[1] The liqueur is said to have been manufactured by the Benedictine
monks of the abbey as far back as 1510; since the Revolution it has
been produced commercially by a secular company. The familiar legend
D.O.M. (_Deo Optimo Maximo_) on the bottles preserves the memory of
its original makers.
FECHNER, GUSTAV THEODOR (1801-1887), German experimental psychologist,
was born on the 19th of April 1801 at Gross-Sarchen, near Muskau, in
Lower Lusatia, where his father was pastor. He was educated at Sorau and
Dresden and at the university of Leipzig, in which city he spent the
rest of his life. In 1834 he was appointed professor of physics, but in
1839 contracted an affection of the eyes while studying the phenomena of
colour and vision, and, after much suffering, resigned. Subsequently
recovering, he turned to the study of mind and the relations between
body and mind, giving public lectures on the subjects of which his books
treat. He died at Leipzig on the 18th of November 1887. Among his works
may be mentioned: _Das Buchlein vom Leben nach dem Tode_ (1836, 5th ed.,
1903), which has been translated into English; _Nanna, oder uber das
Seelenleben der Pflanzen_ (1848, 3rd ed., 1903); _Zendavesta, oder_
_uber die Dinge des Himmels und des Jenseits_ (1851, 2nd ed. by
Lasswitz, 1901); _Uber die physikalische und philosophische Atomenlehre_
(1853, 2nd ed., 1864); _Elemente der Psychophysik_ (1860, 2nd ed.,
1889); _Vorschule der Asthetik_ (1876, 2nd ed., 1898); _Die Tagesansicht
gegenuber der Nachtansicht_ (1879). He also published chemical and
physical papers, and translated chemical works by J.B. Biot and L.J.
Thenard from the French. A different but essential side of his character
is seen in his poems and humorous pieces, such as the _Vergleichende
Anatomie der Engel_ (1825), written under the pseudonym of "Dr Mises."
Fechner's epoch-making work was his _Elemente der Psychophysik_ (1860).
He starts from the Spinozistic thought that bodily facts and conscious
facts, though not reducible one to the other, are different sides of one
reality. His originality lies in trying to discover an exact
mathematical relation between them. The most famous outcome of his
inquiries is the law known as Weber's or Fechner's law which may be
expressed as follows:--"In order that the intensity of a sensation may
increase in arithmetical progression, the stimulus must increase in
geometrical progression." Though holding good within certain limits
only, the law has been found immensely useful. Unfortunately, from the
tenable theory that the intensity of a sensation increases by definite
additions of stimulus, Fechner was led on to postulate a unit of
sensation, so that any sensation S might be regarded as composed of n
units. Sensations, he argued, thus being representable by numbers,
psychology may become an "exact" science, susceptible of mathematical
treatment. His general formula for getting at the number of units in any
sensation is S = C log R, where S stands for the sensation, R for the
stimulus numerically estimated, and C for a constant that must be
separately determined by experiment in each particular order of
sensibility. This reasoning of Fechner's has given rise to a great mass
of controversy, but the fundamental mistake in it is simple. Though
stimuli are composite, sensations are not. "Every sensation," says
Professor James, "presents itself as an indivisible unit; and it is
quite impossible to read any clear meaning into the notion that they are
masses of units combined." Still, the idea of the exact measurement of
sensation has been a fruitful one, and mainly through his influence on
Wundt, Fechner was the father of that "new" psychology of laboratories
which investigates human faculties with the aid of exact scientific
apparatus. Though he has had a vast influence in this special
department, the disciples of his general philosophy are few. His
world-conception is highly animistic. He feels the thrill of life
everywhere, in plants, earth, stars, the total universe. Man stands
midway between the souls of plants and the souls of stars, who are
angels. God, the soul of the universe, must be conceived as having an
existence analogous to men. Natural laws are just the modes of the
unfolding of God's perfection. In his last work Fechner, aged but full
of hope, contrasts this joyous "daylight view" of the world with the
dead, dreary "night view" of materialism. Fechner's work in aesthetics
is also important. He conducted experiments to show that certain
abstract forms and proportions are naturally pleasing to our senses, and
gave some new illustrations of the working of aesthetic association.
