Part 26

[104] The reader is referred for fuller information to the most interesting account by Sir F. O. Adams and Mr. Cunningham in "The Swiss Confederation" (Longmans).

[105] Kern, "Souvenirs Suisses," pp. 124-129, where other instances of Napoleon's goodwill in 1848-9 are mentioned.

[106] Legislative Acts are, in fact, referred _to the whole people_ for approval or disapproval, as in limited monarchies they are referred to the _sovereign_. But in Switzerland the veto possessed by the people is a _real_ thing, and not a virtual impossibility, as in England for instance.

[107] For further notes on the Referendum, see Adams and Cunningham's "Swiss Confederation," alluded to above. The Referendum seems likely to attract increasing attention, in England and America especially.

XXXIV.

INDUSTRY, COMMERCE, RAILWAYS, EDUCATION THE "RIGHT OF ASYLUM."

Our story must be brought to a close with a short account of several important matters on which nothing has as yet been said, viz., the industrial condition of the country, and its material progress. Hardly any other country has had to contend with so many natural disadvantages as Switzerland, in prosecuting her industries and establishing her trade. The difficulty of the country, the absence of coal and iron, the want of navigable rivers, the scanty produce of the soil in the more elevated districts, the want of seaboard--all these and other things increased the severity of the struggle in the race for wealth. Then she is fenced in as it were by protection. As a set-off against these drawbacks, there is an abundance of water-power. But it is evident that agriculture alone could not suffice to provide for all the inhabitants, and thus it comes to pass that the Swiss have turned their energies in a remarkable manner to the establishment and development of manufactures. It may here be pointed out parenthetically that the poverty of the country in the pre-manufacturing days accounts for, and to some extent excuses, the old and reprehensible practice amongst the Swiss of hiring themselves out as soldiers to the highest bidder. Raw material in vast quantities is imported, and finished goods sent out. Switzerland competes successfully with some of the greatest manufacturing countries--England, Belgium, France--nay, considering her population, she almost surpasses them. Putting imports and exports together, Switzerland does a trade of £60,000,000 annually, the imports consisting mainly of coal, iron, raw silk, cotton, gold, and other raw materials, the exports of manufactured goods. The value of the imports exceeds that of the exports by no less a sum than six and a half millions sterling (Federal Statistics, 1887), the counterbalance being supplied by the tourists, and by the interest on foreign investments. The Swiss are a stirring and business-like people, and had already in the first half of the present century carried their enterprises abroad, especially in the principal seaports. As early as 1812, Egg, a citizen of Zurich, took two hundred operatives, and started a cotton factory at Piedimonti, near Naples, notwithstanding the blockade, the machinery being taken by way of Trieste and the Adriatic. Now the Swiss are to be found all over the world, as every one knows.

A few figures in detail respecting the imports and exports may be interesting. They are from the official statistics for 1887.

IMPORTS.

Food stuffs 242,935,277 francs. Raw materials 330,324,615 " Finished or partly-finished goods 263,775,024 " ----------- Total 837,034,916 "

EXPORTS.

Food stuffs 78,565,548 francs. Raw materials 95,922,106 " Finished products 496,604,979 " ----------- Total 671,092,633 "

Switzerland imports chiefly from the neighbouring countries, but her export trade is largely with England and America, as well as with Germany and France. Of the industries of the country, the largest as well as the oldest is the production of silk goods, dating back to the thirteenth century, the chief seats being Zurich and Basel. Cotton manufacture is carried on at Zurich, Aargau, St. Gall, and other places; embroidery is made at St. Gall and Appenzell; and watches at Neuchâtel and Geneva. This last town has also a great trade in jewellery and musical boxes. Then there are considerable manufactures of machinery, cheese, condensed milk, and other things, and wood carving is carried on to a large extent. The last returns give the exports of silk as 198,768,230 francs, cotton as over 158,000,000, and watches over 84,000,000.

This is not the place for details respecting the railway system, but it may be noted that the total length of the Swiss lines is now over three thousand kilometres. A special feature of the Alpine lines is, as every one is aware, the skill with which the engineering difficulties have been surmounted. The St. Gothard line, with its fifty tunnels, is the most conspicuous of these successes. This grand international enterprise owes its execution to Dr. Alfred Escher of Zurich, and the famous engineer, Louis Favre of Geneva. Vela, the Ticinese sculptor, has produced a fine group of relievi as a memento of the many poor victims of the great undertaking. The tunnel is between nine and ten miles long, and was completed in seven and a half years.

