Note (Back) — Chapter XXII

The adoption of the constitution of 1848, ensuring a modified revival of the governmental régime of 1798-1803, comprised a distinct victory for the Radical, or Centralist, party. During the two decades which followed this party maintained complete control of the federal government, and in 1872 it brought forward the draft of a new constitution whose centralizing tendencies were still more pronounced. By popular vote this proffered constitution was rejected. Another draft, however, was prepared and, April 19, 1874, by a vote of 14-1/2 cantons against 7-1/2, it was adopted. The popular vote was 340,149 to 198,013. Amended subsequently upon a large number of occasions,[591] the instrument of 1874 is the fundamental law of the Swiss Confederation to-day, although it is essential to observe that it represents only a revision of the constitution of 1848. As a recent writer has said, "the one region on the continent to which the storms of 1848 brought immediate advantage was Switzerland, for to them it owes its transformation into a well-organized federal state."[592]