writes Tacitus of the German Volksgemeinde, and the words apply almost equally well here. The Landsgemeinde is, in fact, the supreme court, which approves or annuls. So recently as the spring of 1888, for instance, Urseren was deprived of its autonomy and joined to the Canton of Uri, by order of the Landsgemeinde. And at Sarnen the revision of the constitution was agreed to at the open and general meeting. The election of the Waibel, or Summoner, gives rise to much amusement, for in him the chief requisite is strength of lungs, he being the mouthpiece of the Landammann. The installation of the Landammann himself is the closing scene, and the most impressive one. Slowly and solemnly he takes the oath of fidelity to the constitution, and the people in return pledge themselves to stand by the leader. With hands uplifted the vast crowd repeats the phrases word by word as they are spoken by the Landammann. This mutual engagement between leader and people--their hearts filled with the sacredness of the moment, and their voices swelling into one grand roll--is almost overwhelming in its touching simplicity and fervour. That the custom has maintained itself with but minor changes through so many centuries answers for the admirable stability of the people, and the suitableness of the _régime_ itself. The common tie that bound together the thirteen autonomous states into one was the Diet or Tagsatzung. It met at one or other of the chief towns--Zurich, Lucerne, Bern, Baden, and so forth. Each canton was, as a rule, allowed one representative, and any one of the cantons could summon a meeting, though this was generally done by the Vorort or _canton directeur_--a position usually held by Zurich--whose member likewise presided. The various cantons joined in the discussions according to their rank and the order of their admission to the league. This will be made clearer by the accompanying list. The Boten, or envoys, not being plenipotentiaries, would post to and fro between their governments and the Diet, to report progress and receive instructions. As the proceedings were in later times committed to writing, we have extant a most valuable series of records called Abschiede (= leave or _congé_). Held at first but once a year, the Diet occasionally met as many as fifty times in the course of the twelvemonth, whilst a single session would last sometimes for several weeks. At one period the meetings became international congresses, at which the most important questions were deliberated. But, in truth, the Diet, down to its extinction in 1848, never again during its long existence exerted the vast influence it had in its brilliant fifteenth-century period. Yet despite its many defects, and its slow and round-about way of doing business, the Tagsatzung worked successfully--far more so indeed than did the German Government.