The principle behind the Referendum is as old as the Swiss nation, the word coming from the usages of the old Federal Diets, in which the delegates did not decide matters themselves, but voted _ad referendum_, and submitted their actions to the home governments. The power to veto an ordinary law made by representatives was established for the first time in modern days, in 1831, in the Canton of St. Gallen. It was a compromise between the party which wanted to establish pure democracy, and the party of representative government. It is, however, only the same old Swiss voter of centuries ago, telling his member of the Diet to conclude nothing important without his consent. The demand of 50,000 electors to amend the constitution, or to repeal or to modify an existing law, is called a “popular initiative,” and, when made, the Federal Assembly must submit the question to a vote of the people and the Canton. In every cantonal constitution, except Freiburg, the right of the people to have all important legislation subjected in some form to popular confirmation or rejection is recognized. While general assemblies of the people in the Cantons to make the laws fell into desuetude, popular franchise and complete freedom of election were not enough to satisfy the democratic sensibilities of the Swiss. They were still jealous of the plenary powers of their delegates, and insisted that their deliberations when formulated into laws, should be referred to the sovereign people. Previous to the French revolution, the governments of the different Cantons had largely fallen into the hands of a limited number of aristocratic families. The laboring classes were crushed under enormous burdens by the nobility in the rural districts, and by the rich _bourgeoisie_ in the cities. Artificial barriers were placed about the freedom of commerce and labor in the interest of these more powerful classes. The period of reaction following the Napoleonic era was unfavorable to the development of popular institutions. Since the cantonal revolutions of 1830 there has been a general return to the principle known as the Referendum; and after the federal Constitution of 1848, by which the constitution of a Canton could only be revised on the demand of an absolute majority of the citizens, the policy of extending the principles of the Referendum to its fullest limits rapidly grew in favor. There are two forms of Referendum existing in the Cantons, _compulsory_ and _optional_; the one requiring the reference of every law passed by the Great Council before it acquires validity; and in the other, a discretionary power of reference is reserved to the people. The first is regarded as the more practical and satisfactory; the chief objection to the latter being the agitation occasioned in procuring the necessary signatures, producing excitement, diverting the thoughts of voters from the real question at issue, and thus giving an undue bias to public opinion, and a character