Any one, who derives his knowledge of the history of that period from original sources, and has read the numerous bills of complaint, handed in, even at the recesses of the general Diet, by the people of the Common Territories, and the results of the investigations, which, in most cases, proved them to be just and well-founded, can imagine the indignation which Zwingli's view of the case called forth. But to an honest will other means of redress stood open, before resort to such extreme measures--to plans that would shake the Confederacy to its very foundations. But indeed, it is almost certain, that these plans were never formally laid before the authorities of Zurich and made the subject of official deliberation. They may have been communications to a narrow, confidential circle of friends, drawn up more as a frank confession of his own political faith, than with any hope that their complete execution was so easily possible in the coming age. Still, they afford us the necessary key to a right understanding of the part played by him in the affairs of the Confederacy, during the last two years of his life, and hence we cannot omit here the main ideas. "In ancient times," so he writes, "Zurich and Bern united as confederates with the Four Forest Cantons, Luzern, Uri, Schwyz, and Unterwalden. The power of both parties was then equal and they held faithfully together, but the burden of the wars against their enemies on all sides was great. The cities were the bulwarks; they had not the mountains, the passes, for their defence. As their territory increased, the greater injuries fell upon them and the greater costs. With fairness they could have demanded a change in the relative proportion of right in the federal councils. But Zurich and Bern were content with some insignificant grants, respecting the division of booty according to the number of soldiers, which the treaty of Stanz allowed them; and the Cantons still kept twice as many votes as the cities, although the latter, yea even sometimes one of them performed as much as all the former put together. This produced arrogance among those who, in the beginning, were modest. _They_ were the governors of the common bailiwicks; _they_ acted often without consulting the cities. _They_ have strengthened themselves in our times by the admission of a fifth canton. _They_ concoct everywhere their schemes, before the meetings of the federal diet; for _them_ the fruit must ripen, where they did not sow. Shall the two cities endure this any longer? They are confronted with the federal league, in opposition to the treaty of Stanz, which guarantees their rights, their number of votes at the diet, in relation to the Territories; but every claim, privilege or power, is dissolved or broken, according to divine and human law, when they are misused. The land of Palestine is an example. In eternity was it promised to the children of Israel. In eternity were they driven out from it, when they