Fechner's position in reference to predecessors and contemporaries is
not very sharply defined. He was remotely a disciple of Schelling,
learnt much from Herbart and Weisse, and decidedly rejected Hegel and
the monadism of Lotze.
See W. Wundt, _G. Th. Fechner_ (Leipzig, 1901); A. Elsas, "Zum
Andenken G. Th. Fechners," in _Grenzbote_, 1888; J.E. Kuntze, _G. Th.
Fechner_ (Leipzig, 1892); Karl Lasswitz, _G. Th. Fechner_ (Stuttgart,
1896 and 1902); E.B. Titchener, _Experimental Psychology_ (New York,
1905); G.F. Stout, _Manual of Psychology_ (1898), bk. ii. ch. vii.; R.
Falckenberg, _Hist. of Mod. Phil._ (Eng. trans., 1895), pp. 601 foll.;
H. Hoffding, _Hist. of Mod. Phil._ (Eng. trans., 1900), vol. ii. pp.
524 foll.; Liebe, _Fechners Metaphysik, im Umriss dargestellt_ (1903).
(H. St.)
FECHTER, CHARLES ALBERT (1824-1879), Anglo-French actor, was born,
probably in London, on the 23rd of October 1824, of French parents,
although his mother was of Piedmontese and his father of German
extraction. The boy would probably have devoted himself to a sculptor's
life but for the accident of a striking success made in some private
theatricals. The result was an engagement in 1841 to play in a
travelling company that was going to Italy. The tour was a failure, and
the company broke up; whereupon Fechter returned home and worked
assiduously at sculpture. At the same time he attended classes at the
Conservatoire with the view of gaining admission to the Comedie
Francaise. Late in 1844 he won the grand medal of the Academie des
Beaux-Arts with a piece of sculpture, and was admitted to make his debut
at the Comedie Francaise as Seide in Voltaire's _Mahomet_ and Valere in
Moliere's _Tartuffe_. He acquitted himself with credit; but, tired of
the small parts he found himself condemned to play, returned again to
his sculptor's studio in 1846. In that year he accepted an engagement to
play with a French company in Berlin, where he made his first decisive
success as an actor. On his return to Paris in the following year he
married the actress Eleonore Rabut (d. 1895). Previously he had appeared
for some months in London, in a season of French classical plays given
at the St James's theatre. In Paris for the next ten years he fulfilled
a series of successful engagements at various theatres, his chief
triumph being his creation at the Vaudeville on the 2nd of February 1852
of the part of Armand Duval in _La Dame aux camelias_. For nearly two
years (1857-1858) Fechter was manager of the Odeon, where he produced
_Tartuffe_ and other classical plays. Having received tempting offers to
act in English at the Princess's theatre, London, he made a diligent
study of the language, and appeared there on the 27th of October 1860 in
an English version of Victor Hugo's Ruy Blas. This was followed by _The
Corsican Brothers_ and _Don Cesar de Bazan_; and on the 20th of March
1861 he first attempted _Hamlet_. The result was an extraordinary
triumph, the play running for 115 nights. This was followed by
_Othello_, in which he played alternately the Moor and Iago. In 1863 he
became lessee of the Lyceum theatre, which he opened with _The Duke's
Motto_; this was followed by _The King's Butterfly_, _The Mountebank_
(in which his son Paul, a boy of seven, appeared), _The Roadside Inn_,
_The Master of Ravenswood_, _The Corsican Brothers_ (in the original
French version, in which he had created the parts of Louis and Fabian
dei Franchi) and _The Lady of Lyons_. After this he appeared at the
Adelphi (1868) as Obenreizer in _No Thoroughfare_, by Charles Dickens
and Wilkie Collins, as Edmond Dantes in _Monte Cristo_, and as Count de
Leyrac in _Black and White_, a play in which the actor himself
collaborated with Wilkie Collins. In 1870 he visited the United States,
where (with the exception of a visit to London in 1872) he remained till
his death. His first appearance in New York was at Niblo's Garden in the
title role of _Ruy Blas_. He played in the United States between 1870
and 1876 in most of the parts in which he had won his chief triumphs in
England, making at various times attempts at management, rarely
successful, owing to his ungovernable temper. The last three years of
his life were spent in seclusion on a farm which he had bought at
Rockland Centre, near Quakertown, Pennsylvania, where he died on the 5th
of August 1879. A bust of the actor by himself is in the Garrick Club,
London.
