LECTURE ON SWITZERLAND. 137 



Swiss Diet, is beaatifully situated ou the lake of the Forest cantons, 

 on a level piece of ground, at the point where the Eeuss issues from the 

 lake to join the Lioimat in its course to the Rhine, Lucerne, on a gala 

 day, presents an interesting sight to the stranger. When I saw it, the 

 people in holiday dress were collecting from all quarters to the lake 

 side; the long wooden bridges which join the different parts of the town, 

 and the stone lined quays along the Eeuss, were thronged with people 

 pressing toward the same point. Tiie women from the country wearing 

 the hair plaited on the crown of the head, or black caps with mohair 

 lace wings, and long plaits of hair and black ribbons falling down the 

 back, accompanied by men in plain attire, all speaking the harsh patois 

 derived from the Southern German. Even the bridge from the Abbey 

 had its passengers, though now few indeed in numbers, and a few Cor- 

 deliers were seen mingling with the throng. The windows of the tall 

 houses near the wharf presented an array of the notables of Lucerne, 

 and even some members of the diet might be pointed out to the stranger. 

 The bells were ringing at intervals, and cannon pointed toward the 

 lake were prepared for a salute. The American smiles complacently 

 when told the cause of all this circumstance. The first steamboat navi- 

 gating the lake is expected on its first return trip from Altdorf, and 

 even now may be seen rounding a neighboring point. The excitement 

 increases as the wonderful boat approaches, and we are carried in im- 

 agination back to the days of 1807, when New York poured out its popu- 

 lation to greet the return of the first adventure of the great Fulton. 

 No doubt now mingles, as then it did, with expectation, and amid the 

 hoarse noise of loud German exclamations and hurrahs, and the discharge 

 of artillery, the boat approaches. It is wonderful to see how at once 

 the art of managing the vessel has been acquired ! How imitative a 

 creature man is ! The captain is mounted upon the wheel-guard directing 

 tlie pilot and engineer with his hand. The headway is checked judi- 

 ciously, and now the boat nears the wharf. Yv'^ith what precision and 

 skill this manoBuvre is executed for the first time ! The thought is hardly 

 complete, when rising loud and clear above the hoarse gutturals of the 

 mob, comes to do away all mystery, to explain the whole, in good home- 

 spun English, the well-known cry of "Stop her!" The engine was 

 built in England, put up by Englishmen, and is now managed in its first 

 trial by them • and thus the mechanics and manufacturers of that great 

 nation lay not only Switzerland, but all the continent of Europe, under 

 contribution, as a return for the money spent abroad by her travelers. 



The Swiss Confederacy is, politically considered, even a weaker gov- 

 ernment than ours was under the old Articles of Confederation ; at all 

 events weaker for every purpose not merely military. The act of con- 

 federation now in force dates from 1815, and all the attempts made 

 since its adoption to modify it so as to produce a stronger government, 

 by cementing the union more closely, have failed. The cantonal spirit 

 resists the least encroachments upon its independence. The act of con- 



