t in reduced numbers,
caused many doubts as to the sincerity of his desire for a final
settlement.

The unionist majority at Berne soon proceeded to modify his proposals,
which they condemned as full of defects and contradictions; while the
federals strove to keep matters as they were. In the month of October
their efforts succeeded, thanks to the support of the French
ambassador and soldiery; they dissolved the Assembly, annulled its
recent amendments; and their influence procured for Reding, the head
of the oligarchic party, the office of Landamman, or supreme
magistrate. So reactionary, however, were their proceedings, that the
First Consul recalled the French general as a sign of his displeasure
at his help recently offered to the federals. Their triumph was brief:
while their chiefs were away at Easter, 1802, the democratic unionists
effected another _coup d'etat_--it was the fourth--and promulgated one
more constitution. This change seems also to have been brought about
with the connivance of the French authorities:[221] their refusal to
listen to Stapfer's claims for a definite settlement, as well as their
persistent hints that the Swiss could not by themselves arrange their
own affairs, argued a desire to continue the epoch of quarterly _coups
d'etat_.

The victory of the so-called democrats at Berne now brought the whole
matter to the touch. They appealed to the people in the first Swiss
_plebiscite_, the precursor of the famous _referendum_. It could now
be decided without the interference of French troops; for the First
Consul had privately declared to the new Landamman, Dolder, that he
left it to his Government to decide whether the foreign soldiery
should remain as a support or should evacuate Switzerland.[222] After
many searchings of heart, the new authorities decided to try their
fortunes alone--a response which must have been expected at Paris,
where Stapfer had for months been urging the removal of the French
forces. For the first time since the year 1798 Switzerland was
therefore free to declare her will. The result of the _plebiscite_ was
decisive enough, 72,453 votes being cast in favour of the latest
constitution, and 92,423 against it. Nothing daunted by this rebuff,
and, adopting a device which the First Consul had invented for the
benefit of Dutch liberty, the Bernese leaders declared that the
167,172 adult voters who had not voted at all must reckon as approving
the new order of things. The