FECKENHAM, JOHN (c. 1515-1584), English ecclesiastic, last abbot of
Westminster, was born at Feckenham, Worcestershire, of ancestors who, by
their wills, seem to have been substantial yeomen. The family name was
Howman, but, according to the English custom, Feckenham, on monastic
profession, changed it for the territorial name by which he is always
known. Learning his letters first from the parish priest, he was sent at
an early age to the claustral school at Evesham and thence, in his
eighteenth year, to Gloucester Hall, Oxford, as a Benedictine student.
After taking his degree in arts, he returned to the abbey, where he was
professed; but he was at the university again in 1537 and took his B.D.
on the 11th of June 1539. Returning to Evesham he was there when the
abbey was surrendered to the king (27th of January 1540); and then, with
a pension of L10 a year, he once more went back to Oxford, but soon
after became chaplain to Bishop Bell of Worcester and then served Bonner
in that same capacity from 1543 to 1549. In 1544 Bonner gave him the
living of Solihull; and Feckenham established a reputation as a preacher
and a disputant of keen intellect but unvarying charity. About 1549
Cranmer sent him to the Tower of London, and while there "he was
borrowed out of prison" to take part in seven public disputations
against Hooper, Jewel and others. Released by Queen Mary (5th of
September 1553), he returned to Bonner and became prebendary of St
Paul's, rector of Finchley, then of Greenford Magna, chaplain and
confessor to the queen, and dean of St Paul's (10th of March 1554). He
took part, with much charity and mildness, in the Oxford disputes
against Cranmer, Latimer and Ridley; but he had no liking for the fierce
bigotry and bloody measures then in force against Protestants. Feckenham
used all his influence with Mary "to procure pardon of the faults or
mitigation of the punishment for poor Protestants" (Fuller), and he was
sent by the queen to prepare Lady Jane Grey for death. When Elizabeth
was sent to the Tower (18th of March 1554), Feckenham interceded for her
life and liberty, even at the cost of displeasing the queen.
The royal abbey of Westminster having been restored to its primitive
use, Feckenham was appointed abbot, and the old life began again within
its hallowed walls on the 21st of November 1556. The abbey school was
reopened and the shrine of St Edward restored. On the accession of
Elizabeth Feckenham consistently opposed all the legislation for changes
in religion, and, when the hour of trial came, he refused the oath of
supremacy, rejecting also Elizabeth's offer to remain with his monks at
Westminster if he would conform to the new laws. The abbey was dissolved
(12th of July 1559), and within a year Feckenham was sent by Archbishop
Parker to the Tower (20th of May 1560), according to Jewel, "for having
obstinately refused attendance on public worship and everywhere
declaiming and railing against that religion which we now profess"
(Parker Society, first series, p. 79). Henceforth, except for some brief
periods when he was a prisoner at large, Feckenham spent the rest of his
life in confinement either in some recognized prison, or in the more
distasteful and equally rigorous keeping of the bishops of Winchester
and Ely. After fourteen years' confinement, he was released on bail and
lived in Holborn, where his benevolence was shown by all manner of works
of charity. "He relieved the poor wheresoever he came, so that flies
flock not thicker to spilt honey than beggars constantly crowd about
him" (Fuller). He set up a public aqueduct in Holborn, and a hospice for
the poor at Bath; he distributed every day to the sick the milk of
twelve cows, took care of orphans, and encouraged manly sports on
Sundays among the youth of London by giving prizes. In 1577 he was
committed to the care of Cox of Ely with strict rules for his treatment;
and the bishop (1578) could find no fault with him except that "he was a
gentle person but in the popish religion too, too obstinate." In 1580 he
was removed to Wisbeach Castle, and there exercised such an influence of
charity and peace among his fellow-prisoners that was remembered when,
in after years, the notorious Wisbeach Stirs broke out under the Jesuit
Weston. Even here Feckenham found a means of doing public good; at his
own cost he repaired the road and set up a market cross in the town.
