The present Federal Council of Switzerland is composed of men of high order of ability, instructed by education and disciplined by experience. They are men of crystalline integrity, trained familiarity with the duties of their post, and profoundly patriotic in motive. Among all the changes and complications of late years, no government in Europe in its executive action has displayed a higher degree of practical wisdom than the Federal Council of Switzerland. It acts with sterling good sense and moderation, the result in a great measure of that slow and cautious temperament which has ever marked the Swiss character; traits which perhaps may be traced back to the privations and distress through which, during a long course of years, they struggled to the attainment of a dear-bought independence. It presides over the national interests in an equitable and impartial spirit, dealing wisely and temperately with the people without encroachment or oppression, and, if we may judge from the insignificance of their emoluments, without desire of advantage. The Councillors move in the surest way, both to the attainment and preservation of power, through the medium of those qualities which secure the esteem and gain the confidence of the people. The people, on the other hand, behold with content and satisfaction the absence of all selfish or ignoble purpose in the labors of the Councillors; and sacrifice all factious opposition and interference to the public benefit which they know to be identified with the vigor, stability, and welfare of the government. It is not too much to say that in the Federal Council of Switzerland an honest attempt is made to follow the wise admonition of Cicero in his “Offices:” “Those who design to be partakers in the government should be sure to remember the two precepts of Plato; first, to make the safety and interest of their citizens the great aim and design of all their thoughts and endeavor without ever considering their own general advantage; and, secondly, to take care of the whole collective body of the republic so as not to serve the interests of any one party to the prejudice or neglect of all the rest; for the government of a state is much like the office of a guardian or trustee, which should always be managed for the good of the pupil, and not of the persons to whom he is intrusted.”