Chapter XXVIII: Appendix

COPY OF THE LATIN “PACT OF 1291” IN THE ARCHIVES OF SCHWYZ.

In nomine domini Amen. Honestati consulitur, et vtilitati publice prouidetur, dum pacta, quietis et pacis statu debito solidantur. Novereint igitur vniversi, quod homines vallis Vranie, vniversitasque / vallis de Switz, ac conmunitas hominum intramontanorum vallis inferioris, maliciam temporis attendentes, ut se, et sua magis defendere valeant, et in statu debito melius consevare, fide / bona promiserunt, inuicem sibi assistere, auxilio, consilio, quolibet ac fauore personis et rebus, infra valles et extra, toto posse, toto nisv, contra omnes ac singulos, qui eis vel alicui de ipsis, aliquam / intulerint violenciam, molestiam, aut iniuriam, in personis et rebus malum quodlibet machinando, ac in omnem eventum quelibet vniuersitas, promisit alteri accurrere, cum neccesse fuerit ad succurrendum. / et in expensis propriis, prout opus fuerit, contra inpetus malignorum resistere, iniurias vindicare prestito super hiis corporaliter inuramento, absque dolo servandis, antequam confederationis forman iuramento vallatam, presentibus innovando, / Ita tamen quod quilibet homo iuxta sui nominis conditionem domino suo conuenienter subesse teneatur et seruire. Conmuni etiam consilio, et fauore vnamimi promisimus, statuimus, ac ordinauimus, vt in vallibus prenotatis, nullum / iudicem, qui ipsum officium aliquo precio, vel peccunia, aliqualiter conparauerit, vel qui noster incola vel provincialis non fuerit aliquatenus accipiamus, vel acceptemus.

Si uero dissensio suborta fuerit, inter aliquos conspiratos, prudencio-- / res de conspiratis accedere debent, ad sopiendam discordiam inter partes, prout ipsis videbitur expedire. et que pars illam respuerit ordinationem, alii contrarii deberent fore conspirati. Super omnia autem, inter ipsos extitit / statutum, ut qui alium fraudulenter, et sine culpa tracidauerit, si deprehensus fuerit uitam ammittat, nisi suam de dicto maleficio valeat ostendere innocenciam, suis nefandis culpis exigentibus. et si / forsan discesserit nunquam remeare debet. Receptatores et defensores prefati malefactoris, a vallibus segregandi sunt, donec a coniuratis prouide reuocentur. Si quis uero quemquam de conspiratis, die sev / nocte silentio, fraudulenter per incendium uastauerit, is numquam haberi debet pro conprouinciali. Et si quis dictum malefactorem fovet et defendit, infra valles, satisfactionem prestare debet dampnificato. Ad / hec si quis de coniuratis alium rebus spoliauerit, vel dampnificauerit qualitercumque, si res nocentis infra valles possunt reperiri, servari debent, ad procurandum secundum iusticiam lesis satisfactionem. Insuper nullus capere / debet pignus alterius nisi sit manifeste debitor, vel fideiussor, et hoc tantum fieri debet de licencia iudicis speciali. Preter hec quilibet obedire debet suo iudici, et ipsum si neccesse fuerit iudicem ostendere infra / sub quo parere potius debeat iuri. Et si quis iudicio rebellis extiterit, ac de ipsius pertinasia quis de conspiratis dampnificatus fuerit, predictum contumacem ad prestandam satisfactionem, iurati conpellere tenentur / uniuersi. Si uero guerra vel discordia inter aliquos de conspiratis suborta fuerit, si pars vna litigantium, iusticie vel satisfactionis non curat recipere complementum, reliquam defendere tenentur coniurati. Supra / scriptis statutis, pro conmuni vtilitate, salubriter ordinatis, concedente domino, in perpetuum duratis. In cuius facti euidentiam presens instrumentum, ad petionem predictorum confectum, Sigiliorum prefatarum / trium vniuersitatum et vallium est munimine roboratum. Actum Anno domini. M.CC.LXXXX. primo. Incipiente mense Au-gu-sto.

TRANSLATION.

IN THE NAME OF THE LORD--AMEN!

Virtue is promoted and utility provided for by the state so long as covenants are firmly established with a proper basis of quiet and peace, therefore, let all men know that the valley of Uri and the entire district of the valley of Schwyz and the community of the intramontane people of the lower valley, while regarding the evil character of the times, with the view of being able more efficiently to protect themselves and their interests, and better to preserve them in their proper condition, have promised in good faith mutually to stand by one another with their help, advice, and undivided support, in their persons and property, within and without the valleys, with their entire force and united effort against all men and singular who shall inflict upon them or upon any one of them any violence, molestation or injury in plotting any evil against their persons and property, and every district has promised to another in every event to make haste whenever it shall be necessary to render it help. They also (have promised) at their individual expense to resist, as it shall be necessary, the attacks of the evil-intending, to avenge wrongs, having taken their oath corporal touching the faithful preservation of these presents from change before the ratification by oath of the instrument of Confederation. So, however, that any and every person is to be held to be subject to and to serve his Lord exactly according to the terms of his obligation. We also have promised, decided, _and more_, ordained by common resolve and unanimous assent that we will not, to any extent, accept or acknowledge any judge who shall secure the office itself at some price, or by money, by any other device, or who shall not be one of our inhabitants or a provincial.

But if a disagreement shall arise among any of the Confederates, the more discreet of them ought to come forward to allay the variance among the parties just as it shall appear to them to be expedient, and the party which shall reject the settlement _decided upon_, it were proper for the other Confederates to be their adversaries.

Moreover, above all things, it has been ordained among them that he who shall wrongfully and without provocation murder another, if he shall be arrested, shall lose his life, as his heinous wrong-doing demands, unless he shall be able to show his innocence touching the alleged crime, and if perchance he shall leave the country, he must never return, the harborers and defenders of the aforesaid malefactor are to be cut off from the valleys until they be recalled with due foresight by the Confederates. But if any one shall in the daytime or in the silence of night maliciously injure any one of the Confederates by burning, he ought never to be regarded as a fellow-provincial. And if any one harbors and defends the alleged evil-doer within the valleys, he ought to render satisfaction to the person who has sustained the loss. In addition, if any one of the Confederates shall rob another of his property or otherwise inflict loss upon him, if the property of the offending party can be found within the valleys, it ought to be held for procuring satisfaction for the injured according to justice.

Moreover no one ought to take the pledge of a second unless this one be clearly a debtor or security, and this ought to be done only in accordance with a special license of a judge. Furthermore, any and every one ought to obey his judge, and to indicate the very judge, if it shall be necessary, under whom he by choice assumes the obligation to obey the law. And if any one shall show himself defiant of the decision of a judge, and in consequence of his perverseness any of the Confederates shall be damaged, all who are under oath are held to force the aforesaid obstinate one to render satisfaction. But in case war or violent division shall arise among any of the Confederates, if one party of the disputants is not disposed to receive the award of justice or satisfaction, the Confederates are held to defend the remaining party.

