The legiſlative authority is veſted in the grand council of two hundred and twelve, including the ſenate.
The ſenate conſiſts of twenty-four tribunes, and four counſellors choſen by the nobles, to theſe are added twenty, elected by the ſovereign council; making in all, with the two burgomaſters, fifty: half of them adminiſter ſix months, and are then ſucceeded by the reſt. The burgomaſters are choſen annually by the ſovereign council, and one of them is preſident of each diviſion of the ſenate, which has the judicial power, in criminal matters, without appeal, and in civil, with an appeal to the grand council.
The members of the ſenate are liable to be changed, and there is an annual reviſion of them, which is a great reſtraint.
The ſtate is not only out of debt, but ſaves money every year, againſt any emergency. By this fund they ſupported a war in 1712, without any additional taxes. There is not a carriage in the town, except it be of a ſtranger.
Zurich has great influence in the general diet, which ſhe derives more from her reputation for integrity, and original Swiſs independence of ſpirit, than from her power.
LETTER XVI.
SCHAFFHAUSE.
My dear Sir,
THE ſovereign is the city of Schaffhaue. The citizens, about ſixteen hundred, are divided into twelve tribes, one of which conſiſts of nobles, and eleven are ordinary citizens.
