The Italian ministry has evidently not fulfilled efficiently the triple mission of the parliamentary cabinet. It exercises the executive power in the name and under the authority of the king, but it does not always know how to keep the parliament within the limits of its legitimate control, and is obliged to submit to the interference of deputies in administration. It starts the work of the legislative power by the exercise of the right of initiation, and by the intervention of the ministers in the work of parliament, but it often does not possess the necessary authority to bring to a successful issue the reforms which it has undertaken, and the parliament escapes easily from its direction. It attempts to maintain harmony between the two powers, but the repeated checks which it has suffered show how much the work is hindered by the disorganization of parties. [I, 291.]

The author is perfectly impartial in his treatment of the subject, though he frankly indicates his preference for the government of the land in which he lives, and considers that Belgium has made the most happy application on the continent of the principles of parliamentary government. At the same time he acknowledges as frankly that every government must be adapted to the manners and habits of the people, and recognizes as well that what may appear to be a fault from the point of view of pure theory, may be so modified by the peculiar habits and customs of the people of a country as to lead to no evil results. These points are brought out particularly in the concluding remarks, to which reference has already been made. Nothing that he says will give a better idea of his attitude of mind than his comparison of the institutions of the United States and Switzerland:

A consideration of the system of separation of powers and of that of the confusion of powers, if combined with nothing else, would lead one to believe that the former must result in a complete paralysis of the political mechanism, while the other must bring absolutism and the ruin of liberty; nevertheless, the American government has been able to continue more than a century without too great a shock and too sudden a stoppage, while the Swiss institutions have generally given satisfactory results. . . . We believe that we must recognize that the traditions and political education of the people, when combined with happy circumstances, may be sufficient to prevent the dangers of institutions poorly organized, and may supplement their defects and even guarantee to them a permanent success.

I can recommend all who are interested in the study of political science to read carefully the volumes which M. Dupriez has put forth. F. J. GOODNOW.

RECORD OF POLITICAL EVENTS.

[From May 11 to November 5, 1894.]

1. THE UNITED STATES.

FOREIGN RELATIONS. — No striking incident in this field has characterized the period under review. Affairs in Hawaii developed quietly to a conclusion that ended the tension which had previously prevailed. A convention under the auspices of the provisional government, and from which all adherents of the monarchy were excluded, framed in June a constitution, which was proclaimed to be in force on July 4, with Sanford B. Dole as president. On the 7th of August President Cleveland, in an official letter to President Dole, gave formal recognition to the Republic of Hawaii. The new constitution expressly empowers the president at any time to negotiate a treaty of political or commercial union with the United States. — The treaty with China, regulating the immigration of Chinese laborers, which was submitted to the Senate last March, was ratified by that body, August 13, by a vote of 47 to 20. The revolution in Salvador, by which the existing government was overthrown in June, gave rise to some new incidents in the familiar practice of asylum. Several adherents of the unsuccessful party, including the brother of ex-President Ezeta, took refuge on the United States cruiser Bennington, which brought them in August to San Francisco. Here they were arrested on charges of murder and robbery brought by the new government of Salvador, which demanded their extradition. On examination before the federal court, however, all but one of the prisoners were released, on the ground that the offenses charged, having been incidental to the war then flagrant, fell fairly within the category of political offenses. The Canadian sealers who, under the decision of the Paris arbitration, had claims against the United States on account of seizures of their vessels, agreed in September to accept the offer of $425,000 in full settlement. On the 9th of May the president communicated to the Senate, in response to a resolution of that body, a report of the secretary of state on the condition of affairs in the Samoan Islands. This report presented a review of our policy toward Samoa both before and since the adoption of the General Act of Berlin, of June 14, 1889, by the United States, Germany and Great Britain (see this QUARTERLY, V, 357). After declaring that "it is in our relations to Samoa that we have made the first departure from our traditional and well established policy of avoiding entangling alliances with foreign powers in relation to objects remote from this hemisphere," the report maintained that nothing had been gained by this departure "beyond the expenses, the responsibilities and the entangle

ments that have so far been its only fruits." The events of the last five years were narrated, showing a chronic state of war and civil disorders in the islands. The government established under the General Act of Berlin was exhibited as cumbersome, expensive, inefficient and destructive of Samoan independence and autonomy; and the secretary declared that that arrangement, "besides involving us in an entangling alliance, has utterly failed to correct, if indeed it has not aggravated, the very evils which it was designed to prevent." The latest advices from the island are to the effect that war still continues.

INTERNAL ADMINISTRATION. — The condition of the treasury during the summer excited some uneasiness. Heavy exportations of gold during May and June drained away all the proceeds of the bond issue of the preceding February, and on June 22 the gold reserve was down to less than $62,000,000. At this juncture the New York banks, whose gold holdings had increased as the treasury's diminished, came to the aid of the government and voluntarily supplied from their own vaults the export demand. The general cash balance of the treasury was also very low at this time and rumors gained currency that the payment of matured obligations was being postponed by the administration. On June 25 President Cleveland made a public denial of the truth of these rumors and asserted that there was no cause for apprehension as to the treasury's prospects. So long as the uncertainty over the Tariff Bill lasted, customs receipts continued to be very small, and the narrowness of the cash margin caused more or less embarrassment. In the latter part of July, however, the taking of whiskey out of bond to anticipate the increase of the tax swelled the revenue considerably. The gold reserve, meanwhile, was reduced to about $54,000,000; but in August the demand for export gold died out, and the balance on October 31 was again at about $62,000,000. The expenditures at that date, however, were still running much ahead of the receipts. the end of the fiscal year, June 30, it appeared that some $25,000,000 out of the pension appropriation of $165,000,000 remained unexpended. This was taken as an indication that the maximum expenditure under existing law had been passed. The expenditure of the preceding year was $158,000,000. 39,085 new names were added to the roll in 1894, but the net increase was only 3532. In July the secretary of the interior reported to Congress that up to May 10 the suspension policy of the present administration had resulted in about 15,000 suspensions, of which some 2600 were dropped, 3014 were restored at reduced rates, and about 9500 were restored at the old rates. — A general amnesty to Mormons guilty of polygamy was granted by a proclamation of the president September 27. The pardon was based on the action of the Mormon Church in withdrawing its sanction from polygamy and on evidence satisfactory to the president that the adherents of that church generally abstained from plural marriage; and the amnesty was granted subject to the condition of future obedience to the laws on that subject. - Postmaster-General Bissell issued in June a circular

