Switzerland

SWITZERLAND, a republican country of central Europe, comprising the Swiss Confederation, and bounded N. by the German Empire, E. by Austria (except where the principality of Liechtenstein intervenes), S. by Italy, and W. by France.

Physical Description

Switzerland extends between the parallels 45° 49' 2" and 47° 48' 32" lat. (Greenwich) and the meridians 5° 57' 26" and 10 29' 40" long. (Greenwich). It forms an irregular quadrilateral, of which the greatest length from east to west is 226.2 km., and the greatest breadth from north to south is nearly 137 km. (136.8). It has, however, no proper physical unity, as it consists of a number of small districts, differing from each other widely in language, religion, ethnology, customs, &c., but bound together in a political alliance, made originally for common defence against a common foe. It is therefore an artificial land, just as its inhabitants form an artificial nation, though nowadays it is becoming more homogeneous in both respects. Its political boundaries thus do not coincide with those of nature. The entire canton of Ticino is south of the Alps, as are the valleys of Simplon (Valais), Mesocco, Bregaglia, Poschiavo and Munster (all in the Grisons); the whole canton 3. The Swiss portion of the main chain of the Alps and this great northern outlier run parallel to each other from the Mont Dolent to near Coire, while for a short distance they actually unite near the Pizzo Rotondo (west of the St Gotthard Pass), parting again near the Oberalp Pass (east of the St Gotthard). Between these two great snowclad ranges flow two of the mightiest European rivers, the Rhone towards the west and the Rhine towards the east, their headwaters being only separated by the tangled mountain mass between the Pizzo Rotondo and the Oberalp Pass, which sends the Reuss towards the north and the Ticino towards the south.

4. To the north of this great northern outlier rises the Jura range (q.v.), really a huge spur of the Alps (with which it is connected by the Jorat range), while between the northern outlier and the Jura extends what may be called the plains or " plateau " of Switzerland, consisting all but wholly of the undulating valley of the Aar (below Thun) with its numerous affluents. To that river valley we must add the valley of the Thur (a direct affluent of the Rhine), that lies between the Aar basin and the Rhine basin (the Lake of Constance).

We may thus roughly describe Switzerland (as it exists at the present time) as consisting of three great river valleys (Rhone, Rhine and Aar) with the smaller one of the Thur, which Miilh usen 'Base? .?a ' Names of the 13 Cantons underlined a; {i?.. ??j?,jl?cbti, l 1 II i..W??:e? ° .?: ' ?

.".'.St:Gallo. :. .o.'.' ?? n PPE, 117 "q??w ?, l ?ps??l111?..'..`Is ? mS?? UGI!??? ::. 'y;e ?'W?,?, G,lalrus The 3 original Cantons(Die (lrhantone)12.91-1332 WA The 8 ancient Cantons1353-1481' 'MOM The 13 Cantons1513-1798 (5 added between 1332 and 1353) (5 added between 1481 and 1513) Subject Districts Hiss E i Dates of Confederation,Alliance or Conquest,are shown thus:-1512 Subject States incorporated with Cantons are indicated by the word To with the date of incorporation:- To Bern 1536 Allied and Protected Districts of Schaffhausen and part of that of Basel are north of the Rhine, while a large part of the Grisons lies to the east of the Rhine basin, and Porrentruy is far down on the western slope of the Jura. But it is to be noted that all these exceptional cases were outside the limits of the Swiss Confederation up to 1798. Putting them aside, the physical geography of Switzerland may thus be described: I. On the south runs the main chain of the Alps (q.v.), which is joined, at the Mont Dolent (12,543 ft.) in the chain of Mont Blanc, by the lower ranges that rise south of the Lake of Geneva, and which continues partly Swiss till close to the Stelvio Pass on the east.

2. To the north of this main chain there is another great range of mountains (wholly Swiss) only slightly inferior in extent and height, which starts from the hills known as the Jorat range above Lausanne, and culminates in the great snowy summits of the Bernese Oberland and of the Tbdi group, before trending to the north near Coire, and, after rising once more in the Santis group, dies away on the southern shore of the Lake of Constance.

all lie to the north of the main chain of the Alps and include the region between the Alps and the Jura. If we examine matters more carefull y we note that the Rhone and Rhine valleys are shut off from that of the Aar (and, of course, of the Thur) by the great northern outlier of the Alps, which consists of the Bernese Oberland and Todi Alps. Two wide and undulating valleys (Aar and Thur) and two deeply cut trenches (Rhone and Rhine) thus lie on the northern slope of the Alps, to the north and south respectively of the great northern outlier of the Alps. The main chain cf the Alps rises in Swiss territory to the height of 15,217 ft. in the loftiest summit or Dufourspitze (wholly Swiss) of Monte Rosa, though the Dom (14,942 ft.), in the Mischabel range, between Zermatt and Saas, is the highest mountain mass which is entirely Swiss. The great northern outlier attains a height of 14,026 ft. in the Finsteraarhorn (Bernese Oberland), while the lowest level (581 ft.) within the Confederation is on the Lago Maggiore. The highest permanently inhabited village in Switzerland is Juf (69 9 8 ft.), at the head of the Avers valley (a tributary of the Hinter Rhine, Grisons), while the lowest is Ascona (666 ft.), on the Lago Maggiore and just south-west of Locarno.

According to the most recent calculations, the total area of Switzerland is 15,951 sq. m. (some 2500 sq. m. less than that of Servia). Of this 11,927.5 sq. m. (or 74.8%) are reckoned as " productive," forests occupying 3,390.9 sq. m. and vineyards 108.7 sq. m., the remainder, or 8427.7 sq. m., consisting of arable and pasture land. Of the " unproductive " area of 4023.5 sq. m (or 25.2%) much consists of lakes and rivers, while glaciers cover 709.7 sq. m. Approximately the Alps occupy one-sixtieth of this area, the Jura about one-tenth, and the " plateau " the rest. Of the entire area the great cantons of the Grisons, Bern and the Valais take up 7411.8 sq. m., or nearly onehalf, while if to them be added Vaud, Ticino and St Gall the extent of these six (out of twenty-two) cantons is 10,527.6 sq. m., or almost two-thirds of the area of the Confederation. Not included in the total area of Switzerland are three small " enclaves " (4 sq. m. in all), Busingen and Verenahof (both in Schaffhausen) belonging to Baden, while Campione (opposite Lugano) is Italian. Switzerland borders on many countriesFrance west and south-west, Italy south, Austria east (Tirol and Vorarlberg), and Germany north (Bavaria, Wurttemberg, Baden and Alsace). Switzerland sends its waters to four great river basins (which drain to three different seas) in the following proportions: Rhine basin, 11,159 sq. m.; Rhone basin, 2768 sq. m.; Po basin, 1361 sq. m.; and Inn basin, 663 sq. m.

The thirteen cantons which till 1798 formed the Confederation are all comprised in the Rhine basin, the ten oldest (i.e. all before 1500) being within that of the Aar, and it was only after 1798 that certain Romonsch-, Frenchand Italian-speaking " allies " and subject lands-with their river basins-were tacked on to them.

Most of the great Swiss rivers, being in their origin mere mountain torrents, tend to overflow their banks, and hence much is required and has been done to prevent this by embanking them, and regaining arable land from them. So the Rhine (between Ragatz and the Lake of Constance), the Rhone, the Aar, the Reuss; and in particular we may mention the great work on the Linth (1807-1816) carried out by Hans Konrad Escher, who earned by his success the surname of " Von der Linth," and on the Zihl near the lakes of Neuchatel and Bienne, while the diversion of the Kander from its junction with the Aar at Thierachern to a channel by which it flows into the Lake of Thun was effected as early as 1714.

There are very many lakes, large and small, in Switzerland. The two most extensive, those of Geneva and of Constance, balance each other, as it were, at the south-west and north-east corners of the land. But neither of these is wholly Swiss, this distinction being claimed by the next in size, that of Neuchatel (92.4 sq. m.), the Lago Maggiore (partly Swiss only) coming next in the list, and being followed by the wholly Swiss lakes of Lucerne and of Zurich. Then come Lugano, Thun, Bienne, Zug, Brienz, Morat, the Walensee, and Sempach (52 sq. m.). These fourteen only are over 4 sq. m. in extent. Eleven of them are in the Rhine basin (also in that of the Aar), two (Maggiore and Lugano) in that of the Po, and one (Geneva) in that of the Rhone. There are no large lakes in the Swiss portion of the Inn basin, the most extensive being that of Sils (12 sq. m.). Of the smaller lakes those best known to travellers are the Daubensee (near the summit of the Gemmi), the Oeschinensee (at the foot of the Blumlis Alp range) and the Marjelensee, formed by the damming up of the waters of the Great Aletsch glacier by a huge lateral moraine. Alpine tarns are innumerable.

Of the countless waterfalls in Switzerland those of the Rhine (near Schaffhausen) have volume but not height, while the reverse is the case in varying degrees with those of the Aar at the Handegg, of the Reichenbach, of Pissevache, and particularly of the Staubbach, a mere thread of water falling clear of a cliff of great height.

There are said to be 1077 glaciers in Switzerland, but it is really impossible to estimate the number accurately, as practically all are now in retreat, and it is not easy to say whether an isolated fragment of ice is or is not entitled to rank as an independent glacier. From them flow all the more important Swiss rivers and streams. Yet their distribution is very unequal, for eleven cantons (just one-half of the Confederation) have none. The Valais heads the list with 375 sq. m., then come the Grisons (138.6), Bern (iii 3), Uri (44.3), Glarus (13.9) and Ticino (13.1). The five others (Unterwalden, Vaud, St Gall, Schwyz and Appenzell) boast of 13.3 all together. The three longest glaciers in the Alps are all in the great northern outlier (not in the main chain)-the Great Aletsch (162 m.), the Fiescher and the Unteraar (each io m.). In the main chain the Gorner (94 m.) is the longest. Of glaciers covering an area of over 6 sq. m. no fewer than 17 are in Switzerland, as against two each in the French portion of the chain of Mont Blanc and in the Eastern Alps.

