SWITZERLAND. 



759 



eral authorities sent a warning to the editor, 

 to which he replied in the next issue of the 

 paper, "Sit aut est, out non sit.' 1 ' 1 Yet he 

 was careful not to print anything that could 

 give occasion for interference. The German 

 authorities were not satisfied, and fresh repre- 

 sentations from Berlin made it a point that 

 Switzerland should prevent Germans from 

 using the right of asylum to carry on a politi- 

 cal agitation in their own country. At length 

 the Federal Council decided on April 16 to 

 a decree of expulsion against four Ger- 

 mans connected with the paper : Bernstein, 

 the editor, who came from Berlin ; Schliitter, 

 the publisher, a native of Schleswig-Holstein ; 

 Tauscher, the business manager, a naturalized 

 American, who ouce lived in Chicago ; and 

 Motteler, formerly editor of a journal in Sax- 

 ony, and an ex-member of the German Parlia- 

 ment, who was the agent for circulating the 

 paper. The printing-office was not suppressed, 

 because it was carried on under the firm name 

 of a Swiss citizen, although the managers and 

 the printers were all Germans. New editors 

 and business agents at once stepped into the 

 places of those who were expelled, and the 

 journal continued to appear and to find its way 

 into Germany just as before. In the begin- 

 ning of June the Bundesrath ordered the ex- 

 pulsion of Ulrich Wubbeler and Martin Eller, 

 two Germans who had been enticed into send- 

 ing a box of dynamite to an agent of the Ber- 

 lin police named Schroder, in Zurich. In July 

 the Bundesrath directed the cantonal authori- 

 ties to have all Socialistic meetings watched 

 by the police. The Swiss Socialists united 

 into a single Social-Democratic party, and ar- 

 ranged to hold a Labor Assembly in October. 

 The Swiss Government was at last induced to 

 take measures to suppress the exportation -of 

 forbidden literature into Germany. The Ba- 

 varian, Franz Troppmann, a correspondent of 

 the Chicago Anarchists, was expelled in Sep- 

 tember, and the evidence taken in the case of 

 ex-Captain von Ehrenberg, of the German 

 army, was delivered up to a military tribunal 

 in Baden. Many Socialists joined the Swiss 

 Grutli Association, which rejected a proposi- 

 tion to exclude foreigners from membership. 

 The " Social Demokrat " was finally driven in 

 September to change its place of publication 

 to London. A Swiss "Social Demokrat " was 

 established during the summer, and announced 

 the programme of a Swiss Socialistic party, 

 embracing obligatory education up to the age 

 of fifteen ; assistance for capable poor students 

 who wish to complete their education in the 

 highers institutions of learning : election of 

 the Bundesrath by the people ; a Federal code 

 of criminal law; obligatory sick and accident 

 insurance, gratuitous medical service, and Fed- 

 eral trade laws ; the acquisition by the state of 

 railroads, and management by the Government 

 of banking and the grain-trade; the recogni- 

 tion in the Constitution of the right of all citi- 

 zens to labor, and of the duty of the authorities 



to provide every one who asks, with work cor- 

 responding to his abilities and justly compen- 

 sated either in the service of the public or of 

 private persons who are willing to furnish the 

 employment; and the gradual naturalization 

 of commerce, transportation, industry, and 

 agriculture, with the distribution among the 

 producers, as equally as is expedient, of the 

 proceeds over and above the working expenses, 

 and a sum was set aside for insurance, justice, 

 military, civil administration. 



Commercial Treaties. Negotiations for a new 

 commercial treaty with Germany were sus- 

 pended, pending the settlement of commercial 

 and railroad regulations between Germany and 

 Austria. The German treaty with the Swiss 

 Confederation was concluded on Nov. 15, 1888, 

 and a Swiss-Austrian treaty on November 23. 

 The latter embodies substantial reductions in 

 the tariff on both sides. Switzerland obtained 

 the same duties as Italy on silks, machinery, 

 and other manufactures, and in return lowered 

 the duties on grain, flour, cattle, and timber. 



The Institute of International Law. The annual 

 meeting of the Institute of International Law 

 was opened at Lausanne on Sept. 3, 1888. The 

 principal subjects of discussion were the ex- 

 ceptions to the rule determining the capacity 

 of persons for entering into binding contracts 

 on foreign soil or with foreigners; the law of 

 collisions at sea; extra-terri tonality of con- 

 sulates; and the obligations toward neutral 

 powers incurred through territorial annexa- 

 tions. The Institute in its meeting at Oxford 

 decided that the nationality of parties entering 

 into contracts ought to be the test of their ca- 

 pacity. At Lausanne a resolution was adopted 

 to the effect that in commercial matters, if the 

 person seeking to escape the obligations of his 

 contract on the ground of legal incapacity had 

 deceived the other party in this particular, or 

 if there were a combination of grave circum- 

 stances showing fraudulent intent, the judge 

 should follow the law of the country in which 

 the contract was made. The liability for negli- 

 gence in maritime collisions the Institute would 

 place upon the vessel that was the cause of the 

 accident, except where both ships were negli- 

 gent, in which case the one chiefly offending 

 should pay its just share of the loss to the other 

 vessel, while damages to passengers and cargoes 

 should be divided between them. The question 

 of the inviolability of consulates was brought 

 up by a French member, in connection with the 

 seizure of papers relating to a will case, by 

 order of an Italian magistrate, in the French 

 consulate at Florence. The consul had plactd 

 the documents among the consular archives, 

 and warned the Italian authorities not to search 

 the consulate, as a special article in the Treaty 

 of 1862 between France and Italy guarantees 

 the inviolability of the archives. The Institute 

 decided to deal with the subject of extra-terri- 

 toriality as a whole, and appointed a committee 

 to report on the subject comprehensively. 

 Among the other questions discussed were con- 



