82 'i'lIE TREATY OF WASIIIXGTOX. 



eign eulistment : tliey are expressly forLidden by the 

 Federal Constitution. Her laws punish as a crime 

 all violation by individuals of the international rights 

 of foreign Powers. Her neutrality is active, not pas- 

 sive, — preventive, as well as punitive. She has no 

 maritime relations, it is true ; but, in dealing with un- 

 lawful equipments or expeditions by land, she ob- 

 serves rules of neutrality which are applicable, in the- 

 ory and practice, equally to equipments or expedi- 

 tions for naval w^arfare. Our own temporary act of 

 1838, which comprehends velticles [on land] and ves- 

 sels [on water] in the same clause of criminality, af 

 fords complete answer to those Englishmen who have 

 superficially assumed that because Switzerland is not 

 a maritime Power, she [or a statesman of hers] could 

 not competently judge the case of the Alahama or 

 the Florida. Diligence to execute the law, — vigilance 

 to prevent its violation, — is the same in Switzerland 

 as in Italy or Brazil, in Great Britain or the United 

 States. And the position of Switzerland, Avhieli re- 

 quires of her the spontaneous execution of her neu- 

 trality laws, had evident effect on the mind of Mr. 

 Staempfli to produce those conclusions of his against 

 Great Britain, which, as we shall see in the sequel, 

 were so grossly misapprehended and so angrily re- 

 sented by Sir Alexander Cockburn. 



At the time when the Swiss Government invited 

 Mr. Sta^mpfli to act as Arbitrator for Switzerland 

 under the Treaty of Washington, he had full occupa- 

 tion in public or private affairs as a member of the 

 National Council and as President of the Federal 



