The three chiefs meet three times in the year at Coire, and send information to the different communities re specting the subjects of discussion at the general diet.
The Roman law, modified by municipal customs, pre vails in the three leagues. It appears from the concurring testimony of several travellers, that the administration of justice, both in the civil and criminal courts, is very im perfect. The judges are capable of being bribed ; and confessions are obtained by torture.
The public chamber of justice, called the Strattgericht, is a court composed of ten judges out of every league, and twenty advocates. It is assembled by a demand made by the peasants to the general diet, and is paramount to all law. There is no appeal from the decisions of this inqui sitorial tribunal. The worst effects resulted from the meeting of this court, btu fortunately it is now gone into disuse.
The Catholic and Protestant religions both prevail in the Grisons. The Protestants form about two-thirds of the po pulation. There are 135 Protestant parishes, viz. 53 in the League of God's House, 46 in the Grey League, and 36 in the League of Ten Jurisdictions: The livings are from 61. to 25/. per annum. The clergy arc here obliged to increase their income by traffic ; and their poverty is ren dered more oppressive from their dependence, as they are generally chosen by the people. Several of the minis ters are, however, very respectable, and well informed. The Protestants are educated at Zurich and. Basle ; and the Catholics at Milan, Pavia, or Vienna. A Latin school was established at Coire for the children of the burghers; and another in 1763, for those intended for the church.
The expenditure of the government consists merely in the salaries of the deputies, and in the expences incurred at the sitting of the diet. The revenues are drawn from the duties upon merchandise, which passes through the canton of the dependent states, and was farmed at 17,000 florins, or 12591.: from fines upon delinquents ; from a tribute of 500 Philips, or 125/. from the Valteline ; and 100 Philips, or 251. from Chiavenna ; and from the interest of a small sum, the principal part of which, viz. 4000/. was vested in the British funds.
The commerce of the Grisons is very limited. Its prin cipal exports are cheese and cattle, and some planks, stones, and coal, to Milan. The care of the cattle is the principal employment of 'the peasantry. The canton pos sesses 8000 head of great cattle, about 30,000 cows, from 60,000 to 70.000 goats; and nearly 100,000 sheep, which come annually from Italy to feed upon the fine pastures of the Grisons. The cattle of the Prettigau are the finest
breed. Vines are cultivated in the vallics on the northern and southern frontiers.
The imports of the Grisons are grain, rice, salt, and silk stuffs from Milan ; grain from Suabia and the Tyrol ; salt from the Tyrol and Bavaria ; fine linens and muslins from Switzerland ; and English, French, and Silesian fine cloth through Germany. The only manufactory in the country, is that of cotton at Coire. The trade of the Grisons, and the subject provinces, is carried on with Milan across the Lake of Como, by its branch the lake of Lecco, by the river Adda, and by the canals of the Adda and the Trezzo.
The Italian, German, and Romansh languages, prevail in the Grison territory. The inhabitants of ]'regalia and Puschiavo, and of the vallies of Misox and Calanca, speak the Milanese dialect of the Italian tongue. The inhabi tants of the Ten Jurisdictions, with the exception of a few villages; those of the League of God's House, at Avers, Coin, and the four villages ; those of the Gley League, at Spinet), Cepina, and other villages of the Rhinwald ; at Valts, in the valley of St Pedro ; at Tousis, Reichcnau, Feldsperg, Tamins, Meyerhof, Versani, and Valendros.
The Romansh, or Rhetian language, is the vernacular tongue throughout the greater portion of the Grison terri tory. It was formerly spoken at Coire, and the adjacent districts, and as far as Inspruck in the Tyrol. It is divi ded into two principal dialects.; he one called Cialover, spoken in the Grey League ; and the other Ladin, in that or God's House. These dialects vary both in pronunciation and orthography, and they have a great affinity to the La tin, and other languages derived from the Latin. Planta seems to have proved, that the Romansh of the Grisons is the same with the ancient Romans!), called Lingua Roma na, the mother of the French tongue. It was the earliest language derived from the colloquial Latin, and was un derstood in Italy, in the Morea, and at Constantinople, ha ving been universally diffused throughout the south of Europe in the I 1th and 12th centuries.
The antiquities in the Grisons are very numerous. There are no fewer than 180 castles and ruins of the mid dle ages.
Mr Coxe reckons the population of the Grisons at 98,000.
This number is exclusive of the provinces formerly sub ject to the Grisons. Se Coxe's Travels in Switzerland, vol. iii. ; Ebel's Manuel d'un Voyageur en Suisse, passim ; and Planta's ?ccount of the Romansh Language, in the Philosophical Transactions for 1776, vol. lxvi. p. 129.