373 
H E L V 
«ft refpeft. In the delirium of their vengeance, they 
thought that they were allowed to break down the 
altars and the images of their enemy ; and they carried 
their rage fo far as to put themfelves to death, when 
made prifoners. It is a Angular circumftance, that when 
thefe fame troops, who had deftroyed a great number of 
churches, chapels, and convents, returned to partake 
of fome repofe within their own limits, they paid a 
vi.fi t to Einfie.dlen, in order to offer their homage to the 
miraculous image of the virgin which was worfhipped 
in that celebrated church, as to a patronefs who had 
not ceafed faithfully to protect them. 
Slight circumftances have often an important influ¬ 
ence on the fate of communities, as well as on that of 
individuals, and occafion a great variance in the hi (lories 
ot\thofe between whom a confiderable fimilarity may be 
expected to prevail. This fadt is inftanced in the cafes 
of Berne and Friburg.. They had the fame founders, 
namely, the dukes of Zeringen; they date their origin 
from the fame period ; they are fituated in the fame 
country ; they were fubjeCted to the. fame forms of go¬ 
vernment ; they were endowed with the fame privileges; 
and they were founded for the fame beneficent obiedt, 
viz. that of ferving as afylums to weaknefs and induf- 
try againft the tyranny of the great. It happened, how¬ 
ever, that Berne was built on a territory which the 
dukes held of the empire ; and confequently, in the ex- 
tindlion of their houf'e, it became an imperial city, and 
rofe rapidly to the confideration in which we have feen 
it. Friburg, on the contrary, was built on a Swifs de- 
mefne, and therefore paffed to the family of Kyburg; 
to whofe controul it long remained fubjedt. 
It was in confequence of the memorable battle of 
St. Jacob near Bafil, to which we have before alluded, 
that the firft treaty was formed between France under 
Charles VII. and the confederacy ; which took place in 
*453- By this compadl, the king engaged for himfelf, 
his luccelfors, and his fubjedts, to do nothing that could 
be prejudicial to the Swifs ; not to aid nor fuccour their 
enemies: but to allow to all their fubjedts free accefs, 
for them, their goods, their arms, and- their baggage, 
into his kingdom; with the liberty of carrying on there 
every branch of trade and commerce that was not pro¬ 
hibited by the laws. The treaty was renewed ten years 
afterwards by Louis XI. at Abbeville, and declared 
perpetual. 
The cunning-, for which Louis XI. was fo remarkable, 
appears in no inftance to more effedt, than in the contri¬ 
vances by which he rendered the confederacy the inftru- 
ment of ruin to the duke of Burgundy, his rival: but 
it mud be owned that the indifcretions of that ill-fated 
prince greatly aliifled his fall. The French monarch 
induced the cantons to enter’into a frefh treaty with 
him in 1473 ; by which he engaged to give them aid and 
afiiftance in all their wars, particularly in that with the 
duke of Burgundy : he took their army into his pay ; 
promifed a large Turn for every campaign of three 
months which they Ihould carry on in the (fates of Bur¬ 
gundy; and advanced a penfion to each of the cantons, 
which was to laft during the term of his natural life. 
Riches thus acquired were foon diffipated ; and, fo far 
from adding to the public prolperity, they introduced 
various abufes, gave rife to venality, and bred envy and 
diflenfion. Reflecting.perfons regretted the ancient me¬ 
diocrity of wealth ; which was better fuited to republi¬ 
can manners, and offered lefs aliment to difcord at home, 
as well as lefs ground for foreign intrigue. This dege¬ 
neracy made them regard war as a trade, from which 
they were to derive gain; inducing them unjuftly to 
provoke it, and finally to mix in it for reward, when no 
iuterefl: of their own was concerned. The admirable 
maxims, which had infpired their ruder anceftors, be¬ 
came weakened ; and the defires of the youthful mind 
were diredted to foreign fnbfidy, high pay, and rich 
ViijL. IX. No. 592. 