After twenty-four years of suffering for his conscience he died in
prison and was buried in an unknown grave in the parish church at
Wisbeach on the 16th of October 1584.
The fullest account of Feckenham is to be found in E. Taunton's
_English Black Monks of St Benedict_ (London, 1897), vol. i. pp.
160-222. (E. Tn.)
FEDCHENKO, ALEXIS PAVLOVICH (1844-1873), Russian naturalist and
traveller, well known for his explorations in central Asia, was born at
Irkutsk, in Siberia, on the 7th of February 1844; and, after attending
the gymnasium of his native town, proceeded to the university of Moscow,
for the study more especially of zoology and geology. In 1868 he
travelled through Turkestan, the district of the lower Syr-Darya and
Samarkand; and shortly after his return he set out for Khokand, where he
visited a large portion of territory till then unknown. Soon after his
return to Europe he perished on Mont Blanc while engaged in an
exploring tour in Switzerland, on the 15th of September 1873.
Accounts of the explorations and discoveries of Fedchenko have been
published by the Russian government,--his _Journeys in Turkestan_ in
1874, _In the Khanat of Khokand_ in 1875, and _Botanical Discoveries_
in 1876. See Petermann's _Mittheilungen_ (1872-1874).
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT (Lat. _foedus_, a league), a form of government of
which the essential principle is that there is a union of two or more
states under one central body for certain permanent common objects. In
the most perfect form of federation the states agree to delegate to a
supreme federal government certain powers or functions inherent in
themselves in their sovereign or separate capacity, and the federal
government, in turn, in the exercise of those specific powers acts
directly, not only on the communities making up the federation, but on
each individual citizen. So far as concerns the residue of powers
unallotted to the central or federal authority, the separate states
retain unimpaired their individual sovereignty, and the citizens of a
federation consequently owe a double allegiance, one to the state, and
the other to the federal government. They live under two sets of laws,
the laws of the state and the laws of the federal government (J. Bryce,
_Studies in History and Jurisprudence_, ii. 490). The word
"confederation," as distinct from "federation" has been sometimes,
though not universally, used to distinguish from such a federal state
(_Bundesstaat_) a mere union of states (_Staatenbund_) for mutual aid,
and the promotion of interests common to all (see CONFEDERATION).
The history of federal government practically begins with Greece. This,
however, is due to the fact that the Greek federations are the only ones
of which we have any detailed information. The obvious importance,
especially to scattered villages or tribes, of systematic joint action
in the face of a common danger makes it reasonable to infer that
federation in its elementary forms was a widespread device. This view is
strengthened by what we can gather of the conditions obtaining in such
districts as Aetolia, Acarnania and Samnium, as in modern times among
primitive peoples and tribes. The relatively detailed information which
we possess concerning the federal governments of Greece makes it
necessary to pay special attention to them.
In ancient Greece the most striking tendency of political development
was the maintenance of separate city states, each striving for absolute
autonomy, though all spoke practically the same language and shared to
some extent in the same traditions, interests and dangers. This
centrifugal tendency is most marked in the cases of the more important
states, Athens, Sparta, Argos, Corinth, but Greek history is full of
examples of small states deliberately sacrificing what must have been
obvious commercial advantage for the sake of a precarious autonomy. Such
examples as existed of even semi-federal union were very loose in
structure, and the selfishness of the component units was the
predominant feature. Thus the Spartan hegemony in the Peloponnese was
not really a federation except in the broadest sense. The states did, it
is true, meet occasionally for discussion, but their relation, which had
no real existence save in cases of immediate common danger, was really
that between a paramount leader and unwilling and suspicious allies. The
Athenian empire again was a thinly disguised autocracy. The synod (see
DELIAN LEAGUE) of the "allies" soon degenerated into a mere form; of
comprehensive united policy there was none, at all events after the
League had achieved its original purpose of expelling the Persians from
Europe.