Forests cover 21.2% (339 0.99 sq. m.) of the total area of Switzerland. Of the six most extensive cantons five. are also at the head in the matter of forests: Bern (591 sq. m.), the Grisons (503), Vaud (320), the Valais (297.4) and Ticino (267.2). St Gall (157) ranks in this respect after Zurich (180.8) and Aargau (172), while the only other cantons with over ioo sq. m. are Lucerne (120.4), Fribourg (119) and Soleure (iii. 3), the lowest place being taken by Geneva (9.9). By far the greater part (67%) of the forest area belongs to the communes or private corporations, while 28.5% is in the hands of private individuals (much of this having become private property in the time of Napoleon I.), but only 4.5% is in the hands of the state, in consequence of the suppression of many monasteries. The communes own 94.3% of the forest area in the Valais, private individuals 78.8% in Lucerne, and the state 16% in Schaffhausen. Schaffhausen and the Jura cantons are the most wooded in proportion to their area, while at the other end of the scale are the towns of Geneva and Basel, and the barren canton of Uri. The great floods of 1834, 1852 and 1868 drew attention to the negligent administration of the forests, considered specially as a protection against damage due to the forces of nature. A forestry department was created in the polytechnic school in Zurich when it was opened in 1855. The Federal Constitution of 1874 (art. 24) handed over to the Confederation the oversight of the forests " in the high mountains," this being interpreted to mean the Alps with their spurs, but not to include the Jura, and a law of 1876 was enacted to carry out this task. In 1897 the limitation mentioned above was struck out, so that the Confederation now has oversight of all forests within its territory, a law of 1902 regulating in detail the whole subject. Since 1876 much has been done, either directly by the Confederation or indirectly by subsidizing the efforts of the cantons, to reafforest districts where the trees had been recklessly cut down, and to ensure the proper administration of forests generally.

Geology.-The greater part of Switzerland is occupied by the belts of folded rock which constitute the Alps and the Jura (q.v.). The central plain, however, is covered by nearly undisturbed deposits of Oligocene and Miocene age, concealed in many places by glacial, alluvial and other accumulations of later date. Both the Oligocene and the Miocene beds are, for the most part, of freshwater or brackish-water origin, but the middle of the Miocene series is formed of marine deposits. During this period an arm of the Mediterranean spread up the valley of the Rhone. It reached its maximum extension during the middle portion of the Miocene period, when it appears to have stretched continuously along the outer border of the Alps from the present Golfe du Lion into Austria; but at an earlier and a later date it was represented in Switzerland only by a series of brackish-water lagoons or fresh-water lakes.

Climate.-In Switzerland, where the height above sea-level ranges from 581 ft. (Lago Maggiore) to 15,217 ft. (Monte Rosa), we naturally find very many climates, from the regions of olives, vines, oaks and beeches, pines and firs, to those of the high mountain pastures, rhododendrons, and of eternal snow. It has been reckoned that, while in Italian Switzerland winter lasts only three months, at Glarus (1578 ft.) it lasts four, in the Engadine (5945 to 3406 ft.) six, on the St Gotthard (6936 ft.) eight, on the Great St Bernard (81 i I ft.) nine, and on the St Theodule Pass (10,899 ft.) practically always. The highest mean annual temperature (J3° F.) in Switzerland is naturally that at Lugano (909 ft.), while at Bevers (5610 ft., Upper Engadine) the lowest mean temperature in winter is -14° F., but the highest in summer is 77° F., an immense difference. At Montreux the annual mean is 50°, at Sion, Basel, Geneva and Coire about 49°, at Zurich 48°, at Bern and Lucerne 47.5 at St Gall 45°, at Davos 37.5°, at Sils-Maria 34.5 and on the Great St Bernard 29°. Of course many factors, such as the shape of the ground, the sheltered position of the place, the degree of exposure to sunshine, counterbalance the mere height at which the town is situated.

The snow-clad Alps of course have the heaviest rainor snow-fall in Switzerland, this being estimated at 89.7 in. per annum. The greatest actually recorded rainfall (87.3 in.) was on the San Bernardino Pass (6769 ft.), while the lowest (21.7 in.) was at Sierre (1767 ft., Valais). At Lugano the average annual rainfall is 65.4 in., on the Great St Bernard 48.7 in., at Lucerne 45.6 in., at Montreux 42.6 in., at Sils-Maria 37 in., at Bern and Davos 36.6 in., and at Basel, Coire and Geneva about 32.7 in. It has been shown by careful observations that the rainor snow-fall is greatest as we approach the Alps, whether from the north or the south, the flanks of the great ranges and the valleys opening out towards the plains receiving much more rain than the high Alpine valleys enclosed on all sides by lofty ridges. Thunderstorms generally vary in frequency with the amount of rainfall, being most common near the great ranges, and often very local. The floods caused by excessive rainfall are sometimes very destructive, as in 1834, 1852 and 1868, while the same cause leads to landslips, of which the most remarkable have been those of the Rossberg above Goldau (1806), at Evionnaz (1835) and at Elm (1881). The Fohn is the most remarkable local wind.

For all these reasons Switzerland has many varieties of climate; and, while, owing to the distribution of the rainfall, the Ticino and Aar valleys are very fertile, the two great trenches between the main chain and its north outlier, though warm, are less productive, as the water comes from the rivers and not from the skies.

People

The first estimate of the population of Switzerland with any pretence to accuracy was that of 1817, which put the number at 1,687,900. The first regular census took place in 1836 to 1838, but was therefore not synchronous, while it was also not very systematic - the number was put at 2,190,258. That of 1850 was better organized, while in 1860 the census was declared decennial, a slight alteration being made as to that of 1888 for practical reasons. The following was the number of the population usually resident (the number of those actually present was also taken, but all detailed subdivisions refer only to the residents): in 1850, 2,392,740; in 1860, 2,510,494; in 1870, 2,655,001; in 1880, 2,831,787; in 1888, 2,917,754; and in 1900, 3,315,443. The density per square mile was as follows: 150 in 1850; 157 in 1860; 159 in 1870; 177 in 1880; 182 in 1888; and 207 in 1900. The increase in the whole of the country from 1850 to 1900 was 39%. Thirteen cantons showed an increase lower than this average, the lowest of all being Aargau, Glarus and Lucerne; while in Bern the increase of the towns did not counterbalance the diminution in the country districts. The nine cantons which increased above the average rate did so either owing to special circumstances (e.g. the construction of the Simplon railway in the Valais), or because their industries were very flourishing (e.g. St Gall), or because they contain great towns (e.g. Zurich). The highest rates of increase were shown by Geneva (107% increase) and the half canton of Urban Basel (278% increase). As to the actual distribution of the population, the Alpine regions are the sparsest generally (with the exception of the Outer Rhodes of Appenzell), the Jura region has a much higher ratio, while the densest region of all is the Swiss plateau. The strong attraction of the towns is shown by the facts that between 1850 and 1900 the population of the nineteen largest nearly tripled, while, in 1900, of the 187 " political districts " in Switzerland 41 showed a decrease, and they were all exclusively rural.

The shifting of the population within the country is also proved when we note that in 1900 but 38.5% of the Swiss citizens inhabited their commune of birth, though the proportion was 64% in 1850. If we consider the different cantons, we find that in 1900 31.5% (in 1850 but 26.4%) lived in another commune within their canton of birth, while 18.4% (as against 6.6% in 1850) dwelt in a canton other than their canton of birth. To sum up, in 1850, out of the 25 cantons and half cantons, no fewer than 21 had a majority of citizens living in their commune of birth, while in 1900 the number was but 11, and those all rural cantons. Of the 3164 communes (or civil parishes) in Switzerland, only 21 in 1900 had a population exceeding 10,000, while 20 had under 50 inhabitants. If we look at the height of the communes above the sea-level, we find that there were but 3 (with a population of 463 souls) above 1900 metres (2 953 ft.), while 68 (with a total population of 188 ,394) were below 300 metres (984 ft.). The number of inhabited houses rose from 347,3 2 7 in 1860 (the number was not taken in 1850) to 434,084 in 1900, while that of separate households mounted from 485,087 in 1850 (528,105 in 1860) to 728,920 in 1900.

The non-Swiss element of the population increased from 3% in 1850 to 11.6% in 1900, and its number from 71,570 in 1850 to 3 8 3,4 2 4 in 1900. The Germans are the most numerous, next in order come Italians, French and Austrians. In 1900 there were 3535 British subjects resident in Switzerland, and 1 559 citizens of the United States. Of course most of the non-Swiss are found in the towns, or in rural districts where any great railway line is being constructed.

The emigration of Swiss beyond seas was but 1691 in 1877, though it rose in 1883 to 13,502 (the maximum as yet attained). Then the number fell pretty steadily till 18 99 (2493), then rose again, and in 1906 was 5296. About 89% go to the United States, and about 6% to the Argentine Republic (mainly from the French-speaking cantons). Bern, Zurich, Ticino, the town of Basel and St Gall are the chief cantons which furnish emigrants.

In the matter of religion, the Protestants formed 59. 3% in 1850 and 57.8% in 1900, and the Roman Catholics (including the " Christian " or " Old " Catholics, who arose in 1874) 40.6% and 41.6% respectively, while the Jews increased from 1% in 1850 to 4% in 1900 - the remainder (other religions or none) being 2% in 1860 (not reckoned separately in 1850) and in 1900. Ten and a half cantons have a majority of Protestants, while in the rest the " Catholics " have the upper hand. The same proportion prevailed in 1850, save that then Geneva had a Protestant majority, whereas in 1870 already the balance had shifted, owing to the number of immigrants from France and Italy.

