"HIS MAJESTY'S OPPOSITION."

Star (Christchurch), Issue 11000, 12 February 1914, Page 3

"HIS MAJESTY'S OPPOSITION."

PART OF CONSTITUTIONAL SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT.

(By EX-ATTACHE in New Orleans '' Times-Democrat.")

Great Britain and tho United States on joy a remarkable advantage over most other nations endowed with constitutional forms of government, in that their Parliaments are divided into, great political parties, instead of being torn apart by innumerable email factions.

At Washington the balauce of power alternates between tbe Republicans and th-j Democrats, while in England all tlio forces arrayed against the Government are united under tho orders of the Unionist chieftain, the Right Lion A. Bonar Law.

In Austria, Germany, France, Russia and indeed, m most other Continental countries, there are so many different

parties in the national legislature that much of the time and ingenuity of the Premier are taken up by his efforts to keep together a working majority in Parliament. He can only accomplish this through virtually purchasing the (support, first of one faction, and then of another, by means of concessions impairing tho importance of the measures of which he is endeavouring to obtain the enactment—sometimes, too, by concessions which are calculated to result in injury of a lasting character to the State. The Prime Minister becomes necessarily an oppor T tunist, and committed, in prder to' accomplish the aims of Ins administration, to manoeuvres that are inconsistent with the loftiness of- principle that should guide the political course of those who have in their hands THE DESTINIES OF THE NATION. Thus, the late Count Taaffe, who enjoyed a longer .tenure of office, as Prime Minister of Austria, than a,ny other statesman during the'more than three-score, years of reign of Emperor Francis Joseph, succeeded in carrying' through the measures desired by the! crown .thanks'.to the manner in which he was able to win. the support, first of one nationalist group in the Reich-; sta's, and then of the- other, -by Concessions in the direction of sectional autonomy. In this' Count Taaffe had more thought'for the present than for the future. There came a moment when all that could be granted in the way of homi rule had been surrendered,, and when the Ministers of the crown had no further inducement of the kind" to offer. Moreover, his policy had had the effect of fostering nationalist'aspirations to the degree of bringing about demands for complete separation from the remainder. of the empire, in all save dynastic matters. Thanks to.-the bitter jealousies that exist among the various sixteen or more nationalities that go to make up. the monarchy of the Hapsburgs, the-unity of the empire became endangered, and legislative government more difficult than ever. In Bohemia, for instance, it has* had to be suspended, and the administration of THE ANCIENT KINGDOM OF SAINT WENCESLAUS ■_• confided by the crown to 'an imperial commissioner, with dictatorial. powers. In fact, ever since the late Count Taaffe's retirement from the helm of the Austrian ship of state, hie,successors have been labouring in the face of almost insuperable difficulties to restore that cohesion of the integral portions of the empire which he had impaired so seriously for the sake of mere momentary advantage. It is this division of the forces;of the national legislatures into so many small groups—none of them strong enough to stand alone—instead of-into two, or at the most • three great parties, that renders 'parliamentary methods of government so unsatisfactory in almost every one of the Continental countries of- Europe, save perhaps Italy, where that veteran Premier, Giovanni Giolitti, has J or - a number of years past been able to keep together '■ bis followers m - unbroken ranks and in such overwhelming numbers as to render him wholly independent of the relatively small number of faotions outside his own particular fold. REPRESENTS THE RIGHTS OF THE MINORITY. In Great Britain, on - th© ; other hand, the Opposition is regarded not merely as a part and- parcel of the entire constitutional system, but even as an important factor in the government of the nation. The minority has rights, like the majority; rights that are entitled to careful consideration, that must be safeguarded, and which cannot he ignored. Now. the, Opposition is tbe official representative of the minority rights, and.just.in the same way as the Cabinet in. office are entitled .'to the. official designation of his Majesty's .Government, so- are their opponents, A. Bonar Law, and hie colleagues in the leadership of.. the Unionist party, known as his Majesty's Opposition! ' : '■ ■■ '. • , To what extent this is recognised by the crown is shown by the fact that when A. Bonar Law was prompted from • the ranks # of the Unionist party to its leadership, on the retirement .therefrom of .Arthur Balfour, King George lost no time in bestowing upon him a seat in his Privy Council, although he has never held ministerial office. As a member of the Privy Council, he is bound.by a very special and solemn oath of loyalty and devotion, to the, crown, to secrecy- in all matters of state that may be. brought to his knowledge as a councillor* and to give true and disinterested advice when asked by . his sovereign., In order to appreciate the importance of the appointment' thus. bestowed ...upon the leader of. the Opposition, it is only necessary to point. out that the Cabinet is merely a committee of the Privy Council; and has no official.existence save as such. OPPOSITION LEADER AT BALMORAL. In this way the. King has been able to confer with Bonar Law, on numerous occasions, concerning the Irish Home Rule problem and other issues engaging the attention of Parliament. He has had him on several occasions to stay with him at Balmoral, arid has accorded to him many audiences at Buckingham Palace and at Windsor; and has thus been able to play the role not merely of arbitrator, but rather of a mediator, between the government ami the opposition. If a compromise is reached between tho Liberals and the Unionists, whereby the obstacles raised by the House-of Lords to Irish Home Rule are removed, and the measure become a law, it will be entirely due to the King, and to the circumstance, that owing -to the recognised status of the Unionists as his Majesty's Opposition, and the obligations and position of the Unionist leaders as members of the Privy Council, he has been able to consult with them, and to negotiate an understanding between them and his Majesty's Government. This recognition of his Majesty's Opposition extends to ceremonial, matters, and at every State function, Royal celebration, or court entertainment to which the members of the Cabinet are asked by virtue of their office, A. Bonar Law and his fellowleaders of the Opposition are likewise invited with their wives. All this is calculated to strengthen the position of the sovereign. For while on the one hand it prevents the attacks of tho Unionists upon tho administration, from ever degenerating into attacks upon tho Crown, on the other hand it impresses the people at large with tho impartiality of the King in maintaining an even balance between the two great political parties—that impartiality whyjh forms the principal source of the strength of th©

