Two legislative chambers were for the first time created, and invested with the power of enacting laws and issuing orders which are binding directly on individual citizens. This most important and far-reaching principle, that the Federal head should operate directly on individuals and not on states, involved momentous consequences, forcing the construction of a “Composite State.” The joint action of the two chambers, constituting the _Bundesversammlung_, or Federal Assembly, became a substantive part of the government of every Canton; and, within the limits of its attributions, made laws which are obeyed by every citizen, and executing them through its own officers, and enforcing them by its own tribunal; powers essential for an effective federal government. The old Diets never ventured on any undertaking of public utility, amelioration, or reform, during more than three hundred years. The Confederation was loose and incomplete even for its essential objects, mutual defence and foreign relations. The principal objects of this new constitution were: 1. The strengthening of the national government, reconciling the supremacy of the Confederation with the autonomy of the Cantons. 2. The overthrow of oligarchies. 3. The protection of the state from the dominion of Rome. The first two were attained by the direct provisions of the Constitution; the third was afterwards promoted by the expulsion of the Jesuits and their affiliated societies from Swiss territory. A great benefit was conferred upon the Confederation by the unification of such matters as coinage, weight, measures, and posts; and the surrender by the Cantons to the Confederation of the exclusive right to levy duties at the frontiers of the country. For twenty-four years Switzerland enjoyed under this Constitution uninterrupted peace and prosperity; the European wars between 1855 and 1871 did not disturb her neutrality, though military operations offered great temptation to march across her territory. In 1872 a project of amendment was submitted conferring upon the general government many additional powers. By a small popular and a large cantonal majority it was defeated. The agitation for amendment continued, and in 1874 a more moderate revision of the Constitution of 1848 was again presented. This remodelling in 1874 did little more than work out in a complete and logical form the principles laid down in 1848; the most marked difference being a further enlargement of the Federal authority; forming a well compacted union, a Federal state, each portion of which has its sphere of sovereignty. This revised Constitution received the sanction of the Federal Assembly, January 31, 1874, was submitted to the popular vote on Sunday, April 19, following, resulting in a vote of 340,199 in favor of, and 198,013 against, acceptance. The vote by Cantons was fourteen and a half Cantons for, and seven and a half Cantons against, acceptance (the votes of the