As to languages habitually spoken, Switzerland presents a very variegated picture. By the Federal Constitutions of 1848 (art. 109) and 1874 (art. 116), German, French and Italian are recognized as " national languages," so that debates in the Federal parliament may be carried on in any of the three, while Federal laws, decrees, &c., appear also in the three. The old historical dialects of Romonsch and Ladin (nearly confined to the canton of the Grisons, q.v.) enjoy no political recognition by the Confederation, are largely maintained by artificial means in the shape of societies founded for their preservation, and are not even in the majority (which is German) in the Grisons. Of the other 21 cantons, all have a German-speaking majority save 6 - French prevails in Fribourg, Vaud, the Valais, Neuchatel and Geneva, and Italian in Ticino. Since the census of 1880, when detailed inquiries as to language were made for the first time, there has been a certain amount of shifting, as is shown by the following figures. German was spoken by 71.3 of the population in 1880, by 71.4 in 1888 and by 69.8 in 1900; the figures for French are respectively 21.4, 21.8 and 22, and for Italian 5.7, 5.3 and 6.7, while Romonsch fell from 1.4 to 1.3 and 1.2%. " Other languages " were 2, 2 and 3%. Thus in 1900 there were nearly 70% of Germanspeaking persons, as against nearly 30% who spoke one or other of the Romance tongues. The most interesting cases are the cantons of Fribourg (q.v.) and the Valais (q.v.), in which French is advancing at the expense of German.

Chief Political Divisions and Towns

When considering Switzerland it must never be forgotten that, strictly speaking, the only political " divisions " are the 187 " districts " into which the cantons are divided (Bern has 30, Vaud 19 and St Gall 15, no others having over 15). These are administrative districts, created for political purposes. The cantons themselves are not " divisions " but sovereign states, which have formed an alliance for certain purposes, while they are built up out of the 3164 " communes," which are really the political units. Of the 22 cantons,' 3 are subdivided - Unterwalden (from before 1291) into Obwalden and Nidwalden, and Appenzell (since 1 597) into the Outer Rhodes and the Inner Rhodes, while Basel (since 1833) forms urban Basel (the city) and rural Basel (the country districts). The Swiss political capital is Bern (by virtue of a Federal law of 1848), while the Federal Supreme Tribunal is (since its foundation in 1874) at Lausanne, and the Federal Polytechnic School (since it was opened in 1855) at Zurich.

In 1900 there were 19 towns in Switzerland which had a population exceeding 10,000 souls, all having increased very much within the 50 previous years. The following are the six largest, the figures for 1850 being enclosed within brackets: Zurich, 150,703 (35,483); Basel, 109,161 (27,844); Geneva, 104,796 (42,127), Bern, 64,227 (27,558); Lausanne, 46,732 (17,108), and La Chaux de Fonds, 35,968 (13,659). Thus Geneva was first in 1850, but only third in 1900. Thirteen of these nineteen towns are cantonal capitals, though La Chaux de Fonds, Winterthur, Bienne, Tablat (practically a suburb of St Gall), Le Lode and Vevey are not, while no fewer than twelve cantonal capitals (Sion, Bellinzona, Aarau, Altdorf, Schwyz, Frauenfeld, Glarus, Liestal, Sarnen, Stans, Appenzell and Zug) are below this limit. It is reckoned that while the 19 Swiss towns having over 10,000 inhabitants had in 1850 a population of 255,722, that number had swollen in 1900 to 742,205.

Communications

The carriage roads of Switzerland were much improved and increased in number after a strong Federal government was set up in 1848, for it largely subsidized cantonal undertakings. In the course of the 19th century many splendid roads were carried over the Alpine passes, whether within or leading from Swiss territory; in the latter case with financial aid from Italy (or till 1859 Austria, as the mistress of the Milanese). The earliest in date was that over the Simplon (1800-1807), while others were opened respectively over the Furka (7992 ft.) in 1867, to the top of the Great St Bernard (8111 ft.) in 1893, over the Grimsel (7100 ft.) in 1895, and over the Klausen Pass (6404 ft.) in 1900. The highest carriage road entirely within Switzerland is that over the Umbrail Pass (8242 ft.), opened in 1901, and leading from the Swiss upper Munster valley to close to the Stelvio.

The first Swiss lake over which a steamer plied regularly was that of Geneva (1823), followed by Constance (1824), Lago Maggiore (1826), Neuchatel (1827), Thun (1835), Lucerne (1835) and ' The cantons are - Aargau, Appenzell, Basel, Bern, Fribourg, Geneva, Glarus, Grisons, Lucerne, Neuchatel, St Gall, Schaffhausen, Schwyz, Soleure, Thurgau, Ticino, Unterwalden, Uri, Valais, Vaud, Zug, Zurich (see separate articles).

Brienz (1839). The first railway opened within Switzerland was that (14 m. long) from Zurich to Baden in Aargau (1847), though the S wiss bit of that from Basel to Strassburg had been opened in 1844. From 1852 to 1872 the cantons granted concessions for the building of railways to private companies, but from 1872 onwards the conditions were other and the lines were constructed under. Federal supervision. In the 'fifties and 'sixties many lines were built, but not always according to sound financial principles, so that in 1878 the great " National Railway " became bankrupt. Hence the idea of the state purchase of the chief lines made considerable progress, so that in 1898 such a scheme was accepted by the Swiss people. Accordingly in 1901 most of the great lines became Federal railways, and the Jura-Simplon in 1903, while the Gotthard line became Federal in 1909. This state ownership only applies to the main lines, not to the secondary lines or to the mountain cog-wheel railways (of which the first was that from Vitznau up the Rigi, 1871) now so widespread throughout the country. The highest point as yet attained in Switzerland by a mountain railway is the Eismeer station (10,371 ft.) of the line towards the Jungfrau. Many tunnels have been pierced through the Swiss Alps, such as the St Gotthard (1882), the Albula (1903) and the Simplon (1906). The highest line carried over a Swiss pass is that over the Little Scheidegg (6772 ft.).

Indicstries. a. Of the Land. If we look at the annual turnover there is no doubt that the principal Swiss industry is that of the entertainment of foreign visitors, for its gross receipts are larger than those of any other branch. It appears from the official statistics that in 1905 its gross receipts amounted to rather over £7,500,000 (as against about £4,500,000 in 1894, and rather over £2,000,000 in 1880), the net profit being nearly £1,500,000 (as against £656,000 and nearly £300,000 respectively), while in 1905 the capital invested in this industry was rather over £31,000,000 (as against £20,750,000 and £12,750,000 respectively). In 1905 there were in Switzerland 1924 hotels (of which 402 were in Bern and 358 in the Grisons) specially built for the accommodation of foreign visitors, containing 124,068 beds, and employing 33,480 servants (the numbers for 1894 and 1880 are 1693 and 1002, 88,634 and 58,137, and 23,997 and 16,022 respectively). Part of this increase is due to the fashion of visiting Switzerland in winter for skating, tobogganing, skiing, &c.

Of the actual " productive " soil about two-thirds is devoted to arable or pasturage purposes, but the latter branch is by far the more important, occupying about 83% of this two-thirds, for Switzerland is much more a pastoral than an agricultural country. In 1906 the number of cattle was officially put at 1 ,497,9 0 4 (as against 1,340,375 in 1901 and 993,291 in 1866). In summer they are supported on the numerous mountain pastures or " alps " (see Alps, 2), which number 4778, and are of an estimated capital value of rather over £3,000,000, while in winter they are fed on the hay mown on the lower meadows or purchased from outside. Two main breeds of cattle are found in Switzerland, the dun race (best represented by the cattle of Schwyz) and the dappled race (of which the Simme valley beasts are of the red and white kind, and those of the Gruyere of the black and white variety). The best Swiss cheeses are those of the Emmenthal a.nd of the Gruyere, while the two principal condensed milk factories (Nestle at Vevey and that at Cham) are now united. It should be noted that the proportion of the land devoted to pastoral pursuits increases, like the rainfall, from the west and north-west to the east and north-east, so that it is highest (nearly 90%) in Appenzell and St Gall. As regards other domestic animals, the number of swine increased from 304,428 in 1866 to 566,974 in 1896 (the maximum recorded), but in 1906 fell to 548,355. The number of goats has remained pretty steady (359,913 in 1906 to 375,482 in 1866, the maximum, 416,323, being attained in 1886), but that of sheep has decreased from 447,001 in 1866 to 209,443 in 1906.

It is stated that but 14% of the " productive " area of Switzerland is corn-growing, this proportion being however doubled in Vaud. Hence for its food supply the country is largely dependent on its imports, the home supply sufficing for 153 days only. Tobacco is grown to a certain extent, especially near Payerne in the Broye valley (Vaud) and in Ticino, while more recently beetroot has been cultivated for the purpose of manufacturing sugar. Fruit and vegetables are made into jams and concentrated foods at Lenzburg and Kemptthal, while kirschwasser (cherry brandy) is made in Zug. Forests cover about 282% of the " productive " area of Switzerland. They are now well cared for, and produce considerable profits.

Vineyards in Switzerland now cover 108.7 sq. m., though the area is steadily decreasing owing to the competition of foreign cheap wines. The only cantons which have over 10% of their area thus planted are Vaud (25%), Ticino (20%), Zurich (17%) and the Valais (10.7%). Among the best Swiss wines are those of La Cote, Lavaux and Yvorne (all in Vaud), and Muscat, Fendant and Vin du Glacier (all in the Valais). Those grown near Neuchatel, at the northern end of the lake of Zurich, near Baden (Aargau), and along the Swiss bank of the Rhine, are locally much esteemed.

