LESSONS IN ENGLISH. 



HI 





!i t.-i!!v " in whiHi tlu-ir oppressors 

 omperor'fl luilitls out of tho country-. 

 >r BUCCOSS did not inako thorn too confident 

 They k vi-r iiu<l the malico of tho Duko of Austria, 



aud' that ho would bo likely to bring tho whole force of the 

 upon thorn. They immediately entered into a con- 

 y or union of tho three cantons, by tho terms of which 

 .niton, vvhilo reserving its right of self-government, was 

 bound to make common cause with tho others whenever sum- 

 to do so. They wero tho forest cantons, the hard, 

 ragged, naturally independent districts, that first set an example 

 of federation upon special, recognised conditions. Fortunately 

 for thorn their enemy, Count Albert, was soon afterwards assas- 

 sinated by his nephew, so that they had leisure to consolidate 

 their union. The prince who succeeded Albert on tho imperial 

 throne was not unfriendly to tho Swiss ; but Leopold of Austria, 

 Albert's son, thinking to punish tho " cowherds and dairymen " 

 who had dared to rebel against his father, led a considerable 

 body of troops into tho forest cantons : the Swiss, however, united 

 as one man, inflamed with anger at tho assumption of lordship 

 over them, and goaded to fury by the desperate nature of their 

 case, met the Austrians at Morgarten, opposed untrained valour 

 and unarmed bodies to skilled courage and armour-covered 

 men-at-arm.*, and utterly defeated their enemies with dreadful 

 slaughter (November 16, 1315). 