The statutes above written are wholesomely ordained in behalf of the public advantage with an unlimited duration, the Lord consenting thereto. As an evidence of this act the present instrument, made according to the petition of the aforesaid persons, is confirmed by the authority of the seals of the aforementioned districts and valleys. Done in the year of the Lord 1291, in the beginning of the month of August.

* * * * *

The above translation was kindly made by Professor W. E. Peters, of the University of Virginia, and in transmitting it he says: “I send you a literal rendering of the Pact, the original is exceedingly rough and incorrect according to classical standards. I think, however, the sense is given. I render _vniversitas_ as district, and Commune might be embraced in brackets; I would render it _Canton_, but the Swiss Cantons were not then formed, and the term Commune hardly expresses the sense, as it is French. I have had in some cases to force translation where the Latin is absolutely corrupt and wrong. I have aimed to make the translation, as you desired, strictly according to the Latin, and not according to what was permissible with the Latin and its collocation.”

The Honorable John D. Washburn, United States Minister at Bern, in an article contributed to the American Antiquarian Society of Worcester, Mass., April, 1890, on the “Foundation of the Swiss Republic,” referring to the Pact of 1291, says: “The foundation stone on which it is generally understood that the whole superstructure [of the Swiss Republic] rests is known as the Pact--Letter of Alliance, _Bundesbrief_--of 1291. This is not a myth, but, apart, perhaps, from absolute exactness of date and some extraneous circumstances alleged to attend it, a well-established record of history. This instrument well repays a careful study, not only as a wonderfully bold declaration of modified independence at a very early day, but as especially interesting to the American student for the remarkable parallels of thought in the minds of these ancient men, and in the minds of those who nearly five hundred years later made the preliminary declarations of American Independence.”

INDEX.

A.

Aar, water system of the, 415.

Aarau, peace of, 14.

Aargau admitted, 16.
conquest of, 13.

Academy, military, 238.

Act of mediation, 39.

Administrative law, 90.

Agricultural schools, 289.

Agriculture, 290, 306.

Alliance, Holy, Switzerland in the, 18.
Letter of, 473, 477.

Allmend, 181.
future of, 183.

Alpenglühen, 426.

Alpenstocks, 375.

Alphorn, 340.

Alpine flowers, 371.
hay-making, 326.

Alps, 354.

Alsace-Lorraine, 458.

Altdorf, folkmote in, 155.

Amendments, constitutional, 50, 51.

American and Swiss constitutions compared, 54, 56, 59, 63.

American elections compared with Swiss, 82.

Appeals to federal tribunal, 109.

Appellate courts, 136.
criminal, 112.

Appendix, 473.

Appenzell admitted, 14.
division of, 141.
Inner, councils in, 159.
Outer, folkmote in, 151.

Arbitration, intercantonal, 104.
international, 445.

Armaments, European, 456.

Army, active, 237.
federal, 233.
strength of, 239.

Assembly, federal, 42, 65.
local, 158.
powers of, 71.

Asylum, right of, 466.

Ausser-Rhoden folkmote, 151.

Authorities, federal, 49.

Autonomy, cantonal, 146.
communal, 176, 186.

Avalanches, 366.

B.

Banquet, communal, 183.

Basel admitted, 14.
division of, 141.
inheritance of property in, 218.

Battle of Marignano, 14.
of Morat, 13.
of Morgarten, 11.
of Sempach, 13.

Beef, dried, 345.

Bern, 411.
aristocracy of, 423.
codes in, 216.
joins the league, 13.
life in, 423.
name of, 413.
places of interest in, 420.
surroundings of, 425.

Bills of rights, 57.

Bise, 23.

Boundaries, 20.

Breeds of cattle, 311.

Brunnen, league of, 11.

Bundesbrief, 473, 477.

Bundesgericht, 104.
See _Federal Tribunal_.

Bundespräsident, 88, 97.

Bundesrath, 85.
See _Federal Council_.

Bundesstaat defined, 36.
established, 42.

Bundesversammlung, 42, 65.

Bürgergemeinde, 180.

C.

Cæsar and the Helvetians, 9.

Calvin, character of, 30.

Calvinism in Geneva, 29.

Cantonal affairs, federal intervention in, 129.
citizenship, 199.
coinage, 123.
conservatism, 160, 164.
constitutions, 134, 146.
courts, 136.
customs, 160, 164.
differences, 104.
individuality, 144.
institutions, 146.
judges, 136.
land laws, 215.
officials, 141.
revenues, 141.
rights, 60, 146.
sovereignty, 45, 130, 147.
standards, 143.

Cantons and half-cantons, 141.
area and population of, 469.
Catholic, 18, 29.
chief magistracy of, 133.
coercion of, 90.
eight old, 13.
elections in, 131.
entry of, into confederation, 471.
forest, 12, 13.
history of, 123.
legislation in, 131.
present status of, 125.
Protestant, 29.
relations of, to the communes, 188.
representation in, 131.
sovereignty of, 45, 130, 147.
status of, 38.

Capital punishment, 48, 51, 139.

Cassation, courts of, 136.
tribunal of, 112.

Cataracts, 370.

Catholic cantons, 18, 29.

Celtic ancestry, 9.

Census of 1888, 24, 466.

Cereals, 306.

Chalets, 329, 332.

Chamber, criminal, 112.
of accusation, 112.

Chamois, 337.

Chancellery, federal, 49.

Character of the peasants, 351.

Chaux-de-Fonds, altitude of, 25.

Cheese, 315.

Citizenship, 47.
acquirement of, 178, 200.
American, 193.
ancient Swiss, 191.
cantonal, 199.
communal, 177, 187, 193.
defined, 192, 195.
exit from, 203.
history of, 191.
instruction in its duties, 189.
nature of, 202.
renunciation of, 204.
rights and duties of, 127, 134.
state, defined, 196.
Swiss, 198.

Climate, 21.

Codes, cantonal, 215.

Coercion of cantons, 90.

Coinage, old cantonal, 123.

Colonial extension, 457.

Commerce, 299.

Commercial courts, 136.
restrictions, 46.

Common lands, 181.

Communal assembly, 186.
citizenship, 177, 187, 193.
membership, 177.
by purchase, 178.
officers, 186.
paupers, 188.
relations to the cantons, 188.
rights, 177.
schools, 266.

Commune defined, 174, 176.
d’origine, 177.
history of, 175.
origin of, 189.
powers of, 186.

Communes and communities, 135.
area of, 180.
des bourgeois, 180.
des habitants, 180.
double, 180.
local, 150.
national, 150.
population of, 180.
property of, 181, 183.

Composite state, 42.

Concert, European, 456.

Confederation and federation, 37.
Helvetic, 40.
powers of, 45.
reform of, 43.

Congress of Vienna, 40.

Conservatism, cantonal, 160, 164.
in government, 62.

Conservative party, 83.

Constitution, amendments of, 50, 51.
compared with that of the United States, 54, 56, 59, 63.
nature of, 61.
of 1874, 43.
Swiss, 34.
text of, 44.

