724 



SWITZERLAND. 



new church law reported that its work was 

 nearly finished. When completed it will bo 

 laid before the consistories, and subsequently, 

 as it is expected, before an extniordinary ses- 

 sion of the General Assembly. A inuinber of 

 the State Council, Wennerberjr, presented 

 eight royal letters concerning different 

 siastical questions; among them w:s the pub- 

 lication of a new catechism, a new translation 

 of the Bible, and a law relating to dissenters. 

 The latter was adopted on September -Jlili by 

 43 against 13 votes. 



On September 10th the submarine cable 

 which connects Sweden with Great Britain 

 and Denmark was opened. 



In November, a royal order authorized fe- 

 male students to pres.-nt themselves t'ur ex- 

 amination at the Swedfsh universities, except 

 in the faculties of theology and law. 



The Storthing of Norway was opened by 

 the King on February 3d. A resolution pro- 

 viding for the abolition of the office of Stadt- 

 holder of Norway, for which the King has the 

 right of nominating a Swede, although this 

 right has for many years not been exercised, 

 was sanctioned by the King; and the head of 

 the Norwegian Government will henceforth 

 always be a state minister, a native of Nor- 

 way. The Storthing was closed on June 9th. 

 The speech from tin- throne expressed the 

 King's satisfaction with the work of the ses- 

 sion in general, but regretted that the Stor- 

 thing had refused to accept the monetary con- 

 on, and declared the new military service 

 law to be unacceptable. On July 18th the 

 King and the Queen were solemnly crowned 

 at Drontheim, in the presence of Prince Ar- 

 tliur of England and Prince Waldemar of 

 Denmark. 



Of the new elections for the Storthing, 107 

 out of 1 1 1 were ended at the close of the 

 The Left, under the leadership of Svordrnp, 

 has a still larger majority than in the pr 

 ing year. About one-fourth of the members 

 were partisans of the Government. The ex- 

 treme Left was only represented by five mem- 

 bers; the remainder belonged to the Middle 



s\MT/.KUI.AND, a republic of Central 

 Europe, consisting of twenty-two cantons, 

 three of which are divided each into two inde- 

 pendent half-cantons. The supreme legisla- 

 tive and executive authority is vested in a 

 Parliament of two Chambers, the Standerath, 

 or State Council, and the N'ationalrath, or 

 National Council. The first is composed ( ,f 

 forty-four members, two for each canton. 

 The Nntionalrnth consists of 135 representa- 

 tives of the Swiss people, chosen in direct 

 election, at the rate of one deputy tor every 

 twenty souls. Both Chambers united are 

 called the Federal Acml>y. and as such rep- 

 resent the supreme Government of the repub- 

 lic. Tin- chief executive authority is deputed 

 to a F. d. r ,1 r..!incil. consisting of seven mem- 

 ber*, elected for three year* by the Federal 



Assembly. The President and Vice-President 

 of the Federal Council, who are the first 

 magistrates of the republic, are elected by the 

 Federal Assembly tor the term of one year, and 

 are not recligihle till after the expiration of 

 another year. The President of the Federal 

 Council for the sear is;:; wit-. I'. .1. (Yr 

 of the Canton of Valid ; Vice-President, Dr. C. 

 S-heiik. of the Canton of Berne. Presi 

 of the National Council for the session of the 

 Federal Assembly, beginning in July, ! 

 <;. /iegler. of the Canton of Zurich; Vice- 

 President, K. Feer-llerzog, of the Canton of 

 Aargan. President of the State Council. A. 

 Kotl'. of the Canton of Lucerne ; Vicc-l'ri-i- 

 dent, A. Kochlin. of the Canton of Basel. 



Area of Switzerland, 15,992 square n> 

 Population, according to the census of 1*7", 

 i!. >>'' .',147, of whom 1,566,347 (58.7 per cent.) 

 were Evangelical; 1,084,869 (40.6 per cent.) 

 Catholics ; 1 l,i:',~> members of Christian sects, 

 and ii,990 Jews. Of the foreign residents of 

 Switzerland, 62,228 were French, 57,245 Ger- 

 mans, 18,073 Italians. As regards the lan- 

 guages spoken in Switzerland, 384,538 house- 

 In. Ids (or 69 per cent.) were German; 183,575 

 (24 per cent.) French; 30,079 (5.4 per cent.) 

 Italian; 8,778 (1.6 per cent.) Romance. 



The total revenue of the Confederation in 

 the year 1872 amounted to 29,641.914 fn. 

 the expenditures to 27.559,245 francs: surplus 

 of -J.731,838 francs. The budget for 1878 esti- 

 mated the revenue at 28,941,000 francs; the 

 expenditures at 28,779,100 francs: surplus at 

 161,900 francs. The liabilities of the repub- 

 lic amounted, in 1871, to 30,057,593; as a 

 set-off against which there is Federal property 

 amounting to 27,778,268 francs. . 



The strength and organization of the armed 

 forces of Switzerland were as follows, at the 

 end of September, 1872: 



The maintenance of a standing army within 

 the limit- of the Confederation is forbidden by 

 the Constitution. The Bundesauszng com- 

 prises the men able to bear arms, from the age 

 of twenty to thirty; the reserve, those from 

 thirty-one to forty; the Landwehr, those from 

 forty-one to forty-four. Both the nun of the 

 Himdesmifizug and the reserve are called to- 

 gether in their respective cantons for annual 

 -es. extending' over a week for the in- 

 fantry, and over two weeks for the cavalry 

 and artillery. 



The aggregate length of Swiss railways, at 

 the end of 1870, was 1,310 kilometres; that 

 of telegraph-lines, in September, 1872, B.529.4 