Among the raw mineral products of Switzerland the most important is asphalt, which is worked by an English company in the Val de Travers (Neuchatel). Various metals (even including gold and silver) exist in Switzerland, but are hardly worked at all, save iron (Delemont), copper (Val d'Anniviers) and argentiferous lead (Lotschenthal). True coal is wholly absent, but lignites occur here and there, and are sometimes worked (e.g. at Kapfnach, Zurich). Anthracite is found in the Valais, while peat is worked in many parts. Salt was first found at Bex (Vaud) in 1544, and the mines are still worked. But far more important are the saline deposits along the Rhine, from near Basel to Coblenz (at the junction of the Rhine and the Aar), which were discovered at Schweizerhall in the year 1836, at Kaiseraugst in 1844, at Rheinfelden in 1845 and at Ryburg in 1848. Marble, sandstone and granite are worked in various spots for building purposes. Marl, clay and limestone are also found, and are much used for the manufacture of various kinds of cement. There are said to be 620 mineral springs in Switzerland, the best known being those at Baden in Aargau and at Schinznach (both sulphur), Schuls-Tarasp and St Moritz, Stachelberg, Ragatz and Pfafers, Leukerbad and Weissenburg. The most important slate quarries are those in the canton of Glarus. The relative importance of the Swiss industries concerned with the land is best shown by the census taken in 1900 as to the occupations of the inhabitants. No fewer than 1,035,010 (about one-third of the total population) were engaged in pastoral or agricultural pursuits, as against 19,334 employed in market gardening, 18,233 in various matters touching the forests, 12,785 in the vineyards and 12,323 in extracting minerals (of these 8004 were employed in stone or marble quarries).

Manufactures

The same census also shows the relative importance of the chief branches of manufacture in Switzerland - textile industries 270,114 (of which 88,457 were in the silk branch and 63,853 in that of cotton), watchmaking 115,617, embroidery 8 9,55 8, besides 74,148 engaged in the manufacture of machinery. Eastern Switzerland is the industrial portion of the land, though watchmaking and some minor industries are carried on in the Jura. The textile industries are by far the most important in Switzerland, Zurich and its neighbourhood being the main centre both for silk (this branch was revived by the Protestant exiles from Italy in the 16th century) and cotton, while St Gall, Appenzell and Thurgau are mainly devoted to embroidery, and Basel to the silk ribbon and floss silk departments. The watchmaking industry has been established in Geneva since the end of the 16th century, and spread in the early 18th century to the Neuchatel portion of the Jura (centre La Chaux de Fonds and Le Locle). Musical boxes are chiefly made at Ste Croix in the Vaud section of the Jura, while Geneva is famous for its jewelry and goldsmiths' work. The growth of the manufacture of machines is much more recent, having originally been a mere adjunct of the textile industry, and developed in order to secure its independence of imports from England. Its centres are in and around Zurich, Winterthur, St Gall and Basel. Among other products and industries are chocolate (Suchard, Cailler, Sprungli, Tobler, Peter, Maestrani, &c.), shoemaking (SchOnenwerd), straw plaiting (Aargau and Gruyere), wood carving (Brienz in the Bernese Oberland since 1825), concentrated soups and meats (Maggi's factory is at Kemptthal near Winterthur), aniline dyes (Basel), aluminium (Neuhausen in Schaffhausen).

Commerce

Switzerland is naturally adapted for free trade for it depends on the outside world for much of its food-stuffs and the raw materials of its manufactures. After the adoption of the Federal Constitution of 1848, customs duties within the land were abolished, while moderate duties only were levied on imports, the sum increasing as the articles came more or less within the category of luxuries, but being lowest on necessaries of life. Down to 1870 Switzerland was all but entirely on the side of free trade. Since that time it has been becoming more and more protectionist. This change was due in part to the increased tariffs levied in Germany and France, and in part to the strong pressure exercised by certain branches of the Swiss manufacturing industries, while treaties of commerce have been made with divers countries. Hence in 1903 the Swiss people adopted the principle of a greatly increased scale of duties, the detailed tariff of the actual sums levied on the various articles coming into force on the 1st of January 1906. These higher duties were meant to serve as a weapon for obtaining better terms in future commercial treaties, but were finally increased still more at the instigation of certain of the great manufacturers, so that Switzerland became decidedly a protectionist country. In 1901 the receipts from the customs duties were about £1,858,000, while in 1905 they were £2,541,000, and in 1907 rather more (£2,894,000).

Excluding goods in transit, the total value of imports rose from about £36,500,000 in 1895 to about £55,000,000 in 1905, while between the same dates the exports rose from about £26,500,000 to £38,750,000 - in other words, the unfavourable balance of trade had increased from £10,000,000 in 1895 to £16,250,000 in 1905.

The increase during the same period in the case of the four great articles of export from Switzerland was as follows: silk from nearly £8,500,000 to rather over £10,000,000, embroideries from nearly £3,000,000 to £5,000,000, watches from £3,500,000 to £5,250,000, and machinery from rather under £1,000,000 to £2,250,000.

Government

The Swiss Confederation must be carefully distinguished from the 22 cantons of which it is composed, and which are sovereign states, save in so far as they have given up their rights to the Federal government. These cantons themselves are built up of many political communes, or Gemeinden, or civil parishes, which are the real political units of the country (and not merely local subdivisions); for any one desiring to become naturalized a Swiss must first become (by purchase or grant) a member of a commune, and then, if his burghership of the commune is confirmed by the cantonal authorities, he obtains also, simultaneously, both cantonal and Federal citizenship.

a. Now in Switzerland there are 3164 political communes (municipalites or Einwohnergemeinden). These are composed of all male Swiss citizens over twenty years of age, of good character and resident in the commune for at least three months. The meeting of these persons is called the assemblee generate or Gemeindeversammlung, while the executive council chosen by it is the conseil municipal or Gemeinderat, the chief person in the commune (elected by the larger meeting) being termed the syndic or maire, the Gemeindepriisident or the Gemeindeanzmann. This kind of commune includes all Swiss residents (hence the German name) within its territorial limits, and has practically all powers of management of local affairs, including the carrying out of cantonal and Federal laws or decrees, save and except matters relating to the pastures and forests held in common. This class of commune dates only from the time of the Helvetic republic (1798-1802), and its duties were largely increased after the liberal movement of 1830; the care of the highways, the police, the schools, the administration of the poor law being successively handed over to it, so that it became a political body. As regards Swiss citizens belonging to cantons other than that in which they reside, the Federal Constitution of 1848 (art. 41) gave them rights of voting there in cantonal and Federal matters, but not in those relating exclusively to the commune itself. The Federal Constitution of 1874 (art. 43) gives to such persons as those named above (establis or Niedergelassenen - that 'is, ' permanent settlers) all voting rights, Federal, cantonal and communal (save as below), the two last named after a stay of three months. Temporary residents being Swiss citizens (e.g. labourers, servants, students, officials not being communal officials) are called residents or Aufenthalter, and are in most cantons considered to be as such incapable of voting in communal matters until after a residence of three months, though some cantons require a longer sojourn. Foreign residents are included under this class of Aufenthalter. The burgher communes (communes bourgeoises or Burgergemeinden), now principally of historical interest, having for the most part gradually merged with the other class of communes, were originally simply the communities that dealt with the management of the " lands subject to common user " or Allmend (mainly summer pastures and forests), but gradually obtained, by purchase or otherwise, the manorial rights, the burghers then being themselves the lords of the manor (as at Brixham in Devonshire). But when after the Reformation, owing to the suppression of the monasteries, the care of the poor was imposed by the Federal Diet, in 1551, on the several communes, these naturally aided only their own members, a course which gave rise to a " communal burghership, " a system designed to prevent persons from gaining a " settlement " in any commune to which they did not properly belong. Thus all nonburgher residents, permanent or temporary, were excluded from any share in the enjoyment of the lands subject to common user, or in their management, and remained complete outsiders, though paying local rates. With the increased facilities of communication and the rise of a shifting industrial population such restrictions became invidious and unfair, particularly after the introduction, under the Helvetic republic, of a Federal citizenship, superior to cantonal citizenship, and after the communes became more and more burdened with public duties, so that the amount of the rates equalled, if it did not exceed, the sums produced by the " common lands." To avoid some of these inconveniences " political communes " were set up, consisting practically of all Swiss permanent residents. But the relation between these and the old Burgergemeinden (the burghers of which only have rights of user over the common lands) was very delicate, and has been settled (if settled at all) in various fashions. In some cases the older communes simply merged with the newer, the ownership of the common lands thus passing from one to the other class. In other cases the Burgergemeinden still exist as distinct from the " political communes," but solely for purposes (enjoyment, management, &c.) relating to the common lands, and thus form a sort of privileged community inside the larger and now more generally important community. In some cases the common lands have been divided in varying proportions between the two classes of communes, the Burgergemeinden thus continuing to exist solely as regards that part of the common lands which they have retained. In other cases the common lands, whether before or after 1798, have passed into the possession of a small number of the burghers, who form a close corporation, the revenues of which are enjoyed by the members as such, and not as citizens - in short are subject to no public obligations or burdens save rates and taxes.

b. The twenty-two cantons (three are subdivided - Unterwalden, Appenzell and Basel - into two halves) are divided into " administrative districts " (187 in number), which are ruled by prefects, in the French fashion, appointed by the cantonal authorities. These are the true local divisions in the country. Each canton has its own legislature, executive and judiciary. The older cantons have in some cases (Uri, Unterwalden, Appenzell and Glarus) preserved their ancient democratic assemblies (or Landesgemeinden), in which each burgher appears in person, and which usually meet once a year, on the last Sunday in April or the first Sunday in May, always (weather permitting) in the open air. These annual assemblies elect annually a sort of standing committee, and also the chief magistrate or Landammann, as well as the judiciary. In the other eighteen cantons the legislature (Gross Rat or grand conseil) is composed of representatives chosen by the cantonal voters in proportion, varying in each canton, to the population. They are thus local parliaments rather than mere county councils. The executive (Regierungsrat or conseil d'etat) is elected everywhere (save Fribourg, the Valais and Vaud) by a popular vote, this plan having gradually superseded election by the cantonal legislature. All the cantons (save Fribourg) have the referendum and initiative, by which the electors can exercise control over their elected representatives. The cantonal judiciary is chosen by the people.

