23 chapters
12 hour read
Selected Chapters
23 chapters
PREFACE.
PREFACE.
This book is based upon notes of studies and observations during four years of diplomatic service in Switzerland, made, at the time, with eventual publication in view. There is no attempt to treat the subjects embraced, or rather touched upon, in any historical sequence, but, by brief hints and random suggestions, to seize the principal and interesting features of the country and its institutions, the people and their characteristics. The comparative method correlated with cause or effect is use
2 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION.
CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION.
The first inhabitants of Switzerland, according to tradition, were fugitives from Italy, who had been driven by the Gauls from the country where now flourish the cities of Genoa and Florence, and who, 600 B.C. , found an asylum in the recesses and wilderness of the valleys above which the Rhine has its source. They were known as the Rhetians, from the name of their hero Rhetus; hence the country about the source of the Rhine, embracing the Grisons, is even now called by some, Rhetia. The Canton
35 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER II. THE CONSTITUTION.
CHAPTER II. THE CONSTITUTION.
“On the main-land only two little spots at the two extremities of the old Teutonic world came out of the mediæval crucible with their self-government substantially intact. At the mouth of the Rhine, the little Dutch communities were prepared to lead the attack in the terrible battle for freedom with which the drama of modern history was ushered in. In the impregnable mountain fastnesses of upper Germany, the Swiss Cantons had bid defiance alike to Austrian tyrant and to Burgundian invader, and h
49 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER III. THE FEDERAL ASSEMBLY.
CHAPTER III. THE FEDERAL ASSEMBLY.
Bundesversammlung; Assemblée fédérale. “A legislative, and an executive, and a judicial power comprehend the whole of what is meant by government.” 30 We find in Switzerland this general division of powers, with many interesting and instructive peculiarities, which give the Swiss federalism an individual character. The need for two chambers in a federal state has become an axiom of political science. Where there is a twofold sovereignty, that of the whole nation, and that of the states or Canton
30 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER IV. THE FEDERAL COUNCIL.
CHAPTER IV. THE FEDERAL COUNCIL.
Bundesrath; Conseil fédéral. The three main forms of executive embrace the hereditary and irresponsible king, with or without a responsible ministry; the single responsible president; and the executive council. The most typical examples of these are: the constitutional monarchy of England; the Presidency of the United States; and the Federal Council of Switzerland. Or, there may be said to exist four chief ways in which parliamentary government is worked. First , that of England, where the execu
26 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER V. THE FEDERAL TRIBUNAL.
CHAPTER V. THE FEDERAL TRIBUNAL.
Bundesgericht; Tribunal fédéral. The Swiss Federal Tribunal, in its present form, dating from 1874, was originally set up in 1848. It is, however, the product of an historical development extending over nearly six hundred years, and the history of this period only will explain the exact meaning of the carefully-balanced and guarded phrases which describe its jurisdiction. Previous to 1848 there existed two methods for peaceably settling disputes among members of the Confederation,— friendly remo
28 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER VI. THE CANTONS.
CHAPTER VI. THE CANTONS.
Prior to the year 1798, the condition of a Swiss Canton was that of a great feudal lord, with an aggregate of many separate seigniorial properties; acquired partly by conquest, partly by purchase. In the town Cantons, such as Bern, Basel, and Zurich, the town was the lord, and the country districts were attached to each as dependent properties. In the rural Cantons, such as Uri and Schwyz, it was an aggregate of democratic communities, which exercised lordship over other dependent communities in
36 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER VII. THE LANDSGEMEINDE.
CHAPTER VII. THE LANDSGEMEINDE.
In the republics of the ancient world, where representative assemblies were unknown, legislative power vested with the citizens, the sovereign power being exercised by the whole people, acting directly in their own persons. They met in what we should now call primary assemblies. This early democracy found its most logical expression in the Comitia of Rome and the Ecclesia of Syracuse. The Ecclesia embraced all citizens over twenty-one years of age, unless they had become liable to any loss of ci
24 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER VIII. THE REFERENDUM.
CHAPTER VIII. THE REFERENDUM.
The student of politics may always look with advantage to Switzerland for the latest forms and results of democratic experiments. Federal laws, decrees, and resolutions require the concurrence of both branches of the Federal Assembly; but the process does not always end at that point. Such concurrence is not adequate in all cases for them to come into force. Article 89 of the constitution declares that “federal laws are submitted to the people for adoption or rejection on the demand of 30,000 ac
15 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER IX. THE COMMUNES.
CHAPTER IX. THE COMMUNES.
The lowest unit in the political system is that which still exists under various names, as the Mark, the Gemeinde, the Commune, or the Parish, the analogue of the precinct or township in the United States. The communal system of Switzerland is peculiar in many respects, and presents one of the most instructive lessons which modern political life furnishes of the working of village communities. The Swiss Commune, speaking comprehensively, is a political and civil division, standing midway between
25 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER X. CITIZENSHIP.
CHAPTER X. CITIZENSHIP.
In the old days of the Swiss Confederation, the days of the Staatenbund , when no part of the internal sovereignty had been given over to any central power, the citizen of any Canton was regarded and treated as a foreigner in any other Canton; he was as strictly a metoikos as a Corinthian who had settled at Athens, having no voice in the government either of the Canton or Commune into which he removed. All Swiss citizens who settled in Gemeinden , or Communes, of which they had not the hereditar
26 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XI. LAND LAW AND TESTAMENTARY POWER.
CHAPTER XI. LAND LAW AND TESTAMENTARY POWER.