There is no doubt that the thriving condition of Switzerland is chiefly due to three causes--the thriftiness of the people, their natural ability, and perhaps, more than all, the excellence of the educational system. On this last point much has been written by the late Matthew Arnold and Sir F. O. Adams, and to their works the reader must be referred for details. We may here mention, however, that besides the primary, secondary, and high schools, which are to be found in every canton, Switzerland stands out conspicuously by the number and excellence of its technical and trade schools. The great Polytechnikum of Zurich is the pride of the country, and Basel, Zurich, Bern, and Geneva have universities, and Neuchâtel and Lausanne academies.[108] Primary education is entirely free, and to it the greater share of the education vote is assigned--in 1887, nearly seventeen and a half million francs out of a total of twenty-six and a half millions given to education. Attendance at school is compulsory, and there were in 1887, 467,597 children attending the primary schools.

Of men of intellect, of talent, of artistic, scientific, or literary skill, Switzerland has produced many, and has sheltered many more. The numerous academical institutions, literary, scientific, and musical societies, draw together large numbers of superior intellects. Amongst the numberless men of science now or lately living may be mentioned Agassiz, Desor, De la Rive, Heer, Merian, Studer, and Dr. Ferdinand Keller, the discoverer of the lake dwellings. In literature we have Viet, Marc Monnier, Zschokke, as well as Leuthold, Gotfried Keller, and Ferdinand Meyer. Keller has a reputation more than European; he has been called the German Shakespeare. He belongs to Zurich. The occasion of his seventieth birthday (on July, 1889), brought a remarkable demonstration. The Assembly voted him an address, and enthusiastic congratulations poured in upon him from all quarters. From Germany Von Moltke himself headed the list of admiring friends who sent messages. Keller is acknowledged to be the greatest living German poet. Amongst painters are Calaine, Diday, Girardet, Gleyre, Vautier, and Böcklin, whom the Germans consider one of their greatest living painters; and of sculptors, there are Vela and Lanz. Gustave Weber and Joachim Raff are well-known musical composers, with whom we must name Baumgartner, who has raised Keller's "Oh, mein Heimatland," into the position of a second national anthem.

We see in Switzerland a nation which once played a conspicuous part in European military affairs, but which has now become a land of peace, whose neutrality the Powers vouchsafed at the Vienna Congress. In the exceptional position she holds, she deems it part of her mission of peace to promote the general welfare of the world, so far as lies in her power. Most important international institutions owe their origin, or at least their successful establishment, to Switzerland. Thus she started the Geneva Convention, under the presidency of General Dufour, in 1864. This Convention had for its object the mitigation of the horrors of war, and every European nation was represented at it. The declaration of the neutrality of all nurses, medical men, hospitals, &c., on either side, and the adoption of the distinguishing badge, the Geneva cross, are too well known to need description here. Then at the suggestion of Germany the International Postal Union was founded at a meeting at Bern. And quite recently the International Congress of labour delegates is under consideration to be called with the view of settling some of the social questions affecting labour. A particularly interesting Swiss foundation was started in 1886, to provide for poor soldiers incapacitated by war, and to assist relatives dependent on those killed in battle. It was founded to celebrate the five-hundredth anniversary of Sempach, and is appropriately named the _Winkelriedstiftung_.

The right to offer an asylum in time of war she considers one of her most precious privileges. Seeing, however, how frequently her well-meant intentions are misinterpreted, and her hospitality abused, she may probably have to restrict her offers of asylum. In fact, the Bundesrath have even now under consideration the question of how best to maintain her rights in this respect, whilst seeing that no injury is done to foreign interests. One thing is certain, she will not give up the right of asylum. Meanwhile the refractory foreign elements residing in Switzerland are not only endangering her safety, but doing harm to the character of her people. The confusion of 1848-9 brought to Swiss territory fugitives from all parts of Europe. As many as ten thousand fled from the Grand Duchy of Baden, when the Prussian troops checked the rising there. Many distinguished men, who would otherwise have met with death, or lingered indefinitely in prison, found a safe retreat in Switzerland. We need only mention the great composer, Richard Wagner, and Rüstow, Mommsen, Semper, Joh. Scherr, Kinkel, Köchly, from amongst a host of scholars who took refuge there, and settled for years at the Swiss universities. Köchly's scholarship and activity brought in a conspicuously successful period of classical study at Zurich University (1850-64),[109] and his successor, Arnold Hug, was no less devoted and successful.

