No. 500.
Mr. Fish
to Mr. Evarts.
Berne, October 21, 1878. (Received November 7.)
Sir: Sunday next is the day appointed for the election of the delegates to the Federal Assembly. A traveler passing through the country would find no signs of an approaching election, such as we are accustomed to at home. Should he, however, be a reader of the newspapers he would be soon involved in a labyrinth of local politics from which it would take considerable observation to extract himself with a clear perception of the condition of affairs.
The difficulty in obtaining a clear understanding of the working of the political factions arises principally from the subdivisions of those factions and the division of so small a country into so large a number of political bodies. The Confederation may be considered as consisting of [Page 846] 25 separate states—i. e., 22 cantons or states, three of which are divided into half cantons—and subject to the provisions of the federal constitution. Each one of those 25 states exercises the right of sovereignty within its own limits. Thus we have in a population of about 2,750,000 inhabitants the organizations necessary for a central or federal government and for 25 subordinate governments.
The Federal Assembly consists of two houses, viz:
- 1st.
- The Rational Council, composed of 135 deputies, elected by the direct vote of the people in the separate election districts. These districts, 48 in number, are arranged according to population, on the basis of one deputy to each 20,000 inhabitants, or fraction of 20,000 exceeding 10,000 inhabitants.
- 2d.
- The Council of States, composed of 44 deputies, elected as each canton may decide, either by its legislature or by a direct vote of the people, two deputies being allowed from each canton and one from each of the half cantons.
While the term of the members of the National Council is limited to three years, each canton may fix the term for its deputies to the Council of States.
Thus while the organization of the two houses of the Federal Assembly in many respects is similar to that of our Congress, the fact that a number of the members of the Council of States are chosen by a direct popular vote, and that their term of office is fixed by the canton which they represent, renders it a more representative body of the popular sentiment than is possible with our Senate, whose members are frequently chosen from the party of the minority.
The executive power is placed in the hands of the Federal Council, composed of seven members chosen by the two houses of the Federal Assembly immediately upon the first meeting of that body after an election of members of the National Council; and from among the seven members whose term of office is three years the Federal Assembly elects annually the President and Vice-President of the Confederation, who are ex officio President and Vice-President of the Federal Council.
The differences of language, religion, and interests must necessarily have great influence on the organization of parties where the constituencies are so small, and the local polities are often considered of much greater importance than those of a national character. This renders it extremely difficult for a stranger to judge of the political party to which any group of deputies may belong, the more so as we often find them voting against their colleagues of the same group, and sometimes even against the popular sentiment of the canton from which they are elected. Thus a radical from the canton of Vaud would not be the same as a radical from Zurich, and there would be an equal difference between a Geneva and a Berne radical. If I were to attempt to analyze the causes of these differences I should, I fear, be unable to give you the result in the compass of a single report, or even in the limit of a study of the question during several years of observation. The general tendency of the radical or democratic party is, however, toward a centralization of power in the federal as opposed to the cantonal government, especially in the German cantons. In those of French origin, controlled by the radicals, the tendency is more to a centralization of power in the hands of the cantonal government as opposed to that of the communes or municipalities. The radicals are the most numerous party in the National Council, lacking only about 15 of a majority. The second in point of numbers is the liberal conservative party, which has by the co-operation of the more moderate radicals or of the ultramontanes [Page 847] managed to control the direction of affairs in most of the important questions.
The custom of re-electing the same deputies is so well founded that with few exceptions no important changes are likely to take place.
The reaction which was to be expected as a result of the stringent legislation in regard to church matters in the cantons of Geneva and Berne has already set in, and has shown itself by an overwhelming rejection of a new constitution, proposed by the radicals in the former canton, and the greatly increased strength of the conservative vote in the latter. While this reaction may influence the result in a few districts, it is not generally believed that it will materially alter the general result of the election.
Of the members of the Federal Council, Mr. Heer declines a re-election on account of ill-health; and Mr. Droz is bitterly opposed in the canton of Neuchatel; the other members are almost certain to be re-elected to the National Council. As Mr. Heer’s non-election to the latter body will not prevent his election to the Federal Council, there will probably be no change in the executive branch of the government, unless Mr. Droz fails of an election.
There does not appear to be any general question on which the issue depends, but rather a great number of local questions in the different cantons.
I have, & c.,