This victory, which has been called the Marathon of Switzer- 

 land, secured tho independence of tho three cantons, and at- 

 tracted, after some delay, tho contiguous district of Lucerne, 

 which was incorporated with the confederacy. About thirty 

 years later Zurich, Glaris, Zug, and Berne joined the league, 

 and these eight cantons remained till tho Swiss revolution in 

 1830 to enjoy privileges and oven sovereignty over many of the 

 surrounding districts. Zurich and Berne were already indepen- 

 dent and republican in their form of government before the for- 

 mation of the union, but they secured additional strength not 

 only for the maintenance of their existing power, but also for the 

 object which they now proceeded to execute, that of curtailing 

 tho influence of the rural nobles. Small wars, having this aim 

 in view, were carried on between tho towns and the nobles, in 

 which the latter fared badly, the wisest among them making 

 their peace betimes by consenting to sink their rank and dignity, 

 and to secure their property by identifying themselves as 

 " citizens " of tho dominant towns. For eighty years there 

 was not any attempt from without to destroy the palladium of 

 liberty which was being reared among the mountains of Hel- 

 vetia. The nations had other things to do than to attend to so 

 seemingly insignificant a place, and even the Dukes of Austria, 

 while retaining for a time their Swiss hereditary possessions, did 

 not find it convenient to cross swords with their co-protectors 

 after the battle of Sempach (July 9, 1386). In this, the last of 

 a series of encounters with the Austrians, all of which had been 

 bloody and none inglorious for Switzerland, tho Austrian knights 

 dismounted and presented their lances as a steel hedge of pricks 

 to the Swiss. It was necessary to break their line, and Winkelried 

 of Unterwald, seeing no other way, commended himself to 

 Heaven, and his wife and children to his country, and gathering 

 as many lances' points as he could embrace, received them in 

 his body, and so opened a way to tho ingress of tho Swiss with 

 their five-feet-long swords. The Austrians were overthrown, and 

 in the end the dukes alienated to the Swiss the lands and lordships 

 of the Counts of Hapsburg. During this time power had become 

 consolidated, and when the attention of surrounding nations was 

 drawn to tho country, by tho prompt resentment of some injury 

 done to its people, by the fearless, or, as it was then called, 

 insolent, way in which the Swiss throw back a rebuke or threat, 

 it was found that tho people were a sort of human conglomerate, 

 hard and strong flints from which fire might be struck, but 

 against which it would be unwise to hurl oneself. Nevertheless, 

 about the year 1440 it seemed good to the despots and autocrats 

 of the day to undertake the destruction of the home of liberty, 

 as being too near their own dominions to be safe. The princes 

 of Western Germany formed an association, which had the 

 approval of the emperor, for the purpose of subjugating Switz-r- 

 land, and, the Duke of Burgundy having declined tho use of his 

 army, applied to tho King of France for help. Tho King of 

 France was only too glad of a pretext for getting rid of the 

 Humorous bands of adventurer* who filled every one of his cities 

 tith uproar, men who wore the offscourings and the refuse of 



the Anglo-French wan. Ho raised a large army, in which all 

 these cut-throats were enrolled, and pot it under the command 

 of the Dauphin. Away the French prince marched, and laid siege 

 to Basle before the Swiss knew he waa coming. The men of Baal* 

 defended themselves aa bent they could, and sent off messengers 

 to the SwiHH army for help. Help came in tho shape of 2,000 

 men, who did not hesitate to engage an army of which the 

 advanced guard was ten times more numerous than they. The 

 .ught with desperate valour (2Gth of August, 1444), and 

 were cut to pieces on the ground where they stood ; but the 

 victory cost the Dauphin (afterwards Louis XI.) 8,000 of his 

 best troops, and impressed him so much that he made peace 

 and retired, and subsequently, when he came to the throne, he 

 entered into an alliance with his former foes. 



In 1476 the last grand attack was made on Switzerland with 

 the view of bringing her again under feudal bondage. Charles 

 tho Bold, the last Duke of Burgundy, proposed the task to him- 

 self, both because the Swiss were allies of his inveterate enemy, 

 Louis XL, and because he hated the bare idea of popular free- 

 dom. With a splendid army of 36,000 men, furnished with 

 everything necessary for the campaign, ho marched into the 

 country and laid siege to Yverdnn. Tho garrison cut their way 

 out and retired to Granson, whither Charles proceeded, and 

 having, after a desperate resistance, induced the garrison tc 

 offer to capitulate, he murdered in cold blood the governor and 

 200 of his officers who had put themselves in his power. 



Every man in Switzerland took up arms, and when, shortly 

 after the bloody deed just recited, the Swiss came upon the 

 Burgundian army in the mountain passes near Neuchatel, they 

 smoto them hip and thigh to the shout of " Granson! Granson '." 

 so that the splendid army melted like snow off the mountains. 

 Charles strained every nerve to retrieve his loss. He procured 

 money from Flanders and Brabant, melted church bells to make 

 cannon, and hired troops from anywhere to assist him ; but it 

 was not till many weeks after his defeat that he was able to 

 take the field, and then it was to make a gambler's last desperate 

 throw. In May, 1476, he laid siege to Morat, the key of Berne 

 and the door to Switzerland. Ho pressed the garrison BO hard 

 that they were about to surrender, when tho Swiss army came 

 to their relief. A furious battle ensued, in which rivera of 

 blood were spilt, and the Burgnndian army was utterly 

 destroyed, for the Swiss refused to give quarter. Charles fled, 

 and from that day forth abandoned his warlike intention* 

 against tho cantons. Not they theirs against him. In January 

 of the following year (1477) they joined the Duke of Lorraine 

 in resisting an attack which Charles was making on his province, 

 and on the 4th of that month they had the satisfaction of again 

 beating their enemy at the battle of Nancy. 



In the year 1499 the independence of the Swiss cantons was 

 formally recognised by the emperor, and since that time it was 

 never impeached till Napoleon overran the country, as he did 

 all other countries in Europe, and revolutionised its institutions. 

 Tho political constitution now in force is that which was settled 

 in 1830, when the lesser cantons were admitted to equal rights 

 with tho greater, and certain mediaeval privileges and customs 

 which savoured of injustice and obsoletism were swept away. 



LESSONS IN ENGLISH. XXXVIIL 



DIVEESE STEMS. 



IT has been intimated that the French, Italian, and Spanish 

 (and one or two others might be added) are, under the name of 

 the Eomance languages, very similar to each other, and similar 

 also to their common mother the Latin. To all these languages 

 the English is indebted. Hence it becomes both interesting 

 and important to see how they are related one to another ; and 

 that the rather, because witli comparison much may be learnt 

 of the origin and propagation of languages. We therefore 

 place before you a tabular view of 



THE LORD'S ?11AYER IN 



English. 



Our 



Fiither 



Who 



Art 



In 



Heaven 



Latin, 

 uoster 



p.lt.T 



qui 

 es 



la 



coelo 



F.YHC/I. 

 notre 

 pi- re 

 qui 



< 

 au 

 ciol 



Halt-in. 



pndr 

 ohe 



iu 

 cieli 



.- 



miestro 

 padre 

 que 

 MtM 

 en 



los cielos 

 * 