In 1853 Austria turned out six thousand Swiss (Ticinese) in the harshest manner from Lombardy, on the plea that Italians had been allowed to combine on Swiss ground against Austria. Six years later the Swiss had an opportunity of heaping coals of fire on the head of Austria, for when the Austrian garrison was driven from Fort Laveno, on Lake Maggiore, the soldiers were not only freely admitted into Swiss territory, but were liberally treated. Mazzini, too, the Italian patriot, sought safety in Switzerland, causing her, by the way, considerable trouble. The Franco-German war, again, offered the Swiss many opportunities of showing their usual benevolence and charity towards distressed foreigners. To the Germans who had to leave France on the outbreak of war, making their way home through Switzerland, the Swiss people showed innumerable kindnesses, many of the people being poor, and destitute of even necessaries. And when they heard of the siege of Strasburg, their old friend and ally of centuries ago, the Swiss sent a deputation to invite the weak and tender to go home with them. This was done with the consent of both belligerents, and fourteen hundred persons, chiefly women and children, and old men, accepted the invitation. It was a touching scene when they left with their protectors, and few eyes were dry. Every one knows how Bourbaki, failing to relieve Belfort, was compelled to flee into Swiss territory, with his eighty-five thousand men and nine thousand horses (February 1, 1871). The troops were disarmed, and quartered all over the country, and remained till peace was concluded. High and low, rich and poor, the Swiss vied with each other in showing kindness to the refugees. Miserable in the extreme had been their condition on their arrival, but they left recruited in health, improved in appearance and full of gratitude. As they departed the air was filled with shouts of "Vive la Suisse." That same spring, too, when seed was wanting with which to sow the ground in many districts of France, the Swiss sent large quantities of potatoes, oats, barley, and beans, and other seed corn, besides money and clothing. And during the war Swiss aid was distributed amongst French and Germans impartially.

It is not from self-interest or vain-glory that the Swiss act thus, but from motives of humanity and benevolence. And, though the "right of asylum" is liable to be abused, its nobler side is not to be forgotten. It is to be hoped that Switzerland will ever keep her present independence and neutrality, the very existence of which bears witness to the more human tendencies of modern European politics.

It remains only to give a few figures respecting the present numbers of the population. They are taken from the official returns, and though the report is only provisional,[110] it may be taken that the figures are substantially correct. It appears, then, that the total population of the Republic, on December 1, 1888, was 2,934,057 actually, or 2,920,723 in regular residence. In 1850 the actual population was 2,392,740, thus the increase during the thirty-eight years has been over half a million. Of the 2,934,057 enumerated on December 1, 1888, 1,427,377 were males, and 1,506,680 females; 2,092,530 were German-speaking, 637,972 French-speaking, 156,606 Italian-speaking, 38,375 Romansch-speaking, 8,574 were of other nationalities; 1,724,957 were Protestants, 1,190,008 Catholics, and 19,092 of other religions, or of none. The canton with the largest population was Bern, with 539,271, Zurich coming next with 339,014, whilst that with the smallest number of souls was Lower Unterwalden, with 12,524. The most populous town is Zurich, with 90,111 inhabitants, those coming next in order being Basel, with over 69,000, Geneva 52,000, Bern, 45,000, Lausanne, 33,000.

Here must end our short sketch of this remarkable little state. From the very earliest times its peoples have been particularly interesting--from its prehistoric lakemen with their almost unique series of settlements, down through successive nationalities of Helvetians and Romans, Alamanni and Burgundians to the modern Germans, French, Italians, and Romansch. Switzerland has bred or has been closely connected with some of the proudest ruling families in European history--Habsburgs and Zaerings, Carlovingians and Burgundians, Hohenstaufens and Savoys. Some of the most glorious victories recorded in history have been gained by the little Swiss nation in defence of their beloved fatherland; the fame of Morgarten, Sempach, Grandson, and Morat is not likely to die out while European civilization lasts. Constitutionally the history of Switzerland is of surpassing interest. Step by step we have seen a handful of gallant people free themselves from oppression by emperor or duke, by prince or lord, by prelate or cloister. Inch by inch the people at large have gained their political rights from foreign overlords or from native aristocracies. We have seen how a tiny confederation of three petty states has grown into a league of eight, and then of thirteen independent districts, and how this has developed into the federal state of twenty-two cantons of our own day. Lastly, some of the institutions of the country, notably the Initiative and the Referendum, are well-nigh unique of their kind, and certainly are of the greatest interest to the student of political history and development; whilst Switzerland's noble efforts for the amelioration and benefit of mankind at large cannot but command our admiration.

"Il est à nous, notre libre avenir; Morgarten, Grandson, jours de fête, Si vous ne deviez revenir, O Saint Jacques, O sainte defaite, Dans ton pourpre linceul, tu nous verrais dormir."[111]

THE END.

