have for their aim the physical, intellectual and moral amelioration of the poorest and most numerous class. This is the People."

Commencing with a sentence, "Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains "-which must have thrilled the heart of every reformer-Rousseau professes to prove to demonstration (in the Contrat Social) the following principles:-(1) A society, community, or state is the outcome of a social compact by which men, freely and voluntarily, bind themselves to obey "the general will": "Each of us puts his person and all his powers under the sovereign direction of the general will; and we receive every member as an inseparable part of the whole". This is for the purpose of defending and protecting the person and property of each. (2) The body thus formed is the sovereign power -the sovereign and the body politic are one and the same thing. Every member is a citizen in that he is a part of the sovereign power, and a subject in that he owes obedience to the laws made by, or through, the sovereign power. (3) The sovereign power is inalienable and indivisible, i.e., the sovereign power itself is not subject to the laws it makes; and the sovereign power cannot exercise its legislative functions through one body and its executive powers through another. (4) The general will of the sovereign power in regard to a matter of common interest is expressed in a law. Laws, therefore, cannot be made through any kind of representative institution, since only the sovereign power (the whole community) can possess the law-making power (the general will). (5) All governmental machinery constitutes the agents and go-betweens of the sovereign power as a whole and its members as the parts; to the

end that civil and political freedom for each and all may be properly maintained. The government may be a monarchy, i.e., when there is one magistrate from whom all the rest hold their authority; an aristocracy, i.e., when there are more simple citizens than magistrates; or a democracy, i.e., when there are more citizen magistrates than private citizens. (6) The sovereign power should establish a purely civil profession of religious faith, consisting of a belief in God: a future state: happiness of the righteous and punishment of the wicked: the sanctity of the social contract and the laws.

Such is a brief and bald outline of the theory of the Contrat Social, the book which was one of the more immediate causes of the French Revolution, and which had such a powerful influence upon its Swiss readers that, in 1762, the government of Geneva caused a copy of it to be publicly burnt. Pestalozzi has put on record that he was himself greatly influenced by the reading of the book; and his own political writings plainly show this. He, like other good patriots, did everything possible to bring about a better state of things.

The new spirit of national, as against state, patriotism which was fast spreading found active expression in and through the founding, in 1762, of the Helvetic Society. This was largely due to the influence of Balthasar's book; and the society consisted of such zealous patriots as Gessner, Hirzel and Iselin. Pestalozzi appears to have been one of the earliest, if not one of the original members. Both Catholics and Protestants worked together in this society. Soon all the most famous men of both French and German Switzerland attended its annual meetings; at which patriotism and national

ism were fostered: corruption and extortion in public life criticised and exposed: the moral improvement of individual life urged: and the reform of education and civic government advocated. The society offered prizes for plans for the improvement of the educational system of the country. It gave active encouragement to Dr. Planta, who had started in 1761 a school, at Haldenstein, on the lines of the Philanthropinists-who sought to carry out Rousseau's principle of things instead of words in teaching-through the sciences which helped most frequently in the affairs of daily life. Dr. Planta also sought to train his pupils in human fraternity, patriotism and religious toleration. Many distinguished men, who took foremost parts in the national reforms, were educated in this school.

Meantime political struggles and revolts continued. In one or two towns and cantons the artisans and peasants succeeded in regaining some of their old rights and privileges; but in most cases all political agitations and revolts were put down with an iron hand, and many paid for their discontent with their lives. But the people caught the fever of the French Revolution, and, in 1798, the inhabitants of Pays de Vaud rose in rebellion against the authority of the canton of Bern. This rising led to others, and the peasants set to work to overthrow the conditions of feudalism, and declared themselves in favour of "liberty, equality and fraternity". Their leaders appealed to France for aid. This was given, with the result that, in 1798, thirteen states were federated, and put under a representative democracy. The government consisted of two chambers: a senate and a greater council; the executive was a directory of five members and four ministers; and