CHARACTERS. 
a convention at Sempach in 1393, 
for the purpose of preventirg indi- 
viduals, or even any one people of 
the new confederacy, from engag- 
ing in a war without the consent 
and approbation of the whole. In 
1460, the conquest of Turgovy, or 
the country that lies between the 
canton of Zurich and the lake of 
Constance, occasioned their cele- 
brated war with Charles the Bold, 
Duke of Burgundy, which ended 
with his defeat and death at Granson, 
Morat, and Nancy. This quarrel was 
fomented by that perfidious monarch 
Louis XIth. of France, who only 
consulted in it his own interest, by 
the destruction of his rival Charles ; 
however, the event of the war may 
be considered as the epoch of two 
important circumstances in Swiss his- 
tory,—their perpetual union with 
Austria, and an alliance with the 
crown of France. But this tide of 
success was not unaccompanied by 
evils, as it introduced among the con- 
querors the spirit of pride and licen- 
tiousness, which probably would 
have ended in their disunion, had not 
Nicholas de Flue, an .anchorite, left 
bis retreat, and at a meeting of the 
deputies in Stanz, formerly the chief 
place of Underwalden, persuaded 
them so fully of their real interests, 
in a strain of the most animated elo- 
quence inspired by patriotism, and 
the danger to which his country 
was exposed, that they entered into 
an immediate convention, by which 
they determined on the following 
resolution: That mutual protection 
should be granted, as well from in- 
terior as exterior violence; that just- 
ice should be impartially adminis- 
tered among them; and that the- 
profits of successful war should be 
divided in proportion to their respec- 
361 
tive quotas of troops and money. 
After this they confirmed their an- 
cient treaties of union, and agreed 
to swear to them every five years. 
About this period, Freyburg and So- 
leure were associated to the common 
league; and in 1501, Basil and Shaft- 
hausen; the last was Appenzel, 
which, in 1513, made up the whole 
number. 
Whilst the four Waldsteett, and 
the other cantons on that side of 
Switzerland, which afterwards ac- 
ceded to the combination, were dis- 
membering the territories of Aus~- 
tria, Berne and Freyburg took pos- 
session of the Pays de Vand, Gex, 
and Chablais, part of the Dukes of 
Savoy’s dominions, who, theugh in- 
capable of recovering by force what 
had been stripped from them, would 
not renounce their superior right to 
these countries, until through the 
mediation of Spain, France, and the 
neutral cantons, the then reigning 
Duke, obtaining restitution of Gex 
and Chablais, renounced all preten- 
sion ta the Pays de Vaud, and ceded 
it to Berne and Freyburg for ever. 
Since this period, the limits of Swit- 
zerland have neither been extended 
nor diminished. What principally 
disturbed the interpal harmony of 
the cantons, was a difference in reli- 
gious opinions. Qn this dangerous 
subject wars arose between Berne 
and Zurich for the reformers; and 
Uri, Schweitz, Underwalden, and 
Zug, for the church of Rome. How- 
ever, after various success, they 
were happily ended, and are not 
likely to be renewed. 
The only constitution that can be 
said to have any reference to the na- 
tional body of the Swiss, is the es- 
tablishment of a confederate army, 
determined on in 1688, between the 
cantons 
