490 



SWITZERLAND. 



Nciilchatel (which had boon ceded to him by Prus- | 

 ia, hut which was under the protection of Switzer- 

 land) to general Berthier, as a sovereign principali- 

 ty. Napoleon assumed the title of "mediator of 

 Switzerland ;" and the military service required of 

 the Swiss became more and more oppressive. It 

 was only by great firmness and the sacrifice of im- 

 mense sums of money, that most of the cantonal 

 governments could avert greater oppression : they 

 were obliged to adopt the continental system ; and 

 the canton of Tessin was long garrisoned by French 

 troops. In 1813, when the theatre of war ap- 

 proached Switzerland, France permitted the Swiss 

 to maintain their neutrality ; but the allies expres- 

 sed themselves ambiguously, and large armies were 

 soon marched through the country in various direc- 

 tions to France. Their arrival excited a fermenta- 

 tion in many quarters. The act of mediation was 

 annulled, December 29, 1813, at Zurich, and several 

 cantons, of which Berne (1814) was the first, la- 

 boured to revive their old constitutions. Through 

 the influence of the allied monarchs, the cantons 

 were finally prevailed on to assemble a general 

 council ; but revolutions and counter-revolutions 

 agitated several of the cantons. Some of them 

 were in arms against each other ; others enjoyed a 

 happy tranquillity, and the respect of the foreign 

 powers. All, meanwhile, were engaged in settling 

 their constitutions. The old cantons adhered more 

 or less closely to their former frames of government, 

 and the new cantons endeavoured to give to those 

 which they adopted more stability. A diet was at 

 length assembled at Zurich, and new articles of 

 confederation were agreed upon by nineteen can- 

 tons, September 18, 1814. They resembled the 

 old federal pact in many respects. This confeder- 

 acy was acknowledged by the congress of Vienna. 

 The bishopric of Basle, with Bienne, was given to 

 the canton of Berne, excepting the district of Bir- 

 seck, which fell to Basle, and a small portion, which 

 fell to Neufchatel. The former relations of the 

 latter place to Prussia were restored, and, with 

 Geneva and the Valais, it joined the confederacy of 

 the Swiss cantons, making their number twenty- 

 two. August 7, 1815, the compact of Ziiiich was 

 publicly and solemnly adopted, after the deputies 

 of the confederacy at Vienna had given in their 

 accession to the acts of the congress of Vienna, so 

 far as they related to Switzerland (74 84, and 91 

 95). November 20, 1815, the eight powers, 

 Austria, Russia, France, Britain, Prussia, Spain, 

 Portugal and Sweden, proclaimed, by a separate 

 act, the perpetual neutrality of Switzerland, and 

 the inviolability of its soil. Soon after, Switzer- 

 land became a member of the holy alliance. But 

 the political state of the Swiss cantons, as settled 

 by the congress of Vienna, and jealously watched 

 by the holy alliance, gave rise to much disaffection 

 in the great body of the people. Though republics 

 in name, nothing could be less republican than 

 many of their laws and customs : privileges of or- 

 ders, of corporations, of localities, and of family, 

 interfered with the equal rights of the majority of 

 the citizens. The federal diet was overawed by 

 the holy alliance, and oppressed, in turn, the can- 

 tons ; the chief towns tyrannised over the country 

 districts, and a few trades or families tyrannised 

 over the towns. Refugees for political offences 

 from the neighbouring states were refused an 

 asylum, and the press was shackled by the diet, in 

 opposition to the voice of the nation, and in com- 

 pliant; with the requests of the great powers. In 



the democratic cantons, in which the people were 

 not oppressed by their cantonal authorities, they 

 were often disgusted with these servile compliances 

 of the diet; but in the aristocratical cantons, in 

 which almost all the authority was in the hands of 

 some patrician families, or the corporations of the 

 trades, it was often abused to oppress the mass of 

 the people. This was particularly the ca^e in 

 Berne, Basle, Friburg, Lucerne, Zurich, Schalfhau- 

 st-ii and Soleure. Still a third class of cantons was 

 composed of the new members of the confederacy, 

 professedly organized on popular representative 

 principles, but in which, in 1815, the elections 

 were so arranged, that the whole power, in fact, 

 was possessed by a small executive council. In 

 this state of things, the general demand for reform, 

 in the electoral assemblies of Tessin (one of the 

 new cantons), compelled the council (June, 1830) 

 to yield to the public voice, and establish a system 

 of direct elections, and of publicity of proceedings 

 in the great council, and to guarantee the liberty 

 of the press, and the inviolability of persons, as 

 parts of the constitution. This event, and the 

 French revolution of July, 1830, set the example 

 for general risings in various parts of the country. 

 In the new cantons, the popular demands were 

 generally so readily complied with as to prevent any 

 serious disturbances, and the democratic cantons 

 took hardly any part in the troubles ; but in the 

 old aristocratic cantons, the opposition was stronger 

 and more systematic. Still, as many of the towns 

 people were favourable to more popular institutions, 

 the governments, even in these cantons, generally 

 yielded, with little opposition, to the wishes of the 

 citizens ; and in Friburg, Berne, Lucerne, Soleure, 

 Schaffhausen, the revision of the constitution, the 

 abolition of privileges, the extension of the right of 

 election, abolition of censorship of the press, &c., 

 were among the concessions to popular rights. In 

 Basle alone, where the peasantry are more ignorant 

 and rude than in the other cantons, the insurgents 

 were not satisfied with the concessions ; and a se- 

 cond insurrection, in the summer of 1831, was not 

 put down without bloodshed. The ordinary ses- 

 sion of the diet took place at Lucerne, July 4, 1831 , 

 and the common concerns of the confederacy, both 

 in its foreign and domestic relations, were found to 

 be in a satisfactory condition. But towards the 

 close of 1831, the canton of Neufchatel (q. v.) was 

 disturbed by risings of some portions of the popula- 

 tion, who renounced the authority of Prussia, and 

 demanded a new constitution. The insurgents were 

 put down ; and the country has since been tranquil. 

 Switzerland, the most elevated country in 

 Europe, consists chiefly of mountains, lying near 

 together, or piled one upon another, with narrow 

 valleys between them. The highest mountain?, 

 (among which are St Gothard, in the canton of 

 Uri, and the Finsteraarhorn, in the canton of Berne, 

 14,100 feet above the level of the sea) are found in 

 Uri, Berne, Underwalden and Orisons. Of about 

 sixty S wiss mountains which have been measured, 

 the highest is Monte Rosa, 15,535 feet high ; the 

 lowest, Cholet, is 3000 feet high. (See Alps.) 

 The lowest region of the productive mountains is 

 covered with thick forests and rich meadows ; the 

 middle consists of hills and narrow passes, contain- 

 ing pastures ; the third region is composed of sharp 

 and almost inaccessible rocks, either wholly bare, 

 without earth or grass, or covered with perpetual ice 

 and snow. The middle regions are inhabited in sum- 

 mer by herdsmen, who find good pasturage for their 



