Cantonment

“ Subsisting in cantonments has the immense advantage that hardly any transport is required, and that it is done in the shortest time, but certainly it supposes as a prior condition that cantonments can be provided for all the troops. ”

“ Each canton had one vote in the Diet, where an absolute majority was to decide all matters save foreign affairs, when a majority of three-fourths was required. The management of current business, &c., shifted every two years between the governments of Zürich, Bern and Lucerne (the three “Vororte”) . The monasteries were guaranteed in their rights and privileges; and no canton was to make any alliance contrary to the rights of the Confederation or of any other canton. Provision was made for a Federal army. ”

“ Agriculture too flourishes greatly. A number of factories have sprung up in the new quarter of the town, but the silk-weaving industry has all but disappeared. The canton forms a single administrative district, which comprises eleven communes. The legislature, or Kantonsrat, has one member to every 350 inhabitants, and the seven members of the executive, or Regierungsrat, are elected directly by popular vote, proportional representation obtaining in both cases if more than two members are to be elected in the same electoral district to posts in the same authority. ”

“ The cantonal constitution has scarcely been altered since 1857, and is remarkable as containing none of the modern devices (referendum, initiative, proportional representation) save the right of “initiative” enjoyed by 6000 citizens to claim the revision of the cantonal constitution. The executive council of 7 members is named for 5 years by the cantonal legislature, which consists of members (holding office for 5 years) elected in the proportion of one to every 1200 (or fraction over 800) of the population. ”

“ The canton is of very irregular shape, as it owes its artificial existence solely to historical causes. It includes practically the whole northern shore of the Lake of Geneva, while it stretches from the “Alpes Vaudoises” and Bex, on the S.E., to the Jura and the French frontier, on the N.W. A long narrow tongue extending past Payerne (Peterlingen) to the Lake of Neuchâtel is just disconnected with the Avenches region that forms an “enclave” in the canton of Fribourg, while in the canton of Vaud, Fribourg holds the two “enclaves” of Vuissens and Surpierre. ”

“ A man settling in another canton was, after a residence of three months only, given all cantonal and. communal rights, save a share in the common property (an arrangement which as far as possible kept up the old principle that the “commune” is the true unit out of which cantons and the Confederation are built) , and the membership of the commune carries with it cantonal and federal rights. The “Referendum” was introduced in its “facultative” form; i.e. all federal laws must be submitted to popular vote on the demand of 30,000 Swiss citizens or of eight cantons. ”

“ In Switzerland, in this generation, direct legislation has in many respects been established for the federal government, while in so large a canton as Zurich, with nearly 340,000 inhabitants, it has also been made applicable to every proposed cantonal law, decree, and order,—the citizens of that canton themselves disposing by vote of all questions of taxation, public finance, executive acts, state employment, corporation grants, public works, and similar operations of government commonly, even in republican states, left to legislators and other officials. ”

“ The canton contains sixty-six thousand souls. Its land produces good pasture, some corn, and little wine; it has no commerce, and not much literature. It has more troops in foreign service than any other canton in proportion. ”

“ And what is thus true of Confederation with respect to the independence of the canton is equally true of canton with respect to the commune, and of the commune with respect to the individual. No departure from home rule, no privileged individuals or corporations, no special legislation, no courts with powers above the people's will, no legal discriminations whatever—such their aim, and in general their successful aim, the Swiss lead all other nations in leaving to the individual his original sovereignty. ”

“ The canton is composed of the upper valley of the Reuss, a mountain torrent that has cut for itself a deep bed, save in case of the basin of Ursern, near its upper end, and the plain of Altdorf, just before it forms the Lake of Lucerne. Hence, save in these two cases, the canton is made up of a wild Alpine valley, very picturesque in point of scenery, but not offering much chance of cultivation. ”

“ These cantons themselves are built up of many political communes, or Gemeinden, or civil parishes, which are the real political units of the country (and not merely local subdivisions) ; for any one desiring to become naturalized a Swiss must first become (by purchase or grant) a member of a commune, and then, if his burghership of the commune is confirmed by the cantonal authorities, he obtains also, simultaneously, both cantonal and Federal citizenship.
a. Now in Switzerland there are 3164 political communes (municipalités or Einwohnergemeinden) . ”

“ Here commune and canton are the real units of government. In the federal power at Bern the Swiss peasant takes little interest, often not even knowing the name of the national president. In the highest ranges a canton coincides with a mountain-rimmed valley—Valais with the basin of the upper Rhone, Glarus with the upper Linth, Uri with the Reuss, Graubünden with the upper Rhine, to which is joined by many pass routes the sparsely peopled Engadine, Ticino with the drainage basin of upper Lake Maggiore, Unterwalden with the southern drainage valleys of Lake Lucerne. ”

“ The police is regulated with the most exemplary vigilance and good order; the canton is a protestant one.
Upon quitting Berne, we found the country a lovely repetition of rich waving woods (chiefly of beech and pine) ; the brilliant autumnal tints of the former trees glowing beneath the bright blue of a cheerful morning sky, and the aromatic perfume of the latter, scenting the freshness of the breeze. How weak and inadequate are words to express certain feelings of delight! ”

“ The canton comprises 3 administrative districts: the 13 communes on the right bank and the 34 on the left bank each form one, while the city proper, on both sides of the river, forms one district and one commune. ”

“ The Cantons shall remain responsible, in particular, for fixing tax scales, tax rates and tax-free amounts. (3) In legislating on the principles for direct cantonal and communal taxes and in legislating for direct federal taxes, the Confederation shall take account of the efforts of the Cantons to achieve fiscal harmonization. The Cantons shall be granted an adequate period to adjust their fiscal legislation. (4) The Cantons shall cooperate in the drafting of the federal legislation.
Article 43 [Citizenship, Right to Vote] (1) Every citizen of a Canton is a Swiss citizen. ”

