URI, a canton of Switzerland, one of the smallest of the whole confederacy. It is one of the oldest, having gained its independence in the year 1307. It is bounded on the north by the canton of Schwytz, on the east by those of Glarus and the Grisons, on the south by Ticino, and on the west by Berne and Unterwalden. The extent of it is 318 geographical square miles, and the population, which has not, like that of most of the other divisions of Switzerland, increased of late years, amounted in 1838 to 40,650 individuals. It contains the capital, Altorf, with 1620 inhabitants, and eleven divisions, genossamen, or communes. The government is a pure democracy. Every male who has attained his twentieth year is a member of the assembly, in which all laws are made and revenues granted, and where the chief, called the landammann, and the other executive officers, are chosen. As the whole male population are voters, so they are also soldiers; all are drilled and exercised, and formed into militia battalions. The inhabitants are all of German origin, and use a corrupt patois of that language. The courts of law are as popular as the legislature; but there are appeals from inferior to superior tribunals, and, if common report may be trusted, the decisions are more directed by bribery and popularity, than by any fixed or just principles. The only religion is that of the church of Rome, and the bishop of Constance is the ecclesiastical superior, having under him fifteen curates and three monasteries. In no part of Switzerland are the people so miserably fed, clothed, and lodged; in no part are the beggars so numerous and so importunate. The tax paid to the confederative government is 1180 francs, and the contingent of troops is 236 men. The canton contains some of the higlrest mountains of Switzerland. In the northern part of the Alps are the Galenstock, 11,330 feet in height; the Sustenshorn, 10,910; and the Spitzleberg, 10,680. In the south is St Gothard, with the points, viz. Fibia, 9800; Fiendo, 9550; and Prosa, 9250 feet. On the eastern side are to be seen the Scheerhorn, 10,100 feet high; the Windgelle. 9300 feet; and the Bristenstock, 9500. These are almost all surrounded with glaciers, the most remarkable of which is that of St Gothard, over which is one of the great roads to Italy. It is to be supposed that in such an inhospitable region there can be but little cultivation. In the valley of Reuss, the plough is used, but its adoption extends but a little way from the vale. In some other of the vales potatoes are grown, and a few other of the more hardy esculents, but rather in gardens than in farms. Poor as the sustenance of the people is, it is scarcely sufficient for their support; and hence corn is wanted every year from other districts. The chief husbandry is breeding cattle, and the dairy. With cheese, cattle, hides, and some wood, the inhabitants are enabled to pay for the small portions of corn, iron, tobacco, wine, and colonial articles which they consume; and there is now scarcely any other trade. Till lately the road by St Gothard was much used for the transport of goods to and from Italy, and then it was filled with waggons, pack-horses, and their attendants, by which some money was brought into the canton; but the opening of new roads over the Simplon and by the Splugen has attracted much of that commerce into other channels. There are no manufactures, except some of articles which each family prepares for itself.