FOOTNOTES:

[108] That of Lausanne is to be made into a university.

[109] "Life of Köchly," by Prof. A. Hug, 1878.

[110] "Vorläufige Resultate der eidg. Volkszählung vom 1 Dezember, 1888."

[111] De la Rive, Genevan poet.

INDEX.

A

Aargau, subject land, 186

Adams, Sir F. O., 412

Adolf of Nassau, 131

Æneas Sylvius, 203, 253

Ætius defeated Huns, 45; gave Savoy to Burgundy, 51

Agassiz, 14

Agen, battle of, 20

Agnes of Königsfelden, 141

Alamanni, 39, 46, 47, 49

Albrecht of Habsburg, 113, 120, 131, 132

Alcuin, 64

Allobroges, 21

Allmend, or common land, 48, 126

Alpinus, 37

Alpnach, bay of, 355

Ambühl of Glarus, 176

Amman chosen in Uri, 127

Am Stoss, battle of, 181

Appenzell, 181; admitted as an ally, 182; admitted as a canton, 237

Aquæ (Baden), 35

Aquæ Sextiæ, battle of, 21

Arbedo, engagement at, 188

Arelatisches Reich founded, 73

Arnold of Brescia, reformer, 100, 152

Arnold von Melchthal, 120

Arnulf of Kaernthen, 76

Arth, Battle of, 354

Asylum, Right of, 416, 418

Augusta Rauracorum, 35, 39

Augusta Vindelicorum, 32

"Äusserer Stand," Society, 320

Austria, 143, 146, 166; defeated at Sempach, 172; defeated at Naefels, 177; claims the Forest, 178

Autun, battle of, 55

Avars, the, 76

Avenches, 97, 213; battle at, 368

Aventicum, 14, 34, 39

B

Baden (Zurich), 186

Barbarossa, 96

Basel, 14; treaty of, 236; divided, 387

Bayard, 240

Beccaria, 294

Bellinzona, 188

Bern, founded, 97; defeated at Schosshalde, 158; forms Burgundian Confederation, 159; rules over Hasle, 163; League with Austria, 166; power over house of Kyburg, 166; seizes Habsburg, 186; fortifies Morat, 212; natural bent for rule, 245; governing families of, 320; plundered by French, 351, 353; population, &c., 420

Berchtold V. founds Bern, 97; defeated by Savoy, 98

Bertha, the "Spinning Queen," 74, 86

Bertold I., Duke of Zaeringen, 93

Bertold II., 94

Bertold IV., 96

Beza, 287, 290

Bibracte, battle of, 23

Bituitus, 19

Bockenkrieg, 372

Bodmer, 334, 338

Bonivard, 273

Borromean League, 294

Borromeo, Archbishop of Milan, 293

Bourbaki, General, 417

Breisach, rising at, 205

Breitinger, 334, 336

Brun, Burgomaster of Zurich, 140, 146, 155, 157

Bubenberg, Hans von, 164; Adrian von, 206, 212

Bullinger, Reformer, 268, 296

Bund ob dem See, 181

Burgdorf, 97, 166

Burgundia Transjurans, 73

Burgundy takes West Helvetia, 40; defeated by Huns, 50; defeated by Franks, 55; two kingdoms of, 73; its wars, 200

Burkhard of Alamannia, 74

Burkhard of Chur-Rhætia, 78, 80, 81

C

Cæcina ravages Helvetia, 36

Campo Formio, treaty of, 347

Calvin, 279; his writings, 280; settles at Geneva, 281; banished, 282; founds the Consistory, 283; burns Servetus, 286; his policy, 287; death, 289

Carlomann, 58

Carmagnola, General, 188

Carolinum founded, 67

Catalaunian Plain, great battle on, 45

Catholic League, 387

Catholic Reaction, 291, 294

Central Government, 396

Centralists, the, 366

Chablais, 380, 402

Charlemagne, 59; Emperor of the West, 60; legends concerning, 62; zeal for education, 64