“ Like the American states, but unlike the German, the Swiss cantons enjoy a complete equality of status and of rights. They are forbidden to enter into alliances or treaties of a political nature among themselves, though they are permitted to conclude intercantonal conventions upon legislative, administrative, and judicial subjects, provided such conventions, upon inspection by the federal officials, are found to be devoid of stipulations contrary to the federal constitution or inimical to the rights of any canton. ”

“ Then these grand and subdivisions have an entirely different significance, as applied to federal or cantonal questions; a Radical as to the one, may be a Conservative as to the other. The Radical and Conservative of the Canton of Vaud is by no means the same as the Radical and Conservative of the Cantons of Zurich and Aargau; the Radical of Geneva is very different from the Radical of St. Gallen. The two parties are not distinguished from each other by any systematic respect or disrespect for cantonal independence. ”

“ NEUCHÂTEL (Ger. Neuenburg) , one of the cantons of western Switzerland, on the frontier towards France. It is the only Swiss canton that is situated entirely in the Jura, of which it occupies the central portion (its loftiest summit is the Mont Racine, 4731 ft. in the Tête de Rang range) . The canton has a total area of 311⋅8 sq. m., of which 267⋅1 sq. m. are reckoned “productive” (forests occupying 88⋅6 sq. m. and vineyards 4⋅4 sq. m.) ”

“ Every canton will have a council, elected by each of the different communities, for the management of its own affairs. The communes will be administered by elective municipal councils. Primary education is obligatory. The interpretation of the laws belongs, according to their nature, to the Court of Cassation, the Council of State, and the Senate. The constitution can only be modified on the initiative of the ministry, or of either of the two Chambers, and by a vote of both Chambers, passed by a majority of two-thirds. Such modification must also be sanctioned by the Sultan. ”

“ The council of Glarus published, in 1816, a memorial relating to the government of the canton, of which the following is an extract:—
"We have never had any constitutional form for the canton drawn up in authentic shape. The custom of successive construction, followed for centuries, and the acts of agreement established between the two religious divisions, have gradually given birth to the constitution actually in being, and which, under divine providence, we desire to transmit unchanged to our descendants." ”

“ In France, the canton, which is a subdivision of the arrondissement, is a territorial, rather than an administrative, unit. The canton, of which there are 2908, generally comprises, on an average, about twelve communes, though very large communes are sometimes divided into several cantons. ”

“ But it is in Switzerland that they can most usefully be studied, for there they have a solid experience of ninety years continuous practice behind them.
The Referendum came first; and in its modern form was first adopted in the Constitution of the canton of St. Gall in 1831, the second and third articles of which read:
Art. 2.—The people of the canton are sovereign. Sovereignty, which is the sum of all political powers, resides in the whole body of citizens. ”

“ The original nucleus of the State, however, was German, and even now three-fourths of the population are German. The twenty-two distinct states are federated under one president elected annually, and the Federal Assembly of two chambers. ... Each of the cantons is sovereign and independent, and has its own local parliament, scarcely any two being the same, but all based on universal suffrage. Each canton has its own budget of revenue and expenditure, and its own public debt. ”

“ It consists of forty-four members, two chosen within each canton; and to this extent it indeed resembles the Senate. The manner of election and the qualifications of members, however, as well as tenure of office and the arrangements made for remuneration, are not regulated, as are (p. 428) similar matters in the United States, by the constitution, or by federal authority, but, on the contrary, are left entirely to be determined by the individual cantons. The consequence is a total lack of uniformity in these highly important matters. In some cantons members are elected by popular vote ”

“ Every canton contains four square leagues, and is estimated to contain, on the average, 4,000 inhabitants, or 680 voters in the primary assemblies, which vary in numbers with the population of the canton, and send one deputy to the commune for every 200 voters. ”

“ In Switzerland, where the union is very slight, it has been found necessary to provide, that each canton shall be obliged to allow a passage, to merchandise through its jurisdiction into other cantons without an augmentation of tolls. ”

“ The Cantons have deep-rooted and peculiar local institutions, in many cases of great vitality; laws handed down traditionally from generation to generation, often without having ever been committed to paper, much less to print. Until 1848 there was not one written and accepted cantonal constitution. ”

“ French is the language spoken in the canton. There is a marked distinction of rank all over Switzerland, except in Geneva, Vaud and the small democratic cantons such as Zug and Schwytz, where it is merely nominal. In short, tranquillity is the order of the day. Each rank respects the privileges of the other and the peasant, however rich, is not at all disposed to vary from his usual mode of life or to ape the noble; and hence, tho' sumptuary laws are no longer in force, they continue so virtually and the peasantry in all the German cantons adhere strictly to the national costume. ”

“ Every man of us will feel his back set up if we are asked that the Houses of Lords and Commons shall become the Senate and House of Representatives, not of “Greater Britain,” which might haply be promotion, but of a mere canton of Greater Britain, a canton keeping for its Legislature powers somewhat larger, it may be, than those of a Town Council or a Court of Quarter Sessions, but powers as essentially local and secondary in their nature. ”

“ As different states or kingdoms have a common interest in the navigation of a river which flows through their territories, and will rightly insist upon its being unimpeded, so it has been found by the cantons that they often have a common interest in the preservation of forests which may be situated in separate cantons, because their effects reach far beyond their particular locality. One canton might be more harmed by the destruction of a forest belonging to another canton than that canton itself. ”