Constitutions, cantonal, 131, 134, 146.

Convention of 1848, 42.

Convention of Geneva, 433.

Copyright, international, 439.

Corruption, absence of, 81.

Costumes, 349.

Council, blood, 159.
communal, 186.
federal, 76, 85. See _Federal Council_.
great, 158, 159.
in Appenzell-interior, 159.
in Unterwald-lower, 159.
national, 65, 66, 68.
of states, 65, 69.
triple, 158.

Councils, greater, 132.
lesser, 133.

Courts, cantonal, 136.
commercial, 136.
district, 136, 137.
federal, 111.
of cassation, 136.
supreme, 137.
See also _Federal Tribunal_.

Courtship, primitive, 347.

Covenant, original, 12, 473.

Cows, Swiss, 310, 336.

Cretinism, 429.

Criminal courts, 112.

Criminals, extradition of, 130.

Curriculum in schools, 267, 268.

Custom in cantonal business, 160, 164.

D.

Dairy products, 309.

Decapitation, 141.

Defensive preparations, 465.

Democracy, early, 12, 148, 151.

Department, political, 100.

Departments, executive, 97.
governmental, 49.

Dependent classes, 188.

Dialects, Swiss, 24.

Diet, general, 39.

Differences among cantons, 104.

District courts, 136, 137.

Dogs, St. Bernard, 27.
Swiss, 422.

Dried beef, 345.

Duties on imports and exports, 46.

E.

Écoles des recrues, 236.

Edelweiss, 371.

Education, 253. See _Schools_.
military, 236, 238.
religious, 260.
scope of, 278.

Eidgenossen, 14.

Eight old cantons, 13.

Einsiedeln, 27.

Einwohnergemeinde, 180.

Elections, 67, 70, 81.
in Ausser-Rhoden, 153.

Engineering feats, 320.

Estate in lands, 210, 211.

European concert, 459.
situation, 450.

Executive department, 49, 85.
departments, 97.

Expatriation, right of, 207.

Exports and imports, 304.

F.

Farms of peasants, 307, 325.

Federal army, 233.
assembly, 42, 49, 65.
powers of, 71.
authorities, 49.
chancellery, 49.
council, 49, 76, 85.
appeals from, to the assembly, 114.
authority of, 91.
business of, 97.
departments of, 97.
duties of, 88, 90, 96.
election of, 71, 93, 101.
eligibility to, 92, 94.
history of, 94.
judicial powers of, 90.
meetings of, 97.
membership of, 87.
_personnel_ of, 102.
powers of, 91.
salaries of, 96.
tenure of members of, 94, 95.
triennial renewal of, 95.
workings of, 101, 103.
pact, 17.
tribunal, 49, 104.
appeals to, 109.
compared with the Supreme Court of the United States, 115.
defects of, in practice, 120.
election to, 106, 114.
history of, 104.
limited powers of, 114, 115.
membership of, 106, 109.
origin of, 104.
powers of, 106, 114, 115.
seat of, 114.

Federalism, growth of, 145.
tendency of, 62.

Federation and Confederation, 37.

Feudal Helvetia, 10.

Feudalism, end of, 211.

Firn, 365.

First inhabitants, 9.

Flora, native, 372.

Föhn, 23.

Folkmote, 149.
of Ausser-Rhoden, 151.

Foreign affairs, 100.
policy, 452.

Forest cantons, 12.

Forestry, 291.

Forests, 372.

Fountains, 417.

France and Germany, 458.

Frankish supremacy, 10.

Freedom of conscience, 47, 54, 56.
of trade, 46.

Freiburg admitted, 13.

Fremden-industrie, 323.

French-speaking Swiss, 24.
supremacy, 15.

Friendly remonstrances, intercantonal, 104.

Funeral customs, 349.

G.

Gauls, early, 9.

Gemeinde-trinket, 183.

General diet, 39.

Geneva admitted, 17.
and its lake, 378.
Calvin in, 29.
code Napoleon in, 220.
convention, 433.

Geography of Switzerland, 19.

German cantons, testamentary powers in, 220.
empire, relations to, 14.
-speaking Swiss, 24.

Germany and France, 458.

Glaciers, 359.

Glarus and Uri, boundary between, 143.
constitution of, 157.
joins the league, 13.
landsgemeinde in, 157.

Goitre, 428.

Government, coördinate branches of, 122.
principles of, 61.

Grass crops, 315.

Great council, 158.
powers, the, 455, 459.

Grisons admitted, 16.

Guides, 374.

Guilds, history of, 178.

Gymnasia, 267.

H.

Half-cantons, 141.

Handelsgerichte, 136.

Hapsburg protection, 11.

Hay-making in the Alps, 326.

Health resorts, 375.

Helvetians, ancient, 9, 10.

Helvetic confederation, 40.
republic, 15.
union, origin of, 12.

Herdsman’s life, 337.

History of constitutions, 38.

Holy Alliance, Switzerland in the, 18.

Homeless persons, 49.

Hospice of St. Bernard, 26.

Houses, legislative, 65, 69, 73.

I.

Ideals, national, 410.

Independence of cantons, 38.

Individual rights, 57.

Individuality, cantonal, 144.

Industrial schools, 277.

Industry, 299.

Influence on European affairs, 453.

Inheritance of property, 209.

Initiative, popular, 171, 173.

Inquest, judges of, 112.

Intercantonal affairs, 125.
judicial relations, 138.

International arbitration, 445.
copyright, 437.
labor congress, 448.
law, 448.
unions, 430.

Introduction, 9.

Isotherms, 22.

Italian element, 25.

J.

Jesuits expelled, 31, 48.

Judges, cantonal, 136.
federal, 109.
of inquest, 112.
their relations to juries, 138.

Judicial department, 49. See _Federal Tribunal_.
powers, limitations of, 121.
torture, 140.

Judiciary, cantonal, 136.

Juf, altitude of, 25.

Juries in cantonal courts, 138.

Jury, functions of, 138.
in federal assizes, 112.

Justice, 136. See _Courts_.

K.

Kuhreihen, 340.

L.

Labor congress, international, 448.

Ladin, 345.

Lake-dwellers, prehistoric, 315.

Lakes, 378.

Land laws, 209, 212.
cantonal, 215.

Land, ownership of, 209.
by peasants, 222.
communal, 181.
subdivision of, 222.

Landammann, re-election of, 160.

Landammann’s oath, 154.

Landrath, 157.

Lands in common, 181.

Landsgemeinde, 70, 148, 149, 152.
at Altdorf, in Uri, 155.
at Trogen, 151.
functions of, 157.
history of, 148.
in Glarus, 157.

Landsturm and Landwehr, 237, 239.

Languages, census of, 470.
spoken, 24.

Lausanne, the seat of the federal tribunal, 114.

Law, administrative, 90.
international, 448.

Laws, cantonal, 130.
summarized, 135.

Leases of land, 213, 216.

Legislation, federal, 48, 52.
harmonization of, 131.
initiation of, 73, 76, 89.

