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SWITZERLAND 200 SWITZERLAND as a Federal republic for mutual defense, but retain individual independence in regard to all matters of internal admin- istration. The legislative power of the Confederation belongs to a Federal as- sembly, and the executive power to a Fed- eral council. The Federal Assembly is composed of two divisions, the National Council and the Council of States. The National Council is elected every thi'ee years by the cantons — one member to each 20,000. Every lay Swiss citizen is eligible. The Council of States consists >f two members from each canton. In iddition to its legislative functions the Federal Assembly possesses the exclusive right of concluding treaties of alliance with other countries, declaring war and signing peace, sanctioning the cantonal constitutions, and taking measures re- garding neutrality and intervention. The Federal Council consists of seven mem- bers elected for three years by the Fed- eral Assembly, every citizen who has a vote for the National Council being elig- ible for becoming a member of the Fed- eral Council. The seven members of the Federal Council act as chiefs of the sev- en administrative departments of the re- public. The president and vice-presi- dent of the Federal Council are the chief magistrates of the republic. They are elected by the Federal Assembly for one year, and are not eligible for re-election till after the expiration of another year. The Federal Tribunal, consisting of 16 members and 9 substitutes elected for six years by the Federal Assembly, decides in the last instance in all matters in dispute between the cantons or be- tween the cantons and the confedera- tion, and acts in general as a high court of appeal. It is divided into a civil and criminal court. People. — The Swiss are a mixed people In race and language. German, French, Italian, and a corrupt kind of Latin called Rhaetian or Roumansch, are spo- ken in different parts. German is spo- ken by the majority of inhabitants in 15 cantons, French in 5, Italian in 1 (Ti- nino), and Roumansch in 1 (the Grisens). History. — After the conquest of Hel- vetia by Julius Caeser, the Romans found- ed in it several flourishing cities which were afterward destroyed by the barbar- ians. On the decline of the Roman em- pire it successively formed a part of the kingdom of Burgundy and the dominions of the Merovingian and Carlovingian kings; while the E. part of Switzerland became first subject to the Allemanni, and subsequently it was wholly included in the German Empire under Conrad II. in 1037. The house of Hapsburg had, from an early period, the supremacy over all the E. part of Switzerland, and it preserved its ascendency till about 1307, when Uri, Schvi^yz, and Unterwal- den entered into a confederacy for mu- tual aid against Austria, which compact was confirmed after the defeat of Leo- pold, Duke of Austria, at the battle of Morgarten in 1315. From 1332 to 1353, Lucerne, Zurich, Glarus, Zug, and Berne joined the confederation. Aargau was conquered from Austria in 1415; the ab- bey and town of St. Gall joined the other cantons in 1451-1454; Thurgau was an- nexed in 1460; Freiburg and Solothum admitted in 1481; the Grisons in 1497; Basel and Schaffhausen in 1501 ; and Ap- penzell in 1513. About this time Ticino was conquered from the Milanese, and Vaud taken from Savoy by the Bernese in 1560. The remaining cantons were not finally united to the confederation till the time of Napoleon; and the com- pact, by which all were placed on a per- fect equality, only dates from the peace of 1814. Following the political and re- ligious troubles which culminated in the adoption of the liberal constitution of 1848, Neuchatel declared itself independ- ent of the King of Prussia in his title of Prince Neuchatel. The canton was de- clared a republic, with a constitution similar to that of the other Swiss states. The king protested, but in vain, and in 1857 he finally relinquished his claim. In May, 1874, another revision of the consti- tution was adopted. It makes civil mar- riages compulsory, establishes complete liberty of creed, prohibits the appoint- ment of new bishoprics except under Federal approval, excludes Jesuits, for- bids new convents, and authorizes the government to expel dangerous for- eigners, etc. In 1891 the 600th anniver- sary of Swiss nationality was celebrated. In 1898 the government began the purchase of the national railways and all the five great railway systems of the countrv had become state property by 1909. In 1911 the National Assem- bly passed a measure providing for workingmen's insurance against accident and sickness. This was ratified by a referendum in the following year. Switzerland during the World War occupied an extremely difficult position in that it was altogether surrounded by bel- ligerent states and also because the syni- pathies of the people were divided m accordance with their racial characteria. tics. French Switzerland sympathized strongly with France and German Switzerland with Germany. Following the mobilization of the Swiss army the French-speaking Swiss were called upott to defend the German border and th4 German-speaking, the French- Th&