Abstract

Old Catholicism in Switzerland

The little republic of Switzerland has just passed through a critical election. The announcement need not startle any one; for the canton of Geneva, Switzerland, is generally either on the eve of a crisis, or at the turning point of a crisis, or just rallying after a crisis. Such a perpetual raging of tempests as goes on in this tumbler of water may be imagined by those who can conceive of a state of society in which not only municipal and State elections, but Congressional and Presidential elections, come every year; and in addition constitutional revisions and amendments, cantonal and federal, are frequently submitted to universal suffrage, and the periodical election of Protestant and Catholic ministers by popular ballot adds a vivacity of its own to local and general politics. The issue on trial at the late election was a religious one. Most of the recent elections have turned on religious questions.