None the less it is possible, even in the early days of political
development in Greece, to find some traces of a tendency towards united
action. Thus the unions of individual villages, known as synoecisms,
such as took place in Attica and Elis in early times were partly of a
federal character: they resulted in the establishment of a common
administration, and no doubt in some degree of commercial and military
unity. On the other hand, it is likely that these unions lacked the
characteristic of federation in that the units could hardly be described
as having any sovereign power: at the most they had some municipal
autonomy as in the case of the Cleisthenic demes. The union was rather
national than federal. Again the Amphictyonic unions had one of the
characteristic elements of federation, namely that they were free
sovereign states combining for a particular purpose with an elaborate
system of representation (see AMPHICTYONY). But these unions, at all
events in historic times, were mainly concerned with religion, and the
authority of the councils did not seriously affect the autonomy of the
individual states.
Thus among the city-states as well as among scattered villages the
principle of cohesion was not unknown. On the other hand the golden mean
between an easily dissoluble relationship, more like an alliance than a
federation, and a national system resulting from synoecism was
practically never attained in early Greek history. There are, however,
examples in Greece proper, and one, Lycia in Asia Minor, of real federal
unions. The chief Greek federations were those of Thessaly, Boeotia,
Acarnania, Olynthus, Arcadia, Aetolia, Achaea, the most important as
well as the most complete in respect of organization being the Aetolian
League and the Achaean League.
1. The Thessalian League originated in the deliberate choice by village
aristocracies of a single monarch who belonged from time to time to
several of the so-called Heracleid families. Soon after the Persian War
this monarchy (dynasty of the Aleuadae, Herod, v. 63 and vii. 6)
disappeared, and in 424 we find Athens in alliance with a sort of
democratic federal council representing [Greek: to koinon thettalon]
(cf. Thuc. i. 102, ii. 22, iv. 78), and probably composed of delegates
from the towns. The local feudal nobles, however, seem to have put an
end to this government by council, and a dictator (_tagus_) was
appointed, with authority over the whole military force of the
federation. Three such officers, Lycophron, Jason and Alexander, all of
Pherae, endeavoured vainly to administer the collective affairs of the
federation, the last by means of a revived republican council. The final
failure of this scheme coincided with the disappearance of Thessaly as a
sovereign state (see THESSALY).
2. The form and the history of the Boeotian federation are treated fully
under Boeotia (q.v.). It may probably have originated in religious
associations, but the guiding power throughout was the imperial policy
of Thebes, especially during its short-lived supremacy after 379 B.C.
3. The federation of Acarnania is of peculiar interest as being formed
by scattered villages or tribes, without settled, still less fortified,
habitation. In the early part of the 4th century a [Greek: koinon ton
Akarnanon] met at Stratus (Xen. _Hell._ iv. 6. 4). Late in the same
century towns began to form, without, however, disturbing the
federation, which existed as late as the 2nd century B.C., governed by a
representative council ([Greek: boula]), and a common assembly ([Greek:
koinon]) at which any citizen might be present.
4. The foundation of the Olynthian federation was due to the need of
protection against the northern invaders (see OLYNTHUS). It was in many
respects based on liberal principles, but Olynthus did not hesitate to
exercise force against recalcitrants such as Acanthus.
5. The 4th century Arcadian league, which was no doubt a revival of an
older federation, was the result of the struggle for supremacy between
Thebes and Sparta. The defeat of Sparta at Leuctra removed the pressure
which had kept separate the Arcadian tribes, and [Greek: to koinon ton
Arkadon] was established in the new city, Megalopolis (q.v., also
Arcadia).
