have now discharged all their duties; their term of office
is at an end, the trust which has been placed in their hands falls back
into the hands of those by whom it was given, into the hands of the
sovereign people. The chief of the commonwealth, now such no longer,
leaves his seat of office, and takes his place as a simple citizen in
the ranks of his fellows. It rests with the freewill of the Assembly to
call him back to his chair of office, or to set another there in his
stead. Men who have neither looked into the history of the past, nor yet
troubled themselves to learn what happens year by year in their own
age, are fond of declaiming against the caprice and ingratitude of the
people, and of telling us that under a democratic government neither men
nor measures can remain for an hour unchanged. The witness alike of the
present and of the past is an answer to baseless theories like these.
The spirit which made democratic Athens year by year bestow her highest
offices on the patrician Perikles and the reactionary Phokion, still
lives in the democracies of Switzerland. The ministers of kings, whether
despotic or constitutional, may vainly envy the sure tenure of office
which falls to the lot of those who are chosen to rule by the voice of
the people. Alike in the whole Confederation and in the single Canton,
re-election is the rule; the rejection of the outgoing magistrate is the
rare exception. The Landammann of Uri, whom his countrymen have
raised to the seat of honour, and who has done nothing to lose their
confidence, need not fear that when he has gone to the place of
meeting in the pomp of office, his place in the march homeward will be
transferred to another against his will.

E. A. FREEMAN.

[Notes: _Uri._ A Swiss canton which, early in the 14th century, united
with Unterwalden and Schwytz to form the Swiss Confederation.

_Sempach_ (1386) _and Morgarten_ (1315), both great victories won by the
Swiss over the Austrians.

----_Charles the Bold of Burgundy_ was defeated by the Swiss in 1476 at
Morat.

_ Perikles_. A great orator and statesman, who, in the middle of the 5th
century, B.C., guided the policy of Athens, and made her the centre of
literature, philosophy, and art.

_ Phokion _. An Athenian statesman of the 4th century B.C., who opposed
Demosthenes in his efforts to resist Philip of Macedon. His reactionary
policy was atoned for by the upri