The Federal Council exercises wider discretionary authority, in the matter of arrest, of temporary imprisonment, of expulsion from the territory, and the like, than seems inferable from the terms of the constitution. A recent decree of the Federal Council forbade public exhibitions of magnetism and hypnotism. Wherever there is discretion there is room for arbitrariness, and in a republic, no less than under a monarchy, discretionary authority on the part of the government means insecurity for legal freedom on the part of the citizen. The Swiss constitution apparently is more democratic than that of the United States, from the fact that it does not vest the veto in any official; yet in the amount of authority which is allowed to the executive power over the citizen it is less democratic. Every legislative measure passes under the inspection of the Federal Council before action by the Federal Assembly; and the measures adopted by the Assembly are promulgated by the Council, signed both by the President of the Confederation and by the Chancellor, the ministerial officer of the Council; no doubt, in all cases, two signatures are safer than one. The Federal Council, rather than to take the initiative, sometimes, by means of a suggestion from itself, is requested to present to the Assembly a measure; in this event a rejection of the measure would not be regarded by the Council in the light of a defeat. During the recesses of the Assembly the federal Councillors, at the head of committees designated by the Assembly or with expert commissions, meet in different parts of the country, to consider subjects that are to be brought before the Assembly. The bills are then prepared, which, with full and careful explanatory reports, are published in the official journal and carried by the newspapers to every corner of the Confederation. They are discussed by the people, and when the Assembly meets it is ready to take action with but little, if any, debate by the prompt enactment of these recommendations into law, the chief to whose department the subject-matter appertains being present, when it is taken up in the Assembly, to give any further information that may be desired.