There can be no better security for the stability of the institutions of a country than by enlisting a large number of the people in their support, by giving them a stake in the prosperity of the soil. It is the highest public interest that landed property should easily get into those hands by which it can be turned to the best account; that the title to property in land should be sure and incontestable; and that there should be no legal obstacle to the subdivision of land, when the natural econ
26 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XII. MILITARY SERVICE AND ORGANIZATION.
CHAPTER XII. MILITARY SERVICE AND ORGANIZATION.
Attached alike to liberty and to arms, the Swiss are no less famous for their undaunted intrepidity than their simple and pure democracy. From early times the hardy mountaineers of the Alps were eminently and splendidly martial. History is full of their steadiness and bravery on the field of battle. When Rome was in its highest military glory, its armies under the Consul Lucius Cassius were routed by the Helvetians on the shores of Lake Leman, 111 B.C. The two armies are supposed to have met abo
39 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XIII. EDUCATION.
CHAPTER XIII. EDUCATION.
No inquiry can be more important than that which proposes to discover the legitimate purpose and the best course of general education. All men, how much soever they may be distinguished from each other by a variety of circumstances, connections, and pursuits, have yet one common set of duties to perform; and it is in forming this character, and imparting the ability to discharge these duties, that the business of what may be called, in the most general sense, a good education, properly consists.
35 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XIV. TECHNICAL AND INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS.
CHAPTER XIV. TECHNICAL AND INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS.
A French writer has compared a well-arranged plan of public instruction “to a railway system, with its main line, stations, junctions, and branch lines. Just as passengers on a railway get out at the different stations, so the children who, from pecuniary necessity or social position, are compelled to earn their livelihood leave school at any point of this course; all, according to the amount of knowledge they have acquired, are able to take their place in the social stratification.” As it is th
34 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XV. INDUSTRY AND COMMERCE.
CHAPTER XV. INDUSTRY AND COMMERCE.
It is a popular mistake that Switzerland, industrially, occupies a stagnant condition in the scale of nations, and exists for picturesqueness alone. It is equally a mistake to think that its main staples are wood-carving and hotel-keeping. The circumstances which so long prohibited any advance in commerce and agriculture are to be found in the peculiarities of the physical character of the country and the absence of capital. Switzerland had no sources of mineral nor, under the conditions of form
36 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XVI. PEASANT HOME AND LIFE.
CHAPTER XVI. PEASANT HOME AND LIFE.
The industry, thrift, helpfulness, and simple contentment of the Swiss peasants, next to the natural scenery, attract our attention. One must respect their laborious industry, frugality, and perseverance, and regret that so much toil, with such close and unfailing economy, should have such meagre results. Dwelling among the crags and clouds, their flats mostly water and their slopes mostly ice, they get out of their little holdings every farthing that they will yield, and squander nothing. There
43 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XVII. NATURAL BEAUTIES AND ATTRACTIONS.
CHAPTER XVII. NATURAL BEAUTIES AND ATTRACTIONS.
No spot in Europe can compare with Switzerland in loveliness and rural charms; in variety, boldness, and sublimity of scenery; in tonic, steel-strong air, a fine intoxicant of mental and physical joy and power. It is a land of valleys, exquisite in their loveliness, enriched by numberless streams, lakes, mountains, peak, and pass: Nowhere else, in one quarter of the globe, has nature laid her hand on the face of the earth with the same majesty; no other division of it presents the same contrasts
44 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XVIII. WILLIAM TELL.
CHAPTER XVIII. WILLIAM TELL.
Trite and worn out as the subject may appear, it is impossible by any amount of familiarity to divest the historical legend of William Tell of its undying charm; and he who has visited the scene, so far from his interest in it being exhausted, has only been made more enthusiastic in its favor. It is a perfectly simple and natural story, when read in the light of the times, the circumstances that led up to it, and the impulses which sustained it throughout. Nearly in the centre of Switzerland, ar
32 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XIX. BERN.
CHAPTER XIX. BERN.
From the end of the thirteenth century Bern was the great, influential, and growing town of Switzerland; rich, enterprising, and self-asserting. For the sake of securing their friendship, it made citizens of many of the nobility who lived far from the city walls, and established guilds with many valuable privileges. Some of these guilds still exist, and a membership is quite an expensive privilege, costing from 8000 to 10,000 francs; besides the applicant must possess property to the value of 15
28 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XX. SWITZERLAND THE SEAT OF INTERNATIONAL UNIONS.
CHAPTER XX. SWITZERLAND THE SEAT OF INTERNATIONAL UNIONS.
It is not a little surprising—when we consider the great and rapid advance that has been made during the last century in diplomacy, jurisprudence, statesmanship, and political economy, and, indeed, in the multifarious branches of knowledge,—that international relations, upon which depend to such an extent the most precious interests of the nations and of all mankind, should remain so long in a condition very crude, indefinite, and incomplete. The “mills of God grind slowly,” but the mills of hum
27 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXI. SWITZERLAND AND THE EUROPEAN SITUATION.
CHAPTER XXI. SWITZERLAND AND THE EUROPEAN SITUATION.
Switzerland has no small influence on the affairs of Europe, as well by its situation as by its warlike genius. There is much of history, but still more political anomaly, written in the very conglomerate map of Switzerland. It is a land of unfulfilled destiny. The eye traces its great water-courses into the most important countries of civilized Europe, and recognizes the lines down which potent influences, social and political, are to descend. Its political boundaries do not coincide with those
28 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
APPENDIX.
APPENDIX.
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 vall
7 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter