Chapter VI: Switzerland Since 1798 (2)

1527 Evangelical coburghership of Zurich and Constance
(_Evangelisches Burgrecht_). Execution of Max Wehrli, the
Catholic bailiff in the Thurgau. Troubles in Toggenburg and St.
Gall widen the breach between Catholics and Evangelicals.

1528 Bern joins Zurich and Constance in favour of religious
freedom and is followed by Bâle, Schaffhausen, St. Gall and
Mülhausen. The confederation is in danger of breaking up.

1529 Lucerne, Uri, Schwyz, Unterwalden, and Zug form the
Christian Alliance (_Christliche Vereinigung_), and ally
themselves with Austria. First war of Kappel. The Austrian
alliance is annulled and religious parity for each member of
the confederation is declared by the first Peace of Kappel.

1530 Genoa with confederate aid secures freedom from Savoy.

1531 Second war of Kappel. The Catholic members of the
confederation advance on Zurich. Near Kappel the men of Zurich
are defeated and Zwingli is slain. Second Peace of Kappel. The
Reformation in Switzerland is considerably checked. Catholic
reaction. The league is now completely split into Catholics and
evangelicals.

1532 William Farel begins to preach the Reformation in Geneva.

1535 The Reformation is successfully planted in Geneva by Farel.

1536 Bern conquers Vaud and Lausanne and takes them from Savoy.
Calvin comes to Geneva. The first Helvetic confession is
published.

1538 By influence of the papal party Calvin is exiled from
Geneva.

1541 Calvin returns to Geneva and there establishes a theoretic
government, the _consistorium_. He enters upon a harsh rule,
imprisoning and executing his opponents.

1548 Constance is captured by the Austrians in the war of
Smalkalden and is cut off from the Swiss Confederation.

1549 Calvin’s theological disputes with the Zurich reformers
are partly settled by the Compromise of Zurich (_Consensus
Tigurinus_).

1553 Michael Servetus is burned at the stake at Geneva at the
instance of Calvin.

1555 Calvin expels from Geneva many who uphold municipal
liberty and replaces them by foreigners. The city gains the
name of the “Protestant Rome.” Evangelicals driven out of
Locarno take refuge in Zurich.

1559 Calvin founds the University of Geneva.

1564 Calvin dies. Théodore de Beze succeeds him as head of the
church. Emanuel Philibert, duke of Savoy, supported by the
Catholic members of the league, demands back the districts
seized by Bern in 1536. The Treaty of Lausanne restores
several of them. The counter-Reformation (Catholic reaction)
makes itself strongly felt in Switzerland. It is furthered by
Carlo Borromeo, archbishop of Milan, and at Lucerne by Ludwig
Pfyffer, the “Swiss king.”

1565 The Catholic states of Switzerland ally themselves with
Pope Pius IV.

1566 The second Helvetic Confession is published as a basis for
union between the Calvinists and the Zurich reformers.

1574 The Catholic reaction advances by the establishment of the
Jesuits at Lucerne.

1580 A papal nuncio comes to Lucerne. Borromeo founds at Milan
the “Collegium Helveticum” for the education of Swiss priests.

1581 The Capuchins become active in Switzerland for the
Catholic reaction.

1582 The Protestants object to the introduction of the
Gregorian calendar.

1586 The Golden or Borromean League for support of Catholicism
is formed by the seven Catholic members of the confederation
(Uri, Schwyz, Unterwalden, Lucerne, Zug, Freiburg, Solothurn).

1588 The reformed states form a separate league with Strasburg.

1597 Appenzell is divided into two parts, “Inner Rhodes,”
Catholic, and “Outer Rhodes,” Protestant.

THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY

1602 The Duke of Savoy attempts to get hold of Geneva (the
“Escalade”).

1620 Massacre of Protestants in the Valtellina. The valley
is won for the Catholics. The Swiss Confederation remains
nominally neutral in the Thirty Years’ War, but various members
become involved from time to time.