throne uvconstitutional. monarchies such as Great Britain;OPPOSITION - OF THE EFFENDTNA.

-The title of his Majesty's opposition always recalls to my mind -a' story which'l heard, iu : Egypt, from, the lips of. old 1 Nubar Pasha. . It seems that when Khedive Ismail, in his eagerness to';'Europeanise his 'kingdom, endowed it with a national. Legislature, he directed Naburj then hi 6 Minister of: the Interior, "to impart to the "delegates ; some rough ' notion _ of parliamentary duties and organisation. In pursuance of these commands, Nubar told the new-fledged legislators that they would be expected to frankly approve or disapprove the • measures laid be-, fore them, by the. Government.' With that view he invited such of them' as were disposed to criticise matters proposed'by the Khedive and his Cabinet. to range themselves on one" side of the chamber' while those who were prepared to give the Executive their full confidence, and, support in advance could take -their . seats on the - opposite side of the hall. The however, who were composed principally of village sheiks and headmen, the majority of whose hands .bore TRACES OF THE THUMBSCREW, while the scars of the kourbash were still visible on their-backs and on the soles, of their feet—imbued, therefore,' with a wholesome terror of the Government, and in particular of their sovereign—hastened to disckim any intention of questioning the policy of; his Highness. " Allah forbid!" they, exclaimed, " that- anyone of us should dream of venturing to disapprove anythiilg prch posed by. the Effendina!'' • And -.so .when Egypt's .first Parliament was solemnly opened, by the Khedive, in'the presence of the foreign envoys, the entire body of, deputies crowded to what may be described as the ministerial side of the.house, leaving, the Opposition represented by. empty, benches. Ismail, realising the comic features.of. the situation, thereupon gave peremptory ' orders that a certain number of the-worthy legislators should be compelled by main force to take; their places oh the socalled Opposition benches. An extraordinary spectacle ensued. The Deputies, were hustled, and dragged, in fear and trembling—some of them endeavouring to cling on to the ministerial benches—-to the opposite side of the chamber, heing finally, comforted and their alarm soothed in a measure by Nubar, who .obtained the." Khedive's half laughing, half angry consent to his proposal that they should be per-

'mitted to style themselves " tho Ef» fendina's own Opposition." ' DEBT TO LEGISLATIVE OPPOSI- ' TIOX.But leaving Egypt aside as not yet adapted to. parliamentary forms of government, it must "bo borne in mind that it is to tho Opposition that English speaking races are indebted for most of their rights and liberties. It is the Opposition to the Government of',the day that has Avon for them, a victory of the great principles of civic freedom, upon which the present forms of government are founded, on both sides of the Atlantic. A legislative Opposition is essential to. representative institutions. The majority governs, but is, always obliged to take into consideration the views and the policy'of tho minority, as representated by the Opposition, and which is*never without popular sympathy. . The Opposition taay sometimes' serve the nation far better than the administration as an obstacle to absolutism. But in order to do this, its antagonism to the- Government must be based, not on mere considerations of party policy, but on those of principle, and above all of patriotism.