Legislative bodies, _personnel_ of, 79.
sessions of, 78.
department, 49.
houses, 65, 69, 73.
tyranny, 58.

Legislators, oath of, 79.

Legislatures, cantonal, 131, 132.

Legitima portio, 221.

Letter of alliance, 473, 477.

Lion of Luzern, 230.

Liquor traffic, regulation of, 52.

Literary property, protection of, 437.

Local assembly, 158.

Localism and nationalism, 60.

Love of country, 33.

Lunéville, treaty of, 16.

Luzern, becomes a canton, 12.
lake of, 381.

M.

Manufactures, 302.

Marignano, battle of, 14.

Marriage customs in Ticino, 346.
laws, 53.

Material progress, 387.

Mediæval nobles, 10.

Mediation, act of, 39.

Mediatorsbip of Napoleon, 16.

Meinrad, St., 27, 28.

Mer de Glace, 364.

Metric standards, 470.

Militarism, dangers of, 460.

Military education, 236, 238.
service, 226, 233, 236.
status, Swiss, 464.
tax, 243.
topography, 451.

Militia, 237, 239, 249.

Mineral springs, 375.

Money, 469.
old cantonal, 123.

Monks of St. Bernard, 26.

Moraines, 365.

Morat, battle of, 13.

Morgarten, battle of, 11.

Mountaineering, 373.

Mountains, 20, 354.
their effect on character, 32.

Mythenstein, 398.

N.

Name of Switzerland, 19.

Napoleon’s influence in Switzerland, 16, 39.

Napoleon’s mediatorship, 16.

National communes, 150.
Council, 65, 66, 68.
languages, 49.

Nationalism and localism, 60.
growth of, 145.

Nationalities of Switzerland, 24.

Natural beauties, 353.
features of the country, 20.

Naturalization, 200.
defined, 207.
in the United States, 204, 208.

Neuchâtel admitted, 17.
history of, 17.

Névé, 364.

Nobles, mediæval, 10.

Normal schools, 265.

O.

Oath of landammann, Appenzell, 154.
nature of, 154.

Obergericht, 136.

Office, tenure of, 80.

Officers, military, 241.

Officials, cantonal, 141.

Old cantons, 12, 13.
Catholic party, 31.

Original inhabitants, 9.
pact, 12, 473, 477.

Orography of the country, 20, 21, 354.

Ownership of common lands, 181.

P.

Pact, federal, 17.
original, 12, 473.

Parliaments, peasant, 151.

Parties, political, 83.

Pastoral life, 335.

Pastures, Alpine, 313.

Patois, 345.

Patriotism, 32, 33.

Pauperism, 188.

Pay of soldiers, 241.

Peace of Aarau, 14.

Peasant home and life, 324, 344.

Peasant parliaments, 151.
proprietorship, 222.

Pensions, 242.

People, character of, 31.
patriotism of, 32, 33.

Personal rights, 57.

Pestalozzi, educational work of, 255.

Petite culture, 325.

Physical geography, 20.

Policy, foreign, 452.

Political department, 100.
parties, 83.

Polytechnic school, 270.

Popular initiative, 171, 173.
sovereignty, 168, 174.
vote. See _Referendum_.

Population, 469.

Postal union, 435.

Powers, the great, 455, 459.

Prehistoric remains, 383.

Presidency, American, compared with the Swiss executive, 86.

President of confederation, 88, 97.

Presidents of legislative bodies, 66, 67, 69, 71, 73.

Principles of government, 61.

Procureur-général, 112.

Progressive spirit, 387.

Property, communal, 181, 183.

Propitiator, 137.

Proprietorship in lands, 211.

Protection of literary property, 437.

Protestant and Catholic parties, 18.
cantons, 29.
Reformation, 28.

Provisions, temporary constitutional, 50.

Prussian supremacy in Neuchâtel, 17.

Public life, training for, 95.

Punishment in schools, 262.

Punishments, 48.
unusual, 170.

R.

Rack for prisoners, 139.

Radical party, 83.

Railways, 317.

Ranz des Vaches, 340.

Rath, 157.

Realschulen, 293, 295.

Red cross flag, 433.

Referendum, 74, 77.
benefits of, 169.
cantonal, 172.
compulsory, 172.
defined, 164.
functions of, 165.
history of, 171.
nature of, 50, 56.
optional, 172.
principle of, 171.
veto by, 167, 169.

Reform, federal, 19.

Reformation, 28.

Religion in schools, 260.

Religious controversies, 18.
differences, 25.
freedom, 47, 54, 56.
statistics, 470.

Remonstrances, friendly, 104.

Representation, 68.
in cantons, 131.

Republic, Helvetic, 15.

Rhetians, 9.

Rhone, the, 379.

Right of asylum, 466.

Rights, cantonal, 146.
communal, 177.

Rigi, 382.

Rivers of Switzerland, 20.

Roads, 323.

Romansch language, 345.

Rütli, story of, 393.

S.

St. Bernard, monks of, 26.

St. Gallen admitted, 16.
inheritance of property in, 218.

St. Gothard tunnel, 318.

Salvation army, 55.

Scenery, 353, 384.

Schaffhausen admitted, 14.

School-houses, 262.

Schools, 253.
agricultural, 289.
communal, 266.
grades in, 267.
industrial, 277.
art, 286.
manual training in, 282, 296.
military, 238.
normal, 265.
punishment in, 262.
religion in, 260.
straw-platting, 287.
technical, 277.
trade, 285, 288.

Schützenfest, 249.

Schwyz, an original canton, 12.

Scrutin de liste, 68.
des arrondissements, 68.

Sempach, battle of, 13.

Shepherd’s life, 337.

Silk industry, 302.

Situation, the European, 450.

Small nationalities, character of, 453.

Soldiers, pay of, 241.

Solothurn admitted, 13.

Sonderbund, 18.

Sorcery, execution for, 139.

Sovereignty, cantonal, 45, 147.
popular, 168, 174.

Staatenbund defined, 36.

Standards, cantonal, 143.

Ständerath, 65, 69.

Stantz, treaty of, 13.

State, the composite, 42.

States, council of, 65, 69.
-attorney, 112.

Statistics, 469.

Statutory enactments, 52.

Staubbach, 370.

Suabian war, 14.

Supreme Court of the United States compared with
the Swiss federal tribunal, 115-122.

Swineherds, 339.

Swiss foreign influence, 452.
mercenaries, 257.
valor, 230, 251.

T.

Tagsatzung, 40.

Tagwen in Glarus, 158.

Tax, military, 243.

Technical schools, 277.

Telegraph union, international, 435.

Tell, William, 391.
the national hero, 407.

Tell’s story, legends parallel to, 401.

Temporary constitutional provisions, 50.

Tenant, rights and responsibilities of, 213.

Testamentary powers, 209.

Thirty Years’ War, 14.

Thurgau admitted, 16.

Ticino admitted, 16.
marriage customs in, 346.

Topography, military, 451.

Torture, judicial, 140.

Tourmentes, 385.

Tours de scrutin, 68.

