the general aſſembly, where each male of fifteen, with his ſword at his ſide, has his ſeat and vote. It is true, that this aſſembly, which is annually held in an open plain, ratifies the laws, lays taxes, enters into alliances, declares war, and makes peace.
But it has a firſt magiſtrate in a land amman, who is the chief of the republic, and is choſen alternately from among the Proteſtants and from among the Catholics, The Proteſtant remains three years in office; the Catholic two. The manner of his appointment is a mixture of election and lot. The people chooſe five candidates, who draw lots for the office. The other great officers of ſtate are appointed in the ſame manner.
There is a council called a ſenate, compoſed of the land amman, a ſtadthalder, and ſixty-two ſenators, forty-eight Proteſtants and fourteen Catholics, all taken from fifteen tagwen or corvees, into which the three principal quarters or partitions of the country are ſubdivided for its more convenient government. In this ſenate, called the council of regency, the executive power reſides. Each tagwen or corvee furniſhes four ſenators; beſides the borough of Glaris, which furniſhes ſix.
Inſtead of a ſimple democracy, it is a mixed government, in which the monarchical power in the land amman, ſtadthalder or pro-conſul, the ariſtocratical order in the ſenate, and the democratical in the general aſſembly, are diſtinctly marked. It is, however, but imperfecftly balanced; ſo much of the executive power in an ariſtocratical aſſembly would be dangerous in the higheſt degree in a large ſtate, and among a rich people, if this canton could extend its do-