c. In 1848 the Federal government was reorganized according to the plan adopted in the United States, at any rate so far as regards the legislature (Bundesversammlung or assemblee federate). This is composed of two houses: (1) the Stdnderat or conseil des etats, to which each canton, great or small, sends two representatives (generally chosen for varying terms by the people,, but, in 1907, still by the cantonal legislature in Bern, Fribourg,, Neuchatel, St Gall, the Valais and Vaud), this house being like the American Senate; (2) the Nationalrat or conseil national,. composed of representatives (at present 167 in number) elected within the cantons in the proportion of 1 to every 20,000 (or fraction over 10,000) of the population, and holding office for three years, before the expiration of which it cannot be dissolved.. The two houses are on an absolutely equal footing, and bills are introduced into one or the other simply because of reasons of practical convenience. The Federal parliament meets, at least, once a year, in Bern, the Federal capital. The Federal executive (Bundesrat or conseil federal) was set up in 1848 and is composed of seven members, who are elected for three years by the two houses of the Federal legislature, sitting together as a congress, but no two members may belong to the same canton. The Federal parliament annually names the president (Bundespreisident or president de la confederation) and the vice-president, so that the former is really but the chairman of a committee, and not in any way like the American president. The Federal president always holds the foreign portfolio (the " political department "), the other portfolios being annually redistributed among the other members, but all decisions proceed from the council as a whole. The Federal councillors cannot be at the same time members of either house of the Federal parliament, though they may speak or introduce motions (but not vote) in either house. The Federal Supreme Court (Bundesgericht or tribunal federal) was created by the Federal Constitution of 1874 and is (since 1904) composed of 19 full members (plus 9 substitutes), all elected by the two houses of the Federal parliament, sitting together and holding office for six years; the Federal parliament also elects every two years the president and vice-president of the Federal tribunal. Its seat is at Lausanne. Its jurisdiction extends to disputes between the Confederation, the cantons, and private individuals, so far as these differences refer to Federal matters. An appeal lies in some cases (not too clearly distinguished) to the Federal council, and in some to the two houses of the Federal legislature sitting together. As to the referendum and initiative (whether as to the revision of the constitution or as to bills) see Referendum.

It was natural that, as the members of the Swiss Confederation were drawn closer and closer together, there should arise the idea of a Federal code as distinguished from the manifold cantonal legal systems. The Federal Constitution of 1874 conferred on the Federal authorities the power to legislate on certain defined legal subjects, and advantage was taken of this to revise and codify the Law of Obligations (1881) and the Law of Bankruptcy (1889). The success of these attempts led to the adoption by the Swiss people (1898) of new constitutional articles, extending the powers of the Federal authorities to the other departments of civil law and also to criminal law. Drafts carefully prepared by commissions of specialists were slowly considered during nearly two years by the two houses of the Federal parliament, which finally adopted the civil code on the 10th of December 1907, and it was expected that by 1912 both a complete Federal civil code and a complete Federal criminal code would come into operation.

Before 1848 there was scarcely such a thing as Federal finances for there was no strong central Federal authority. As the power of those authorities increased, so naturally did their expenditure and receipts. In 1849 the receipts were nearly £ 240,000, as against an expenditure of £260,000. By 1873 each had risen to rather over £1,250,000, while in 1883 they just overtopped £ 2,000,000 sterling each, and in 1900 the receipts were just over £4,000,000 sterling, as against an expenditure of nearly £4,000,000. The figures for 1907 are £5,75 0, 000 as against just over £5,500,000, and are the highest yet recorded. The funded Federal debt rose from a modest £150,000 in 1849 to rather over £2,000,000 in 1891, and rather over £4,000,000 in 1903, standing in 1905 at £3,250,000.

By the Federal Constitution of 1848 the post office was made a Federal attribute, and the first Federal law on the subject was passed in 1849 (postage stamps within the country in 1850, for foreign lands in 1854, and post-cards in 1870), while a Federal law of 1851 extended this privilege to the electric telegraph, so that in 1852 the first line was opened with thirty-four offices. In the Federal Constitution of 1874 both branches are declared to fall within the jurisdiction of the Confederation, while in 1878 this privilege was extended to the newly invented telephone. Inviolability of communications in all three cases is guaranteed.

In 1891 the Swiss people accepted the principle of a state bank with a monopoly of note issue. A first scheme was rejected by a popular vote in 1897, but a second was more successful in 1905. The " Swiss National Bank " was actually opened on the 20th of June 1907, its two chief seats being at Zurich and at Bern. It has a capital of £ 2,000,000 sterling, divided into 100,000 shares. Two-fifths of this capital is reserved to the cantons in proportion to their population in 1900, and two-fifths were taken up by public subscription in June 1906. The remaining fifth was reserved to the existing thirty-six banks in Switzerland (all founded between 1834 and 1900), which have hitherto enjoyed the right of issuing notes. It was stipulated that within three years of the opening of the National Bank all notes issued by these thirtysix banks must be withdrawn, and many had by 1907 taken this course in anticipation.

There is no " established Swiss Church " recognized by the Federal Constitution, but there may be one or more " established churches " in any canton. The Federal Constitution of 1874 guarantees full religious liberty and freedom of worship, not being contrary to morals and the public peace, as well as exemption from any compulsory church rates (arts. 49 and 50). But it repeats, with fresh pricks (art. 51), the provision of the Constitution of 1848 by which the Jesuits and all affiliated religious orders are forbidden to settle in Switzerland, extending this prohibition to any other orders that may endanger the safety of the state or the public peace. It also introduces a new article (No. 52) forbidding the erection of new religious orders or new monasteries or the re-establishment of old ones, and also a new clause (last part of art. 50) by which the erection of new bishoprics on Swiss soil is subject to the approval of the Federal authorities. The Jesuit article was due to the " Sonderbund " War of 1847, and the rest of this exceptional legislation to the " Kulturkampf " which raged in Switzerland in 1872-1874. The Protestants form rather over three-fifths of the population, but have the majority in 102 of the 22 cantons only. In the German-speaking cantons they are Zwinglians, and in the French-speaking cantons Calvinists, though in neither case of the original and orthodox shade. The Protestants alone are " established " in the Outer Rhodes of Appenzell; while the Romanists alone are " established " in 72 cantons (Lucerne, Uri, Schwyz, Unterwalden, Zug, Ticino, the Valais, and the Inner Rhodes of Appenzell), but only jointly in the 3 other cantons (Fribourg, St Gall and Soleure) in which they are in a majority. In June 1907 Geneva decided on the complete separation of church and state, and now stands alone in Switzerland in not having any " established church " at all (previously it had two - Protestants and Christian Catholics). In the other 21 cantons, the Protestants and Romanists are jointly " established " in 112 i as are the Protestants and the Christian Catholics in i 2, in which the Christian Catholics take the place of the Romanists. Thus out of the 21 cantons with " established churches " (Landeskirchen or eglises nationales) the Protestants are solely or jointly " established " in 131, and the Romanists in 19 (not in Bern, Urban Basel and the Outer Rhodes of Appenzell), while the Christian Catholics are recognized in 7 cantons, in two of which (Basel and Neuchatel) they are also " endowed." The case of Neuchatel is particularly striking, as it has three " established churches " (Protestants, Romanists and Christian Catholics), while there the Jewish rabbis, as well as the pasteurs of the Free Evangelical Church, are exempt from military service. Besides a few parishes in Bern there are also three " Evangelical Free Churches " (Eglises libres), viz. in Vaud (since 1847), in Geneva (since 1848) and in Neuchatel (since 1873). The Romanists have five diocesan bishops in Switzerland - Sion (founded in the 4th century), Geneva (4th century), Basel (4th century, but reorganized in 1828), Coire (5th century), Lausanne (6th century), and St Gall (till 1824 part of the bishopric of Constance, and a separate see since 1847). There are besides the sees of Lugano (erected in 1888 for Italian Switzerland - till then in Milan or Como - but united for the present to the see of Basel, though administered by a suffragan bishop) and Bethlehem (a see inartibus, annexed in 1840 to the abbacy of St Maurice in the Valais). The Christian Catholics (who resemble the Old Catholics in Germany) split off from the Romanists in 1874 on the question of papal infallibility (in Bern and Geneva politics also played a great part), and since 1876 have had a bishop of their own (consecrated by the German Old Catholic, Bishop Reinkens), who resides in Bern, but bears no diocesan title. The Christian Catholics (who in the census are counted with the Romanists) are strongest in Bern, Soleure and Geneva, while their number in 1906 was estimated variously at from twenty to thirty-four thousand - they have 38 parishes (Po being in French-speaking Switzerland) and some 57 pastors. There are still a few monasteries in Switzerland which have escaped suppression. The principal are the Benedictine houses of Disentis (founded in the 7th century by the Irish monk Sigisbert), Einsiedeln (q.v.; Loth century) and Engelberg (q.v.; 12th century) as well as the houses of Austin Canons at St Maurice (held by them since 1128, though the house was founded by Benedictines in the 6th century) and on the Great St Bernard (11th century).

