SWITZERLAND. 



786 



In Juno the National Assembly elected tin- 



i Laus.-mnr, in tlio canton of Vaud, as 



,i of tin- I'V'K-ral Court (Bondetgwioht). 



'I'll.- in -w I'Yd.Tal Court, wliidi is to serve from 



1875 to 1878, was elected in o.-toln-r; it con- 



.f tlu- following members: Dr. Blnm.-r, 



of the canton of Gltfu, ri-.'-i.u-nt; koguin, 



of Vand, Yi,-.-l'iv-idi-iit; Morel, of St-(.all; 



And.-rwi'rt, ..f Thurgau; 1'irU-t, <>t' (ieneva; 



i.-r, of Hi-ni; Staiiiin, of Schaif hausen. 



Intel-national 1'ostal Congress met in the 

 city MI' Horn, on September 15th, and iv 

 rYdi-ral-Coiiiirilor Borel its president. The 

 invitations to this Congress had been issued 

 ly tlu- Government of Germany, and all the 

 invited states, twenty-one in number, had - -nt 



delegates. The states represented were : 

 many, Switzerland, Anftro-HaBjprian Mon- 



an-hy, lii-l^ium, iK-nniark, K^y|>t. :-|.ain, I 



I of North America, Hrit- 



ain. tiiv.Tf, Italy, Luxemburg, Norway, Nt-th- 

 i-rland-, Portugal, Kouinuniu, Huh- 

 Swi-di-n, and Turkey. Tli.- ('..n/ress agreed 

 upon the introduction of uniform rates through- 

 out the territory of the states belonging to the 

 l'"-tal Union, and the total abolition ot Iran-it 

 postage. The city of Bern was elected the 

 seat of the International Postal Bureau. It 

 was resolved to bold the next Congress in 

 1875, in Paris. The Congress closed its session 

 on d-tober 9th, the treaty having been agreed 

 to and signed by the representatives of all the 



.' 



states except the one of France, who had not 

 yet received instructions from his Government. 

 Among the most important bills adopted by 

 the Federal Assembly in its fall session was 

 the new army bill. The main questions to be 

 settled were : In how many days can the militia- 

 man be made effective, and how many mnst be 

 insisted on afterward for his periodical drills? 

 Fifty-two days had been asked for by the Gov- 

 ernment for the training of infantry recruits, 

 and this period had been declared by the 

 Assembly of the cantonal military societies 

 lately held at Olten to be acceptable only as 

 the minimum. However, the House Com- 

 mittee of the Deputies on the bill resolved 

 to reduce it by a week, and they succeeded 

 by a majority of ten votes after a sharp debate, 

 so that the future training will be for forty- 



five days only. As to the drilling practice, or 

 repetition, there was by no means the same 

 striking divergency of opinion. It is true that 

 the Government, in Colonel Welti's project, 

 had asked for ten days in every year for the 

 first eight years, while the committee preferred 

 sixteen every second year. But the Olten 

 meeting had received with favor this proposed 

 modification since it was announced, and it was 

 therefore accepted on behalf of the Executive 

 by Colonel Welti.as accordant with sound mil- 

 itary views, and so adopted almost unanimous- 

 ly. The one remaining point of great general 

 interest was the clause, which was agreed to, 

 directing the cantons to take care that all the 

 male youth between the school and recruit 

 hall iri-t fifteen afternoon drills annually, 

 of course without arms. 



voi xiv. 60 A 



