Federal Constitution (the last-named being a striking example of the difference between form and substance)—corresponds to the circumstance and to the evolution of its respective country. No institution can be mechanically and unorganically transferred to another land. But, as regards the Presidency, the Swiss and German types offer no guidance. The American and the French types remain. I have already said that, after the American War of Independence, the position of the King of England was taken as a model for that of the President of the United States. Washington was an aristocrat by birth. As President, he decorated his house at Mount Vernon with statues of Alexander, Caesar, Charles XII, Marlborough, Prince Eugene of Savoy and Frederick the Great. His successors were more democratic. In America the President chooses his Government outside Parliament, whereas the French Government is formed of members of Parliament. In our case I should favour a mixed system under which the President would select a definite number of Ministers, half of them, perhaps, or a majority, among members of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, and choose the others outside Parliament though naturally in consultation and agreement with the political parties. By this means the Government might gain expert quality, for it is one of the recognized defects of the Parliamentary system that most members of Parliament are merely party men, and few of them are specially qualified.
There is a sound idea in the American custom of appointing a special non-Parliamentary Commission to draw up the Budget, powerless though the Commission is in practice—the idea that Parliamentary parties should not mismanage finance. Party spirit is not always identical with public welfare; nor do parties remain in touch with the electorate as closely as they ought. One of the chief causes of their inertness is that they pay too little heed to the organization and education of their supporters in what I may call “peace time,” that is to say, during the intervals between general elections. They only grow vigorous when an election is in sight or when conflicts and schisms arise in their own ranks. Democracy means constant and positive work of detail. In my view, parties ought not to be allowed a long period for mere electoral agitation. The general election should follow upon the end of a Parliament as soon as the technical arrangements can be made.