6 and 7. The Aetolian and Achaean leagues (see AETOLIA, and ACHAEAN
LEAGUE) were in all respects more important than the preceding and
constitute a new epoch in European politics. Both belong to a period in
Greek history when the great city states had exhausted themselves in the
futile struggle against Macedon and Rome, and both represent a conscious
popular determination in the direction of systematic government. This
characteristic is curious in the Aetolian tribes which were famous in
all time for habitual brigandage; there was, however, among them the
strong link of a racial feeling. The governing council ([Greek: to
koinon ton Aitolon]) was the permanent representative body; there was
also a popular assembly ([Greek: panaitolikon]), partly of a primary,
partly of a representative kind, any one being free to attend, but each
state having only one official representative and one vote. Of all the
federal governments of Greece, this league was the most certainly
democratic in constitution. There was a complete system of federal
officers, at the head of whom was a Strategus entrusted with powers both
military and civil. This officer was annually elected, and, though the
chief executive authority, was strictly limited in the federal
deliberations to presidential functions (cf. Livy xxxv. 25, "ne praetor,
quum de bello consuluisset, ipse sententiam diceret"). The Achaean
League was likewise highly organized; joint action was strictly limited,
and the individual cities had sovereign power over internal affairs.
There were federal officers, all the military forces of the cities were
controlled by the league, and federal finance was quite separate from
city finance.
8. Of the Lycian federation, its origin and duration, practically
nothing is known. We know of it in 188-168 B.C. as dependent on Rhodes,
and, from 168 till the time when the emperor Claudius absorbed it in the
provincial system, as an independent state under Roman protection. The
federation was a remarkable example of a typical Hellenic development
among a non-Hellenic people. Strabo (p. 665) informs us that the
federation, composed of twenty-three cities, was governed by a council
([Greek: koinon synedrion]) which assembled from time to time at that
city which was most convenient for the purpose in hand. The cities were
represented according to size by one, two or three delegates, and bore
proportionate shares in financial responsibility. The Lycian league was,
therefore, in this respect rather national than federal.
Of ancient federal government outside Greece we know very little. The
history of Italy supplies a few examples, of which the chief is perhaps
the league of the cities of Latium (q.v.; see also ETRURIA).
See E.A. Freeman, _Federal Government in Greece and Rome_ (2nd ed.,
1893, J.B. Bury), and works quoted in the special articles.
Among the later European confederations the Swiss republic is one of the
most interesting. As now constituted it consists of twenty-two sovereign
states or cantons. The government is vested in two legislative chambers,
a senate or council of state (_Standerat_), and a national council
(_Nationalrat_), constituting unitedly the federal assembly. The
executive council (_Bundesrat_) of seven members elects the president
and vice-president for a term of three years (see SWITZERLAND:
_GOVERNMENT_). Before the French Revolution the German empire was a
complex confederation, with the states divided into electoral colleges,
consisting--(1) of the ecclesiastical electors and of the secular
electors, including the king of Bohemia; (2) of the spiritual and
temporal princes of the empire next in rank to the electors; and (3) of
the free imperial cities. The emperor was elected by the first college
alone. This imposing confederation came to an end by the conquests of
Napoleon; and the Confederation of the Rhine was established in 1806
with the French emperor as protector. But in 1815 the Germanic
confederation (_Deutscher Bund_) was established by the congress of
Vienna, which in its turn has been displaced by the present German
empire. This, in its new organization, conferred on Germany the
long-coveted unity and coherence the lack of which had been a source of
weakness. The constitution dates, in its latest form, from the treaties
entered into at Versailles in 1871. A federation was then organized with
the king of Prussia as president, under the hereditary title of German
emperor. Delegates of the various federated governments form the
Bundesrath; the Reichstag, or popular assembly, is directly chosen by
the people by universal suffrage; and the two assemblies constitute the
federal parliament. This body has power to legislate for the whole
empire in reference to all matters connected with the army, navy, postal
service, customs, coinage, &c., all political laws affecting citizens,
and all general questions of commerce, navigation, passports, &c. The
emperor represents the federation in all international relations, with
the chancellor as first minister of the empire, and has power, with
consent of the Bundesrath, to declare war in name of the empire.
