their own governors, legislators and functionaries, and have their own tribunals; but certain classes of cases are decided by the supreme Federal Court. Penal, civil, commercial and mining laws, called national laws, are voted by the National Congress and applied throughout the Republic. The Federal Government alone has the right of coinage, the right to conclude treaties, to declare war or peace, to fix the limits of provinces, and to undertake large public works of national importance. It has also the right of intervention if the public order is seriously threatened or disturbed, and can declare martial law in the disturbed district.

The Republic is divided into fourteen provinces, all of which bear the names of their capitals, excepting Entre Rios, of which the chief town is Parana. These provinces comprise departments, further divided into districts. There are, moreover, ten territories or 'national governments,' and a 'federal district'-Buenos Ayres.

The executive power is in the hands of a President and Vice-President, who are elected for six years and cannot be re-elected except after an interval of six years. A Congress, composed of a Chamber of Deputies of 120 members and a Senate of 30 members, forms the legislative body. Each province, together with the federal district, is represented by a certain number of deputies, at the rate of one for every 33,000 inhabitants or fractions of that total not less than 16,500. The city of Buenos Ayres alone provides twenty members. The duration of the parliamentary mandate is four years; and onehalf of the members retires every two years. Every member receives a salary of 18,000 piastres per annum. The legislative assemblies of the provinces elect each two senators; and the same number is allotted to the federal capital. Eight Ministers or Secretaries of State divide with the President the duties of office. The stability of the Cabinet is generally safe during the six years' term of the President who has chosen its members.

Dr Roque Saenz Pena, the late President of the Argentine Republic, was born at Buenos Ayres in 1851. He was elected a deputy in 1876, and was President of the Chamber at the age of 26. He retired from that position in 1878, because his fellow-members opposed the application of rigorous rules to a member whom he wished to punish

for some breach of parliamentary etiquette. During the war between Chile and Peru, Saenz Pena joined the ranks of the Peruvian army and distinguished himself in various battles. As a Lieutenant-Colonel he fought together with Bolognesie and Moore during the heroic defence of Arica; his whole force was annihilated, and he himself, seriously wounded, was made prisoner by the Chileans, who kept him in captivity till the end of the war. Returning to Buenos Ayres at the end of the war, Saenz Pena was made Secretary for Foreign Affairs. Under Juarez Celman he was sent as Minister Plenipotentiary to Uruguay. He distinguished himself brilliantly at the South American Congress of Montevideo, and at the Pan-American Congress of Washington, where, in opposition to the famous Monroe doctrine America for the Americans'--meaning in realityAmerica for the North Americans'-he proposed 'America for Humanity.' Later on we find him representing the Argentine Republic at the marriage of King Alphonso of Spain, then for some time at Rome, and at the second Peace Congress of the Hague, in company with Luis M. Drago and Carlos Rodriguez Larreta. Dr Saenz Pena had thus lived and studied much outside his own country before he was elected President of Argentina.

From 1810 to 1853, every attempt at political reform was successfully resisted, owing to the instincts inherent in the race. Even after the introduction of a more liberal system of government, the people were for a long time unable to make a proper use of the freedom they had acquired. Indeed the will to do so was apparentlylacking; for a long time they submitted peaceably to the tyranny which was moulding them to its own ends. They no longer fought against the idea of constitutional government, but, though they had risen to the point of accepting it, they were yet incapable of respecting and appreciating this great principle. For almost fifty years they lived under the constitution, out of sympathy with it and in many cases ignorant of its very existence. It was enough for them if they were left free to work in peace and were protected from political strife and agitation, things detrimental to their commerce and destructive of their national credit in the great markets of Europe. Their commerce and their credit were essential

to their material welfare; for the rest they were completely indifferent to politics and to the rise or fall of any political party. They were, also, completely indifferent to the fact that the federal councils had been brought under the control of one central government. A powerful coalition of various interests had been formed, which, though not officially recognised, possessed tremendous weight in all the affairs of the nation. Consisting as it did of the leading banks, the principal commercial companies, and all the most important industries, it soon acquired great power.

