Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 16.djvu/232

* POLITICAL PARTIES. 196 POLITICAL PARTIES. cessfiil passafjo of the Aus/ilcUh of 1807 and lasted until 187;'), the opposition con.sisted of a party of radical Jlagyar.s who refused to accept the "coniproniise, hut who were in all other re- spects Liberals, and of a small group of Ruma- nians and Slavs whose opposition was racial. After Deak's withdrawal from puldic life in 187.') this radical JIagj-ar party, under Tisza, who became Premier, united with Deflk's fol- lowers to form the Liberal Party of to-day, which has since continued in control. The Premier- ship of Tisza himself lasted from 187') to 1890. During this period the principal opposition came from a small but earnest body of radicals known as Kossuthi>ts. followers of the younger Kossuth, who contended that the only bond of union be- tween Austria and Hungary should be the per- sonal one of the sovereign. This faction has been represented by as many as 510 Deputies in the Parliament. The principal reason for the ab- sence of two great political parties in Hungary, however, exists in the ])resence of the subordinate races — ehielly the Croats and Slavonians. It is their presence which tends to force the ^Magyars to act in concert, and although in parliamentary affairs they take jiractically no part, they con- stitute the real political opposition. Italy. There is no well-defined party or- ganization in Italy. For fifteen years after the death of Cavour "in 18lil the Government was directed by a Ministry from the Constitutional Right or Conservative side of the Chamber, but after 1876 the Liberal Left came into power, and the Right almost disajjpearecl. The Left has been largely dominated by radical elements. Its accession to power marked the domination of the southern Italians in politics and the era of personal groups or factions without other guid- ing ))rinciple than that of political or financial self-interest. Republican and Socialist groups have also played a part in Italian politics. A peculiarly Italian party is that of the Irre- dentists, who .seek to unite with Italy the Italian ])ortions of Au.stria, Switzerland, and France, or unredeemed Italy {Italia irrcrlrntn). A serious embarrassment in Italy since the union has been the abstention of good Catholics, under direction of the Vatican, from participation in politics. Japan. Political parties in .Japan, in the modern sense, can be said to date practically from the promulgation of the Constitution in 1880. al- though the political groups from which they were formed have a somewhat earlier beginning. In their origin they are developments of the four old clans (Satsuma. Choshu, Tosa, and Hizen). and their division was fixed by clan jealousy and not by political issues. The Sat- sinna and Choshu clans were more closely allied to the Emperor and more aristocratic in their tendencies than the other two. Their members formed a group which is particularly strong in the Upper Chamber of the Diet, and has played but little part as a party organization in the general elections. Their influence has been felt largely through their great leader, JIarr|uis Ito (q.v.). They have been called Constitutional Imperialists. From the Tosa clan was formed the Liberal (Fu^ni-to) Party, and from the Hizen clan the Progressive (Shimpo-to) Party. By the Constitution the Ministers are dependent on the sovereign by whom they are appointed, but in reality the tendency, often interrupted since 1890, has been to make them luiin- and more dependent on the Parliament. The result has been a curious successiipu of partisan and non-partisan Minis- tries. But the organization in 1'.I02 by .Maiipii^ Ito of the NcH/u-A'oi, or Constitutional Political Association, which practically amounted to an amalgamation of the old Liberals, and the more progressive of the aristocratic Constitutional Imperialists seemed to indicate a formation of [larties on new lines, and to be a practical recog- nition by the representatives of the old nobility of the necessity for party government. XETiiERLiVNus. The history of political parties in the Netherlands has been an uneventful one, due largely to the fact that during the greater ]iart of the last half-century the Liberal-, have been in almost undisputed control of affairs. There have been, however, infrequent overturn- ings of their rcginu-, brought about generally by a temporary coalition of the opposing group. The most recent revolution of this sort look place in IIIOI. The Catholic Party has for many years formed the most comjiact and well-organized group of the opposition, but its refusal to participate in coalitions had rendered its oppo- sition of little efTecl. The last few years, how- ever, have been marked Ijy a remarkable growth in the power of the Orthodox Protestant Party or Anti-Revolutionists, who for some time were satisfied to take only a passive part in political afLiirs. This party, which fears Liberalism more than Catholicism, under the leadership of Dr. Abraham Kuyper (q.v.), finally ellected a coali- tion with the Catholics, and in the elections of 1901 achieved a striking victory over the Liberals, who were weakened by dissensions ahd by a re- puted alliance with the Socialists. A Clerical Anti-Liberal Jlinistry was formed in which the Catholics were given three portfolios. Other parties represented in Parliament, but with little real power, are the Historic Christians, Radicals, and Socialists. Portugal. Between 1834 and 1852, the old Absolutist party having become extinct, the Lib- erals, who iuid successfully opposed the Absolut- ists, divided into two parties, the Chartists, who supported the strongly monarchist charter of 182(i, and the Se])tenil)rists. who rallied around the popular Constitution of 1822. A coalition of Septembrists and Chartists, known as Regener- ators, took control of the government in 1852, but this coalition soon broke up and the Historic Left was formed from its remnants and merged in 1877 with a new Reformist party, as Progress- ists. The Regenerators now form the Right, or conservative section: the Progressists the Consti- tutional Left. There is also a small but active and growing Re])ublican Party, formed in 1881. Spain. Spanish parties have been in a state of confusion ever since the beginning of the strug- gle for constitutional government. During the first third of the nineteenth century the struggle between absolute monarchy and constitutional- ism brought into existence different parties main- taining all gradations of political opinion from absolutism to radicalism. After 183.3 the dyna.s- tic parties of Carlists and Cristinos arose. (See Carlos. Don: Spain.) There were also two Lib- eral parties — Moderates and Progressists. These parties disintegrated about 1850-51 and new tem- porarv combinations were formed. The revolu- tion of 1868, which overthrew Isabella IL, was