Training of officials, 95.

Treaty of Lunéville, 16.
of Stantz, 13.

Trial by jury, 138. See also _Jury_.

Tribunal, federal, 104. See _Federal Tribunal_.

Triple council, 158.

Trogen, folkmote at, 151.

Troops, cantonal, 234.
federal, 233.

Tyranny of legislatures, 58.

U.

Union, postal, 435.
telegraph, 435.

Unions, international, 430.

Universities, 269.

Unterwalden, division of, 141.

Uri, an original canton, 12.
and Glarus boundary, 143.
folkmote in, 155.

V.

Valais admitted, 17.
peasantry, 350.

Vaud admitted, 16.
land laws in, 217.

Veto, popular, 167, 169.

Vice-President, 66.
succession of, to the Presidency, 100.

Vienna, Congress of, 40.

Vierwaldstätten, 13.

Vineyards, 307.

Vorort, 37, 41.

Vote, popular. See _Referendum_.

W.

Waldstätten, 12.

War, Suabian, 14.
Thirty Years’, 14.

Watchmaking, 303.

Waterfalls, 370.

Wedding customs, 370.

Weights, 469.

Winds, 23.

Winkelried, story of, 404.

Witch-burning, 139.

Witenagemote, 149.

Woman’s lot, 343.

Women, courage of, 251.

Y.

Yodel, 341.

Z.

Zug joins the league, 13.

Zurich joins the league, 13.
testamentary powers in, 219.

Zwingli, 28.

THE END.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Müller, “Histoire des Suisses.”

[2] “History of the Helvetic Confederation,” Lausanne, 1650.

[3] See Appendix for original Pact and translation.

[4] A federal executive officer resembling the French consul.

[5] The history of Switzerland affords frequent instances of mutual succors for these purposes.

[6] After this battle Francis stamped on his medals, “_Vici ab uno Cæsare victos_” (“I vanquished those whom Cæsar alone had before vanquished”).

[7] It was only in 1857 that the anomalous condition of Neuchâtel ceased. The rights of the kings of Prussia as sovereigns date back to the cession made of it in 1707 by William of Orange to his cousin Frederick, first King of Prussia. In 1806 it was granted as a principality to Marshal Berthier, and so recognized by all the powers of Continental Europe. The Congress of Vienna restored it to the King of Prussia, making it, however, a Canton of the Helvetian Republic. In 1848 a revolution forcibly overturned the authority of the King of Prussia, and it so remained, in apparent conflict to what had been formally recognized by all the Great Powers, until 1857, when a treaty was signed between Austria, France, Prussia, Russia, Great Britain, and Switzerland, by which it was made independent, to continue to form a part of the Swiss Confederation, by the same title as the other Cantons.

[8] Rufus Choate.

[9] Book xxi., ch. 31.

[10] The dog Barry, one day, found a little child in a half-frozen state; he began directly to lick him, and having succeeded first in restoring animation, and next in the complete resuscitation of the boy, he induced the child by his caresses to tie himself on his back. When this was effected, he carried the poor child, as if in triumph, to the hospice. The body of Barry was stuffed and placed in the museum at Bern, and may be seen there, with the little vial still hanging to his neck in which he carried a reviving drink for the perishing traveller.

[11] Zwingli lost his life in 1531 in the battle of Cappel; though he fell under another banner than that of the Prince of Peace, he was acting in obedience to the law of the republic, and accompanied the army by the express command of the magistrates. He is represented as a man of great meekness and moderation and charity, and, amidst all the disputes, was a constant advocate for peace and reconciliation.

[12] A hair-dresser of Geneva was imprisoned for arranging a bride’s hair with too much attention to vanity; and a woman was beaten for singing secular words to a psalm-tune; men were imprisoned for reading what were considered profane books, and children beheaded for striking a parent.

[13] The old curator of the Bern Museum would say to the visitors, pointing to the portrait of Voltaire, “There is the portrait of the famous M. de Voltaire, who dared to write AGAINST THE REPUBLIC and against God.”

[14] Professor Fiske.

[15] These words, it may be remarked, are from the same root, _ligo_, to bind.

[16] Agreements to furnish soldiers to foreign countries.

[17] There are many provisions regulating the rights of citizens and electors, Cantonal and Communal, which are given in Chapters 6 and 9, and “Chapter on Citizenship.”

[18] It reads in the French text, “From his natural judge,” the natural or constitutional judge being the one provided by the terms of the judicial Constitution, and as contradistinguished from an exceptional Court created after the appearance of the case to be adjudged.

[19] See amendment of December, 1887.

[20] See amendment of June, 1879.

[21] Homeless persons, _Heimathlosen_. These comprise not only foreigners who have lost their nationality of origin without having obtained another, but also natives who are not members of any Swiss Commune.

[22] The Constitutional provisions relating to these are fully given in chapters severally devoted to these Departments.

[23] The Constitution is officially published in _Romansch_ and _Ladin_, in addition to the three “national languages.”

[24] That the Constitution-making and amending power should be vested in a bare majority of the voting citizens, coupled with a majority of the Cantons, is considered by some as wanting in that solidity and security which are the most vital attributes of a fundamental law. But none of the enactments contained in the Swiss Constitution can be legally abolished or modified without the employment of the _Referendum_. And no law which revises the Constitution, either wholly or in part, can come into force until it has been regularly submitted by means of the _Referendum_ to the vote of the people, and has been approved by a majority of the citizens who on the particular occasion gave their votes, and also by a majority of the Cantons. It is also provided, that under certain circumstances a vote of the people shall be taken not only on the question, whether a particular amendment or revision approved by the Federal Assembly shall or shall not come into force, but also on the preliminary question whether any revision or reform of the Constitution shall take place at all. And the _Referendum_ in all such cases, in the language of the Constitution, is “obligatory.” The self-imposed checks of the Constitution of the United States, in this respect of amendment, have been described as “obstacles in the way of the people’s whims, not of their wills.” The system of the Initiative for the Swiss constitutional revision (by 50,000 citizens), though modelled upon one of the alternative methods by which amendments to the United States Constitution may be proposed, contains one significant modification of it; the people in the former appear in their national character and independent of state lines; the same holds true of the ratification of amendments.

[25] In 1480 fifteen hundred executions took place in Switzerland.

[26] By a Federal law to carry out this amendment, the distilled liquors are sold for cash by the Confederation in _minimum_ quantity of a hundred and fifty _litres_ (0.88 quart), and the price to be fixed from time to time by the Federal Council; but it shall never be less than one hundred and twenty francs nor more than one hundred and fifty francs per _hectolitre_ (twenty-two gallons) of pure alcohol. Denaturalized spirits to be sold at cost price for technical and household use.

[27] The Swiss Constitution contains 7700 words and 127 articles (including temporary provisions); that of the United States, 5300 words, divided into 37 sections.

[28] “American Historical Association,” vol. i., p. 37. Professor Scott.

