Secondly, the British House of Commons not only has to do for the whole United Kingdom all that the House of Representatives and fortyfive State Legislatures do for the United States, but it also has to legislate for all the so-called Crown colonies of Great Britain, and for the stupendous Anglo-Indian Empire, which contains nearly a fifth of the population of the globe. Does it not seem, then, unreasonable to talk of the overgrown and unmanageable business of the House of Representatives, when this business is compared with the overwhelming responsibilities of the parlia

mentary bodies just mentioned? Yet, although in Londo.. and in Paris there is fifty times more excuse than there is in Washington for the suppression of debate and of the rights of individual utterance, not for a moment would the members of the House of Commons, or of the Chamber of Deputies endure the process of strangulation and of virtual nullification to which the members of the House of Representatives have for some years subjected themselves. The members of either of the two first-named bodies would feel, and rightly feel, that by acquiescing in such extinguishment they were committing political suicide, that by their own act they were ceasing to be a deliberative assembly, and were representing their constituents only in name and not in fact.

It is worth noting that in the French Chamber of Deputies, and the same thing is true of the Italian Chamber, which also legislates for a centralized and unified monarchy, instead of for a confederation, the committees to which bills are referred, and from which they receive the form in which they are eventually returned to the Assembly, are not, as a rule, appointed by the Speaker, but are elected by the members themselves. The facts relating to this matter are not as well known in this country as they ought to be, and it is fortunate that of late information on the subject has been made accessible by Mr. A. Lawrence Lowell's book on Governments and Parties in Continental Europe. In this useful work it is pointed out that the French Chamber of Deputies is divided into eleven sections called bureaux. These bureaux are of equal size, and every member of the Chamber belongs to one, and only one, of them, the division being made afresh every month by lot. The bureaux meet separately, and have three functions, the most important of which is the election of committees. Each of the bureaux chooses one of its own members, and the persons so elected constitute the committees. In the case of the more important committees it is sometimes deemed desirable to have a larger number of members, in which event the bureaux choose two or even three members apiece, the Chamber specifying by its rules or special vote the number of members to be elected. Thus, the committee on the budget, which is the most important one of all, consists of three members chosen by each of the bureaux and contains, therefore, thirtythree members. This committee on the budget, and the one appointed to audit the accounts of the government, remain un

changed for a year; a few of the others serve for a month, and then are chosen afresh. With these exceptions every measure is in theory referred to a special committee elected by the bureaux for the purpose. The practical working of this system is that the several parties and factions in the Chamber are represented on committees proportionately to their numerical strength. Thus constituted, the committees evince an amount of independence not easily conciliable with the principle of ministerial accountability to the legislature. That, of course, is not an objection which would have any weight for us, seeing that the members of the President's Cabinet are not responsible to the House of Representatives.

The Italian Chamber of Deputies is likewise divided by lot into nine sections, called Ufficci, which elect most of the committees, but the committee on the budget, which is the most important of all, is chosen directly by the Chamber, acting as an electoral committee of the whole. Committees on petitions are also elected directly by the Chamber; only the committees on elections and on rules are appointed by the presiding officer of the House. It is to be kept in view that in Italy, as in France, a whole committee is not chosen from any one party, but minorities are proportionately represented. In Rome, as in Paris, this committee system is criticised on the ground of its tendency to obstruct rather than facilitate the purposes of Ministers. We repeat that where Ministers are not accountable to the legislature the criticism would have no weight. We shall add that in Italy, since 1888, the Chamber of Deputies can, if it desire, order a general debate on a bill before it is referred to a committee, in which case, should the main principle of the measure be approved by the Chamber, the discussion in the committee is limited to a consideration of details. The smothering of bills in committee is impossible in the Italian Chamber, for it is provided that in case a committee does not report within thirty days the government or any member of the Chamber may move that a day be fixed for the second reading of the bill,

It may be well to say a word also about the procedure of the Reichstag in the matter of committees, the German Empire being, like the United States, a confederation, and the popular branch of its federal legislature dealing only with federal busi

ness.

Mr. Lowell has shown us that the internal organization of the Reichstag conforms to the pattern generally followed in Continental chambers. At the beginning of each session the members are divided by lot into seven abtheilungen, or sections, which correspond to the bureaux of the French Chamber of Deputies, but differ in the respect that they last during a whole session, instead of being renewed at short intervals. The principal duty of the sections is to choose committees, each section electing one or more committeemen, according to the importance of the committee. As in France and Italy, however, the choice by the sections is really dictated by the party leaders, who agree in advance upon the number of seats on the committee to which each party shall be entitled. In the Reichstag, bills are not always referred to a committee, the majority of the members sometimes preferring to order an immediate discussion of important measures without the intervention of any committee at all. Let us note here that there was a time, although the fact seems to be well-nigh forgotten, when our House of Representatives, like the present French, Italian and German Chambers, chose its committees for itself. We are in a position to say that a careful investigation of the practice of the House in this regard, since the government established by the Constitution became operative, has been undertaken by a competent student of American history, and that the outcome of his researches will be presently published.

Now let us glance very briefly at the freedom of utterance enjoyed by individual members of European parliamentary assemblies, notwithstanding the fact that, transacting business, as most of them do, for intensely unified countries, they have far more work to perform than does a body dealing only with the collective interests of a confederation, like our House of Representatives. On the procedure of the British House of Commons we need not dwell, because it is familiar to the majority of American legislatures. We simply recall the fact in passing that a member of the British House of Commons has incomparably more liberty of expressing the views and wishes of his constituents than is at present possessed by a member of the popular branch of our federal assembly. Turning to the state of things in the French, Italian, and German chambers, we again find ourselves indebted to Mr. A. Lawrence Lowell for copious light upon the subject. What is

known on the continent as the system of interpellations seems to have been originally suggested by the practice still followed in the British House of Commons of asking the Ministers questions which may relate to any conceivable subject. At St. Stephen's, however, the answer is not followed by a general debate, or by a vote, except in the unusual case where a motion to adjourn is made for the purpose of bringing the matter under discussion. In France, not only are questions addressed to the Ministers by members who really want information, but another kind of interrogatory has been developed which is used, not to get information, but to call the Cabinet to account and force the Chamber This is to pass judgment upon the conduct of the Executive. the interpellation; in form it is similar to the ordinary question, but the procedure in the two cases is different. In France a question can be addressed to a Minister only with his consent, whereas the interpellation is a matter of right, which any deputy may exercise. Another important difference consists in this, that the author of an ordinary question can alone reply to the Minister, no further discussion being permitted, and no motion being in order; the interpellation, on the other hand, is followed both by a general debate and by motions. The large part that inter pellations play in French politics is shown by the fact that they arouse more popular interest than do even the speeches on great We may mention further that under the Third Republic no fewer than ten ministries have fallen on account of adverse orders of the day moved after an interpellation or in the course of the ensuing debate. The development, indeed, of interpellations has coincided very closely with that of parliamentary government, and the French regard the privilege as one of the main. bulwarks of political liberty. The practice was first regularly established after the accession of Louis Philippe, and it was freely used during the Republic of 1848. After the Coup d'Etat of December 2, 1851, it was abolished, but, toward the end of his reign Napoleon III., as a part of his concessions to the demand for parliamentary institutions, gradually restored the right of interpellation. Finally, under the present republic, the right has been used more frequently than ever before. Italy also sanctions the practice of interpellations, that is of questions addressed to the ministers, and followed by a debate and vote on an order of the day expressing the opinion of the Chamber of Deputies. There, how

measures.

« ΠροηγούμενηΣυνέχεια »