The United States of America more nearly resembles the Swiss
confederacy, though retaining marks of its English origin. The original
thirteen states were colonies wholly independent of each other. By the
Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union adopted by the Continental
Congress in 1777, and in effect in 1781-1789, the states bound
themselves in a league of common defence. By the written Constitution,
drafted in 1787 and in operation since 1789, a stronger and more
centralized union was established--in theory a federal republic formed
by the voluntary combination of sovereign states. A common citizenship
was recognized for the whole union; but the federal government was to
exercise only such powers as were expressly delegated to it (Amendment
of 1791). The powers of the central government are entrusted to three
distinct authorities--executive, legislative and judicial. The
president, elected for a term of four years by electors chosen for that
purpose by each state, is the executive head of the republic. The
vice-president, _ex officio_ president of the Senate, assumes the
presidency in case of resignation or death. Legislative power is vested
in a Congress, consisting of two Houses: a Senate, composed of two
members elected by each state for a term of six years; and a House of
Representatives, consisting of representatives in numbers proportionate
to the population of each state, holding their seats for two years. The
supreme judicial authority is vested in a Supreme Court, which consists
of a chief justice and eight associate justices, all appointed for life
by the president, subject to confirmation by the Senate.
The extension of responsible constitutional government by Great Britain
to her chief colonies, under a governor or viceregal representative of
the crown, has been followed in British North America by the union of
the Canadian, maritime and Pacific provinces under a federal
government--with a senate, the members of which are nominated by the
crown, and a house of commons elected by the different provinces
according to their relative population. The governor-general is
appointed by the crown for a term of five years, and represents the
sovereign in all matters of federal government. The lieutenant-governors
of the provinces are nominated by him; and all local legislation is
carried on by the provincial parliaments. The remarkable federation of
the Dominion of Canada which was thus originated presented the unique
feature of a federal union of provinces practically exercising sovereign
rights in relation to all local self-government, and sustaining a
constitutional autonomy, while cherishing the colonial relationship to
Great Britain.
The Commonwealth of Australia (q.v.), proclaimed in 1901, is another
interesting example of self-governing states federating into a united
whole. There is, however, a striking difference to be observed in the
powers of the federal governments of Canada and Australia. The federal
parliament of Canada has jurisdiction over all matters not specially
assigned to the local legislatures, while the federal parliament of
Australia has only such jurisdiction as is expressly vested in it or is
not expressly withdrawn from the local legislatures. This jurisdiction
is undoubtedly extensive, comprising among others, power to legislate
concerning trade and industry, criminal law, taxation, quarantine,
marriage and divorce, weights and measures, legal tender, copyrights and
patents, and naturalization and aliens. There was also an early attempt
to federate the South African colonies, and an act was passed for that
purpose (South African Act 1877), but it expired on the 18th of August
1882, without having been brought into effect by the sovereign in
council; in 1908, however, the Closer Union movement (see SOUTH AFRICA)
ripened, and in 1909 a federating Act was successfully passed.
See also Bluntschli, _The Theory of the State_; W. Wilson, _The
State_; Wheaton, _International Law_.
FEDERALIST PARTY, in American politics, the party that organized the
national government of the United States under the constitution of 1787.
It may be regarded as, in various important respects, the lineal
predecessor of the American Whig and Republican parties. The name
_Federalists_ (see ANTI-FEDERALISTS) was first given to those who
championed the adoption of the Constitution. They brought to the support
of that instrument "the areas of intercourse and wealth" (Libby), the
influence of the commercial towns, the greater planters, the army
officers, creditors and property-holders generally,--in short, of
interests that had felt the evils of the weak government of the
Confederation,--and also of some few true nationalists (few, because
there was as yet no general national feeling), actuated by political
principles of centralization independently of motives of expediency and
self-interest. Most of the Federalists of 1787-1788 became members of
the later Federalist Party.
