took my way to the Crown, in order to witness the arrival of the
members of the Council.

In order to make the proceedings of the day more intelligible, I must
first briefly sketch certain features of this little democracy, which it
possesses in common with three other mountain Cantons,--the primitive
forms which the republican principle assumed in Switzerland. In the
first place the government is only representative so far as is required
for its permanent, practical operation. The highest power in the land is
the _Landsgemeinde_, or General Assembly of the People, by whom the
members of the Executive Council are elected, and who alone can change,
adopt, or abolish any law. All citizens above the age of eighteen, and
all other Swiss citizens after a year's residence in the Canton, are not
only allowed, but required, to attend the _Landsgemeinde_. There is a
penalty for non-attendance. Outer-Rhoden contains forty-eight thousand
inhabitants, of whom eleven thousand are under obligations to be present
and vote, from beginning to end of the deliberations.

In Glarus and Unterwalden, where the population is smaller, the right of
discussion is still retained by these assemblies, but in Appenzell it
has been found expedient to abolish it. Any change in the law, however,
is first discussed in public meetings in the several communities, then
put into form by the Council, published, read from all the pulpits for a
month previous to the coming together of the _Landsgemeinde_, and then
voted upon. But if the Council refuses to act upon the suggestion of any
citizen whomsoever, and he honestly considers the matter one of
importance, he is allowed to propose it directly to the people, provided
he do so briefly and in an orderly manner. The Council, which may be
called the executive power, consists of the governing Landamman and six
associates, one of whom has the functions of treasurer, another of
military commander,--in fact, a ministry on a small scale. The service
of the persons elected to the Council is obligatory, and they receive no
salaries. There is, it is true, a secondary Council, composed of the
first, and representatives of the communities, one for every thousand
inhabitants, in order to administer more intelligently the various
departments of education, religion, justice, roads, the militia system,
the poor, etc.; but the Assembly of the People can at any time reject or
reverse its action. All citizens are not only equa