1622 The Austrians conquer the Prätigau.

1624 French troops take the Valtellina.

1629 The Valtellina is taken by the imperial troops.

1632 The Baden Compromise adjusts the religious status of the
“common bailiwicks.”

1635 The French once more capture the Valtellina.

1637 George Jenatsch with help of the Spaniards drives the
French out of the Valtellina.

1639 The independence of the Grisons is established.

1648 By the Treaty of Westphalia the Swiss Confederation is
formally separated from Germany and recognized as independent.
Religious divisions continue to cripple the energy of the
confederation. Poverty, a result of the Thirty Years’ War,
causes discontent.

1653 The Peasants’ War breaks out in Bern, Solothurn, Lucerne,
and Bâle because of the oppression of the governing class.
The peasants form a league of Sumiswald. They are defeated at
Wohlenschwyl.

1654 The Protestant Swiss intercede for the Waldenses. They
win the friendship of Oliver Cromwell, who pays great honor to
their envoys.

1655 Protestant fugitives from Schwyz find refuge in Zurich.

1656 The first Villmergen War results. Christopher Pfyffer
of Lucerne with a body of Catholics defeats the Protestants
at Villmergen. A treaty is concluded which provides for the
individual sovereignty of each member of the confederation in
religious matters.

1663 The confederation makes a treaty with Louis XIV of France,
by which Protestant Swiss mercenaries are taken into the king’s
pay.

1668 As the result of encroachments by Louis in the
Franche-Comté the confederates provide for joint action against
outside enemies by putting into execution the agreement known
as the Defensionale. French Protestant refugees find shelter in
Switzerland.

THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY

1707 Pierre Fatio at the head of a committee of the council at
Geneva demands a more liberal government.

1712 The abbot of St. Gall by his oppressions rouses the people
of Toggenburg to insurrection. The second Villmergen War (or
war of Toggenburg) between Catholics and Protestants from these
troubles. The Catholics are defeated at Villmergen. The Treaty
of Aarau assures the “common bailiwicks” religious liberty and
gives advantages to the Protestants.

1715 The Catholic members of the confederation by the Truckli
Bund agree to put France in the position of guarantor of the
confederation. A period of decline. The confederation has
little unity. Unsatisfactory relations of the classes.

1723 The conspiracy of Davel to free Vaud from the oppression
of Bern is crushed.

1729 The “_Harten_” (hard ones) opponents of the government,
and the “_Linden_” (soft ones) at Zug struggle for supremacy.

1732 The “Harten” gain a victory over the “Linden” in the Outer
Rhodes of Appenzell.

1737 The democrats win a victory for liberal government in
Geneva.

1744 Demands for a more liberal government are made in Bern.

1749 Hentzi’s conspiracy attempts in vain to overthrow the
oligarchy at Bern.

1748 Discontents of the common people cause disorder in
Neuchâtel.

1755 Popular uprisings in the Leventina are crushed by the
government of Uri.

1762 The Helvetic Society is founded and fosters aspirations
for liberty. Rousseau, then a citizen of Geneva, publishes the
_Contrat Social_. These books are publicly burned by order of
the city government. The popular party wins in the Outer Rhodes
of Appenzell.

1764 The “Harten” are victorious in Zug.

1768 Armed intervention of France, Zurich, and Bern in Geneva
to suppress popular revolts of the “natives.” Disorders occur
in the patriciate of Lucerne.

1770 The “natives” rise in revolt in Geneva.

1777 All of the thirteen states of the confederation join in
making a new alliance with France. Political disturbances occur
in Zurich.

1780 The meetings of the Helvetic Society are forbidden.

1781 Anarchy in Geneva. Pastor Waser is executed at Zurich for
opposition to the city government. France, Bern, and Sardinia
intervene. Emigration from Geneva. Insurrection at Fribourg
under Chenaux.

1784 Joseph Suter, a popular leader in the Inner Rhodes of
Appenzell, is executed.

1789 The French Revolution begins to find sympathizers in
Switzerland.

1790 Exiles from Vaud and Fribourg organise the Helvetic Club
at Paris to spread the new ideas in Switzerland. The club stirs
up risings in the western part of the confederation. Lower
Valais rises against the oppressive rule of the upper districts.

