STAUFF. 'Tis well advised.--Let us, then, hold the Diet, According to our ancient usages.-- Though it be night, there's sunshine in our cause. MELCH. Few though our numbers be, the hearts are here Of the whole people; here the BEST are met. HUNN. The ancient books may not be near at hand, Yet are they graven in our inmost hearts. ROSSEL. 'Tis well. And now, then, let a ring be formed, And plant the swords of power within the ground.[*] [*] It was the custom at the Meetings of the Landes Gemeinde, or Diet, to set swords upright in the ground as emblems of authority. MAUER. Let the Landamman step into his place, And by his side his secretaries stand. SACRIST. There are three Cantons here. Which hath the right To give the head to the united Council? Schwytz may contest that dignity with Uri, We Unterwald'ners enter not the field. MELCH. We stand aside. We are but suppliants here, Invoking aid from our more potent friends. STAUFF. Let Uri have the sword. Her banner takes, In battle, the precedence of our own. FURST. Schwytz, then, must share the honour of the sword; For she's the honoured ancestor of all. ROSSEL. Let me arrange this generous controversy. Uri shall lead in battle--Schwytz in Council. FURST. (gives Stauffacher his hand). Then take your place. STAUFF. Not I. Some older man. HOFE. Ulrich, the smith, is the most aged here. MAUER. A worthy man, but not a freeman; no!-- No bondman can be judge in Switzerland. STAUFF. Is not Herr Reding here, our old Landamman? Where can we find a worthier man than he? FURST. Let him be Amman and the Diet's chief! You that agree with me, hold up your hands! [All hold up their right hands.] REDING. (stepping into the center). I cannot lay my hands upon the books; But by yon everlasting stars I swear, Never to swerve from justice and the right. [The two swords are placed before him, and a circle formed; Schwytz in the centre, Uri on his right, Unterwald on his left.] REDING. (resting on his battle sword). Why, at the hour when spirits walks the earth, Meet the three Cantons of the mountains here, Upon the lake's inhospitable shore? What may the purport be of this new league We here contract beneath the starry heaven? STAUFF. (entering the circle). 'Tis no new league that here we now contract, But one fathers framed, in ancient times, We purpose to renew! For know, confederates, Though mountain ridge and lake divide our bounds, And each Canton by its own laws is ruled, Yet are we but one race, born of one blood, And all are children of one common home. WINK. Is then the burden of our legends true, That we came hither from a distant land? Oh, tell us what you know, that our new league May reap fresh vigour from the leagues of old.