Thus resolved by the National Council to be submitted to the popular vote of the Swiss people and of the Cantons. Bern, Fanuary 31, 1874. ZIEGLER, President. Thus resolved by the Council of States, to be submitted to the popular vote of the Swiss people and of the Cantons. Bern, January 31, 1874. A. KOPP, President. Of all the foreign federal constitutions now in operation, the most important for comparison with the Constitution of the United States is that of Switzerland. Switzerland is composed of the most ancient group of republics which still retain their republican institutions; it is also the oldest confederation now in existence; in many respects it bears a strong resemblance in government to the United States, and many problems common to both federations have been worked out in Switzerland in a manner most instructive to Americans. The foundation of the Swiss Constitution is the old Swiss Federation which lasted from 1291 to 1798. The system of government was loose yet complicated. Privileged classes and inequalities between citizens and be tween districts prevented a strong feeling of union. By the intervention of the French in 1798 a single centralized state was substituted for the thirteen old cantons. This government was so foreign to the spirit of the people that in 1803 Napoleon granted a moderately centralized federal government under the so-called Act of Mediation. At the downfall of the French Empire a looser confederation, not unlike that still existing in 1798, was substituted, and considerable additions of territory were made. The Constitution proved too narrow for the purposes of the nation, and did not prevent political and religious struggles, which culminated in civil war. In 1848 a new Constitution, modelled in many respects after that of the United States, was adopted. Still later, in 1874, under the influence of the triumph of the federal principle in the American Civil War and the foundation of the Canadian and German federations, that Constitution was remodelled in the form shown above. Several amendments have since been passed and incorporated into the body of the Constitution. By far the best books in English on the constitutional history of Switzerland are: "The Federal Government of Switzerland, An Essay on the Consti on, by Bernard Moses, San Francisco, 1889; and " The Swiss Confedera tion,' by Sir Francis Ottiwell Adams and C. D. Cunningham, London and New York, 1889. Both books are elaborate descriptions and discussions of the workings of the Swiss government. Briefer accounts in English may be found in Woolsey's “Political Science," Vol. II, pp. 208-223; and in Woodrow Wilson's recent treatise on "The State," §§ 505-577. Edward Freeman in the introduction to his "History of Federal Government" (London, 1863) alludes to rather than describes the Swiss government, but his essay on "Presidential Government” (National Review, November, 1864; reprinted in his " Historical Essays ") is an interesting and valuable comparison of the American and Swiss systems. A somewhat detailed historical account will be found in May's "Democracy in Europe," Vol. I, pp. 333403. The article in the Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth edition, may also be consulted. Statistical and political details for each year are best obtained in the annual "Statesman's Year Book." The topography of the country is excellently shown in Baedeker's standard "Handbook of Switzerland," which is revised every few years, and which abounds in local historical details. The elaborate works on the Swiss Constitution are almost all in German. Oechsli in his " Quellenbuch," Zürich, 1886, gives the texts of all the documents embodying the Swiss Constitution from its foundation. Texts of present Constitutions, federal and cantonal, may be found in Demombyne's "Constitutions Européennes,” Paris, 1881, Vol. II, pp. 271– 320; and in the official "Sammlung" or "Recueil," Bern, 1880. The laws and resolutions of the Confederation, including constitutional amendments, are in the official" Amtliche Sammlung der Bundesgesetze und Verordnungen," Bern, 1889. Meyer has issued a succession of works: "Geschichte des schweizerischen Bundesrechts," 1875 and 1878; “Eidgenossische Bundesverfassung, Bundesgesetze und Bundesbeschlüsse," 1876; "Staats Kalender der schweizerischen Eidgenossenschaft," 1880. Bluntschli has published a "Staats und Rechts Geschichte der Schweiz," 1849, and a more important "Geschichte des schweizerischen Bundesrechts von den ersten ewigen Bunden bis auf die Gegenwart," two vols., 1849-52, 2d edition, Vol. I, 1875. More useful are the compact treatises of Jacob Dubs, "Dis öffentliche Recht der schweizerischen Eidgenossenschaft,” 1877–78, two parts (also, in a French edition, "Droit public de la Confédération Suisse,” Zurich, 