Education

Education of all grades is well cared for in Switzerland, and large sums are annually spent on it by the cantons and the communes, with substantial grants from the Confederation (these last in 1905 were about £224,000), so far as regards primary and higher education. Four classes of educational establishments exist.

a. In the case of the primary education, the Confederation has the oversight (Federal Constitution of 1874, art. 27), but the cantons the administration. It is laid down that in the case of the public primary schools four principles must be observed by the cantons: the instruction given must be sufficient, it must be under state (i.e. lay) management (ecclesiastics as such can have no share in it), attendance must be compulsory, and the instruction must be gratuitous, while members of all religions must be able to frequent the schools without offence to their belief or consciences (this is interpreted to mean that the general instruction given must be undenominational, while if any denominational instruction is given attendance at it must not be made compulsory). By an amendment to the Federal Constitution adopted in 1902 the Confederation is empowered to make grants in aid in the case of primary schools, while a Federal law of 1903, regulating such grants to be appropriated solely to certain specified purposes, provides that the term " primary schools " shall include continuation schools ii attendance is compulsory. The cantons organize primary education in their territories, delegating local arrangements (under the control of a cantonal inspector) to a committee (Schulkommission) elected ad hoc in each commune, so that it is not a committee of the communal council. The general principles laid down by the Confederation are elaborated into laws by each canton, while the communal councils pass by-laws. Hence there is a great variety in details between canton and canton. The school age varies from 6 to 16 (for younger scholars there are voluntary kindergarten schools or ecoles enfantines), and attendance during this period is compulsory, it not being possible to obtain exemption by passing a certain standard. Two-thirds of the schools are " mixed "; in the towns, however, boys are often separated from girls. The teachers (who must hold a cantonal certificate of efficiency) are chosen by the Schulkommission from among the candidates who apply for the vacant post, but are elected and paid by the communal council. Religious tests prevail as to teachers, who must declare the religion they profess, and are required to impart the religious instruction in the school, this being compulsory on the children professing the religion that is in the majority in that particular commune - consequently a Protestant teacher would never be appointed in a Romanist school or vice versa. The religious teaching occupies an hour (always at the beginning of the school hours) thrice a week, while special dogmatic instruction is imparted by the pastor, outside the school-house as a rule, or in a room specially set apart therein. The pastor is ex officio president of the Schulkommission, while the religious teaching in school is based on a special " school Bible," containing short versions of the chief events in Bible history. The exact curriculum (code) is prescribed by the canton, and also the number of hours during which the school must be open annually, but the precise repartition of these is left to the local Schulkommission. The attendance registers kept by the teachers are submitted to the Schulkommission, which takes measures against truant children or negligent parents by means of a written warning, followed (if need be) by a summons before a court. The treasurer of the Schulkommission receives and distributes the money contributions of the cantons (including the grant in aid from the Confederation) and also of the communes, or of benevolent private individuals. The school hours are as a rule four hours (from 7 a.m. in summer and 8 a.m. in winter) in the morning and (in the winter) three hours in the afternoon, but on two afternoons in the week there is a sewing school for the girls, the boys being then free. There are no regular half-holidays. Private schools are permitted, but receive no financial aid from the outside, while the teacher must hold a certificate of efficiency as in the state schools, must adopt the same curriculum, and is subject to the by-laws made by the Schulkommission. On the other hand he is not bound by any conscience clause and can charge fees. A cantonal inspector examines each school (of either class) annually and reports to the cantonal educational authorities, who point out any deficiencies to the local Schulkommission, which must remedy them. There is no payment by results, nor do the money contributions (from any source) depend on the number of attendances made, though of course they are more or less in proportion to the number of scholars attending that particular school. Some favour the idea of making the primary schools wholly dependent financially on the Confederation. This course has obvious conveniences, but a first attempt was defeated in 1882, and the scheme is still opposed, mainly on the ground that it would seriously impair the principle of cantonal sovereignty, and immensely strengthen the power of the Federal educational authorities. By the law of 1903 the quota of the Federal subvention was fixed at sixpence per head of the resident population of each canton, but in the case of 62 cantons (the poorer ones) an extra twopence was added.

b. The secondary schools are meant on the one side to help those scholars of the primary schools who desire to increase their knowledge though without any idea of going on to higher studies, and on the other to prepare certain students for entrance into the middle schools. The attendance everywhere is optional, save in the city of Basel, where it is compulsory. These schools vary very much from canton to canton. The course of studies extends over two to four years, and students are admitted at ages from ten upwards. The curriculum includes the elements of the classical and modern languages, of mathematics, and of the natural sciences. They receive no Federal subvention, but are supported by the cantons and the communes. In 1905 the cantons contributed £ 20,000 less than the communes to the total cost of about £234,000.

c. Under the general name of middle schools (Mittelschulen or ecoles moyennes) the Swiss include a variety of educational establishments, which fall roughly under two heads: I. Technical schools (like those at Bienne and Winterthur) and schools for instruction in various professions (commerce; agriculture, forestry and the training colleges for teachers).

2. Grammar schools, colleges and cantonal schools, which in some cases prepare for the universities and in some cases do not.

The expenses of both classes fall mainly on the cantons (in 1905 about £300,000 to £130,000 from the communes), who for the former class (including certain departments of the second) receive a grant in aid from the Confederation - in 1905 about £84,500.

d. As regards the higher education the Federal Constitution of 1874 (art. 27) empowered the Confederation to erect and support, besides the existing Federal Polytechnic School (opened at Zurich in 1855, having been founded by virtue of art. 22 of the Federal Constitution of 1848), a Federal university (this has not yet been done) and other establishments for the higher education (see c. I above). This clause would seem to authorize the Confederation to make grants in aid of the cantonal universities, but as yet this has not been done, while the cantons are in no hurry to give up their local universities. There are seven full universities in Switzerland - Basel (founded in 1460), Zurich (1833), Bern (1834), Geneva (1873, founded in 1559 as an academie), Fribourg (international Catholic, founded in 1889), Lausanne (1890, founded in 1537 as an academie) and Neuchatel (existed 1840-1848, refounded in 1866, and raised from the rank of an academie to that of a university in 1909). There is besides a law school at Sion (existed 1807-1810, refounded in 1824). In general they each (save Sion, of course) have four faculties - theology, medicine, law and philosophy. Fribourg and Neuchatel both lack a medical faculty, while Zurich and Bern have distinct faculties for veterinary medicine, and Zurich a special one for dentistry (in Geneva there is a school of dentistry), while Geneva and Neuchatel support observatories. The theological faculty is in every case Protestant, save that in Fribourg there is only a Romanist faculty (192 students in 1907), while Bern has both a Protestant faculty and also a Christian Catholic faculty (II students in 1907), but no Romanist faculty, despite the fact that the Romanists (mainly in the Bernese Jura) form about one-sixth of the population, while there are not very many Christian Catholics. These eight academical institutions were maintained by the cantons at a cost in 1905 of. about £155,000, while in the winter session of 1906 the total number of matriculated students (of whom 3784 were nonSwiss) was 6444 (of whom 1904 were women - Fribourg does not receive them), besides 2077 " hearers" - in all 8521. The largest institution was Bern (1626 matriculated students) and the smallest Neuchatel (163). The Federal Polytechnic School is fixed at Zurich and now comprises seven departments - architecture, engineering, industrial mechanics, industrial chemistry, agriculture and forestry, training of teachers in mathematics, physics and the natural sciences, and military science, besides a department for philosophy and political science. It enjoys a very high reputation and is much frequented by non-Swiss, who in the winter session of1905-1906numbered 522 out of the 1325 matriculated students (women are not admitted). In 1905 the cost of the maintenance of the school (which falls entirely upon the Confederation) was about £56,000.

Army

The Swiss army is a purely militia force, receiving only periodical training (so far as regards men between 20 and 48 years of age), based upon the principle of universal compulsory personal military service. Till 1848 the cantons alone raised, armed, equipped and trained all military units and nominated the officers. By the Federal Constitution of 1848 (art. 20) the Confederation was entrusted with the training of the engineers, the artillery and the cavalry, with the education of instructors for all other arms, and with the higher training of all arms, while it was empowered to found military schools, to organize general military manoeuvres, and to supply a part of the war materiel. The Confederation, too, was given the supervision of the training of the infantry, as well as the furnishing, the construction and the maintenance of all war materiel, which the cantons were bound to supply to the Confederation. The Federal Constitution of 1874 marked an advance on that of 1848 as to the following points. The principle of universal military service and the organization of the Federal army were developed according to the proportion of the population capable of bearing arms (in contradistinction to the 1848 system, art. 19, of fixed contingents in the proportion of 3 to every loo men of the population of each canton); the entire military training and arming of these men and the cost of their uniform and equipment were taken over by the Confederation, which, too, supervised the military administration of the cantons. The uniform, equipment and weapons of the men were to be free of cost to them, while compensation was due from the Confederation to the families of those killed or permanently injured in the course of their military service, as well as to the invalids themselves. There thus remained to the cantons the raising of all the infantry units and of most of the cavalry and artillery units as well as the nomination of the officers of all arms; all these acts were subject to the supervision of the Confederation and had to be in accordance with Federal laws and regulations. An attempt made in 1895 to extend still further the sphere of action of the Confederation in military matters was rejected by a vote of the Swiss people. Thus the present system rests partly on the 1874 Constitution, and partly on the new military law, passed by the Federal parliament on the 12th of April 1907.

a. The 1874 Constitution forbids the maintenance of any standing army (art. 13), and also (art. II) the practice (formerly very widespread) of hiring out contingents of mercenary soldiers by the Confederation or the cantons to foreign powers (" military capitulations "). The Federal government can, at or without the request of any canton, repress any disturbances within Switzerland by means of Federal troops, the cantons being bound to allow these free passage over their territory (arts. 16-17). By art. 18 every Swiss male citizen is subject to the obligation of personal military service (the families of those killed or permanently injured in the course of active Federal service as well as the invalids themselves are provided for by the Confederation), and the tax for those exempted is to be fixed by a Federal law, while every recruit receives free of cost his first uniform, equipment and weapons. Art. 16 provides that the Confederation has control of the Federal army and of the war metteriel, the cantons being only allowed certain defined rights within their respective territories. By art. 20 the limits of the jurisdiction of the Confederation and of the cantons are defined. The Confederation has the sole right of legislation in military matters, but the execution of these laws is in the hands of the cantons, though under Federal supervision, while all branches of military training and arming are handed over to the Confederation; on the other hand, the cantons supply and keep up the equipment and the uniforms of the soldiers, though these expenses are reimbursed by the Confederation according to a certain scale fixed by Federal regulations to be made later on. Art. 21 enacts that, where military considerations do not stand in the way, the military units are to be formed of men of the same canton, but the actual raising of these units and the maintenance of their numbers, as well as the nomination and the promotion of the officers, belong to the cantons, subject to certain general principles to be laid down by the Confederation. Finally, the Confederation has (art. 22) the right of using or acquiring military drill grounds, buildings, &c., belonging to the cantons on payment of moderate compensation according to principles to be laid down in a Federal law. It will thus be seen that the Swiss army is by no means wholly in the hands of the Federal authorities, the cantons still having a large share in its management, though the military department of the Federal executive has the ultimate control and pays most of the military expenses. In fact it has been said in jest that the coat of a soldier belongs to his canton and his rifle to the Confederation.

