TAIT, ARCHIBALD 0. 



775 



of enormous armaments in the great nations 

 contiguous to Switzerland which first impelled 

 her people to determine upon a real national 

 union in 1848, which remained an empty dec- 

 laration until the adoption of the Constitution 

 of 1874. The preservation of the popular veto 

 as a safeguard against excessive centralization, 

 and as embodying the Swiss principle of pop- 

 ular sovereignty manifested in its primitive 

 form in the Landsgemeinden of the small can- 

 tons where the whole body of the people de- 

 liberates upon the laws, entirely frustrates the 

 intentions of the Constitution, when exercised 

 as in 1882 to annul the laws of the national 

 Government simply because they emanate from 

 central authorities. A scheme for national 

 fortifications was elaborated by a commission 

 of experts. Its main points were suggested by 

 Colonel Frei, of Basel, who in 1882 received 

 the appointment of Minister to Washington. 

 Colonel Frei is specially fitted for his present 

 post, as he formerly resided in the United 

 States, and fought on the side of the North in 

 the American war. He was taken prisoner 

 and was confined in Andersonville Prison, 

 where he came in contact with the notorious 

 keeper, Wirtz, also a Switzer, from Zurich. 

 The projected fortifications were to be erected 

 on the French frontier, where roads, railroads, 

 and fortresses have been erected by the French 

 Government in recent years, presumably for 

 the purpose of an inroad into Germany through 

 Switzerland, in the case of another German 

 war. The objections to the plans of the mili- 

 tary engineers were not merely the cost, but 

 the suspicions of France which they implied, 



to which country the Radical-Liberal party is 

 bound by sympathetic ties. The fortification 

 project is consequently postponed. 



The rejection by a plebiscite of a reform in 

 the military service law indicates the attach- 

 ment of the Swiss people to their old militia 

 system and their opposition to centralization. 

 Their repugnance to the burdens of a central- 

 ized, military state is manifested in the in- 

 creasing emigration to America, and the year- 

 ly decline in the military recruit and in the 

 effective strength of the Federal army. The 

 national Legislature passed in 1882 a law mak- 

 ing vaccination compulsory. The anti-vacci- 

 nationists, who are more zealous than numer- 

 ous, obtained the necessary 30,000 names to 

 a memorial demanding a referendum. When 

 the question came to a vote, the law was vetoed 

 by a large majority, although in several of the 

 cantons vaccination was already compulsory 

 by acts of the local Legislatures, to the gen- 

 eral satisfaction of the people who voted 

 against the national measure. 



The question of public education, which 

 agitated all Catholic and in a less degree 

 Protestant countries also, came up for final 

 solution in 1882. The law which was passed 

 by the Nationalrath, introducing compulsory 

 secular education, carries out a provision of 

 the Federal Constitution to that effect. The 

 Catholics and a section of the Protestants 

 demanded a plebiscite on this law, and ob- 

 tained the necessary number of names to the 

 memorial with ease ; but the popular vote 

 sustained the act of the Legislature by a large 

 majority. 



TAIT, AECHIBALD CAMPBELL, D. D., D. C. L., 

 Archbishop of Canterbury, and Primate of all 

 England, born in Edinburgh, December 22, 1811, 

 died in London, December 3, 1882. His early 

 education and training were received in the 

 Edinburgh Academy and University of Glasgow. 

 In 1830 he went to Oxford, where he entered 

 Balliol College. His university career was more 

 than ordinarily brilliant and satisfactory. He 

 took the degree of B. A. in 1833, and obtained 

 a first in the school of Literae Humaniores. 

 Soon after he was elected Fellow of his college, 

 and in due time became Tutor and Dean, taking 

 his M. A. degree in 1836. He was also ap- 

 pointed select preacher in 1843, and his success 

 as a tutor and lecturer, especially in logic, was 

 far beyond the average. He aided materially 

 in placing Balliol College in the front rank of 

 the colleges at Oxford. His habit of doing all 

 his work in the very best manner and to the 

 extent of his ability, and his practical good 

 sense, fairness, and earnest desire to oblige and 

 benefit all with whom he had dealings, made 

 him numerous friends, whose regard and esteem 

 he never lost. In 1841 he was one of the 



" Four Tutors " who publicly protested against 

 Tract No. 90, and the whole system of inter- 

 pretation of the articles and standards of the 

 Church of England, which John Henry New- 

 man and the Tractarian School were then urg- 

 ing with great power and effect. As Mr. Tait 

 left the university the next year, he topk no 

 further active part in this controversy. 



In the summer of 1842, by the death of Dr. 

 Arnold, of Rugby, the head-mastership of the 

 school became vacant, and though the candi- 

 dates for the succession were numerous, and 

 some of them were men of mark and influence, 

 the lot fell upon Tait. His success, in follow- 

 ing so popular and so able a man as Arnold, 

 was remarkable, and proved again his good 

 sense and possession of qualities of a high 

 order. In 1843 he was married to Miss Catha- 

 rine Spooner, daughter of Archdeacon Spooner, 

 a lady who proved in every sense of the word 

 a " helpmeet " to him in his varied career and 

 high positions in the Church. His married life 

 was one of happiness and peace, notwithstand- 

 ing the severe afflictions which came upon him 

 in the loss of five young daughters by scarlet 



