to say the least. It requires more than superficial thinking to reach the principle that sovereignty cannot be partly here and partly there, but is a unit undivided and indivisible.

If the state should designate in the constitution the whole domain of individual immunity against both the general and the local governments, and construct in detail the organization of the local government as well as that of the general government, this difficulty would largely disappear. So long, however, as the usual method is observed, great effort of mind will be necessary to comprehend its real signification.

The second alternative arising from the application of my second canon of distinction is between what I will term consolidated government and co-ordinated government.

3. Consolidated government is the form in which the state confides all governmental power to a single body. If this body be a single natural person, then the government is monarchic. If it consist of a number of natural persons, then the government is aristocratic or democratic, according as the number of persons is narrower or wider, whom the state makes eligible to hold voice and vote in the governing body.

4. Co-ordinated government is that form in which the state distributes the powers of government, according to their nature, between separate departments or bodies, each created by the state in the constitution, and, therefore, each equally independent of, but co-ordinated with, the other or others. In consolidated government, the single body always finds it necessary, in the exercise of its different functions, to create chief agencies, corresponding in number and character with the functions to be exercised, and to govern through these ; but these agencies are entirely dependent upon the will of the single body both as to their powers and their existence. In co-ordinated government, on the other hand, each department created by the state, in the constitution, has an inde

pendent existence as against every other department, and is furnished, or should be furnished, by the constitution with the means to maintain its own proper existence and powers against the possible encroachments of the others.

Consolidated government is the ideal form for the perfect condition of human society; but for any other condition it tends to result, sooner or later, in crude and arbitrary gov

ernment.

Co-ordinated government is the form now almost universal in the great states of the world. It is the form which conduces best to promote and preserve a steady and natural development of an already advanced, though still imperfect, political society. It tends to emancipate government from the spirit of one-sidedness, partiality and radicalness. has doubtless come to remain, so far as human thought can penetrate the future.

It

III. My third canon of distinction is the tenure of the persons holding office or mandate. Viewed from this standpoint government is either hereditary or elective.

1. Hereditary government is the form in which the state confers the powers of government upon a person, or upon an organization or organizations composed of persons, standing in a certain family relation to his or their immediate predecessors. The state determines, in the constitution, what the relation shall be. Four general solutions of this problem meet us in political practice, viz; ancienneté, ancienneté in the male line, primogeniture, primogeniture in the male line.

The principle of ancienneté makes the oldest member of the family of the deceased the successor, without regard to

sex.

That of ancienneté in the male line makes the oldest male member of the family of the deceased his successor.

The principle of primogeniture makes the oldest immediate descendant of the deceased the successor; or, if the deceased have no descendant, the principle makes the oldest immedi

ate descendant of the nearest ancestor of the deceased the successor; or, if the immediate descendant of the deceased shall have died before his ancestor, leaving issue, the principle makes the first born among this issue the successor; if the oldest immediate descendant of the nearest ancestor of the deceased shall have died before the latter, leaving issue, this principle makes the first born among this issue the successor, etc.

or,

The principle of primogeniture in the male line follows the same law of succession as that just described for simple primogeniture, only excluding the female altogether from the succession, and from the transmission of the succession.

There are some modifications of these four chief norms to be found in practice.

The most important is that which prefers the males of the same parentage only before the females, but admits the females of the same parentage with the last male holding power, before the males of a more remote parentage. This is the English principle in the descent of the crown, as we shall see further on.

Another modification permits the immediate holder of power to designate before his or her decease the member of his or her family who shall succeed. This rule has the advantage, when conscientiously and intelligently applied, of securing the most capable member of the family for the suc cession; but it is liable to great abuse, and generally prevails only in arbitrary and despotic systems.

Of all of these species of hereditary tenure, primogeniture in the male line appears the most useful and successful. It comports best with the other principles of the modern political systems. It contains no element of personal arbitrariness, and yet it is calculated to secure as good capacity as the family possesses.

2. Elective government is that form in which the state confers the powers of government upon a person, or upon an

organization or organizations composed of persons, chosen by the suffrage of other persons enfranchised by the state, and holding the powers thus conferred for a distinct term and under certain conditions.

Election may be direct or indirect; i.e. the suffrage-holders may vote immediately for the person to hold power, or for another person or other persons who shall vote for the person to hold power.

Election may also be by general ticket or by district ticket; i.e. each suffrage-holder may vote for a number of persons representing a larger division of territory and population, or for a single person representing a smaller division.

Election may be by single or cumulative vote; i.e. where the election is by general ticket, each suffrage-holder may cast his vote for each of a number of persons, to the number to which the division is entitled in the particular governmental body, or he may distribute among a less number of persons a number of votes equal in the aggregate to the whole number of persons to which the division is entitled in the particular governmental body, or he may cast this entire number for one person.

This is hardly the place to enter upon a discussion of the merits of these several methods of election. I shall touch briefly upon this subject again when we come to examine the provisions of constitutional law regarding it.

IV. My fourth and last canon of distinction is the relation of the legislature to the executive.

Viewed from this standpoint government is either presidential or parliamentary.

1. Presidential government is that form in which the state, the sovereign, makes the executive independent of the legislature, both in tenure and prerogative, and furnishes him with sufficient power to prevent the legislature from trenching upon the sphere marked out by the state as executive independence and prerogative. There may be several degrees in

the principle of executive independence. The executive may be made only politically independent of the legislature, which would signify that neither he nor his agents are responsible to the legislature for the executive policies or acts. He may, again, be made entirely independent of the legislature, which would signify that the legislature could not even impeach him for high crime or misdemeanor. He may, again, be made independent of the legislature, except he commit some particular crime of a very heinous nature as, for example, high treason. He may be furnished with an absolute veto upon the acts of the legislature, or a suspensive veto, or a veto which may be overridden by an increased majority. We will not take these degrees of independence into account at this point of our reflections. We will regard the requirements of the principle as substantially fulfilled, if the legislature cannot ordinarily originate the executive tenure or terminate it simply on account of political disagreement, and if the executive is furnished by the state with the independent power to defend his prerogatives partially if not completely against the possible encroachments of the legislature.

This is a highly practical form of government. In the first place, it is conservative. It fixes the weight of responsibility upon a single person; and there is nothing like this to produce caution, deliberation, and an impartial regard for all interests concerned. In the second place, it is energetic. One capable person can come to an agreement with himself, while a half-dozen or more are haggling over questions of precedence and procedure. In the third place, it is powerful. That one poor commander is better than two good ones is the bon mot, often quoted, of one of the most powerful commanders whom the world has ever produced. A single capable personality is not lamed and limited by a division of counsel and a divergence of views. He may listen to many counselors; they may assist him in reaching his