16 SOCIAL SCIENTSIT national power at the centre. The other cantons still sticking to the old modes of production naturally opposed centralisation for power in Switzerland. Through the thirties and early forties of the nineteenth century the difference was becoming increasingly sharper. The Jesuits joined the side of the forces opposing centralisation. On the side of centralisation appeared a group of liberals and radicals who obtained power in 1830-1834 in a few cantons. In opposition to the bourgeois liberals' and radicals' urge for centralisation seven cantons ruled by the old patriciate and conservative peasents now formed an alliance popularly known as the Sonderbund (Separate League) of which the clericals took leadership.3 The Sonderbund declared the seven cantons' secession from the Swiss Confederation. Marx and Engels very clearly indicated their sympathy for the radicals in this combat.4 The war of the Sonderbund in 1846 was thus a civil war fought between the bourgeoisie and the conservative elements. The Sonderbund was defeated and a new constitution was drawn up, creating a legislature for the whole of Switzerland, composed of two chambers, the National Council and the Council of States, following the U. S. example, and also creating an executive, the Federal Council, to act for the whole country. The federal authority was given exclusive jurisdiction in "diplomatic and military affairs, together with certain economic matters, such as posts, customs, and weights and measures, in respect of which concerted action could not be neglected if the people were to retain any sort of unity".5 Thus the constitution of 1848 carried the first impress of the bourgeoisie in that the right of secession of the cantons was negated by implication, and for the sake of industrial progress some early steps could be taken for the whole of Switzerland by the federal authority. Centralisation of course could not go far enough because the bourgeoisie's sway was still limited. Thereafter, the bourgeoisie brought about the progress of industry gradually and by 1874 the constitution was again revised to make the federal authority stronger in relation to the cantons. Specially, a federal judiciary, the Federal Tribunal, was set up; certain basic rights of the individual appropriate for bourgeois democracy were granted; the authority of the Federal Government in industrial, commercial and other large business activities was substantially increased; export taxes were directed to be as moderate as possible; import taxes for luxury were to be high and for materials necessary for the industry and agriculture, to be as high as possible; and what is more important, a very imposing federal authority was constructed under the 1874 constitution. When the Philadelphia convention was engaged in the constitution-making process for North America liberated from the British rule, a debate arose as to whether the erstwhile colonies now federating