In elections to Congress, voting was not compulsory; and the great majority of the people abstained from this civic duty. The official party was always victorious, and it was useless to vote against it. Thus a spirit of callous indifference and of scepticism came into being; the people were indignant at nothing, because surprised at nothing. And this spirit of indifference finally became almost traditional; the excuses given for it were, 'It has always been so,' You cannot alter the habits of the people,' 'You cannot change public opinion,' and 'You must let people practise their politics in their own way'; and even men of the strictest honour and integrity came to share in these ideas as soon as they began to take part in the struggle. The people ended by coming to the conclusion that politics represented nothing more than a highly specialised profession; that all its manoeuvring amounted to no more than a prodigious burlesque, well rehearsed beforehand; and that it was better to laugh in one's sleeve at all the intricate wire-pulling, the seriocomic crises,' and the almost farcical methods of the whole ingenious hypocrisy, than to attempt protests which they knew would be utterly futile. They saw, without apprehension, the same persons always in office; for they recognised the fact that the destinies of the country were beyond mere politicians. Though they were quite aware that genuine statesmen, acting in conjunction with politicians, could do much good, they realised that the politicians alone were incapable of doing much harm.

Eventually, however, a strong reaction, due no doubt to their inner sense of justice and to feelings of injured pride, set in against this usurpation of power and this

arbitrary form of government. And this reaction originated in the people themselves, who began to suspect. those men who were responsible for this state of affairs.

Dr Roque Saenz Pena, when he came into power in 1910, was convinced that the country was ready for reform. He thoroughly realised that it would be necessary, not merely to amend the existing laws or to make new ones, but to encourage and foster in every citizen an intelligent interest in all matters of national concern. In his presidential campaign, he promised to observe absolute impartiality in all political matters; and in order to carry out this promise, from his first day of office, he severed all ties with the party that had supported him in his candidature. But 'party' in the Argentine signifies men and not opinions, so that Saenz Pena did not in any way renounce his former views, though taking the greatest pains to show no special favour to those who had helped him to his position. For the sake of a forcible example, he permitted himself no outward display of gratitude or friendship. This step was specially significant in a country where, by tradition and a false conception of loyalty, the President had always felt it his duty to raise members of his party to the highest posts in the State. By a kind of tacit agreement his will was thus completely bound up with each individual will of his friends and colleagues. By accepting outside assistance he thereby pledged himself to repay it, and thus entangled himself in a multiplicity of obligations, which hampered his every action. The needs of the State were entirely neglected, the sole aim of his administration being to enrich himself and his followers by every means in his power. The State therefore remained at the mercy of the President and his satellites, who were mutually 'dependent on one another; while the Executive, the Congress and the Provincial Governors formed a happy combination, whose sole object appeared to be to set the constitution at naught and turn everything to personal advantage.

Saenz Pena was desirous of putting a speedy end to this condition of things, a condition that crippled the power of the Executive and upset the whole machinery of constitutional government. He fully realised that, in separating himself from his friends and thus depriving

himself of their support-which was relied on as a matter of course by all former Presidents-he was cutting himself completely adrift and was thus risking the failure of his policy. But his care was for the State and not for the security of his own office, and in acting thus he hoped to increase the prestige of the Executive and strengthen its hands for the future. In order to keep the Executive free from all corrupt influences, he chose his ministers for their integrity rather than for their political leanings. But he did not confine himself merely to showing his intention of governing without the help of any political group; he seized every opportunity of letting the Provincial Governors know that he could do without their costly friendship. But, though he could dispense with their protection, he still required their loyalty; and he therefore left to each of the federal states full responsibility for its actions and absolute autonomy. Thus Congress gradually became composed of conscientious members who eventually transformed the once submissive ally of the Executive into a powerful independent body.

This step of Saenz Pena, which is clearly the indication of a master mind, may be regarded as the fundamental characteristic of his government. The change brought a sense of relief to the people, which had long awaited in vain its introduction. It meant no mere correction of past faults; it was the foundation stone of political and administrative honesty. Its effect was to keep each branch of the government within the bounds assigned to it by the constitution, and to make the people their own rulers; it was in fact the establishment of 'government for the people by the people,'

Roque Saenz Pena did not mislead the people when he announced that he would make the constitution his guide. He made them realise that the moral reform thus started meant the advent of good government, and that as President, in giving them this proof of confidence and esteem, and offering himself as their governor, he was in fact setting them in the position that they ought to hold in any true democracy.

The hearty reception accorded to this great change, both by the people and by the Press, showed clearly the feeling of grateful appreciation it had aroused among