tory and those in which it is merely optional.

*460. The Landesgemeinde.*--Prior to the French intervention of 1798
there were in the Confederation no fewer than eleven cantons whose
government was of the Landesgemeinde type. To-day there are but six
cantons and half-cantons--those, namely, of Uri, Glarus, the two
Unterwaldens, and the two Appenzells. Under varying circumstances, but
principally by reason of the increasingly unwieldy character of the
Landesgemeinde as population has grown, the rest have gone over to the
representative system. All of those in which the institution survives
are small in area and are situated in the more sparsely populated
mountain districts where conditions of living are primitive and where
there is little occasion for governmental elaborateness.[607]

[Footnote 607: The area of Zug is 92 square miles;
of Glarus, 267; of the Unterwaldens, 295; of the
Appenzells, 162. The longest dimension of any one
of these cantons is but thirty miles, and the
distance to be traversed by the citizen who wishes
to attend the Landesgemeinde of his canton rarely
exceeds ten miles. It was once the fashion to
represent the Swiss Landesgemeinde as a direct
survival of the primitive Germanic popular
assembly. For the classic statement of this view
see Freeman, Growth of the English Constitution,
Chap. 1. There is, however, every reason to believe
that between the two institutions there is no
historical connection.]

Nominally, the Landesgemeinde is an assembly composed of all male
citizens of the canton who have attained their majority. Actually, it
is a gathering of those who are able, or disposed, to be present. The
assembly meets regularly once a year, in April or May, at a centrally
located place within the canton, and usually in an open meadow. When
necessity arises, there may be convened a special session. With the
men come ordinarily the women and children, and the occasion (p. 418)
partakes of the character of a picturesque, even if solemn and
ceremonious, holiday. Under the presidency of the Landammann, or chief
executive of the canton, the assembly passes with despatch upon
whatsoever proposals may be laid before it by the Landrath