LETTER XVI.



                    SCHAFFHAUSE.



My dear Sir,



THE sovereign is the city of Schaffhause. The citizens, about sixteen 

hundred, are divided into twelve tribes, one of which consists of nobles, 

and eleven are ordinary citizens.



The sovereignty resides in the little and grand councils.



The senate, or little council of twenty-five, has the executive power.



The great council, comprizing the senate, has the legislative, and finally 

decides appeals.



The burgomasters are the chiefs of the republick, and alternately preside in 

both councils.



Besides these there are, the secret council, of seven of the highest 

officers; the chamber of justice, of twenty-five, including the president; 

the prętorian chamber, of thirteen, including the president; the consistory, 

of nine; and the chamber of accounts, of nine. The city has ten bailiwicks 

subject to it.



               THE CITY OF MULHOUSE.



THE sovereign is the city: the sovereignty resides in the little and the 

grand council. The lesser council is composed of twenty-four persons; viz. 

three burgomasters, who preside by turns, each one six months, nine 

counsellors, and twelve tribunes, who succeed by election, and are taken 

from the grand council.



The grand council is composed of seventy-eight, viz. the twenty-four of the 

lesser council, thirty-six members of the tribes, six from each, and 

eighteen taken from the body of the citizens, and elected three by each one 

of the six tribes.



                 THE CITY OF BIENNE.



THE republick of Bienne contains less than six thousand souls.



The regency is composed of the great council, in which the legislative 

authority resides, consisting of forty members; and of the little council, 

composed of twenty-four, who have the executive.



Each of these councils elect their own members, from the six confraternities 

of the city.



The burgomaster is chosen by the two councils, presides at their meetings, 

and is the chief of the regency; he continues in office for life, although 

he goes through the form of an annual confirmation by the two councils, when 

the other magistrates submit to the same ceremony. The burgomaster keeps the 

teal, and, with the banneret, the treasurers, and the secretary, forms the 

oeconomical chamber, and the chamber of orphans.



This town sends deputies to the general diets. ordinary and extraordinary.