[29] It was the original purpose of the writer to include, as an appendix to this volume, a translation of the Swiss Constitution; a faithful search having failed to discover any publication of it in English. But having ascertained that during the current year two such translations had appeared, one by Professor Edmund J. James, University of Pennsylvania, the other by Professor Albert Bushnell Hart, of Harvard, copies were obtained, and found to meet, in a most satisfactory and excellent manner, every possible demand for such a work. However, every important provision, and, in fact, almost the complete text of the Constitution, appears in the copious citations from it in the chapters on the Federal Departments, Cantons, Communes, and the Army.

[30] John Adams, Works, iv., p. 186.

[31] Previous to 1874 the members received only twelve francs a day.

[32] Woodrow Wilson, “The State.”

[33] Federal legislation may confer upon the Assembly the election or confirmation of other federal officials.

[34] This power was exercised in connection with the Neuchâtel revolution of 1856, the Royalist prisoners and deserters being amnestied in 1857.

[35] In 1874 it was fixed by a federal law that the Assembly should convene on the first Monday in June for the first, and on the first Monday in December for the second portion of the regular annual session.

[36] The remuneration of these officials in 1848, when the system was inaugurated, was much smaller; the President receiving only 6000 francs a year and each of the other members 5000 francs.

[37] This election occurs during December of each year on a day agreed upon by the Assembly.

[38] Although the Assembly cannot exactly turn out the members of the federal executive during their term of office, it enjoys such extensive power of supervision and control over their acts, and, in fact, exercises so large a part of what is called executive discretion, that it can practically have very little reason for desiring to remove them.

[39] “All such laws are adopted by the people, either tacitly or through the _referendum_; and the judiciary must submit their judgment on constitutional questions to the will of the people.”--Dubs, “Das Oeffentliche Recht der Schweizerischen Eidgenossenschaft.”

[40] Marbury vs. Madison, 1 Cranch, 137. Mr. Madison disregarded the _obiter_ opinion of the court, and Mr. Jefferson treated it with contempt. “The federal judges,” he said, “declared that commissions signed and sealed by the President were valid, though not delivered. I deemed delivery essential to complete a deed, which as long as it remains in the hands of the party is as yet no deed. It is _in posse_ only but not _in esse_, and I withheld delivery of the commissions.” (Letter to Judge Roane, September 6, 1819. Works, vol. vii. p. 135.)

[41] “Political Science Quarterly,” June, 1890. C. B. Elliott.

[42] See also Professor Bryce, “American Commonwealth,” i. p. 237.

[43] Kent’s Commentaries, i. p. 453.

[44] Burke.

[45] A common standard of weights and measures was adopted in 1835, but the question of the coinage remained unsettled until 1848.

[46] It was customary, formerly, to deduct from five to ten per cent. from all property going out of the Canton by inheritance or marriage. It was also usual, when a person wished to sell land, to recognize a right in his relatives, or even neighbors, or fellow-citizens of the Canton, to take the property at an arbitrated value.

[47] Communities include school, church, and political territorial divisions, and only the latter are designated as Communes.

[48] Repealed in 1879, relegating it to the discretion of the Cantons except as to “political offences.” Since then eight of the Cantons have re-established capital punishment in their codes. They are the small Cantons, and represent only twenty per cent. of the Swiss population. No execution, however, has taken place in any of these Cantons since 1879; two sentences of death have been passed, but in both cases they were commuted to imprisonment for life.

[49] Professor Dicey, “Law of the Constitution.”

[50] These horns are made to imitate the human voice, and have a most mournful bellow.

[51] This is done to secure religious equality and to provide for the representation of the Catholic population in the Communes in which they are in the minority.

[52] _Et in corruptissima republica plurimæ leges._--Tacitus.

[53] Professor Dicey.

[54] Numa Droz.

[55] See chapter on citizenship.

[56] Thomas Jefferson.

[57] See chapters on “Constitution” and “Cantons.”

[58] This includes, also, birth abroad of children of American citizens temporarily residing or travelling in other countries (Rev. Stat. U. S., Sec. 1993).

[59] “Citizenship of the United States,” Richman,--“Political Science Quarterly,” March, 1890.

[60] “A citizen of a State is now only a citizen of the United States residing in that State; citizenship of the United States is the primary citizenship; State citizenship is secondary and derivative, depending upon citizenship of the United States.” (Slaughter-House cases, 16 Wallace.)

[61] The difficulty of obtaining citizenship, at one time, in the pastoral Cantons, is shown by the fact that no one had done so in lower Unterwald from 1664 to 1815.

[62] The successful issue of this suit was due to the vigorous and determined efforts of the United States consul at Zurich, George L. Catlin.

[63] These peasant proprietors do not live scattered amid the fields which they till, but are disposed to gather in the centre of the Commune, forming numerous small hamlets.

[64] Called in the Roman law _legitima portio_, legitimate portion; but the German law has a better designation for it,--_Pflichttheil_, duty part.

[65] In the district of Saffelare, a part of East Flanders, which nature has endowed with an unproductive but easily cultivated sandy soil, the territory is composed of 37,000 acres and has to nourish 30,000 inhabitants, all living by agriculture; and yet these peasants not only grow their own food, but they also export agricultural produce, and pay rents to the amount of from fifteen to twenty-five dollars per acre. (Krapotkin, “The Forum,” August, 1890.)

[66] In the matter of these capitulations the Cantons claimed that, first, they never granted troops to any prince or state but by virtue of some preceding alliance; second, they granted troops only for the defence of the state they were given to, and not to act offensively; third, that the sovereign never received any subsidy or other advantages from it. The Cantons contented themselves with giving such auxiliary troops as were stipulated by their alliance and procuring a beneficial service for their subjects, without reserving profit to themselves. But in spite of the contention that these mercenaries espoused only a just quarrel, such service was a source of social no less than of political ills, and seriously impaired, for the time, the dignity and standing of the country.

[67] _Primi in omnibus prœliis oculi vincuntur._--Tacitus.

[68] Even the Cantons, from the first institution of their governments and up to the time the Confederation assumed control of the military service, never kept in pay any standing troops. During the wars with the House of Austria the service was performed by militia, who were paid by the respective Cantons while kept in the field, and dismissed as soon as the campaign was ended.

[69] The minimum height for a recruit in the United States army is five feet four inches, weight one hundred and twenty-five pounds, and chest measure thirty-two inches.

[70] United States Revised Statutes, Sec. 1625, makes subject to enrolment in the militia “every able-bodied male citizen of the respective States, resident therein,” etc.

[71] “When the citizens of Geneva were alarmed in the night [the _Escalade_ of December 12, 1602], in the depth of winter, by the enemy, they found their muskets sooner than their shoes.”--Rousseau.

[72] The report of 1887 for the Canton of Bern gives 1,925,580 francs expended on the cantonal and communal schools, not including the university.

