and communication, and by the substitution of machinery for manual labor, the motive power for which nature furnishes in abundance, the people are becoming prosperous and capital is accumulating. For many ages the poorest country in Europe, it is rapidly progressing towards becoming, in proportion to the amount of its population, one of the richest. The position taken to-day by Switzerland in the trade and commerce of the world is remarkable, when the various natural obstacles are considered,--such as absence of raw material for its industries, great distance from the sea-coast, with costly and difficult means of transportation, and restrictive customs established by neighboring countries. It does not possess a single coal-mine, canal, or navigable stream. It is practically dependent for all its metals on foreign supply. Asphalt is the only raw mineral product the export of which exceeds the import, and this is found only in the Canton of Neuchâtel, where the output is very large and of a superior quality. Inland, without ships or seaport, and therefore deprived of the advantages of direct exportation and importation, its commerce must be effected through the four conterminous countries of France, Germany, Austria, and Italy. Therefore, while every mart in the world is familiar with its manufactures, it is almost ignored in the commercial statistics of nations. The high protective policy so universally adopted by the neighboring countries, where for a long time the best markets for Swiss goods were found, has forced the Swiss manufacturers to extend their trade to transmarine markets, involving not only a vast amount of competition, but far more risk and uncertainty attending sales than in doing business in markets nearer home. Then four-fifths of the Swiss exports to countries other than the contiguous ones consist of silk goods, embroideries, and watches, which may be classed, in a general sense, as luxuries; and, in seeking a foreign market, encounter the highest duty. On the other hand, its importations are cotton, machinery, cereals, food-supply, and raw materials for its manufacturers,--that will not admit of a corresponding heavy import duty. The remedy heretofore partially found in special commercial treaties has become almost futile by the rapid blocking of the provisions of the “most favored nation” clauses. These have practically lost their purpose and force by each party to the treaty persisting in the enlargement and accentuation of its own customs provisions. In an address recently delivered by the President of the Confederation, at a national agricultural exposition, referring to the depression of that industry, he said: “The political existence of Switzerland is at present not threatened or endangered from any quarter, but it is different with its economical existence, which causes us from day to day increased solicitude on account of the increase of unjust burdens imposed at all our neighboring frontiers. The first to feel