604 
the Helvetic DireGeory, commifiioner 
of government in the fmall cantons, 
and charged with the office of healing, 
as much as lay In his power, the wounds 
infiGted by war. In the courfe of his 
miffion, we are informed by his Englifh 
tranflator, that he collected all the ma- 
terials neceflary for.the hifery, and 
that he drew from the archives of the 
country all the documents which might 
contribute to render it exact and au- 
thentic. Previoufly to the narrative of 
thofe events which brougnton the fall _ 
ot the Helvetic Republic, the author 
eafts a rapid glance over the picture 
of what it was antecedent to this ca- 
taftrophe. He gives an hiltoric tketch, 
geographical, political, and religious, 
of thofe high-{pirited. Mountameers 
whofe fubfequent: misfortunes he is 
about to detail,. and inveftigates the 
predifpofing caufes which led to them. 
We have all of us heard a great deal 
about the harmony aud happinefs of 
the Swiis Cantons: ‘** the mountain- 
nymph, fweet Liberty,” is always repre- 
fented as having taken her abode among 
thefe hills, and as having been driven 
from her ancient habitation by the bar- 
barian violence of the French. Far be 
it from us—very far indeed—to juftity 
their infamous irruption over an inde- 
pendent republic: but let it be known, 
that the Swifs were fer ‘from enjoying 
that freedom of which it has been fo 
much the fafhion to boatt. All the 
peafantry of the canton of Bafil, ac- 
cording to Milfs William's Account, 
with only the. exception of the little 
town of Lieftal, wer eliterally ferfs, and 
annexed to the foil. Three fourths of 
the inhabitants of this canton were ab- 
folute flaves ; a {till greater proportion 
were ina ftate of vatialage in Zurich; 
nor did Lucerne, the Eccotia of Switzer- 
land, wear lefs. heavy oy leifs gailing 
chainsthaneither. Berne was sovern- 
ed by a haughty domineering arilto- 
cracy, which had excited the moft fe- 
rious difcontents in the Pays de Vaud, 
by the infringement of immemorial 
franchifes.. If there was not much of 
that boafted happinefs, and freedom 
among the inhabitants of Switzerland, 
neither was there much of t 
harmony.among. the con! 
tons. Weare informed in the pabit- 
‘cation before us, that the Helvetic con- 
federacy, incoherent in its parts, had 
long been threatened with difiolution. 
Different kinds of inteftine difturb- 
ance: the remonftrances of the govern- 
ed; the blind haughbtinefs of the go- 
derate can- 
Retrofpect-of Dometic Literature.—fiftory. 
vernors ; the mutual rivalfhip between 
the cantons—all united in the work of 
deftruction. France, feeing with plea- 
fure the diffentions which tore the con- 
federates, did not delay to profit by 
them. She fomented the difcord, fed 
the hatred and the hopes of parties, ex- 
cited the cantons againft each other, 
and thus made way for the revolution 
in Helvetia which was foon to break 
oO E 
Berne refufed to the Vaudois the re- 
ftitution of thofe rights which they de- 
manded as an inheritance bequeathed to 
them from their forefathers. Difaffection 
was the confequence, and fome indivi- 
duals wereimprifonedbythe government 
for the intemperance of their language. 
France had the -effrontery to aflume 
the right of mediation, and declared by 
her Chargé d’ Affaires, that Berne fhould 
be refponfible for the life and fafety of 
thefe perfons. Berne now felt alarmed, 
and had actually fent two deputies of * 
general diet to propofe conceffions to 
the Vaudois, when the Avoyer Steiguer, 
rathly exercifed his fatal influence, and 
when they were on the point of con- 
cluding matters amicably, had them re- 
called, becaufe it was underftood that - 
fome communities remained faithful to 
the government, which was defirous of 
employing them in fubduing the others. 
France loft not this opportunity of ene 
tering the Swifs territories, and Berne, 
reduced to defpair, when the foli- 
cited affiftance from alt her allies, found 
that they were employed in fecurimg 
their own cantons; and it isa factthat ~ 
Zurich and Schwitz were the only two 
which fent to her a fingle battalion ! 
Alovs Reding. commanded that of 
Scawitz, the confequence of which 
was, that this canton fupported the 
brave ftruggle with the greateft obiti- 
nacy, and was the laft to conclude a 
treaty with the too powerful invader. 
Notwithfanding the numerous defec- 
tions of thofe who ought to have been 
as firm in the caufe of ‘liberty as the. 
canton of Schwitz, notwithftanding 
the treacherous and difcouraging vio- 
Jations of the mo folemn promifes of 
fupport, Aloys Keding and his fmall 
band of followers kept alive in’ their 
bofums the noble enthufiafm of inde- 
pendence. Previoufly to battle, ‘weil 
aflured of the difpofition of his foldiers, 
and of their with ** toxrenew upon the 
green heights of Morgarten the facred 
monument of the ancient valour of the 
Swifs, and to leave to their pofterity, if 
not freedam,:at leaftia memorable ex- 
2 ample 
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