E T I A. 
booty. Thus, at the moment in which the confederacy 
reached its full maturity, were the principles of decay 
inftilled, its glory tarnifhed, and its energies paralyzed ; 
and it becomes only matter of wonder, that, where cor¬ 
ruption fo grofs was fo fuddenly created, decline did 
not advance, and diffolution follow, more fpeedily. 
It may here be proper to lay before our readers the 
mode of warfare praCtifed at this time by the Swifs.- 
The Swifs military force confifted principally of pike- 
men, and fcarcely a third part of it made ufe of fire¬ 
arms. Befides the pike, each foldier bore, (lung behind 
his back, a large two-handed fword,’ and a fmaller one 
fitfpended from his belt. Their defenfive armour con¬ 
fifted of a helmet and cuirafs; and thofe who were-un¬ 
able to procure thefe articles covered their bodies with 
various (kins. The principal force of this infantry arofe 
out of its manner of fighting; when, divided into batta¬ 
lions of from three to four thoufand men, and fencing 
themfelves in by the length of their pikes in the day .of 
battle, it formed a kind of moving citadel incapable of 
being broken by firft-rate cavalry. Not only was this 
body of men admired for its bravery, but it was alfo 
diftingui(hed by a patience which nothing could exhauft. 
The Swifs were as full of fpirits at the end as at the begin¬ 
ning of a campaign. “ I have obferved in our armies,” 
fays Brantome, “ that, when we had a confiderable body 
of Swifs, we regarded ourfelves as invincible.” The 
fame writer, fpeaking of the French infantry at this pe¬ 
riod, fays that there belong’ed to it a few fine men, but 
that the greater part confifted of vagabonds and out¬ 
laws. Philip de Confines tells us, that Louis XI. was 
fully fenfible of the value of his Swifs auxiliaries, that 
he dreaded nothing fo much as entering the lifts with 
that people, and that he paid them their ftipulated 
fubfidies punctually every year. 
The Swifs mu ft be fomething more than ordinary men, 
if an account of a tranfadtion, which occurred a little 
ftater in point of time than the above period, is to be 
taken exactly as it is dated by Mr. Mallet in his Hiftory 
of the Swifs, publifhed in 1804. It appears to us in¬ 
credible : but we are not phyliologifts enough to de¬ 
termine what a very.robuft human frame can endure; 
nor have we experience of the degree to which military 
fubordination is capable of befog carried. Tugger, who 
fought againft the Swifs in the Swabian war, relates that 
a corps of them were palling the Rhine in the winter; 
that, when far advanced into it, the river rofe prodigi- 
oufly all at once, in confequence of a fudden melting of 
the (now ; and that, at the fame moment, it being ru¬ 
moured that the enemy appeared on the other lide, the 
commanders ordered-their men in this fituation to halt, 
until the matter was reduced to fome certainty. The 
greater part were up to their (houlders in water for 1 
nearly two hour’s, occupied folely in guarding them¬ 
felves from the pieces of ice which were carried along 
by the dream ; and that, thus expofed to infupportable 
cold, they never quitted their pofition, though the re. 
Cult was the lofs of the lives or limbs of great numbers. 
If nothing fo much elevates man, as to be able by 
perfuafion to avert from his country the calamities and 
ravages of inteftine war, we muft allow high diftinCtion 
to a hermit of Underwalden, whofe name adorns the hif¬ 
tory of this period. Differences on very grave matters 
agitated the feveral members of the confederacy ; all 
attempts to compofe them had failed ; and they were on 
the point of being referred to the decifion of the fword. • 
Happily, fome perlons called to their recollection the 
former fervices of Nicolas de Flue ; who, brave in the 
field, was always in council the friend of peace, and the 
advocate of juffice and moderation; who, having given 
his bell days to the calls of the public, and leit a pro¬ 
geny which imitated his virtues, had himfelf retired to 
a fequeftered part of his canton, for the purpofe of de¬ 
dicating the cloi'c of his life to piety and meditation. 
5 C Thefe 
