Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1874-10-17
Continned go IL nnne-

bies, and Credit MObilier schemes
are unknown.
The Swiss Government is unique
in another respect: Its legislative
proceedings are conducted and re-
corded
IN THREE LANGUAGES
German. French, and Italiau,-cor-
responding to the three races when
comDose the population of the he
nnblic. but the Germans constitute
the | great majority of the inhabit-
onts In the census returns of 1870,
# was ascertained that S64, SCI fami-
lies spoke German as the mother Ian
guage, I34,Is3 French, and 3O,29S
Italian; but all the educated persons
can speak French. When French
man makes a speech in a Swiss Con
gress, all the Germans and Italians
can understand him perfectly, but
they generally reply in their own
languages, which, the French mem
bers not understanding, the othelal
Interpreter states the substance OF In
French. All bills, reports, and reso-
buttons are written in the three
tongues, and, the journals are kept
in the same way, and the laws and
proclamations are printed IN the
three languages.
Not only in race and language are
the people divided into three dlyls-
ions, but
IN RELIGIONS ALSO:
First, Calvanism; second, Catholic
ism; third, Rationalism. The edu-
Gated classes generally belong to the
latter. But the census returns omit
them, enumerating 1,566,347 as
Protestants, 1904, ,369 as Romanists,
and II, 500 as Jews; total, 1868, l47.
The French and Italians are nearly
all put down as Catholics, while the
great mass of Germans are Protest
ants, and are the ruling element of
the Republic; they occupy most OF
the good land, and possess the great
| er portion of the wealth of the coun-
| try, owning most of the manufacto-
ries and the railroads, and the great
er part of the bank stock and other
profitable interests.
There are no titles of nobility re-
cognized by law in Switzerland.
| Primogeniture, entails, special privi-
leges, and titles of nobility, were all
oTerthrown and swept away by the
| revolution of 1647, and abolished by
law in the Constitution of 1848.
JesRitism was expelled from the Re-
public at the same time, and
FREE SCHOOL SYSTEM
introduced to fill the vacuum. But,
as the enforcement of the school law
was left to the action of the authori-
i ties of each Canton, it has resulted
that, in the Ultramontane Cantons,
the priests have nullifed the Consti-
tutional provisions, and popular igno-
rance is almost as dense as it was a
quarter of a century ago, before the
adoption of the Constitution of 1848,
the only thingsstaught by the cleric
ais is dogmatic catechism, to which
lately has been added Papal infalli-
b1lity. But, in the other Cantons,
which are Protestant or "mixed, y
Popular education has made great
progress. The Prussian system of
instruction is fully adopted and ap-
piled, and the whole mass of the peo-
pie in these Cantons have become
quite well educated, and newspapers,
books, and circulating Libraries
abound, as in Germany. 1t was this
hostility of the priests to popular
secular education which chiefly
caused the recent amendment to the
| Swiss Constitution. Under the new
| provisions it is made the duty of the
General Assembly to enforce secu-
lar education in all the schools of
| Switzerland. The priests made a
desperate effort to defeat the new
Constitution when it was submitted
to popular vote for ratification, last
April; but it was carried by a two
third majority, having received 94O,-
600 votes out of 100000 that were
cast.
The new Constitution largely sub
tracts from Cantonal or State author
ity, and .correspondingly increases.
that of the Central Government.
The former Government was Con-
federacy of Sovereign States" 1t
has now become
A FEDERAL GOVERNMENT i ,
of sovereign powers over all such
subjects as peace and war; army; ma
tional defense; patent laws; coinage;
postal and telegraphic communicaz
tions; public instruction; regulation.
of railway freights, fares, and time
tables; imposts and excises; right of
way for new railways; and several
other subjects of general concern.
The new Constitution of Switzerland,
deliberately adopted after full dis
cussion and reflection, and the expe-
rience of the old one of twenty-five
years, creates a National or Central
Government, with larger relative
powers than those conferred on the
Government of the United States by
the American Constitution, which
instrument the Swiss have profound
ly studied and made their model,
but improved upon it, as they think,
in several important respects. The
Swiss believe they possess the best
form of Government ever devised,
and that they have the purest and
most faithful as well as economical
Administration in the world. They
regard themselves as the
HAPPIEsT AND MOST CoNTENTED PEo-
PIE
with their country and lot upon
the earth. Crime is of rare occur
renee; drunkenness is almost un-
known, because they are satisfied
with the mild beverages, and eschew
the fiery stuff which crazes the brain.
Their taxes are light; their tariff is
merely nominal, free trade being the
established policy of the Republic.
They have no National and very
,,,,o II No,+orol IobtS. rbiIa axro,Iy