772 



SWITZERLAND. 



juries, a reasonable extension of the right of 

 suffrage, a reorganization of the army on the 

 model of the Swiss system of militia are all 

 met by an unyielding resistance on the part of 

 the Government, and as little regard is paid by 

 the Peasant party to guarantees claimed by the 

 crown. The political excitement during the 

 preparations for the new elections was very 

 intense. A speech of the poet Bjornsterne 

 Bjornson, one of the leaders of the Peasant 

 party, clearly shows the ideas entertained by 

 this party. He said: "If any one, even were 

 he a minister, should say that royalty can not 

 do without the veto, we would have to answer 

 most emphatically, that in such a case the Nor- 

 wegian people would have to give up royalty. 

 The issue of this election can be nothing less 

 than the veto or royalty." The new elections 

 returned to the Storthing a more formidable 

 majority of the Peasant party than ever, and in 

 the new Storthing, which meets in February, 

 1883, all the means placed in their hands by 

 the Constitution will be used by them to main- 

 tain their will. The proposition to increase 

 the appanage of the Crown Prince, on the oc- 

 casion of his marriage, was rejected for the 

 second time in June. A new commercial 

 treaty was concluded with France, which went 

 into force May 15th. The duties on artificial 

 flowers, silk fabrics, gloves, watches, wine, and 

 on feathers, sardines, and anchovies, were con- 

 siderably lowered. 



SWITZERLAND, a federal republic in Cen- 

 tral Europe. A closer union was formed un- 

 der the fundamental laws adopted in 1848, and 

 the Constitution of April 19, 1874. The legis- 

 lative and executive authority of the confed- 

 eracy is vested in the State Council, or Stande- 

 rath, composed of 44 members, chosen by the 

 twenty-two cantons, two for each canton, and 

 the National Council or Nationalrath, chosen 

 by direct election at the rate of one member 

 for every 20,000 inhabitants. Every male 

 citizen over twenty years of age is a voter. 

 Clergymen are not eligible. Both Chambers 

 united form the National Assembly. The ex- 

 ecutive authority is delegated to the Bundes- 

 rath, or Federal Council, consisting of seven 

 members, chosen for three years by the Fed- 

 eral Assembly. The President and Vice- 

 President of the Federal Council are elected 

 by the Federal Assembly for the term of one 

 year, and are not eligible for the next consecu- 

 tive term. The seven members of the Council 

 preside each one over a separate department 

 of the administration. The Bundesgericht, or 

 Federal Tribunal, decides upon questions in dis- 

 pute between the cantons among themselves, or 

 with the Federal Government. It consists of 

 11 members, elected for six years by the Fed- 

 eral Assembly. The Federal Tribunal is also 

 the court of final resort for all cases. The 

 Federal Assembly sits at Bern, the Federal 

 Tribunal at Lausanne. 



The cantons have their local government, 

 based upon the principle of the direct sover- 



eignty of the people. In the smaller cantons, 

 as in Appenzell, Glarus, Unterwalden, and Uri, 

 the laws are passed by the full vote of the citi- 

 zens, meeting at stated periods in open-air as- 

 semblies. In others the acts of the legislative 

 bodies are submitted to the people for con- 

 firmation or rejection. In the more populous 

 cantons the legislative authority is delegated 

 to the Cantonal Great Council, chosen by uni- 

 versal suffrage. 



The acts of the Cantonal Councils and of 

 the Federal Assembly are subject to the veto 

 of the people, when a referendum or reference 

 to the popular vote is demanded by a certain 

 number. Federal laws are submitted to the 

 popular vote when demanded by 30,000 citi- 

 zens, or by eight cantons. 



The President of the Federal Council for 

 1882 was S. Bavier, of the canton of Grisons; 

 the Vice- President was L. Ruchonnet, of the 

 canton of Vaud. The members of the Coun- 

 cil and their departments were as follow : 

 Politics, S. Bavier, the President; Interior, 

 Dr. K. Schenck, of the canton of Bern ; Jus- 

 tice and Police, L. Ruchonnet, the Vice-Presi- 

 dent ; Military Affairs, F. W. Hertenstein, of 

 the canton of Zurich ; Finance and Customs, 

 B. Hammer, of the canton of Soleure ; Com- 

 merce and Agriculture, N. Droz, of the canton 

 of Neufchatel; Posts and Railways, Dr. E. 

 Welti, of the canton of Aargau. 



AREA AND POPULATION. The population of 

 Switzerland, as determined by the census of 

 December 1, 1880, was 2,846,102, divided into 

 1,394,626 males and 1,451,476 females. The 

 area in square kilometres, and the population 

 of each of the cantons and half-cantons into 

 which the confederacy is divided, with the 

 number of Protestants and Roman Catholics 

 in each, and of persons speaking the German, 

 French, and Italian languages, are shown in the 

 table on the following page. 



The number speaking the Roumansch lan- 

 guage is 38,705, of whom 37,794 live in Grau- 

 btinden. There were 6,675 speaking other 

 languages than those enumerated. The num- 

 ber of foreigners returned was 211,035, of 

 whom 95,253 were Germans, 53,653 French, 

 41,530 Italians, 12,859 Austrians, 2,812 British, 

 1,285 Russians and Poles, and 1,111 Americans. 

 The number of Israelites was 7,373 ; of persons 

 of other faiths than the above, 10,838. The 

 number of marriages in 1881 was 19,425 ; of 

 births, 88,503 ; of deaths, 67,341 ; excess of 

 births, 21,162. 



The population live mostly in small towns 

 and villages. The only towns with over 25,- 

 000 inhabitants, in 1880, were the following: 

 Geneva, 68,320; Basel, 61,399; Bern, 44,087; 

 Lausanne, 30,179 ; Zurich, 25,102. Geneva is 

 the seat of the watch and jewelry industry, and 

 Basel, of silk and other manufactures. The 

 soil is very equally divided, there being but 

 half a million of the two and a half million 

 inhabitants of Switzerland who possess no 

 property or heritage in land. Of every 100 



