The Confederation, in striving to make the general organization more systematic and uniform, must tenderly regard cantonal susceptibilities. The Swiss federal organization is firmly founded on cantonal precedents, traits, and features; and their self-assertive vitality and their direct influence make them the central subject of Swiss politics. The federal constitution designates the members of the Confederation as “sovereign Cantons;” and each of the cantonal constitutions says in effect, “This, under federal supremacy, is a sovereign Canton,” and each declares that the sovereignty within the Cantons rests on “the people as a whole.” “Sovereign state” is conspicuous in the constitution, federal and cantonal. It expresses national instincts, national experiences, and political education. All the elevating memories of national history, all the inspiring traditions which had bred into national sentiment, generation after generation, were connected with a league of states of almost insulated independence. Each Canton has always jealously clung to its own individuality and ancient customs. Every now and then the republic would be split up into smaller confederations for the purpose of maintaining the rights of state sovereignty; by these sectional strifes, the idea of isolation and individuality was handed on, gaining strength as it went, and becoming more and more a political instinct of the Swiss people. Switzerland is a microcosm. In these five and twenty little states we have a miniature resemblance of all the phases of social and political life; every Canton contributes with friendly emulation to improve the domestic policy and strengthen the political relations of the Confederation; if they present no example worthy to be followed as a whole, there is still much in their detail that will most abundantly repay our study. CHAPTER VII. THE LANDSGEMEINDE.