Assertions of this character are more rash than correct, and only impose on those who are unacquainted with the history of Switzerland.

The basin of the Lake of Leman has received from nature the gift of an exceptionally fertile soil, and exceptionally economical resources.

It is no marvel, therefore, that the populations who inhabit these favoured districts should be more prosperous than those of the mountainous villages in Uri, or in the wild valleys of Saas, Anniviers, and Dermatt in the Haut-Valais.

If a comparison be made between the Protestant country districts of Vaud, not in the basin of the Lake of Leman, and the Catholic districts of the canton of Fribourg, which have the same climate and are at the same altitude, it will be seen that the Catholics of Fribourg are in no way inferior to the Protestant inhabitants of Vaud, either as regards intellectual attainments, order, or well-being.

The prosperity of Geneva is natural, and there is no necessity to pay homage to the co-religionists of M. Carteret, for the sake of explaining it. The town occupies an exceptionally good position, close to France, on the borders of a large lake, covered with steamboats, and surrounded by vineyards and rich

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pasture land, and has been from time immemorial a place of great resort for strangers from all parts of the world.

The prosperity of Neufchatel is due to its population of clock-makers, as much Catholic as Protestant, but whose lot in any case is not very enviable. It is as unreasonable to say that the cantons of Geneva and Neufchatel are more prosperous than those of the Haut-Valais and the forest cantons, because they are Protestant, as it would be to attribute the impossibility of planting corn-fields on the slopes of Mount Cervin, or vines in the fields of Andermatt and Uri, to the Catholicism of the inhabitants.

M. Martin ("Avenir du Protestantisme et du Catholicisme," p. 197) states with reference to the canton of Valais as an "economical" fact, that at a general meeting of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, at St. Maurice, the conference of the Valais declared they did not know how to employ the funds of the Society, since they had no poor persons in their district.

On the strength of Hepworth Dixon's works on Switzerland, the assertion has been made that in the canton of Appenzel (since 1597 divided into the two districts of Inner-Rhoden in the mountains, inhabited by 11,900 Catholics, and Ausser-Rhoden in the valley,

inhabited by 46,726 Protestants) the Protestants are active, industrious, sociable, and rich; the Catholics lazy, ignorant, poor, creatures of habit, and dispersed in scattered huts. He writes as follows:

"Each shepherd lives apart from his fellows, whom he only meets at mass, at wrestling matches, and public-houses.

The lads can read and write, for they are Switzers subject to the cantonal law, but books and journals are unknown amongst them, saving here and there some histories of the lives of the saints and popular papers containing scraps of old wives' lore, in place of general and exciting news."

"

The Saturday Review" (No. 853) does not consider Hepworth Dixon a trustworthy authority, so that any line of arguments built upon his statements would probably be considered unsatisfactory in the eyes of a large class of persons.

We quote this fact in order that our readers may rest assured that no prejudice on our part makes us discredit the evidence given in relation to Switzerland. It stands to reason that a widely-scattered population of herdsmen living in mountainous districts, that are almost inaccessible, must be more wild and povertystricken than a population dwelling in a valley full of towns and villages. The religious question has nothing in common with the economical condition of the canton of Appenzel.

68 Civil and Material Prosperity of Nations.

Hepworth Dixon's picture, stripped of its wronglydrawn accompaniments, has doubtless many attractions. These mountaineers, renowned throughout the whole of Switzerland for their jovial temperament, their vigour of body and of mind, and their ancient popular games (Schwingfeste), must produce a charming effect, when they come down from their dwellings in their picturesque national costumes, either to go to mass or to take some amusement amongst the civilized inhabitants of the valley.

But as long as they are content with reading the lives of the saints and local popular papers, instead of satiating themselves with such literature as is read by the English labouring classes, it is evident they can never expect to have their praises sung either by Hepworth Dixon or any of the school of modern liberals.

a man of the day".

The true signification of the expression First temporal rule of human societies-How a society of uncivilized people may be relatively perfect-Incorrectness of statement that Protestant countries are more active and industrious than Catholic countries-Political economy of the Catholics in Prussia-In the United States of America-In Canada-French Protestantism-Economical consequences of the revocation of the Edict of Nantes-The rate of exchange in Catholic countries-Catholics and the book trade-Political life in Germany.

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EFORE further entangling ourselves in the labyrinth of the deductive school, we will once more recall the principles which predominate in this discussion.

We may begin by asserting that we have a profound admiration for all the scientific discoveries of our day;