those who, from the merits of their ancestors and their long-held
possessions, have the most claim. Those who are born to power are not
so likely to have their heads turned by the possession of it as those
who obtain it unexpectedly; and those who are above money-making are
less likely to be corrupt than those who seek it. The lower the class
that governs, the worse the government will be, and the greater the
despotism. Switzerland is no longer a patriarchal land. Wealth has
rolled into the country; and the time will come when there will be a
revolution in the republic. Nothing can prevent it, unless all the
cantons are vested into one central government, instead of so many petty
oligarchies, as at present, and which will eventually tire out the
patience of the people.
I parted from my noble host, and will do him the justice to say that his
bill was so moderate, compared to the others paid in Switzerland, that I
almost wished that all the inns in the cantons were held by the
nobility--that is, provided they would follow his example. His wine was
excellent, and I suspect was laid in long before the sign was hung up at
the door.
From Soleure to Berne the whole road was lined with parties of troops
ordered in that direction: every man of them was drunk, cheering, and
hooting, and hallooing at us as we passed. As for the peasant girls
they met on the road, I really pitied them. At last we have arrived at
Berne. The Bernese have chosen a most appropriate symbol in their
heraldic crests of the bear, and, as if they had not a sufficient
quantity inside of their towns, they keep four in the ditch outside.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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