Page:John Adams - A Defence of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America Vol. I. (1787).djvu/68

30 the general aembly, where each male of fifteen, with his word at his ide, has his eat and vote. It is true, that this aembly, which is annually held in an open plain, ratifies the laws, lays taxes, enters into alliances, declares war, and makes peace.

But it has a firt magitrate in a land amman, who is the chief of the republic, and is choen alternately from among the Protetants and from among the Catholics, The Protetant remains three years in office; the Catholic two. The manner of his appointment is a mixture of election and lot. The people chooe five candidates, who draw lots for the office. The other great officers of tate are appointed in the ame manner.

There is a council called a enate, compoed of the land amman, a tadthalder, and ixty-two enators, forty-eight Protetants and fourteen Catholics, all taken from fifteen tagwen or corvees, into which the three principal quarters or partitions of the country are ubdivided for its more convenient government. In this enate, called the council of regency, the executive power reides. Each tagwen or corvee furnihes four enators; beides the borough of Glaris, which furnihes ix.

Intead of a imple democracy, it is a mixed government, in which the monarchical power in the land amman, tadthalder or pro-conul, the aritocratical order in the enate, and the democratical in the general aembly, are ditinctly marked. It is, however, but imperfecftly balanced; o much of the executive power in an aritocratical aembly would be dangerous in the highet degree in a large tate, and among a rich people, if this canton could extend its minion,