Corruption at the polls, civic jobbery, the declension of legislative character, the greed for official pelf,--these evils are not restricted to any people or country. An imperfect answer as to the cause and remedy is difficult; a complete answer is impossible. Some of these evils are connected with political problems that are vexing our epoch in every state and country where constitutional government and a liberal suffrage prevail. Switzerland, with a government so adequate for a simple people and small country, appears to have firmly resisted the impact of these political ills. Service in the federal legislature is accepted from a sense of patriotic duty; neither emolument nor self-aggrandizement being an element of its membership worthy of consideration. The election of deputies to the Swiss Assembly is an event which creates no violent commotion or even general interest in the great body of the people. A large majority of the candidates are unopposed; there is no opportunity for bribery to sap the public _morale_, or any field for the unscrupulous plying of the disgraceful artifices and incidents which too often mark a hotly-contested election in the United States. An election, general or local, is not an occasion of bustle or clamor, turbulence or revelry; there are no processions, no party badges, no music, no “pole-raising,” probably not a speech, and no candidate present when the exercise of this important privilege is going on. It is an affair of deliberation and decision, of sobriety and wisdom. The electors themselves feel that they are called upon to exercise a serious and elevating duty; the solemn and deliberate act of choosing men to govern the destinies of a civilized and enlightened people. It may be that the Swiss elections, being held on Sunday, and the polls often in the churches, in part contribute to inspire the elector with respect for himself, for the character which he has to sustain, and for the institution in which he thus bears an honorable part. It is feared that the suggestion of such a remedial agency in the United States would be regarded by our churchmen as _ægrescit medendo_. The excitement attending the popular elections in the United States as now conducted is in the main of a vicious and degrading character. Instead of infusing into the hearts of the people a spirit of patriotism, leading them to value the blessings of the government under which they live, it infuses little but rancor and malignity; giving an opportunity for the indulgence of vicious passions which are born but do not die with the emergency; evolving the gross, vulgar morality which, provided you do no injury to a man’s person or possessions, sees nothing in your conduct towards him to condemn; which is near-sighted to the turpitude of slander and misrepresentation directed against him, and blind to the iniquity of needlessly invading a man’s private life; a morality which is incapable of comprehending that one source