LECTUEE ON SWITZERLAND. 123 



on a popular revolution, and all attempts to impede the progress of pop- 

 ular institutions must in the end prove futile. If the light of education 

 be denied to the people by their rulers, the revolutions will be bloody; 

 and in no case can there be happiness or safety without the full exercise 

 of popular rights, by a thoroughly educated people.* 



Calvin, as head of the consistory, whose meinbers then formed one- 

 third of the council of state, governed Geneva, and impressed his own 

 austere character upon the laws and manners. Public amusements 

 were prohibited and private regulated. The number of guests to be 

 invited to weddings of the first, second, and third class, was made the 

 subject of municipal regulation. All dancing was interdicted, and 

 when it was found that if the violin were played people would dance, 

 the use of the instrument was prohibited. The absence of light amuse- 

 ments, together with religious feeling, naturally led to a greater use of 

 those relaxations deemed lawful, and to the more active pursuit of science 

 and literature by the better educated. Though times have changed in 

 Geneva, in regard to religious creed as well as to amusements, the im- 

 I)ress of former days is still strong upon it, and those who term it " a 

 little Paris " do not look beneath the surface. 



There is a curious mixture of the traits, manners, and modes of life 

 of both France and England in this city, with a basis which is entirely 

 Genevese. No less than ten thousand strangers, including, however, 

 Swiss of other cantons, reside permanently in a town of thirty thousand 

 inhabitants, and the number passing through it in a year is reckoned to 

 be as great as the population itself. The influence of their manners is, 

 of course, considerable, notwithstanding the exclusiveness of Genevese 

 society. This exclusiveness is fostered among the ladies in the usual 

 way, and among the men by clubs, literary, scientific, for conversation 

 and mere amusement. It even begins among the children, who associ- 

 ate in little knots called Sunday- societies, the members of which keep 

 up with each other the intercourse of cousins. Many Genevese enter 

 into commercial life abroad, and after accumulating wealth return to 

 their home, few (except those who have migrated to the United States) 

 becoming identified with foreign countries. 



The most prominent business in Geneva is the manufacture of jewelry, 

 and of watches. Each part of the watch is the special occupation of 

 one class of workmen. Dilferent portions of the works are made by 

 peasants, but the finishing and putting together of the whole, as 

 well as the manufacture of the cases, emjiloy the artisans of Geneva. 

 Nearly three thousand persons within the town, about one-fifth of 

 the men, are occupied in the jewelers' and watch-makers' business, 

 and twenty thousand watches are made annually, t The restrictive 



* The school system of Geneva has undergone a material change, and public schools 

 of all grades are liberally provided for. 



t The census of 1870 show seven thousand persons engaged in -watch-making, and 

 upward of 200,000 watches made per annum. 



