theory of local self-government as founded upon these propositions; that government is most wise, which is in the hands of those best informed about the particular questions on which they legislate; most economical and honest when in the hands of those most interested in preserving frugality and virtue; most strong when it only exercises authority which is beneficial in its action to the governed. There is a feeling common to the population of every Canton and Commune, which puts all idea of any party advocating one concentrated system out of the question. Madison says, “An extinction of parties necessarily implies, either a universal alarm for the public safety, or an absolute extinction of liberty.” Political parties perform functions of the greatest possible importance; through their organizations is fulfilled that obligation which is incumbent upon every citizen of a republic, to give an earnest, careful, and habitual attention to the conduct of government. Parties are the exponents and representatives of the great issues that constantly arise in every free community. By the discussions that arise between them public opinion is formed, the people educated in their political rights, a due sense of citizenship generated and fostered; they are a great centripetal force in every system of home-rule government. The strong attachment to party, with its resultant full crop of political dissension, in the United States has at the same time awakened a zeal for turning the powers of government to profitable public account, and a sensibility to the exposure of wrong or abuse, which manifest themselves in a thousand beneficial ways. “It is one of the advantages of free government,” declares Sir James Mackintosh, “that they excite sometimes to an inconvenient degree, but upon the whole, with the utmost benefit, all the generous feelings, all the efforts for a public cause, of which human nature is capable.” Switzerland, in the legislative branch of her federal system, gathers together a body of men remarkable for that generous and patriotic impulse which moves noble minds to sacrifice private interests to the public good, and that public spirit that is the sense of duty applied to public affairs; none of the cowardly and unpatriotic sentiment expressed in the speech of Cato, “when vice prevails and impious men bear sway, the post of honor is a private station.” With a Swiss, the post of honor is always the post of duty, and the call of duty is loudest from the public service, and secures the ready response of the best citizens. Nowhere does popular government rest upon a firmer foundation of public spirit and the willing and active interest of the people. CHAPTER IV. THE FEDERAL COUNCIL. Bundesrath; Conseil fédéral.