II4 6 SWITZERLAND 



in 1895 Soleure, in 1900 Schwyz, in 1905 Basel-Stadt, in 1909 Lucerne and in 1911 

 St. Gall); in general the Radicals oppose it and the Conservatives support it. 



The number of the members of the Federal Tribunal was raised in 1912 from 19 

 to 24, in view of the great increase of business expected on the coming into force (Jan. 

 i, 1912) of the Federal Civil Code. It has also been proposed to increase that of the 

 Federal Executive (Bundesrath or Conseil Federal) from 7 to 9 or more, and also to 

 appoint a permanent head of the Political Department (practically a Minister of 

 Foreign Affairs), but neither change has yet been adopted; both proposals are due to 

 the increase of routine business which hinders departmental work, and to the fact 

 that the President elected any given year may not be skilled in foreign affairs. On 

 the other hand in 1911-12 the Federal Council was greatly altered as to its personnel, 

 owing to the death of 4 and retirement of i of its members, so that 5 new members were 

 elected in 1911-12, the two seniors having been chosen in 1895 and 1902 respectively. 

 Three of the present members were born between 1845 and 1850, i in 1857, 2 in 1862 

 and 1868, and the junior as recently as 1871. This junior member (Motta, of Ticino) 

 is also interesting as he replaces the single Roman Catholic Conservative on the Council, 

 one only having been elected from 1891 onwards, though between 1848 and 1891 no 

 member of that shade of opinion was ever chosen. Up to November 1912 43 Federal 

 Councillors had been chosen since 1848, Vaud having had 8, Zurich 6, Bern and Neucha- 

 tel 4 each. Zurich and Bern have had one continuously. But the following 8 cantons 

 have never had a representative on the Federal Council Uri, Schwyz, Unterwalden, 

 Fribourg, Valais, Schaffhausen, Appenzell, a/id Zug. It is worthy of note that only 

 one Federal Councillor has failed to be re-elected at the triennial election by the two 

 houses of the Federal Legislature sitting in Congress this was Challet-Venel in 1873. 



Another scheme for relieving the Federal authorities is the creation of an Admin- 

 istrative Court, which will decide administrative disputes, without troubling the higher 

 powers. 



By a decree of the Federal Council (June 23, 1911) the official name of the great 

 Federal Polytechnic School (at Zurich) is to be henceforth " Federal Technical Uni- 

 versity " this is to avoid the ordinary sense of " polytechnic " in Germany, where 

 it is used of technical intermediate schools. 



The chief event in the international relations of Switzerland in 1909-1912 was 

 the so-called " Gotthard Convention." The railway was purchased by the Swiss 

 Confederation in virtue of the popular vote in 1898, but this purchase only took effect 

 on May r, 1909. The two great Powers which granted large subventions towards its 

 construction, Germany and Italy, maintained that this purchase could not be effected 

 without their consent, which would only be given on certain conditions, to which the 

 Swiss statesmen consented by a Convention dated October 13, 1909, and to come into 

 force on May i, 1910. As soon as the text was made known it was seen that the 

 Swiss negotiators had granted very large concessions to the two Powers named, espe- 

 cially the stipulation that, in case of the transit of persons and goods through Switzer- 

 land from or to either of the two countries named, Switzerland was bound to allow 

 to the German and Italian railway lines all advantages or reductions which should 

 at any time be given to the Swiss State Railways (arts. 7-8), the fixing of the Transit 

 dues without possibility of alteration (art. n) and the special reduction in favour 

 of Germany and Italy of the extra dues on the mountain bits of the St. Gotthard line 

 (art. 12). The last named concessions mean a heavy financial loss to the Swiss State 

 Railways, while the other provisions give the two Powers a sort of control over the 

 Swiss State Railways, and so seem to infringe the sovereignty of Switzerland. This 

 Convention has been ratified by the German Diet (March i, 1910) and by the Italian 

 Parliament (June 1912) but was still unadopted by the Swiss Federal Assembly in 

 November 1012. A strong agitation has taken place in Switzerland against it, a peti- 

 tion signed by 116,000 citizens being presented (May i, 1911) to the Federal Assembly. 



The most important event in the domestic history of Switzerland during 1909-1912 

 was the acceptance (Feb. 4, 1912), by popular vote, of the Federal law estab- 