Charles the Bald, 72

Charles the Bold, 200, 205; defeated at Grandson, 211; at Morat, 213; death, 215

Charles IV. of Germany, 141, 143

Chiavenna, 241, 346, 380

Chillon, 109, 274

Christianity, introduction of, 40

Christian League, 264

Codex Manesse, 153

Columban, 57

Commerce, 409

Confederation formed, 119

Conrad I., 77; II., 88; III., 99

Conradin, 114

Constance, siege of, 304

Clairvaux, monk, preaches Crusades, 99

Clovis, king of the Franks, 54

Crusades, 98

D

D'Affry, 372, 376

Davel, Major, 319

"Délices, Les," 326; theatre destroyed, 328

Diesbach, Nicolas von, 206

Divico, 20, 23

Domo d'Ossola, 188

Dornbühl, victory at, 158

Drachenried, engagement at, 355

Drusus, 25, 32

Dufour, General, 393, 401, 415

E

East Frankish realm, 72

Eberhard the "Quarrelsome," 143; of Kyburg, 161

Education, 388, 412

Eidgenossenschaft, the, 118

Eight States League, 139, 166

Einsiedeln, 82, 134

Eishere the Giant, 62

Elizabeth of Habsburg, 133

"Empty Pocket," Frederick the, 181

Ensisheim, peace of, 197

Erlach, Ludwig von, 350

Erlach, Rudolf von, 164

Ernest II. of Swabia, 82

Escalade of Geneva, 302

Eschenbach, 133

Escher, 358, 375

Ewiger Bund, 129

Exports, 410

F

Farel, reformer, 275

Faucigny, 380, 402

"Faustrecht," the, 107

Federal Assembly, 396

Federal Council, 396

Federal Tribunal, 396

Felix Martyr, 42

Fellenberg, educationist, 374

Ferney, 326

Feudalism, 103

Fichte, 338

Fontana, 234

"Foul Peace," the, 175

Franche Comté, 215

Franco-German War, 417

Franks, the, 54

Fraubrunnen, skirmish at, 350

Frederick von Staufen, 93

Frederick I. (Barbarossa), 105

Frederick II., 127, 150

Frederick III., 190

Frederick the "Empty Pocket," 181, 185

Freiburg, 161, 221

French Revolution, 343

Fridolin St., banner of, at Naefels, 177

"Friedel" (Empty Pocket), 185

G

Galba, 25, 35

Gallia Comata, 31

Gall, St., 57, 62, 182, 241, 346

Geneva, 245; "Children" of, 273, 285; besieged by Savoy, 276; occupied by Bernese army, 277; Calvin's rule in, 284; escalade of, 302; Fatio's reforms, 322; admitted into league, 380; Geneva Convention, 415

Geschworne Brief, 155

Gessler, 121, 123

Giornico, victory at, 189

Glarean, scholar, 254

Glarus, 141; 1st Landsgemeinde, 175; defeats Austria, 177; defeated at Rapperswyl, 353

Goethe, 341

Golden League, 294

Gothard, St., pass, 187; tunnel, 412

Götterdämmerung, 50

Gotteshausbund, 184

Grandson, battle of, 208, 211

Graubünden, 184, 234; religious feuds, 305; massacre in, 307; Austrian occupation, 308; independence recovered, 311

Grauholz, conflict at, 351

Gregory VII., Pope, 91

Greifensee, 194, 317

Greyerz, 162, 164

Grey, Lady Jane, 298

Grey League, 184

Guillermins, the, 282

Gümminen, 161

Gundobad of Burgundy, 52

H

Habsburg Castle, 113

Habsburg-Austria, family of, 113

Habsburg-Laufenburg, 113

Habsburg, house of, 113, 114; kings of Germany, 115

Hadrian, Pope, 60, 63

Hadwig, 81

Hærige, the, 48

Hagenback, Peter von, 204, 205

Haller, 334, 336

Hallwyl, Hans von, 212

Harpe, La, 347, 359, 367, 372, 384

Hartmann, 108, 161

Harsthörner, 209

Hatto, Bishop, 66

Heer, Professor, 8

Heierli, 11

Helvetia, 13, 31, 32

Helvetians, 14; government, 17; feuds with Germans, 18; victory over Romans, 20; defeated at Bibracte, 24; made associates by Rome, 25; split into two sections, 36

Helvetic Club, 347

Helvetic Republic, 352

Helvetic Society, the, 340, 342

Henry I., the "City Founder," 80

Henry II. of Germany, 87

Henry III., 88, 90, 105

Henry IV., 91, 93

Henry VII., 134

Héricourt, Siege of, 208

Herodotus, 8

Hertenstein of Lucerne, 213

Hildgard, Princess, Abbess of Zurich, 70

Hirtzel, 339

Hohe Frau von Zurich, 149

Hohenstaufen line, 107; extinction, 114

Hooper, Bishop, 297

"Horned Council," 229

Hotze, 360

Hug, Dr. Arnold, scholar, 416

Huns, 44, 45

Huss, martyr, 198

I

Im Grund, 219

Imports, 410