is in the United States by encroachment
upon the rights of the Executive. Only once, however, when Andrew
Johnson was President, has the action of the Executive been seriously
hampered. Professor Bryce's remark may be applied to all other
attempts. He writes: "Congress has constantly tried to encroach, both
on the Executive and on the States,--sometimes like a wild bull driven
into a corral, dashing itself against the imprisoning walls of the
Constitution." There is the secret. The "imprisoning walls" of the
American Constitution keep contending powers in their proper places.
The Constitution is so well drawn up that a deadlock is an
impossibility, the equilibrium of concomitant powers is easily
maintained, and the sovereign will of the people has a fair
opportunity of finding a natural exponent.

In the United States the Senate and the House of Representatives are
coordinate bodies; in the French Republic each claims superiority over
the other. In the United States bills are never introduced by the
Cabinet, all bills must originate either in the Senate or in the House
of Representatives; such is not the case in the French Republic. In
the United States the chief duty of the President is to see that the
laws are faithfully executed; the Cabinet administers; its members are
rather the aids or secretaries of the chief magistrate of the nation
than otherwise. They are his advisers and helpers. During the four
years for which the President of the United States is elected, the
limitations of his authority are so remote and theoretical that, for
practical purposes, it may be stated that he always serves out his
full term of office. On the contrary, Presidential resignations are
not unknown in the French Republic. France elects her President for
seven years, yet Thiers, MacMahon, Grevy, Carnot, Casimir-Perier, and
Faure make a list longer than that of the names of the men who have
lived in the White House during the past quarter of a century. In the
United States, the Cabinet lasts as long as the President's term of
office; in the French Republic, the Cabinet sometimes goes to pieces
in four months. Briefly, it is quite clear that in the United States
there can be no ministerial crises, since the President's chief duty
under the Constitution is to see that the laws are faithfully
executed, and the members of his Cabinet do not introduce bills, even
for finance or supplies, but act as his aids. As previously intimated,
the dif