1792 Porrentruy defies the prince-bishop of Bâle; with the
help of the French drives out the imperial troops; forms
the Rauracian Republic. This afterward becomes the French
department of Mont Terrible. Geneva is saved from France by a
force from Zurich and Bern. Massacre of the Swiss guards at the
Tuileries by the Paris mob. The diet of Aarau orders the recall
of the Swiss regiments.

1793 A reign of terror begins in Geneva because of uprising of
the “natives.”

1794 The revolutionary party assumes control in Geneva. Arrests
and murders. Demands for greater freedom are made at Stäfa in
the territory of Zurich.

1795 A reaction sets in in Geneva. The insurrection at Stäfa is
suppressed.

1797 Bonaparte incorporates the Italian bailiwicks of the
Valtellina with the Cisalpine Republic. La Harpe calls on
the Directory to protect the liberties of Vaud against the
oppression of Bern.

THE HELVETIC REPUBLIC

1798 French troops in response occupy Mülhausen, Bienne, and
part of the lands of the prince-bishop of Bâle. Insurgents
open the prison of Chillon. Another French army enters Vaud
and the Lemanic Republic is proclaimed there. The French
occupy Fribourg and Solothurn; defeat the Bernese after
fierce fighting at Neueneck; take Bern, the stronghold of the
aristocratic party, and pillage the treasury. The Revolution
triumphs over the Confederation. By order of the Directory,
the Helvetic Republic, one and indivisible, is proclaimed.
Peter Ochs of Bâle supplies a constitution. Ten of the thirteen
members of the old confederation accept the new government.
Twenty-three “cantons,” or administrative districts, are
created. The forest districts rebel. Their resistance, headed
by Alois Reding, of Schwyz, is put down after desperate
conflicts at Schindellegi, Morgarten, and at Rothenthurm.
An insurrection of the mountaineers of Upper Valais against
the French is bloodily repressed. The French put down an
insurrection in Nidwald with great bloodshed. (The days of
terror of Nidwald end.)

1799 Zurich, the forest cantons, and Rhætia become the scene of
the struggle of the Austrian and Russians against the French in
the wars of the Coalition.

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY

1802 Strife between the centralists and the federalists.
Bonaparte withdraws the French troops. The Helvetian government
is driven from Bern. Bonaparte convenes Swiss statesmen at
Paris in the _consulta_, and acts as mediator. The Frickthal,
the last Austrian possession in Switzerland, is given to the
Helvetic Republic by Bonaparte.

THE CONFEDERATION OF NINETEEN CANTONS

1803 Napoleon’s Act of Mediation is made the constitution of
“Switzerland.” This name for the first time is used as the
official name of the country. The thirteen members of the old
confederation are set up again and six new cantons are added.
There are to be no more privileged classes or subject lands.
Switzerland enjoys ten years of peace and prosperity.

1804 Insurrection breaks out at Horgen in the canton Zurich.

1806 Neuchâtel is given to Marshal Berthier.

1810 Valais, which has been a separate republic, is made into
the French department of the Simplon. The Swiss Society of the
Public Good is founded. Pestalozzi and Fellenberg work out an
educational system.

1813 Austrian and Russian troops, supported by the reactionary
party, enter Switzerland; the diet abolishes the constitution
of 1803.

1814 “The long diet” at Zurich attempts to adjust party
differences. Bern heads a party anxious to restore the old
order. Zurich and the majority stand out for the nineteen
cantons of Napoleon. The allies enter Switzerland.

THE LEAGUE OF TWENTY-TWO STATES

1815 The Swiss diet accepts the decisions of the congress of
Vienna and a new constitution, the Federal Pact, is adopted.
The league of States (_Staatenbund_) is made to include
twenty-two members. The sovereign rights of each canton are
recognised. The federal diet exercises supreme sovereignty only
in purely national concerns. The great powers at the congress
of Vienna guarantee the neutrality of Switzerland. Switzerland
is freed from subserviency to France. New aristocracies make
themselves felt.

1817 Switzerland becomes a party to the Holy Alliance.

1819 The Helvetic Society again takes up political reforms.

1823 Freedom of the press is restricted under influence of the
great powers. Intellectual reaction and ultra-montanism become
noticeable and cause dissensions.