1878), and of A. von Orelli, "Das Staatsrecht der schweizerischen Eidgenossenschaft” (in Marquardsen's "Handbuch des öffentlichen Rechts"), Freiburg, i, B., 1885. Dubs devotes himself to a critical discussion of the workings of the Constitution, with much information not usually to be found in legal works and with frequent references to the United States. The most voluminous work on Swiss history is Dändliker, "Geschichte der Schweiz," 3 vols., Zurich .884-1887. In French two works need to be mentioned: A. Morin, "Précis de PHistoire Politique de la Suisse," 5 vols., Geneva, 1856-1875; and Dareste's "Constitutions Modernes," Paris, 1883, Vol. I, pp. 439-469. There is also a Spanish work, by Moreno, "Principales Constituciones o Instituciones Politicas... de la Confederacione Helvetica," Madrid, 1881. Brief bibliographies of the subject are in Wilson's "State," p. 333; the "Statesman's Year Book," end of article on Switzerland; Dubs' "Droit public," pp. 62-63; Oechsli, pp. 562-566; Dareste, Vol. I, p. 469. Whereas the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, assembled at Westminster, lawfully, fully, and freely representing all the estates of the people of this realm, did upon the Thirteenth day of February, in the year of our Lord One Thousand Six Hundred Eighty-eight [o. s.], present unto their Majesties, then called and known by the names and style of William and Mary, Prince and Princess of Orange, being present in their proper persons, a certain Declaration in writing, made by the said Lords and Commons, in the words following, viz.: "Whereas the late King James II., by the assistance of divers evil counsellors, judges, and ministers employed by him, did endeavour to subvert and extirpate the Protestant religion, and the laws and liberties of this kingdom; 1. By assuming and exercising a power of dispensing with and suspending of laws, and the execution of laws, without consent of Parliament. 2. By committing and prosecuting divers worthy prelates for humbly petitioning to be excused from concurring to the said assumed power. 3. By issuing and causing to be executed a commission under the Great Seal for erecting a court, called the Court of Commissioners for Ecclesiastical Causes. 4. By levying money for and to the use of the Crown by pretence of prerogative, for other time and in other manner than the same was granted by Parliament. 5. By raising and keeping a standing army within this kingdom in time of peace, without consent of Parliament, and quartering soldiers contrary to law. 6. By causing several good subjects, being Protestants, to be disarmed, at the same time when Papists were both armed and employed contrary to law. 7. By violating the freedom of election of members to serve in Parliament. 8. By prosecutions in the Court of King's Bench for mat ters and causes cognisable only in Parliament, and by divers other arbitrary and illegal causes. 9. And whereas of late years, partial, corrupt, and unqualified persons have been returned, and served on juries in trials, and particularly divers jurors in trials for high treason, which were not freeholders. 10. And excessive bail hath been required of persons committed in criminal cases, to elude the benefit of the laws made for the liberty of the subjects. II. And excessive fines have been imposed; and illegal and cruel punishments inflicted. 12. And several grants and promises made of fines and forfeitures before any conviction or judgment against the persons upon whom the same were to be levied. All which are utterly and directly contrary to the known laws and statutes, and freedom of this realm. And whereas the said late King James II. having abdicated the government, and the throne being thereby vacant, his Highness the Prince of Orange (whom it hath pleased Almighty God to make the glorious instrument of delivering this kingdom from Popery and arbitrary power) did (by the advice of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and divers principal persons of the Commons) cause letters to be written to the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, being Protestants, and other letters to the several counties, cities, universities, boroughs, and cinque ports, for the choosing of such persons to represent them as were of right to be sent to Parliament, to meet and sit at Westminster upon the two-and-twentieth day of January, in this year One Thousand Six Hundred Eighty and Eight, in order to such an establishment, as that their religion, laws, and liberties might not again be in danger of being subverted; upon which letters elections have been accordingly made. And thereupon the said Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, pursuant to their respective letters and elections, being now assembled in a full and free representation of this |