and Italian.

Landsgemeinde. 1291 Schwyz 50,307 German. Oblig. Ref. " Unterwald       "     Obwald 15,041 " Landsgemeinde.       Niwald 12,538 " "   Glarus 33,825 " " 1352 Zug 23,029 " Optional Ref. " Freiburg 119,155 French and Ger. Legislature. 1481 Soleure 85,621 German. Oblig. Ref. " Bâle       1501     City 73,749 " Optional Ref.       Country 61,941 " Oblig. Ref.   Schaffhausen 37,783 " Optional Ref. " Appenzell       1573     Outer 54,109 " Landsgemeinde.       Inner 12,888 " "   St. Gall 228,160 " Optional Ref. 1803 Grisons 94,810 Ger.,Ital.,Rom. Oblig. Ref. " Aargau 193,580 German. " " Thurgau 104,678 " " " Ticino 126,751 Italian. Optional Ref. " Vaud 247,655 French and Ger. " " Valais 101,985 " Finance Ref. 1814 Neuchâtel 108,153 French. Optional Ref. " Geneva 105,509 " " "   2,917,740      

In round numbers, 2,092,000 of the Swiss people speak German, 637,000 French, 156,000 Italian, and 30,000 Romansch. Of the principal cities, in 1887, Zurich, with suburbs, had 92,685 inhabitants; Bâle, 73,963; Geneva, with suburbs, 73,504; Berne, 50,220; Lausanne, 32,954; and five others from 17,000 to 25,000. Fourteen per cent of the inhabitants (410,000) live in cities of more than 15,000. The factory workers number 161,000, representing about half a million inhabitants, and the peasant proprietors nearly 260,000, representing almost two millions. The area of Switzerland is 15,892 square miles,—slightly in excess of double that of New Jersey. The population is slightly less than that of Ohio.

Switzerland—The Youngest of Republics.

It is misleading to suppose, as is often done, that the Switzerland of today is the republic which has stood for six hundred years. In truth, it is the youngest of republics. Its chief governmental features, cantonal and federal, are the work of the present generation. Its unique executive council, its democratic army organization, its republican railway management, its federal post-office, its system of taxation, its two-chambered congress, the very Confederation itself—all were originated in the constitution of 1848, the first that was anything more than a federal compact. The federal Referendum began only in 1874. The federal Initiative has been just adopted (1891.)[C] The form of cantonal Referendum now practiced was but begun (in St. Gall) in 1830, and forty years ago only five cantons had any Referendum whatever, and these in the optional form. It is of very recent years that the movement has become steady toward the general adoption of the cantonal Referendum. In 1860 but 34 per cent of the Swiss possessed it, 66 per cent delegating their sovereign rights to representatives. But in 1870 the referendariship had risen to 71 per cent, only 29 submitting to lawmaking officials; and today the proportions are more than 90 per cent to less than 10.

The thoughtful reader will ask: Why this continual progress toward a purer democracy? Wherein lie the inducements to this persistent revolution?

The answer is this: The masses of the citizens of Switzerland found it necessary to revolt against their plutocracy and the corrupt politicians who were exploiting the country through the representative system. For a peaceful revolution these masses found the means in the working principles of their communal meetings—the Initiative and Referendum,—and these principles they are applying throughout the republic as fast as circumstances admit.[D]

The great movement for democracy in Europe that culminated in the uprising of 1848 brought to the front many original men, who discussed innovations in government from every radical point of view. Among these thinkers were Martin Rittinghausen, Emile Girardin, and Louis Blanc. From September, 1850, to December, 1851, the date of the coup d'état of Louis Bonaparte, these reformers discussed, in the "Democratic pacifique," a weekly newspaper of Paris, the subject of direct legislation by the citizens. Their essays created a sensation in France, and more than thirty journals actively supported the proposed institution, when the coup d'état put an end to free speech. The articles were reprinted in book form in Brussels, and other works on the subject were afterward issued by Rittinghausen and his co-worker Victor Considérant. Among Considérant's works was "Solution, ou gouvernement direct du peuple," and this and companion works that fell into the hands of Carl Bürkli convinced the latter and other citizens of Zurich ("an unknown set of men," says Bürkli) of the practicability of the democratic methods advocated. The subject was widely agitated and studied in Switzerland, and the fact that the theory was already to some extent in practice there (and in ancient times had been much practiced) led to further