The Federalist Party, which may be regarded as definitely organized
practically from 1791, was led, leaving Washington aside, by Alexander
Hamilton (q.v.) and John Adams. A nationalization of the new central
government to the full extent warranted by a broad construction of the
powers granted to it by the constitution, and a correspondingly strict
construction of the powers reserved to the states and the citizens, were
the basic principles of Hamilton's policy. The friends of individual
liberty and local government naturally found in the assumption by the
central government of even the minimum of its granted powers constant
stimulus to their fears (see DEMOCRATIC PARTY); while the financial
measures of Hamilton--whose wish for extreme centralization was nowise
satisfied by the government actually created in 1787--were calculated to
force an immediate and firm assumption by that government, to the limit,
of every power it could be held to possess. To the Republicans
(Democratic Republicans) they seemed intended to cause a usurpation of
powers ungranted. Hence these measures became the issues on which the
first American parties were formed. Their effect was supplemented by the
division into French and British sympathizers; the Republicans approving
the aims and condoning the excesses of the French Revolution, the
Federalists siding with British reaction against French democracy. The
Federalists controlled the government until 1801. They, having the great
opportunity of initiative, organized it in all its branches, giving it
an administrative machinery that in the main endures to-day; established
the doctrine of national neutrality toward European conflicts (although
the variance of Federalist and Republican opinion on this point was
largely factitious); and fixed the practice of a liberal construction of
the Constitution,[1]--not only by Congress, but above all by the United
States Supreme Court, which, under the lead of John Marshall (who had
been appointed chief-justice by Pres. John Adams), impressed enduringly
on the national system large portions of the Federalist doctrine. These
are the great claims of the party to memory. After 1801 it never
regained power. In attempts to do so, alike in national and in state
politics, it impaired its morale by internal dissension, by intrigues,
and by inconsistent factious opposition to Democratic measures on
grounds of ultra-strict construction. It took up, too, the Democratic
weapon of states' rights, and in New England carried sectionalism
dangerously near secession in 1808, and in 1812-1814, during the
movement, in opposition to the war of 1812, which culminated in the
Hartford Convention (see HARTFORD). It lost, more and more, its
influence and usefulness, and by 1817 was practically dead as a national
party, although in Massachusetts it lingered in power until 1823. It is
sometimes said that Federalism died because the Republicans took over
its principles of nationality. Rather it fell because its great leaders,
John Adams and Alexander Hamilton, became bitter enemies; because
neither was even distantly comparable to Jefferson as a party leader;
because the party could not hold the support of its original commercial,
manufacturing and general business elements; because the party opposed
sectionalism to a growing nationalism on the issues that ended in the
war of 1812; and, above all, because the principles of the party's
leaders (e.g. of Hamilton) were out of harmony, in various respects,
with American ideals. Their conservatism became increasingly a
reactionary fear of democracy; indeed, it is not a strained construction
of the times to regard the entire Federalist period from the American
point of view as reactionary--a reaction against the doctrines of
natural rights, individualism, and states' rights, and the financial
looseness of the period of the War of Independence and the succeeding
years of the Confederation. The Federalists were charged by the
Republicans with being aristocrats and monarchists, and it is certain
that their leaders (who were really a very remarkable body of men)
distrusted democratic government; that their Sedition Law was outrageous
in itself, and (as well as the Alien Law) bad as a party measure; that
in disputes with Great Britain they were true English Tories when
contrasted with the friendly attitude toward America held by many
English Liberals; and that they persisted in New England as a
pro-British, aristocratic social-cult long after they lost effective
political influence. In short, the country was already thoroughly
democratic in spirit, while Federalism stood for obsolescent social
ideas and was infected with political "Toryism" fatally against the
times.
Besides the standard general histories see O.G. Libby, _Geographical
Distribution of the Vote of the Thirteen States on the Federal
Constitution_, 1787-1788 (Madison, Wis., 1894); the _Memoirs_ of
Oliver Wolcott (ed. by Gibbs); C.D. Hazen, _Contemporary American
Opinion of the French Revolution_ ("J.H.U. Studies," Baltimore, 1897);
Henry Adams, _Documents relating to New England Federalism_, 1800-1815
(Boston, 1878); A.E. Morse, _The Federalist Party in Massachusetts_
(Princeton, N.J., 1909); and the biographies and writings of George
Cabot, Fisher Ames, Gouverneur Morris, John Jay, Rufus King, Timothy
Pickering, Theodore Sedgwick, C.C. Pinckney and J.A. Bayard.