SWITZERLAND. Constitution and Government. THE republic of Switzerland, formerly a league of semi-independent states, or Staatenbund,' has become a united confederacy, or 'Bundesstaat,' since the year 1848. The present constitution, product of a short civil war, bears date September 12, 1848. It vests the supreme legislative and executive authority in a parliament of two chambers, a 'Ständerath,' or State Council, and a 'Nationalrath,' or Federal Council. The first is composed of forty-four members, chosen by the twenty-two cantons of the Confederation, two for each canton. The Nationalrath' consists of 120 representatives of the Swiss people, chosen in direct election, at the rate of one deputy for every 20,000 souls. New elections take place every three years. Every citizen of the republic who has attained the age of twenty years, is entitled to a vote; and any voter, not a clergyman, may be elected a deputy. Both chambers united are called the 'BundesVersammlung,' or Federal Assembly, and as such represent the supreme government of the republic. The chief executive authority is deputed to a 'Bundesrath,' or Federal Council, consisting of seven members, elected for three years, by the Federal Assembly. Every citizen who has a vote for the National Council is capable of becoming a member of the executive. The president and vice-president of the Federal Council are the first magistrates of the republic. The former has an annual salary of 4007.; and the latter of 3401. Both are elected by the Federal Assembly for the term of one year, and are not re-eligible till after the expiration of another year. The election takes place at a united meeting of the State Council and the Federal Council. The Federal Assembly alone has the right to declare war, to make peace, and to conclude alliances and treaties with other nations. Independent of the Federal Assembly, though issuing from the same, is the Bundes-Gericht,' or Federal Tribunal. It consists of eleven members, elected for three years by the Federal Assembly. The Federal Tribunal decides, in the last instance, all matters in dispute between the various cantons of the republic, as well as between the cantons and the Federal government, and acts in general as high court of appeal. The Tribunal is divided into three sections, the 'Anklagekammer,' or chamber of accusation; the 'Kriminalkammer,' or jury department; and the 'Cassations-Gericht,' or council of judges. Each section consists of three members, and the remaining two members, elected specially by the Federal Assembly, fill the post of president and vice-president. The seven members of the Federal Council, each of whom has a salary of 3407. per annum, while the president has 400l., act as ministers, or chiefs of the seven administrative departments of the republic. They are 1. The Department of Politik,' or Foreign Affairs. Dr. Jacob Dubs, President of the Federal Council, elected Dec. 12, 1863. 2. The Department of the Interior.-Johann Baptiste Pioda. 3. The Department of Justice and Police.-Dr. Schenk, Vicepresident of the Federal Council, elected Dec. 12, 1863. 4. The Department of Military Affairs.-Dr. Fornerod. 5. The Department of Finances. -Martin Knüsel. 6. The Department of Commerce.-N. Frey-Herosee. 7. The Department of Postal Affairs.-Dr. Wilhelm Näff. The term of office of the above-named members of the Federal Council commenced on January 1, 1864, and will expire on December 31, 1864. The president and vice-president of the council, by the terms of the Constitution, hold office for only one year, from January 1 to December 31. By a vote of the Federal Assembly of November 28, 1848, the city of Berne was chosen as the seat of the Federal Council and the central administrative authorities of the republic. Church and Education. 6 The population of Switzerland is nearly equally divided between Protestantism and Roman Catholicism, with a small majority in favour of the former. According to the census of December 10, 1860, the number of Protestants amounted to 1,483,498; of Roman Catholics to 1,040,534; of various Christian sects, to 5,894; and of Jews, to 4,316. According to the forty-fourth article of the constitution, 'all Christian sects are tolerated; but with the proviso, stipulated in the fifty-eighth article, that the order of the Jesuits is rigorously excluded from every part of the republic.' The Roman Catholic priests are much more numerous than the Protestant clergy, the former comprising more than 6,000 regular and secular priests. They are under five bishops, at Basle, Chur, St. Gaul, Lausanne, and Sion. The government of the Protestant Church, Calvinistic in principle, and Presbyterian in its form, is under the supervision of the magistrates of the various cantons, together with the superintendence of public instruction. Education is very widely diffused through Switzerland, particularly in the cantons of Aargau, Zürich, Berne, and Vaud, where the vast majority of inhabitants are Protestants. In these four cantons, the proportion of school-attending children to the whole population is as one to five; while in the half-Protestant and half-Catholic cantons it is as one to seven; and in the chiefly Catholic cantons as one to nine. Parents are compelled to send their children to school, or have them privately taught, from the age of five to that of eight years; subsequent education is encouraged, but not compulsory. Parental neglect may be punished by fine, and, in some cases, by imprisonment. In every district there are primary schools, in which the elements of education, with geography and history, are taught; and secondary schools for youths of from twelve to fifteen, in which instruction is given in ancient and modern languages, geometry, natural history, the fine arts, and music. In both these schools the rich and the poor are educated together, the latter being admitted gratuitously. There are normal schools in several of the cantons for the instruction of schoolmasters; who are subsequently paid, by the cantons, salaries varying usually from 10l. to 50l. a year. Sunday-schools exist in several cantons, and Lancastrian schools in Geneva and Vaud. There are superior gymnasia in all the chief towns. Basle has a university, founded in 1460, which was formerly much frequented; and since 1832 universities have been established in Berne and Zürich. The three universities of Bâle, Berne, and Zürich have 115 professors, 31 private tutors, and 500 students. Geneva and Lausanne possess two academies with theologic, philosophic, and jurisprudence faculties, 45 professors, and 370 students, of whom 70 at Geneva are foreigners, chiefly French Protestants. The Federal Polytechnic School at Zürich, founded in 1855, possesses a philosophic faculty and 46 teachers, some of them professors of the universities. The Polytechnic school is maintained by the Federal government, at an annual expense of 8,5007. Revenue and Expenditure. The public revenue of the Confederation is derived chiefly from customs dues, which, by the constitution of September 12, 1848, are levied only on the frontiers of the republic, instead of, as before, on the limits of each canton. Some other sources of income, as the profits derived from the postal system, conducted also by the Federal government, and of some national property, are of no great importance. The chief part of the postal revenue, as well as a portion of the customs dues, have to be returned to the cantonal administrations, in compensation for the loss of these items of income. extraordinary cases, the Federal government is empowered to levy a rate upon the various cantons after a scale settled for twenty years. A final source of revenue is derived from the profits of various Federal manufactories, such as gunpowder and percussion caps, and from judicial and other fees. ΙΙ In The following is the official statement of the actual income and expenditure of the Swiss Confederation for the 1861:year Francs Cents Francs Cents 45,214 78 109,814 55 155,029 33 121,758 86 8,137,834 7,112,951 55 502,429 43 1,174,586 18 75,760 0 3,016,546 20 or EXPENDITURE. Federal council Federal tribunal 62,416 66 3,653 62 The statement shows a surplus of 299,235 francs, or 11,9707., of income over expenditure, being considerably more than the previous budget estimates. The actual revenue and expenditure of the two years 1859 and 1860, according to the official accounts of the Federal government, is shown in the subjoined tables : |