b. After much discussion and careful consideration of the opinions of many experts, the Federal law of 1907 was enacted, by which more uniformity was introduced into administrative matters and the whole system remodelled, of course according to the general principles formulated in the Federal Constitution of 1874 and summarized under a. The following is a bird's-eye view of the actual organization of the Swiss army. Every Swiss male citizen is bound to render personal military service between the ages of twenty and fortyeight. Certain classes are exempt, such as high Federal officials, clergymen (not being military chaplains), officials of hospitals and prisons, as well as custom-house officials and policemen and officials of public means of communication, but in the latter case only those whose services would be indispensable in time of war, e.g. post office, telegraph, telephone, railway and steamer employes (all exempted before 1907) - custom-house men, policemen and the officials last named must have had a first period of training before they are exempt. Those who are totally disqualified for any reason must, till the age of forty, pay an extra tax of 6 francs a head, plus 12 francs on every woo francs of their net property, and 12 francs on every 100 francs of their net income, the maximum tax that can be levied in any particular case being 3000 francs a year (property under woo francs and the first 600 francs of income are free from this tax, which is only levied as to its half in case of the men in the Landwehr): this tax is equally divided between the Confederation and the cantons, its total yield in 1905 being about £171,000. The cantonal authorities muster in certain fixed centres their young men of twenty years, who must appear personally in order to submit themselves at the hands of the Federal officials to a medical examination, a literary examination (reading, arithmetic, elementary Swiss geography and history, and the composition of a short written essay), as well as (since 1905) pass certain elementary gymnastic tests (a long jump of at least 8 ft., lifting at least four times a weight of about 37 lb in both hands at once, and running about 80 yds. in under 14 seconds), different marks being given according to the degree of proficiency in these literary and gymnastic departments. Those falling below a certain standard - bodily, mental or muscular - are exempted, but may be " postponed " for not more than four years, in hopes that before that date the desired standard will be attained. If not totally disqualified (in that case they pay a tax) they may be incorporated not in the territorial army, but in the auxiliary forces (e.g. pioneers, hospital, commissariat, intelligence and transport departments). The cantons (under Federal supervision) see that the lads, while still at school, receive a gymnastic training, while the Confederation makes money grants to societies which aim at preparing lads after leaving school for their military service, whether by stimulating bodily training or the practice of rifle shooting, in which case rifles, ammunition and equipment are supplied free - in all these cases the attendance of the lads is purely voluntary. In some cantons the young men, between the ages of eighteen and twenty, are required to attend a night school (in order to rub up their school knowledge) for sixty hours a winter for two winters, the teacher being paid by the Confederation and the lads being under military law. Naturally the lads from the large towns and the more prosperous cantons do best in the literary examination and those who belong to gymnastic societies in the gymnastic tests, though sheer bodily untrained strength avails much in the lifting of weights. In 1906 26,808 young men of twenty years of age were examined (this is exclusive of older men then first mustered). Of this number 1 4, 0 45 (52.4%) were at once enrolled as recruits, 3497 (13%) were " postponed " for one or two years, and 9266 (34.6%) were exempted wholly - these ratios vary but little, for the standard is kept rather high, partly owing to con siderations of expense, so that a young fellow of twenty who becomes a " recruit " at once may be taken to be distinctly above the average in bodily and mental qualities. By the new law of 1907 the army is divided into three (not, as previously, four) classes - the Auszug or elite (men from twenty to thirty-two), the Landwehr (men between thirty-three and forty) and the Landsturm or reserve (men between forty-one and forty-eight). The recruits serve for different periods during their first year according to the arm of the service into which they are incorporated - infantry and engineers sixty-five days, artillery and garrison troops seventy-five days and cavalry ninety days, while those in the auxiliary troops serve but sixty days. Soldiers in the Elite are called out seven times during their term of service for a period of eleven days a year (fourteen days for the artillery and garrison troops), while the Landwehr is only called out once for a training period of eleven days. Cavalry men serve ten years in the Elite (no service in the Landwehr), and during that period are called out eight times for a training period of eleven days a year. Between the ages of twenty and forty each soldier must attain a certain proficiency in marksmanship (at least 30 points out of 90 in 10 shots), while there is an annual inspection (by cantonal officials) of arms, uniform and equipment. The Confederation also makes money grants to rifle societies, which in 1906 numbered 3732, had 220,951 members (all soldiers between twenty and forty must be members), and received Federal grants to the amount of about £13,500. Rifle and uniform become the full property of the soldier after he has completed his full term of service. Officers serve in the Elite till thirty-eight years of age, and in the Landwehr till forty-four (in the case of officers on the staff the service lasts till forty-eight years of age), while they remain in the Landsturm till fifty-two years of age. The Swiss army is made up (according to the new law of 1907) of a staff, composed of all the commanding officers on active service from the rank of major upwards (in this as in all the following cases the actual number is to be fixed by a Federal law), the general staff, the army service corps (post office, telegraph, railways, motor cars, chaplains, police, courts of justice, secretaries, &c., and the auxiliary services), while the soldiers proper are divided into a number of classes - infantry (including sharpshooters and cyclists), cavalry, artillery (including the mountain batteries), engineers (including sappers and railway labourers), garrison troops, the medical, veterinary (veterinary surgeons and farriers), commissariat and transport services (drivers and leaders of laden horses and mules). On the first of January 1907 (still under the old system) the numbers of the Swiss army were as follows: the Elite had 139,514 (of which 104,263 were infantry, 5183 cavalry, 18 ,544 artillery and 5567 engineers), and the Landwehr 93,163 (including 67,955 infantry, 4378 cavalry, 13,332 artillery and 4313 engineers) - making thus a total of 232,677 men between the ages of twenty and forty-four years of age (17,221 infantry, 9561 cavalry, 31,866 artillery and 9880 engineers). To this total must be added 44, 2 94 men in the armed Landsturm (forty-five to fifty years of age) and 262,138 auxiliary troops (pioneers, workmen in military establishments, medical, commissariat and transport departments, police, firemen, clerks, and men at a military depot). The total of the Landsturm and the auxiliary services is 306,432, so that a grand total is 539,109 men (under the old system officers served in the Landwehr till forty-eight, and in the Landsturm till fifty-five). The total expenses of the Swiss army rose from £928,000 in 1896 to £1,400,000 in 1906. Rifles are manufactured in Bern, ammunition at Thun and at Altdorf, uniforms are macie in Bern, and the cavalry remount depot is at Thun, which is also the chief artillery centre of Switzerland. There is a department for military science at the Federal Polytechnic School at Zurich, one section being meant for students in general, and the other specially for officers. (W. A. B. C.) History The Swiss Confederation is made up of twenty-two small states, differing from each other in nearly every point - religious, political, social, industrial, physical and linguistic; yet it forms a nation the patriotism of whose members is universally acknowledged. History alone can supply us with the key to this puzzle; but Swiss history, while thus essential if we could thoroughly grasp the nature of the Confederation, is very intricate and very local. A firm hold on a few guiding principles is therefore most desirable, and of these there are three which we must always bear in mind. (I) The first to be mentioned is the connexion of Swiss history with that of the Empire. Swiss history is largely the history of the drawing together of bits of each of the imperial kingdoms (Germany, Italy and Burgundy) for common defence against a common foe - the Habsburgs; and, when this family have secured to themselves the permanent possession of the Empire, the Swiss League little by little wins its independence of the Empire, practically in 1499, formally in 1648. Originally a member of the Empire, the Confederation becomes first an ally, then merely a friend. (2) The second is the German origin and nature of the Confederation. Round a German nucleus (the three Forest districts) there gradually gather other German districts; the Confederation is exclusively German (save partially in the case of Fribourg, in which after its admission in 1481 Teutonic influences gradually supplanted the Romance speech); and it is not till 1803 and 1815 that its Frenchand Italian-speaking " subjects " are raised to political equality with their former masters, and that the Romonschspeaking Leagues of Raetia (Graubunden) pass from the status of an ally to that of a member of the Confederation. (3) Swiss history is a study in federalism. Based on the defensive alliances of 1291 and 1315 between the three Forest districts, the Confederation is enlarged by the admission of other districts and towns, all leagued with the original three members, but not necessarily with each other. Hence great difficulties are encountered in looking after common interests, in maintaining any real union; the Diet was merely an assembly of ambassadors with powers very strictly limited by their instructions, and there was no central executive authority. The Confederation is a Staatenbund, or permanent alliance of several small states. After the break-up of the old system in 1798 we see the idea of a Bundesstaat, or an organized state with a central legislative, executive and judiciary, work its way to the front, an idea which is gradually realized in the Constitutions of 1848 and 1874. The whole constitutional history of the Confederation is summed up in this transition to a federal state, which, while a single state in its foreign relations, in home matters maintains the more or less absolute independence of its several members.

Swiss history falls naturally into five great divisions: (I) the origins of the Confederation - up to 1291 (for the legendary origin see Tell, William); (2) the shaking off dependence on the Habsburgs - up to 1 394 (1474); (3) the shaking off dependence on the Empire - up to 1499 (1648); (4) the period of religious divisions and French influence - up to 181 4; (5) the construction of an independent state as embodied in the Constitutions of 1848 and 1874.

