B I 



B E R 



century, in tlie hands of a council, called Ihe Council of Two i 

 Ihmtlre 1, which in fact of 299 members, chosen 



exclusively from am inn ll '- e burghers of Bern. All the 

 !' the canton was subject to thuin. A senate, elected 

 by the irreal council from among its own members, held the 

 "wutive power. A schultheiss or avoyer was the chief 

 trnto of the republic. The commonwealth bcim; in its 

 limited to the town, which was a free imperial city, 

 having t-iTi-iM-d a charter or bull from the Emperor Frederic 

 11., dated May, 1218, all the citizens who were possessed of 

 a house in it had a vote in the general assembly, which 

 elected the magistrates and the council of government. As 

 the t'nvn became enlarged, the burghers were classed into 

 four tribes or guilds, each headed by a banneret or standard- 

 bearer, who exercised great inlluence at the elections. By 

 decrees the members of the sovereign council remained for 

 I'.t'r, and the vacancies were filled up by the council itself 

 mostly from a small number of influential families. Many 

 of the neighbouring feudal nobles became burghers of Bern, 

 whil.-t others fought against the ruling commonwealth, and 

 were successively defeated, and obliged to give up or sell 

 part or the whole of their territories to the city, which thus 

 l-ccanic possessed of extensive domains. This was the ori- 

 gin of the state of Bern. The wars which it sustained 

 against several emperors who had become jealous of its 

 growth served to strengthen its power. Kudolf of Habs- 

 Intrg attacked Kern in vain in 12S9. His son Albert marched 

 against Bern in 1298, and was defeated at Dnnnerbuhlen 

 by the Bernese, led by Ulrich von Krlacli. In 1339 the 

 Emperor Louis of Bavaria declared war against Bern. The 

 nobility of western Helvetia, who were vassals of the em- 

 pire, and the town of Frcyburg, which was liege to Austria, 

 united their forces to the unrulier of l.'i.OOO foot and 3000 

 I, The Bernese, commanded by Rudolf von Erlach, 

 snn of Ulrich, and reinforced by 1000 men from the three 

 forest cantons, met the enemy at Laupen on the 21st of 

 June, and with only 5000 men completely defeated the 

 proud chivalry opposed to them. This victory consolidated 

 the power of Bern, which became henceforth the principal 

 state of all western Helvetia. In 1352 Bern was admitted 

 into the Swiss Confederation, of which it formed the eighth 

 canton. [See SWITZKRLAND.] 



In 1415 Bern conquered the greater part of Aargau from 

 the house of Austria, and added it to its dominions. In 

 1-1 76 it sustained the attack of Charles the Bold, Duke of 

 Burgundy, whom the Bernese, assisted by their Swiss con- 

 federates, defeated at Granson and Morat. In l.VJSBern 

 adopted the Reformation, but the change was effected 

 without violence, and the revenues of the suppressed mo- 

 nasteries were applied to the support of the reformed clergy, 

 to the foundation of schools, and other charitable purposes. 

 In 1 536 the Bernese took the Pays de Yaud from the Duke 

 f Savoy, in consequence of his having attacked Geneva, 

 the ally of Born. By a subsequent treaty the Pays de Vaud 

 formally ceded by the duke. This was the last con- 

 quest of Bern. For nearly three centuries after, the terri- 

 tory of Bern continued to extend over the finest part of 

 crland, from the banks of the IXIKC of Geneva to those 

 of the Rhine, besides several bailiwicks which it possessed 

 in common with other cantons in Thurgau and other parts. 



