SECRETARY'S RErORT. 289 



■wrote his masterly work, the " Decline and Fall of the Roman 

 Empire." At Yvydun, having occasion to stop a few hours, I 

 visited the old castle used as a school by Pestolozzi. It is in a 

 tumbling down condition, but the old custodian was enthusi- 

 astic in his narration of its past history, and of the great teacher 

 who occupied it. This place is at one end of the lake of Neuf- 

 chatel, around whose shores we passed, at the foot of the Jura, 

 on our way to Berne. 



The confederation of the Swiss cantons was modelled after 

 our own. The central or federal government, having Berne as 

 its capital, is aiming to bring about a more completely harmo- 

 nious union, a more centralized power, by various national 

 festivals and otherwise, but the doctrine of " state rights " has 

 led to much contention by words, which, at one time, came to 

 an open rupture in the war of the Sonderbund, which was not 

 put down without considerable bloodshed. 



Party feeling often runs high in the cantons, and it is evi- 

 dent that with the blessings, they also have the natural evils of 

 a free, republican, representative form of government. Con- 

 servatism is overridden by young Switzerland, as by young 

 America, and much complaint is heard that the ablest, the best 

 and the wisest citizens have to stand aside, for the pushing, the 

 bold and the unprincipled ; and the management of affairs is 

 often in the hands, it is said by some, of those who don't know 

 any more than they ought to. When the people are properly 

 educated, no doubt these evils will in time correct themselves. 



Berne is a quaint old city, founded in 1191. Bears, from 

 which it was named, are its tutelar deities, or its patron saints. 

 An image of a bear, cut in stone or wood, meets you at every 

 turn. From the lofty terrace, a magnificent platform planted 

 with trees, around the cathedral, the view of the Oberland and 

 the Bernese Alps is one of the grandest and most beautiful in 

 Switzerland. The river Aar almost encircles the city. Walk- 

 ing down one of the principal streets, with its lofty colonnades 

 projecting, out from the houses over the sidewalks, we came to 

 an old arched building containing a curious and complicated 

 clock, built in the fifteenth century. As it was nearly time for 

 it to strike, we stopped a, few minutes to witness this phenome- 

 non. A cock began to start up and clap his wings, and crowed 

 three or four times. Tiien the four evangelists start out, each 

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