SECRETARY'S REPORT. 301 



six to nine years of age, and, when educated, are registered 

 like soldiers. 



Then generally each year, the latter part of summer, a large 

 division of the Swiss army, which is not a standing army, of 

 course, makes a campaign of some ten days, sometimes more, 

 into the mountains and passes of the Oberland, tlie Alps, and 

 the Jura, for the purpose of familiarizing the cavalry, artillery 

 and infantry to all the ordinary incidents and difficulties of a 

 warlike campaign, without the appendix of " killed, wounded 

 and missing." They occupy, defend, and capture strategic 

 points, passes and strongholds, climb and descend precipices, 

 with their artillery, sometimes drawn by the men, sometimes 

 strapped npon the backs of the horses. They accustom the 

 horses to feel as much at ease when a field-piece is fired at their 

 backs as when a pistol is fired by their rider. These campaigns 

 are always conducted by educated and approved officers who 

 have seen service. It is on these expeditions, also, tliat the 

 soldiers are instructed in the details of making their own tents, 

 selecting their camping grounds, and cooking the coarse pro- 

 visions which belong to actual military in a wild or hostile 

 country. 



The amount and thoroughness of military instruction in the 

 schools vary somewhat in the different cantons, though in all 

 the cantonal schools military instruction is given. In Berne, 

 for example, the cantonal schools rank somewhat like the 

 Grammar and higher grade public schools in Boston, or the 

 large towns generally in Massachusetts. They are open to all 

 boys, upon examination. All the boys in these schools are 

 organized with military corps, and officered from their own 

 class, but provided by government with special military 

 instructors, and furnished with small muskets, rifles, or cara- 

 bines, suitable to the strength and age of the boys ; or, if organ- 

 ized into artillery corps, they are supplied with small side-arms 

 and field-pieces, which they can wield without difficulty. 



For these arms arsenals are provided by the government, and 

 custodians are appointed to keep them safely and in good con- 

 dition, when not in actual use. The military instructors are 

 officers of the federal military organization ; educated men who 

 have seen service, and who are au fait in the theory and art of 

 war. The time devoted to military studies and training iu the 