At

letter to postmasters calling their attention to the order of President Cleveland of July 14, 1886, restraining the activity of federal officials in partisan politics, and admonished the recipients to give heed to the prohibitions therein contained. On November 3, President Cleveland issued orders for a very considerable extension of the classified service in the administra tion. The effect is to make subject to the Civil Service Commission's rules, (1) all employees in the customs service except laborers, in districts in which there are as many as twenty such employees, (2) all messengers and watchmen in the departments at Washington, (3) some 1500 hitherto excepted places in the Post Office Department, and (4) a number of such places in the Agricultural Department and the Indian service. Altogether, over 2800 places are included in this extension. Moreover, the old rule is revoked which permitted the transfer of employees, after a year's service, from excepted to non-excepted places without competitive examination.

CONGRESS. — Besides the discussion and passage of the Tariff Bill, considered below, comparatively little was accomplished by Congress, which remained in session till August 28. The enabling act for the organization and admission of Utah as a state, having already passed the House, was adopted by the Senate July 11, and became law by the president's signature, July 17. Among the more important propositions that failed to become law were: The repeal of the tax on the note-issues of state banks -rejected by the House, June 6, by 172 to 102; the Hatch Anti-Option Bill passed by the House, June 22, but not acted upon by the Senate; a bill to prevent the entrance of alien Anarchists into the United States, and to provide for inspection of all immigrants at foreign ports - passed by the Senate, August 6, but not taken up by the House; and an amendment to the constitution providing that senators be chosen directly by the people — passed by the House, July 21, by 137 to 49, but not acted on in the Senate.

THE TARIFF. The bill which was before the Senate at the close of the last RECORD was debated in that body until July 3, when it passed by a vote of 39 to 34, a single Democrat, Hill of New York, and a single Populist, Peffer of Kansas, going with the Republicans in the minority. From the part taken by the senator from Maryland in conciliating the factions of the majority to the support of this bill, it was commonly known as the Gorman Compromise Bill. It embodied 634 amendments to the Wilson Bill, which had been passed by the House. In the conference committee to which these differences were referred, the same diversity of views was conspicuous which had determined the course of the majority in the Senate, and on the 19th of July the conferrees reported a failure to agree. The crucial points of controversy were the provisions as to iron and lead ores and coal, some items in the schedules of woolens and of iron manufactures, but above all the sugar schedule. In contrast to the free sugar of the Wilson Bill, with gradual repeal of the bounty, the Senate had, after several changes, adopted an immediate total repeal of the bounty and a general duty of forty per cent ad valorem, with an addition of one-eighth of

a cent per pound on refined sugar, and one-tenth of a cent more if it came from a country which paid an export bounty. This scheme the House conferrees held to involve exceptional advantages to the Sugar Trust, whose interest in the schedule had already given rise to much feeling and some scandal. But the Senate conferrees insisted that the narrow majority in the Senate rendered hopeless the adoption of any report which did not embody the exact provisions of the Gorman Bill on this, as well as all the other leading matters at issue. President Cleveland entered into the controversy at this stage by permitting the publication of a letter which he had written to Mr. Wilson, of the House conferrees, under date of July 2. In this he expressed the conviction that the Senate bill fell far short of what was demanded and expected by the Democratic Party; declared the principle of free raw materials one that could not be compromised, and denounced as "inconsistent absurdity" the retention of duties on iron ore and coal, while wool was made free; but suggested that "we ought not to be driven away from the Democratic principle and policy which led to the taxation of sugar by the fear, quite likely exaggerated, that in carrying out this principle and policy we may indirectly and inordinately encourage a combination of sugar-refining interests." The president's letter called forth very vigorous replies from Mr. Gorman and other Democratic senators who conceived that their motives and conduct were impugned by some of its assertions, but it had no effect on the Senate's position. The disputed points were again referred to the conference committee by both houses, and after several weeks more of controversy the House yielded. In accordance with an understanding reached in a Democratic caucus, the House, on the 13th of August, agreed with practically no discussion to all the Senate amendments, by 181 to 105-thirteen Democrats in the negative. Then without adjourning, the House passed distinct bills putting on the free list coal, iron ore, barbed wire and all sugars. These latter bills, having served the apparent purpose of clearly recording the opinion of the House, were reported, with some amendments, to the Senate by its finance committee, but received no further attention. The secretary of the treasury gave it as his opinion that the passage of the bills would result in a deficit in the revenue. The Gorman Bill became law August 28, without President Cleveland's signature. In a letter to Representative Catchings the president explained why he would not sign the bill. His objections were substantially those that he had indicated in the letter of July 2 to Mr. Wilson, while at the same time he declared himself unwilling to be separated from his party to the extent that might be implied by a veto. Important features of the new law are as follows, the figures being those of the Senate finance committee: 106 articles dutiable under the McKinley Act put on the free list, including copper ores and pig copper, lumber, binding twine and cotton bagging, wool, paintings and statuary; seven articles reduced by from seventy-five to one hundred per cent of the previous rate, including the cheapest grades of woolen yarns and cloths; 112 articles reduced by from