1830 The July revolution in Paris finds an echo in Switzerland.
Twelve cantons reform their constitutions in a democratic
sense. Popular demonstrations at the assembly of Uster.

1831 The aristocracy of Bern submits to liberal reforms.

1832 The cantons Zurich, Bern, Lucerne, Solothurn, St. Gall,
Aargau, and Thurgau agree to united action looking toward
reform (_Siebener Concordat_). They are opposed by the
reactionary cantons, Uri, Schwyz, Unterwalden, Valais, and
Neuchâtel which form the league of Sarnen (Sarner Bund).

1833 Bâle is divided into a rural (Baselland) and an urban
(Baselstadt) half-canton because of the desire of the rural
population for proportional representation in the Diet.

1834 Political refugees to Switzerland increase to such an
extent that measures are taken by the diet to prevent abuse of
the privilege of asylum.

1835 Religious tumults in Aargau.

1836 Difficulties with France over tariff regulations.
Religious tumults in the Bernese Jura.

1838 The Society of the Grütli is founded at Geneva.

1839 Reaction in Zurich against radicals and freethinkers.
(Strauss’ _Life of Jesus_).

1840 Clericals revolt against the radicals in Aargau.

1841 They are put down. Eight monasteries in Aargau are
suppressed. The quarrel provokes disputes in the diet.

1843 The diet effects a compromise in the religious quarrel
in Aargau by which four instead of eight of the monasteries
are suppressed. The seven Catholic cantons, Uri, Schwyz,
Unterwalden, Lucerne, Zug, Fribourg, and Valais hereupon form a
separate league, the Sonderbund.

1844 The Sonderbund declares for the reopening of all the
monasteries in Aargau. The clericals in Lucerne, the Vorort,
give high posts to Jesuits. Parties of free-lances attempt to
capture the city.

1845 The attack on Lucerne is renewed but is unsuccessful. The
radicals gain control in Zurich.

1846 The radicals become the majority in Bern and Geneva.

1847 The radicals get a majority in St. Gall. The diet in which
the radicals are now in the majority declares the Sonderbund
contrary to the Federal Pact. The diet resolves to revise the
pact and asks the cantons to expel the Jesuits. The attempt to
enforce the decree leads to the Sonderbund War. This is quickly
ended by the defeat of the rebellious Catholic cantons at
Gislikon, largely because of the good generalship of Dufour.

SWITZERLAND AS A FEDERAL STATE

1848 A new constitution is accepted by the majority of the
cantons. Switzerland becomes a federal state (_Bundesstaat_).
A central government is organised consisting of a council of
states (_Ständerath_), a national council (_National Rath_) and
a federal council or executive (_Bundesrath_). German, French,
and Italian are recognised as national languages. Bern is
chosen the national capital.

1855 The federal polytechnic school is opened at Zurich.
Improvements in the educational system are introduced.

1856 A royalist conspiracy in Neuchâtel is put down and causes
a dispute between Switzerland and the king of Prussia, the
overlord of Neuchâtel.

1857 Neuchâtel is definitely ceded to Switzerland.

1859 Switzerland posts troops on the Italian frontier to
preserve neutrality in the Italian War and puts an end to
foreign enlistments.

1860 The Swiss government protests against the cession of Nice
and Savoy to France.

1861 French troops occupy the Valée de Dappes.

1862 The question of the frontiers in the Valée de Dappes is
arranged with France by mutual cession of territory.

1864 The convention of Geneva introduces humanitarian reforms
in warfare. Election riots at Geneva lead to bloodshed.

1865 International social science congress meets at Bern.

1866 Restrictions on religious liberty of Jesuits, etc., are
removed. An attempt is made to revise the constitution in a
democratic sense but fails.

1867 An international congress of workmen is held at Lausanne.

1869 The construction of the St. Gotthard tunnel is decided
upon.

1871 Switzerland shelters French refugees of the Franco-German
War though insisting on the maintenance of neutrality. The
growth in power of the “old Catholics” causes disturbances in
western Switzerland (the struggle against Ultramontanism). The
Alabama Arbitration Commission meets in Geneva.

