HELVETIA. 
375 
and feveral, ten other occafions, did not fcruple to de¬ 
clare, that it would be an advantage to religion if no 
gofpel were extant; and that the ftudy of the Greek and, 
Hebrew la'nguages greatly favoured of herefy. 
“ All men mu ft feel a painful convidlion when they, 
learn, from the charges that were brought by the citi¬ 
zens of Laufanne againft their clergy, that the priefts 
tifed often, even in the churches, and in the midft of 
divine fer.vice, to ftrike the perfons to whom they bore 
ill-will, fome of whom had actually died of their wounds: 
that they walked the ftreets at night, difguifed in mili¬ 
tary dreiles, brandifliing naked fwords, and infulting the 
peaceful inhabitants : and that the frequent rapes, vio¬ 
lences, and infults, they committed, were never puniflied 
or even reftrained. It is no fmall corroboration of the 
merited clamours railed againft the clergy, that their 
oWn zealous.advocate and protedlor, Charles the Fifth, 
publicly declared to them, that if their lives had been 
lefs reproachable, they would never have had to con¬ 
tend with a Martin Luther.” 
After the agitations of the reformation had fubfided, 
the following became the religious ftate of the cantons : 
Four of them, and among thefe the two principal, had 
adopted the reformation ; feven remained firmly addict¬ 
ed to the faith of their anceftors; and two admitted 
both religions into their country as well as their fenates. 
Of the three-and-twenty fubjedt diftridts, only Morat 
and Granfon became wholly proteftant; fixteen retained 
their former creed, and five became mixed. Among the 
allies, Geneva, Neufchatel, Bienne, Mulhaufen, and the 
town of St. Gallen, renounced the dodtrines of Rome ; 
while the .diminutive republic of Gerfau, and the abbey 
of Engelberg, perfifted in their former worlhip. In the 
Grifon leagues, after great difturbances, and many fluc¬ 
tuations, both creeds were at length admitted by public 
authority. The reformation had at one time made con- 
fiderable prog refs in the Valais, the Valteline, and the 
Italian bailiwicks: but popery at laft prevailed; and 
•at Locarno, thole who refilled to adhere to the efta- 
blilhed dodtrines were compelled to quit the country ; 
on which ocdaljon no lefs than fixty families, among 
whom were feveral , of confiderable note,, withdrew to 
Zurich, and contributed eflentially to promote both the 
commerce and manufactures of that already-profperous 
city. This religious feparation was by no means, in all 
cafes, topographical ; the inhabitants of different per- 
fuafions in rnany places living promifcuoufly together, 
and many large families having divided into branches, 
whole contradictory belief and ftern fanaticifm frequent¬ 
ly proved the fource of deftruCtive feuds and great 
calamities.- 
We have before obferved, that by the peace of Weft- 
-phalia, in 1648, the Helvetic confederacy was acknow¬ 
ledged to be a free ftate, even by the emperor and em¬ 
pire; at which time they were Ip addreffed by the French 
king, the king of Great Britain, the king of Sweden, the 
king of Pruflia, and the pope. The united cantons in 
rank were reckoned next to Venice. To them belonged 
in common twenty-one balliages, two towns, and the 
like number of lordfhips. Eleven other free Helvetian 
republics were united, eitlrer with the whole confede¬ 
racy or with particular ftates. If the thirteen cantons 
fent ambalfadors to a foreign court, they did not dele¬ 
gate one man to repre.fent them all, but each canton 
appointed its own ambaflador, to fliow its diftinCt and 
independent ftate. 
The order of the thirteen cantons, and the era of their 
reception into the Helvetic confederacy, is as follows : 
The quota of troops to be furnilhed by each canton in 
cafe of war was fixed in the year 1668, in order to form 
a confederate:army of 9600 men, and is here annexed. 
In cafe the public exigences Ihouid at any time require 
a farther augmentation of troops, the fame proportion 
was to be obferved in furnilhing them. 
The 'eight ancient Cantons. 
A.D. : Religion. Men. 
1351 Zurich - - - Reformed - - - - 1400 
1352 Berne - Reformed - - - 2000 
1332 Lucerne ... Catholic ----- 1200 
1315 'Uri - - - Catholic - - - - 400 
1315 Schwitz - Catholic - - - - 600 
1315 Underwalden - Catholic - - - 400 
1332 Zug - - Catholic ----- 400 
1331 Glaris - - - Mixed - - - - 400 
The Jive new Cantons. 
1501 Bafil - - - - Reformed - - - - 400 
1481 Friburg - - - Catholic - - - - 800 
1481 Soleure - - - Catholic - - - - - 600 
1301 Schaff’haufen - Reformed - - - - 4°°', 
1313 Apenzel - - - Mixed - - - - - 600 
Total. - - 9600 
The government of Helvetia at that time may be con- 
fidered as divided into three clafies ; the ariftocratic, 
the arifto-democratic,and the democratic. In the firft 
clafs, that of Berne Hands foremoft. This fupreme le- 
giflative, as well as executive and judicial, body, cort- 
lifted, as its title denoted, of the avoyer, and the little 
and great council. The latter of thefe councils, which 
in fadt comprifed the two other branches of the legilla- 
ture, being properly the depofit^ry of the fupreme au¬ 
thority, was alfo named thefovereign council , and (though 
of late its number has always been greater) the council 
of two hundred.- Its full complement was, after various 
changes, fixed at two hundred and ninety-nine ; which 
number however it feldom retained for any length of 
time, it having been of late a conftant practice, in order 
to obviate the cabals which ever attend a competition 
to few vacancies, and perhaps, as Stanyan intimates, to 
reduce the number of candidates to the bailiwicks, who 
were always members of the council, not to proceed to 
an election until the vacancies amounted to at leaft 
eighty, which, according to the ufual rate of mortality, 
happened in general every ten or eleven years. This 
council, of which the avoyers, the fenators, and all the 
officers of ftate, were members, was authorized to make 
and repeal laws; to declare war, conclude peace, and 
form alliances ; to judge in all capital cafes within the 
diftridt of the city; to determine all civil caufes that 
came before it by appeal,^ and to delegate powers to in¬ 
ferior magiftrates, courts, and civil departments. It 
ultimately regulated all that concerned the revenue; 
fuperintended whatever related to the public edifices, 
when the value exceeded one hundred crowns ; and 
finally determined all matters that were referred to its 
decifion by the fenate. It ufually met twice a-week. 
The fenate, which, as it met every day, Sundays and 
feftivals excepted, was likewife called the daily council? 
conlifted of the two avoyers, the two tfeafurers, the 
four bannerets, feventeen ordinary and two fecret fena- 
lors. Thefe feven-and-twenty members difcuffed and 
prepared all matters that were to be laid before the 
great council, difpatched all current affairs that related 
to the police, and conferred all church preferments, ands 
many civil offices ; they ordered gratuities within the 
limits of one hundred crowns ; and ultimately decided 
all criminal caufes, except thofe which were referved; 
for the great council, or fome privileged municipality 
or valfal. But the greateft confequence they poireffed, 
was derived fronkthe fhare they had in filling up the 
vacancies in the great council; and the power veiled in 
them of convoking this council, whenever an incident 
occurred which appeared to them to call for fo vigorous 
a meafure. Whenever the great council fat, this fenate 
became incorporated in it, and retained no peculiar au¬ 
thority of its own. At other times it was not impro¬ 
perly confideredas the executive power of the ftate. 
