n extended list of matters which must be
brought to the ministry's attention, though action thereupon is not
made compulsory; and the range of subjects which, upon the initiative
of the premier or that of other ministers, may be submitted for
consideration is left purposely without limit. It is the business of
the premier to convoke the ministers in council, to preside over their
deliberations, to maintain, in respect to both administrative methods
and political policy, as large a measure of ministerial uniformity and
solidarity as may be; and to require from time to time from his (p. 371)
colleagues full and explicit reports upon the affairs of each of
the several departments. By reason, however, of the multiplicity of
party groups in the chambers, the necessarily composite character
politically of every cabinet, and the generally unstable political
condition of the country, ministries rarely possess much real unity,
and in the administration of the public business they are likely to be
handicapped by internal friction. "The Italian ministry," says an able
French writer, "is manifestly unable to fulfill effectively the
three-fold purpose of a parliamentary cabinet. It exercises the
executive power in the name, and under the authority, of the king; but
it does not always know how to restrain Parliament within the bounds
of its proper control, and it is obliged to tolerate the interference
of deputies in the administration. Through the employment of the
initiative, and of influence upon the acts of Parliament, it is the
power which impels legislation; but not infrequently it is lacking in
the authority essential to push through the reforms which it has
undertaken, and the Chamber evades easily its control. It seeks to
maintain harmony between the two powers (executive and legislative);
but the repeated defeats which it suffers demonstrate to what a degree
its work is impeded by the disorganization of parties."[543] For all
of their acts the ministers are responsible directly to Parliament,
which means, in effect, to the Chamber of Deputies; and no law or
governmental measure may be put in operation until it has received the
signature of one or more of the ministerial group, by whom
responsibility for it is thereby explicitly assumed.

[Footnote 543: Dupriez, Les Ministres, I., 291.]

*408. The Promulgation of Ordinances.*--The administrative system of
Italy is modelled, in the main, upon that of Fr