CENTRE-STATE RELATIONS 15 had a Federal Diet with representatives from the contracting cantons. The Diet met annually for the purpose of common action. During this period of feudal social system, unity of the cantons was not the dominant feature. Most cantons insisted on their rights of sovereignty and even claimed that the Federal Diet would have competence to take action only when its decisions were based on unanimity of the cantonal representatives in it. In the absence of such unanimity, cantons refused to take decisions of the Federal Diet as binding on the cantons. Things altered a little during the age of Reformation and Counter-reformation. Though the normal tendency of centrifugalism characteristic of feudal ruling class still persisted, the criss-cross of religious loyalty rendered the Federal Diet nearly inoperative. Upto the last part of the eighteenth century no strong urge for unity in Switzerland was visible. The end of the eighteenth century saw the first appearance of the bourgeoisie. Berne developed gradually as the most prosperous canton with a vast territory and wealth by the side of other small cantons where rural life dominated. Following Berne's example, a few others also wanted to improve their fortune by developing economic activities with the initiative of the newly growing middle class. The spokesmen of this class sought to introduce a reawakening of the Swiss people appropriate for the bourgeois society. It was during this 'enlightenment' that religious fervour started to lose its appeal for division.2 Otherwise, however, the Swiss society was still under the domination of the patriciate aristocracy and peasant economy. In fact, the bourgeoisie had not grown as yet in Switzerland to an extent adequate to establish its dominance. It was at this time that Switzerland succumbed, in 1798, to the French revolutionary regime. Anew constitution was imposed replacing the Confederation. This Helvetic constitution was the first constitutional attempt of the bourgeoisie to place the country under one strong central power. But it was principally the product not of the Swiss, but of the French bourgeoisie. Neither the feudal elements nor the people under their influence however could bear with the far too strong central authority created under the Helvetic republic totally denying the cantons' claim to sovereignty. In 1803 Napoleon conceded the restoration of the contonal system as a result of mediatory efforts. The constitution of 1803 lasted till the downfall of Napoleon in 1815 at Waterloo. The Confederation was then revived with more cantons joining it. But the form of a loose federation was not adopted in Switzerland again. The bourgeoisie was gradually developing its own class basis through industrialisation in different cantons. Some of the cantons, however, continued in the old traditional conditions of livelihood. It was the former that now needed to remove the traditional barriers for the exploitation of the natural resources of the country. The bourgeoisie in these cantons became the proponents of the need for a