The government of Bern gave no share in tin- legislative 

 or executive to the population of the territory, but it left to 

 the country t >wns the municipal franchises which they en- 

 i at the time of the conquest, the election of their local 

 magistrates, and the administration of the communal pro- 

 l>crty. The canton was divided into landvogtcien or baili- 

 wicks, and the baillts were taken from among the councillors 

 of Bern. They were the administrators of the public reve- 

 nue, and of the domains of the state, and likewise the 

 judge* of the district. Unfavourable reports have been 

 in.ide of the administration of those officers, but these re- 

 port* seem to have been at least greallv exaggerated. (See 

 van and Coxe on this subject.) One essential distinc- 

 tion which has been lost sight of by party writers is that 

 :o baillis of the canton itself, who were under the 

 immediate in-pci timi of the government, to which there 

 was appeal from their decisions, and those sent by turns to 

 the subject bailiwick* held by several cantons together, in 

 the Italian valley*, where it is known that they were under 

 little or no control, and where they often acted the part of 

 avaricious dr.p 



The members of the sovereign council of Bern were elected 

 for life, and every ten j cars there was an election to supply 



the vacancies that bod occurred during that period. The 

 councillors themselves were the electors; ami as old families 

 In -ciime extinct, and as it was a rule that there should not 

 be less than eighty families having members in the great 

 c.iiuicil, vacancies were supplied from new families of bur- 

 ghers. Still the number of families in whose hands the 

 government was vested was comparatively small, and several 

 unsuccessful attempts were made in the cou i ;lit- 



eenth century to alter this state of things, and t 

 the assemblies of the body of the buvglii-r.s. The discontent, 

 however, was far from general, and it did not extend i 

 country population. The administration was conducted in 

 an orderly, unostentatious, and economical manner, the 

 taxes were few and light. ' It would be difficult,' ) the 

 historian Mtiller, 'to find in the history of Ihe world ;. 

 monwcalth which for so long a period has been so v, 

 administered a> that of Bern. In oilier aristocracies ihc 

 subjects were kept in darkness, poverty, and barbarism, 

 fact ions were enroll raged amongst them, whilej ust ice w 

 at crime or took bribes, and this was the case in the depen- 

 dencies of Venice. But the people of Bern stood with i < 

 to their patricians rather in the relation of cliei.. 

 their patrons, than in that of subjects loward.s then 

 reigns.' Zschokke, a later Swiss historian, speaking of Kern 

 and other aristocracies of Svviuciland, sav-, ' Thc\ acted like 

 scrupulous guardians. The nun en the In. 



among them, received until salaries ; fortune* were made 

 only in foreign M -rvii-c, or m the common bailiwicks of the 

 subject districts. Although the laws were del. 

 trials secret, the love of justice prevailed in the country; 

 power wisely respected the riuhts of the humblest freeman. 

 In the principal towns, especially the I': :.es, weallh 



-I science and the fine arts. Bern opened fine i 

 raised public buildings, fostered agriculture in its fine terri- 

 t-'ry, relieved those districts that were visited by st inns or 

 inundations, founded establishments for the sick and the 

 helpless, and yet contrived to accumulate considerable - 



in its treasury But the old patriotism of the S 



slumbered: it was replaced by sellUhni'ss, and the mind 

 remained stationary ; the various cantons were estranged 

 from each other; instruction spread in the towns, but c. 

 ness and ignorance prevailed in the country.' The conse- 

 quence of all this was, that when the storm came from 

 abroad it found the Swiss unprepared to face it. The French 

 republic, in its career of aggression, did not respect the 

 neutrality of Switzerland. The Directory found a pretext 

 for aggression upon Bern in the complaints of some re- 

 fugees of the Pays de Vaud, who claimed political rights for 

 their country. A French army entered the Pays de Vaud 

 in 1798, anil declared that country independent of Bern. 

 They next demanded that the government of Bern iUeli' 

 should be made democratic. The great council of Bern had 

 already proposed reforms, and had called together deputies 

 from the country to assist in carrying them into effect. 

 But the French General Bruno imperiously demanded the 

 immediate resignation of all the actual members of the 

 government. The Bernese militia, to the number of 22,000, 

 had been called together for the defence of the country, and 

 placed under the command of General d'Erlach. Kruno 

 required it to be disbanded. Orders and counter-orders were 

 sent in quick succession from Bern to D'Erlach 's camp. 

 The councils of Bern were irresolute, while the militia were 

 eager to fight. Insidious reports were spread among the 

 Bernese camp tlu.t the officers were betraying them to the 

 French; several battalions mutinied, and murdered their 

 colonels, but after committing the crime they returned to 

 their post, determined to light tin; invaders. At la- 

 the 5th of March, the French attacked the Bernese division 

 of Graflenried, which repulsed them at Ncuenek with 

 great loss. Another French division at the same time 

 attacked D'Erlach at Franenhrunnen, and by its superiority 

 in cavalry and artillery, drove him back after a desperate 

 ro-i-taiicc. Bern was Dow left uncovered and open to the 

 enemy, anil it. capitulated. 1) Krlacli took the road to the 

 Oberland, where he intended to rally his troops and make 

 a stand, but he was murdered on the way, at Miinsingen, 

 bv his own soldiers, who fancied he had betrayed them. 



other officers of the first families of Bern fell cither 

 in the fight or in the mutiny, whose names stand recorded 

 on six black marble slabs in the cathedral of Bern ; and 

 a number of women were killed fighting with scvihes In 

 the side of their husbands and brothers at Grauholx, ne:,' r 

 Bern, where the Bernese made a last stand after D'Erlach'* 