[73] In July of this year (1890) a statue of Pestalozzi was dedicated at Yverdon, on the Lake of Neuchâtel, for it was there that, after many struggles with adversity, he founded, at the beginning of this century, the school which was perhaps more deeply and lastingly useful than any school that ever existed, by spreading the educational tenets and methods of its famous master throughout Europe, and later across to America, with contagious force. The unveiling of the monument was accompanied with a _Cantate patriotique_ by a choir of a thousand children. The statue represents Pestalozzi with a boy and girl whom he is instructing by his side, and bears the simple inscription, “Henry Pestalozzi, 1746-1827. Monument erected by general subscription 1890.”

[74] The University of Geneva, at the close of the last century, known as the College of Geneva, and which exerted a wide influence in Europe, being temporarily suppressed during the revolution which had taken place, proposed, through its faculty, the transplanting of the college in a body to the United States. To Washington, who had in view the devoting of a quite large amount of money to the founding, or to the support, of institutions of learning, Jefferson wrote a letter on February 23, 1795, in which he laid before him the plan for the transferring of this institution to the national capital; and in the letter Jefferson characterized the College of Geneva as one of the eyes of Europe in matters of science, the University of Edinburgh being the other.

[75] Zurich has made its city forest, the _Sihl-Wald_, a great public pleasure-ground that pays large sums annually into the city treasury, besides yielding inestimable dividends in the shape of health and happiness to the citizens. This forest has been owned by Zurich ever since 1309, and has been carefully administered for centuries, and is now managed on the most approved scientific principles by corps of trained foresters. Last year the net profits were something over eight dollars an acre, or a total of about twenty thousand dollars, for the city treasury. Half the annual yield of wood is from thinnings alone. In the economic treatment of the forest, its value as a pleasure-ground is not forgotten; the landscape is preserved unharmed, and the place made thoroughly and pleasantly accessible.

[76] Early in the seventeenth century a king of Spain came to see a clock which had been made by Jacques Droz, who resided at Locle, and whose automatons were much noted. Upon the clock there were seated a shepherd, a negro, and a dog. As the hour was struck the shepherd played upon his flute, and the dog fondled gently at his feet. But when the king reached forth to touch an apple that hung from a tree under which the shepherd rested, the dog flew at him and barked so furiously that a live dog in the street answered him. One of the courtiers of the king ventured to ask the negro, in Spanish, what time it was. There was no reply, but when the question was repeated in French, an answer was given. All of them at once voted that the clock was the work of an evil one.

[77] It is estimated that 200 francs’ worth of steel will make 525,000 francs’ worth of common watch-springs.

[78] On the new federal palace at Bern, in progress of construction in 1890, men were employed to act as turnspits, in immense wheels, for elevating the large blocks of stone.

[79] Adams and Cunningham, “The Swiss Confederation.”

[80] The _Fête des Vignerons_, which occurs once in fifteen years at one of the villages on the Lake of Geneva, is the most brilliant festival held in Switzerland, and is accompanied with all the light, joyous mirth of the ancient Bacchanalian festivals. It is graphically described in Cooper’s “Headsman.”

[81] The word _Alp_ is a provincialism, and means an elevated pasture, and hence the name of the mountains on which the pastures exist.

[82] Liquid manure fills an important part in the economy of Swiss husbandry, under the name of _Jouche_ or _Mist-Wasser_ in the German Cantons, and of _Lisier_ in the French Cantons. They collect in large casks the drainage of their manure-piles, stables, and hog-pens, and bring it in carts to the fields, where it is drawn off into wooden tubs fitted to the shoulders of men, and sometimes of women, who, walking along the furrows, distribute it in due proportion to each plant, by stooping to the right and left, the coffee-colored nectar pouring over their heads. It would be impossible to perform an uncleanly task in a more delicate manner.

[83] The great projector did not live to see the accomplishment of his grand work.

[84] The construction of the St. Gothard railway stopped this indemnity.

[85] A report, made in connection with the Swiss National Exhibition of 1883, calculated that up to 1880, 1002 inns had been built for the special use of travellers, and that they contained 58,137 beds, an average of 58 apiece. The capital value of the land, buildings, and furniture belonging to these was estimated at 320,000,000 francs; the gross profits on which were 53,000,000 francs, or seventeen per cent.; this was reduced by deduction of working expenses to 16,000,000 francs, or five per cent. Of these 1002 inns no fewer than 283 are situated in positions above three thousand four hundred feet, and 14 are actually above six thousand five hundred and sixty-two feet in elevation.

Switzerland only became a “play-ground” within the last century. The first English guide-book appeared in 1818, by Daniel Wall, of London. The first of any kind was published in 1684, by Wagner, a Zurich naturalist, and called “_Index Memorabilium Helvetiæ_.”

[86] Ruskin.

[87] When these storms break upon the mountain, be it night or day, the bells of the village churches are vigorously rung to exorcise the evil one, and bring the pious villagers on their knees in prayer.

[88] These are made of maple, linden, and pine by the shepherds themselves, who bestow much time on their manufacture. The ladles are made in the shape of shells. The milk-strainer, the measures, and the milk-hods are all elegantly shaped and very clean.

[89] The chamois is a small species of antelope, somewhat resembling a goat. Its hoofs are remarkably cloven, with a protruding border, which enables it to climb almost perpendicular declivities. Its muscular power is great: it can leap chasms twenty feet wide, and jump down rocks the same distance to platforms with only just room enough for its four hoofs. In the autumn, when strongest and fattest, it is black, in the early spring gray, and in the summer red.

[90] It measures four and one-half feet in length and nine to ten feet from wing to wing extended, weighs as much as twenty pounds, and is of a rusty brown color. It is a fierce enemy of sheep, goats, dogs, hares, etc., and has been known to carry off young children.

[91] The Swiss infant is bandaged into a large piece of cloth,--to be kept straight, it is explained,--and resembles a pappoose. In the country churches can be seen old paintings of the Virgin holding the infant Christ swathed in just the same manner.

[92] A French writer, Picot, went so far as to say of the peasants of Valais: “The Valaisans, far from desiring to attract attention from the world, are jealous of their obscurity, of their ignorance, and even of their poverty, which they believe essential to their happiness.” Many localities have their written existence in song or story. The words of the Vaudois poet, Juste Olivier, “_Vivons de notre vie_,” have sunk into the hearts of a number of writers who, under their own public alone, are cherishing and seeking to reproduce the life about them, dwelling especially upon those local and traditional phases which they feel daily to be giving way before the march of progress.

[93] The winds, refrigerated in their passage over fields of ice and snow, meet there a warm aerial current coming from the plains of Italy.

[94] Longfellow’s “Hyperion.”

[95] Virgil.

[96] The Rhone is made to serve useful as well as æsthetic purposes; the great water-power of this river has been utilized by diverting that part passing on the left of the island into a canal, which conducts the water into a building containing twenty turbines, with four thousand four hundred net horse-power; this power is utilized in a variety of ways, from running sewing-machines to supplying power for an electric light plant; it is an enterprise very profitable to the municipality of Geneva.

[97] See Chapter on “Constitution.”

[98] In the Canton of Vaud, a short distance back from the lake is _Avanche_ or _Avanches_, the ancient capital of Helvetia; near this place the Helvetians were defeated by one of Vitellius’s lieutenants, and “many thousand were slain and many sold as slaves, and after committing great ravages the army marched in order of battle to _Aventicum_, the capital of the country.” (Tacitus.)

