institution of the _Ausserstand_, a copy of the real commonwealth, with councils and magistrates of its own, and the _Schultheiss_, or chief magistrate of the mimic republic, was commonly elected a member of the Great Council of the real one. The French Revolution submerged the aristocracy in a general Helvetian republic, and, when the flood had passed, the ancient landmark could only be partially restored. The Bernese, however, continued to acknowledge the ascendency of these noble families, what few were left to them, whose ancestors had been the founders of the city, and whose courage, virtues, and patriotism had secured the confidence of the people. It was not until 1847, under the influence of the Sonderbund excitement, that the last vestige of class privilege was abolished, and perfect equality of all citizens before the law established; political rights granted to every male citizen over twenty years of age, civil administration and justice organized after modern democratic principles, guaranteeing the rights of man, and promising trial by jury. Tradition has it that Bern was founded by Berchtold V., Duke of Zähringen, in 1191. Being persistently opposed both by the Alpine and the Burgundian nobles, who took up arms against him, he met and defeated them twice in the field, and then began to look about for a suitable site, at an equal distance from both parties, where he might build a town larger and more important than any that yet existed. Different derivations are given for the name of Bern; some etymologists say it is a corruption of the Celtic name of Verona; but the only one that satisfies the Bernese is that given by the old recorder Justinger, who wrote at the end of the fourteenth century, “How the town was called Bern:” There were many wild animals in the oak woods, and Duke Berchtold determined that the town should be called after the first that was caught there; so the first that was caught was a bear, and the town received its name from _Bären_, the Swabian for bears; and the Duke also gave the burghers a shield and armorial bearings, namely, a black bear on a white field. A bronze statue of the Duke is erected in the cathedral promenade, upon which is the inscription, _E bellua cæsa sit urbi futuræ nomen_ (“from a monster slain, let there be a name to the future city”). The Emperor Frederick II. declared Bern a free city of the empire in 1218, and confirmed its privileges by a charter, which is still preserved in the archives. Its first prominence was in 1339, when in June of that year the Bernese, under Ulric von Erlach, were completely victorious over the allied forces, and struck the death-blow to the feudal nobility of western Helvetia. In 1405 the greater part of the city was destroyed by fire, but was soon rebuilt on the same site. In 1798 it was plundered by the French. Immediately after their entrance into the city, the French soldiers made themselves masters