minion, or greatly multiply its numbers, it would ſoon find the neceſſity of giving the executive power to the land amman, in order to defend the people againſt the ſenate; for the ſenate, although it is always the reſervoir of wiſdom, is eternally the very focus of ambition.
LETTER VIII.
ZUG.
My dear Sir,
THE canton of Zug is ſmall, but rich, and divided into mountains and plains. The ſovereign is the city of Zug, and part of the country. It is divided into five quarters, which poſſeſs the ſovereignty; the city of Zug is two, and the country three, Mentzingen, Egeri, and Bar. The government is very complicated, and the ſovereignty reſides in the general aſſembly of the five quarters, where each male perſon of fifteen years of age has admittance and a voice. It aſſembles annually, to enact laws, and chooſe their magiſtrates. Thus theſe five quarters make a body of a democratical republic which commands the reſt of the canton. They furniſh alternately the land amman, the head or chief of the ſtate, who muſt always reſide at Zug with the regency of the country, although he is choſen by the ſuffrages of all the quarters collectively. He continues three years in office when taken from the diſtrict of Zug, and but two when choſen from any of the others.