[99] The first steamer on a Swiss lake was the “Guillaume Tell,” in 1823, on the Lake of Geneva.

[100] Whirlwinds of snow, or _tourmentes_ (known in the Grisons), are tossed aloft by the gale, like the sandy vortices of Africa formed by the simoom; they are dangerous by blinding the traveller and effacing the track.

[101] On this passage of Helvetian history, there is a poem of exquisite beauty, by Mrs. Hemans, the “Record of Woman:”

“Werner sat beneath the linden tree,
That sent its lulling whispers through his door,
Even as man sits, whose heart alone would be
With some deep care, and thus can find no more
The accustomed joy in all which evening brings,
Gathering a household with her quiet wings.”

[102] This place is evidently a fragment, some seventy-five or one hundred acres, that has fallen from the mountain, and, lying between the lake and the rocks, it offered a good point of rendezvous.

[103] It is a curious fact that Schiller made Franz, the hero of his “Robbers,” say, “In order to become a finished rascal one must have a certain national bent; he must live in a certain climate and breathe a certain rascally atmosphere; so I advise you to go into the Grisons, for that is, in these days, the Athens of pickpockets.” Schiller was obliged to apologize, the Council of the Leagues threatening to withhold the money they had promised to lend the Duke of Wurtemberg if the offending poet was not punished; he also received an order “never to write more of the same.”

[104] In 1796 there appeared in New York an opera in three acts, adapted by William Dunlap from a dramatic performance published in London in 1794, called “Helvetic Liberty.”

[105] A rude weapon much used by the early Swiss, consisting of a club ending in a massive knob, with spikes protruding in every direction so as to suggest the name of “morning star.”

[106] Although it is alleged that five similar feats to Winkelried’s are on record in Swiss history, only one is recognized and commemorated by the Swiss. In the village square of Stantz is a marble group representing Arnold Winkelried in the act of pressing the Austrian spears into his heart and holding them down, while a second figure pushes forward to take advantage of the gap.

[107] The Æneid, vi. 660.

[108] At the art exhibition held in Bern this year (1890) there were forty plaster models of statues of William Tell competing for the one it is proposed to erect at Altdorf, 150,000 francs having been appropriated for that purpose.

[109] Lamartine.

[110] The Aar is perhaps the most interesting water system in Switzerland, especially if we include its great tributaries, the Reuss and the Limmat. Rising among the metamorphic wilds of the Finsteraarhorn, thundering through the granitic dikes of the Grimsel, breaking its way to the Handeck, and plunging in mad career over the falls, it dashes on to the clear profound of Brienz, to the softer beauties of Interlaken and Thun, and, after watering the fertile table-lands of Bern, receives the sister waters of the Reuss and Limmat, which it carries, in one dark-green flood, into the main artery of the Rhine.

[111] The market for fowls has one feature worthy of imitation everywhere. In the centre of it stands a man with a miniature guillotine, who for one centime (a fifth of a cent) will behead the fowl, and it is done deftly and free of all bloody exposures; the fowl is firmly held and muffled to prevent outcry, the decapitation instantaneous, the falling of the head and bleeding concealed, and when life is extinct and flow of blood ceases, the fowl is nicely wrapped in paper by the executioner and replaced in the market-basket; it is certainly a humane substitute for wringing off the neck.

[112] Means weather-peak, and it is an established barometer in its neighborhood.

[113] The western wing of the Bernese Alps presents broad pyramidal masses of a flattened character. The eastern wing exhibits a complete contrast in its tapering obelisks and rocky minarets, in its serrated crests and numerous horns.

[114] _Alpenglühen_, or sunset-glow, is an exception to the general laws governing the disappearance of the sunlight by the gradual rise of the earth’s shadow; it is a kind of second or after-coloring in the snowy masses, making them stand out from the dark background, though the general light is constantly diminishing. The peaks are illuminated till the sun is from 20° to 30° below the horizon; then the general clearness diminishes, but on the western horizon is a clear segment of 8° to 10°; but as the air has much less reflecting power than the snowy mountains, the latter begin to be lighted up again. This second lighting may be so great that the mountains appear to be actually illuminated by the sun.

[115] Since this was written and placed in the hands of the publishers Congress has passed and the President approved a copyright bill, aimed at securing reciprocal protection to American and foreign authors in the respective countries which may comply with its provisions. While the measure which has become a law is not entirely satisfactory to the friends of international copyright, and must be regarded as experimental as to its ultimate results or workings, all of its advocates feel that it is a huge instalment of justice, and a gratifying victory gained for the indorsement of the principle of international copyright. In answer to an inquiry addressed to Mr. A. R. Spofford, Librarian of Congress, as to the effect of the law on the relation of the United States to the Bern Convention, he has kindly made the following statement: “Under the rather uncertain (not to say ambiguous) meaning of Sec. 13 of the Act of March 3, 1891, two things seem to be necessary before a foreigner can be entitled to copyright in the United States: (1) His government must be one that already grants copyright to Americans (by law or international agreement) on the same terms as to its own people; (2) the President must certify by proclamation the fact just cited.

“Whether the new law was intended to be at once applicable to the authors of all nations who were parties to the Berne Convention of 1885-86; whether the Executive of the United States has authority now to accede to this convention, and join the International Union under the provisions of Article XVIII.; whether this would require the concurrent action of the President and Senate; or, finally, whether an act of Congress would be required (as Great Britain had to pass an act through Parliament to make that country a party to the Berne International Union), all these appear to me to be open questions, owing to lack of precision in the Act of March 3, which was passed in a crowded state of the public business, and not fully digested by a committee, especially with regard to the Berne Convention.”

[116] An international arbitration agreement has been drafted by the nations of North, South, and Central America, and a copy has been sent to each European government, extending an invitation to signify their adherence to its provisions. The President of the Swiss Confederation has submitted to the Federal Assembly this pan-American treaty, with a recommendation that Switzerland accept the invitation given by the late International American Conference.

[117] Adams and Cunningham, “Swiss Confederation.”

[118] Though without a sea-coast or a ship, Switzerland has recognized rights even on the sea as a neutral nation; the treaty of Paris of 1856 respecting neutral flags, neutral goods on vessels of belligerents, and blockades, was also entered into by the Swiss government in the same year.

[119] A hide cut into shoe strings was made to surround a principality under a bargain to buy,--_Taurino quantum possent circumdare tergo._

[120] The annexation of Alsace-Lorraine was really a violation of what is the sound basis of the principle of the sacredness of nationalities; a violation of the sacredness of self-government.

[121] This term is employed to denote the seven nations which were parties to the Treaty of Berlin,--viz., England, France, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Russia, Italy, and Turkey.

Transcriber’s Notes

Obvious typographical errors have been silently corrected. Variations in hyphenation and accents have been standardised but all other spelling and punctuation remains unchanged.

Italics are represented thus _italic_.