1872 An attempt at revision of the constitution is defeated by
a small majority.

1873 Abbé Mermillod, appointed by the pope “apostolic vicar” of
Geneva, is banished from Switzerland. The see of Bishop Lachat
of Bâle is suppressed by several cantons because he upholds the
doctrine of papal infallibility.

SWITZERLAND UNDER THE CONSTITUTION OF 1874

1874 A new constitution, a revision of that of 1848, is
accepted by the people. The referendum hereby becomes a part
of the machinery of the federal government as it had already
been part of that of most of the cantons. The new constitution
increases centralisation in the government. The international
postal congress meets at Bern and lays the foundation for the
international postal union.

1876 Religious and political differences cause an armed
encounter in Ticino.

1877 A law regulating the working hours in factories is passed,
marking an advance in labour legislation.

1878 James Fazy, noted statesman, dies.

1879 Legislation puts an end to dissensions over the
financeering of the St. Gotthard railway.

1882 The St. Gotthard railway is opened.

1883 Mermillod is appointed bishop of Lausanne.

1884 Bishop Lachat is made apostolic vicar of Ticino. An
international conference is held at Bern to secure the
protection of copyright.

1887 Alcohol is made a state monopoly.

1888 The creation of a see at Lugano excites the opposition of
the radicals. An important law for the protection of patents is
passed.

1889 Bismarck’s spy Wohlgemuth is expelled. Germany protests.
Difficulties arising out of the Swiss custom of granting
political asylum are settled.

1890 Religious riot at Ticino. The principal compulsory
insurance against sickness and accident is accepted by popular
vote.

1891 The federal constitution is amended so that fifty thousand
citizens by the “initiative” can compel the federal authorities
to prepare and submit to the people any reform in the
constitution demanded by the petitioners. The establishment of
a state or federal bank is approved by the people. The purchase
of the Central Railway by the confederation is rejected by
popular vote.

1893 The killing of animals in Jewish fashion is prohibited by
exercise of the initiative.

1894 An attempt by the initiative to secure the adoption for
the government of a socialist scheme to provide employment
fails.

1896 A National exhibition is held at Geneva. Labour riots
directed against the employment of Italians cause many of these
to leave Zurich. The eighteenth international congress on
copyright meets at Bern and takes steps for copyright reform in
Germany and Great Britain.

1897 The national council adopts a bill authorising the
confederation to purchase the five principal railroads when
the terms of the concessions expire. The proposals of the
government as to a federal bank are rejected by the people.
An international congress for the protection of labor is held
at Zurich. It votes in favor of the prohibition of Sunday
labor, except under special conditions for the restriction of
unhealthful trades and night-work, for the betterment of the
conditions of employment for women and for a working day of
eight hours by legal enactment.

1898 The government authorises the construction of the Simplon
tunnel. The people vote for the unification of the cantonal
laws civil and criminal into a set of federal codes. The
principle of the purchase by the confederation of the principal
railroads is approved by popular vote. The empress Elizabeth
of Austria is assassinated by an Italian anarchist in Geneva.
Expulsion of anarchists follows.

1899 The scheme for the establishment of the “double
initiative” is launched. The law for the compulsory insurance
of working men against sickness and accident is passed by the
legislature.

1900 This proposal, however, is rejected by the people by a
large majority. The proposals for proportional representation
in the national council and for the election of the federal
council by the people (the “double initiative”) are rejected by
popular vote.

THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

1901 On representation of the Turkish government the federal
council suppresses publications of the party of Young Turkey
criticising the sultan for the Armenian massacres. Public
opinion condemning the action of the council as a violation
of the right of asylum finds expression in many places.
Anti-Russian demonstrations are made at Geneva and Bern by
socialists. The socialist movement gains in strength.

1902 Difficulties with Italy over the publication in an
anarchist organ at Geneva of an article reflecting on the
murdered king Humbert causes the temporary withdrawal of the
diplomatic representatives of the two countries. A general
strike in Geneva leads to disturbances which are put down by
troops. The federal council issues a decree suppressing such
religious congregations or orders as have not been authorised
by law. The radical democratic majority in the national council
is considerably strengthened.

1903 A new protective tariff is adopted by popular vote. The
Zionist congress at Bâle votes to investigate Great Britain’s
offer of land in East Africa for Jewish colonisation.