I. On the Ist of August 1291 the men of the valley of Uri (honzines vallis Uraniae), the free community of the valley of Schwyz (universitas vallis de Switz), and the association of the men of the lower valley or Nidwalden (communitas hominum intrasnontanorum vallis inferioris) - Obwalden or the upper valley is not mentioned in the text, though it is named on the Early seal appended - formed an Everlasting League for History of the purpose of self-defence against all who should the Three attack or trouble them, a league which is expressly the protests of the abbey tenants, who feared the rapidly rising power of that family, and perhaps also the desire of the German king to obtain command of the St Gotthard Pass (of which the first authentic mention occurs about 1236, when of course it could only be traversed on foot), led to the recall of the grant in 1231, the valley being thus restored to its original privileged position, and depending immediately on the king. (b) In Schwyz (first mentioned in 972) we must distinguish between the districts west and east of Steinen. In the former the land was in the hands of many nobles, amongst whom were the Habsburgs; in the latter there was, at the foot of the Mythen, a free community of men governing themselves and cultivating their land in common; both, however, were politically subject to the king's delegates, the counts of the Zurichgau, who after 1173 were the ever-advancing Habsburgs. But in 1240 the free community of Schwyz obtained from the emperor Frederick II. a charter which removed them from the jurisdiction of the counts, placing them in immediate dependence on the king, like the abbey men of Uri. In a few years, however, the Habsburgs contrived to dispense with this charter in practice. (c) In Unterwalden things were very different. The upper valley (Obwalden or Sarnen), like the lower (Nidwalden or Stans), formed part of the Zurichgau, while in both the soil was owned by many ecclesiastical and lay lords, among them being the Habsburgs and the Alsatian abbey of Murbach. Hence in this district there were privileged tenants, but no free community, and no centre of unity, and this explains why Obwalden and Nidwalden won their way upwards so much more slowly than their neighbours in Uri and Schwyz. Thus the early history and legal position of these three districts was very far from being the same. In Uri the Habsburgs, save for a brief space, had absolutely no rights; while in Schwyz, Obwalden and Nidwalden they were also, as counts of the Zurichgau, the representatives of the king.

The Habsburgs had been steadily rising for many years from the position of an unimportant family in the Aargau to that of a powerful clan of large landed proprietors in Swabia and Alsace, and had attained a certain political importance as counts of the Zurichgau and Aargau. In one or both qualities the cadet or Laufenburg line, to which the family estates in the Forest districts round the Lake of Lucerne had fallen on the division of the inheritance in 1232, seem to have exercised their legal rights in a harsh manner. In 1240 the free men of Schwyz obtained protection from the emperor, and in 1244 we hear of the castle of New Habsburg, built by the Habsburgs on a promontory jutting out into the lake not far The League P y 1 g of 1291. from Lucerne, with the object of enforcing their real or pretended rights. It is therefore not a matter for surprise that when, after the excommunication and deposition of Frederick II. by Innocent IV. at the Council of Lyons in 1245, the head of the cadet line of Habsburg sided with the pope, some of the men of the Forest districts should rally round the emperor. Schwyz joined Sarnen and Lucerne (though Uri and Obwalden supported the pope); the castle of New Habsburg was reduced to its present ruined state; and in 1247 the men of Schwyz, Sarnen and Lucerne were threatened by the pope with excommunication if they persisted in upholding the emperor and defying their hereditary lords the counts of Habsburg. The rapid decline of Frederick's cause soon enabled the Habsburgs to regain their authority in these districts. Yet these obscure risings have an historical interest, for they are the foundation in fact (so far as they have any) of the legendary stories of Habsburg oppression told of and by a later age. After this temporary check the power of the Habsburgs continued to increase rapidly. In 1273 the head of the cadet line sold all his lands and rights in the Forest districts to the head of the elder or Alsatian line, Rudolph, who a few months later was elected to the imperial throne, in virtue of which he acquired for his family in 1282 the duchy of Austria, which now for the first time became connected with the Habsburgs. Rudolph recognized the privileges of Uri but not those of Schwyz; and, as he now united in his own person the characters of emperor, count of the Zurichgau, and landowner in the Forest districts (a name occurring first in the 14th century), such a union of offices might Lands. stated to be a confirmation of a former one (antiquam confederationis formam juramento vallatam presentibus innovando). This league was the foundation of the Swiss Confederation.

What were these districts? and why at this particular moment was it necessary for them to form a defensive league? The legal and political conditions of each were very different. (a) In 853 Louis the German granted (inter alia) all his lands (and the rights annexed to them) situated in the pagellus Uraniae to the convent of Sts Felix and Regula in Zurich (the present Fraumunster), of which his daughter Hildegard was the first abbess, and gave to this district the privilege of exemption from all jurisdiction save that of the king (Reichsfreiheit), so that though locally within the Zurichgau it was not subject to its count, the king's deputy. The abbey thus became possessed of the greater part of the valley of the Reuss between the present Devil's Bridge and the Lake. of Lucerne, for the upper valley (Urseren) belonged at that time to the abbey of Disentis in the Rhine valley, and did not become permanently allied with Uri_ till 1410. The privileged position of the abbey tenants gradually led the other men of the valley to " commend " themselves to the abbey, whether they were tenants of other lords or free men as in the Schachenthal. The meeting of all the inhabitants of the valley, for purposes connected with the customary cultivation of the soil according to fixed rules and methods, served to prepare them for the enjoyment of full political liberty in later days. The important post of " protector " (advocatus or vogt) of the abbey was given to one family after another by the emperor as a sign of trust; but when, on the extinction of the house of Zaringen in 1218, the office was granted to the Habsburgs, be expected to result in a confusion of rights. On the 16th of April 1291 Rudolph bought from the abbey of Murbach in Alsace (of which he was " advocate ") all its rights over the town of Lucerne and the abbey estates in Unterwalden. It thus seemed probable that the other Forest districts would be shut off from their natural means of communication with the outer world by way of the lake. Rudolph's death, on the 15th of July of the same year, cleared the way, and a fortnight later (August r) the Everlasting League was made between the men of Uri, Schwyz and Nidwalden (the words et vallis superioris, i.e. Obwalden, were inserted, perhaps between the time of the drawing up of the document, the text of which does not mention Obwalden, and the moment of its sealing on the original seal of Nidwalden) for the purpose of self-defence against a common foe. We do not know the names of the delegates of each valley who concluded the treaty, nor the place where it was made, nor have we any account of the deliberations of which it was the result. The common seal - that great outward sign of the right of a corporate body to act in its own name - appears first in Uri in 1243, in Schwyz in 1281, in Unterwalden not till this very document of 1291; yet, despite the great differences in their political status, they all joined in concluding this League, and confirmed it by their separate seals, thereby laying claim on behalf of their union to an independent existence. Besides promises of aid and assistance in the case of attack, they agree to punish great criminals by their own authority, but advise that, in minor cases and in all civil cases, each man should recognize the "judex " to whom he owes suit, engaging that the Confederates will, in case of need, enforce the decisions of the " judex." At the same time they unanimously refuse to recognize any " judex " who has bought his charge or is a stranger to the valleys. All disputes between the parties to the treaty are, as far as possible, to be settled by a reference to arbiters, a principle which remained in force for over six hundred years. " Judex " is a general term for any local official, especially the chief of the community, whether named by the lord or by the community; and, as earlier in the same year Rudolph had promised the men of Schwyz not to force upon them a " judex " belonging to the class of serfs, we may conjecture from this very decided protest that the chief source of disagreement was in the matter of the jurisdictions of the lord and the free community, and that some recent event in Schwyz led it to insist on the insertion of this provision. It is stipulated also that every man shall be bound to obey his own lord " convenienter," or so far as is fitting and right. The antiqua confoederatio mentioned in this document was probably merely an ordinary agreement to preserve the peace in that particular district, made probably during the interregnum (1254-1273) in the Empire.

2. In the struggle for the Empire, which extended over the years following the conclusion of the League of 1291, we find that the Confederates supported without exception the anti-Habsburg candidate. On the 16th of October 12 9 1 Uri and Schwyz allied themselves 1315. with Zurich, and joined the general rising in Swabia against Albert, the new head of the house of Habsburg. It soon failed, but hopes revived when in 1292 Adolf of Nassau was chosen emperor. In 1297 he confirmed to the free men of Schwyz their charter of 1240, and, strangely enough, confirmed the same charter to Uri, instead of their own of 1231. It is in his reign that we have the first recorded meeting of the " Landsgemeinde " (or legislative assembly) of Schwyz (1294). But in 1298 Albert of Habsburg himself was elected to the Empire. His rule was strict and severe, though not oppressive. He did not indeed confirm the charters of Uri or of Schwyz, but he did not attack the ancient rights of the former, and in the latter he exercised his rights as a landowner and did not abuse his political rights as emperor or as count. In Unterwalden we find that in 1304 the two valleys were joined together under a common administrator (the local deputy of the count) - a great step forward to permanent union. The stories of Albert's tyrannical actions in the Forest districts are not heard of till two centuries later, though no doubt the union of offices in his person was a permanent source of alarm to the Confederation. It was in his time too that the " terrier " (or list of manors and estates, with enumeration of all quit rents, dues, &c., payable by the tenants to their lords) of all the Habsburg possessions in Upper Germany was begun, and it was on the point of being extended to Schwyz and Unterwalden when Albert was murdered (1308) and the election of Henry of Luxemburg roused the free men to resist the officials charged with the survey. Despite his promise to restore to the Habsburgs all rights enjoyed by them under his three predecessors (or maintain them in possession), Henry confirmed, on the 3rd of June 1309, to Uri and Schwyz their charters of 1297, and, for some unknown reason, confirmed to Unterwalden all the liberties granted by his predecessor, though as a matter of fact none had been granted. This charter, and the nomination of one royal bailiff to administer the three districts, had the effect of placing them all (despite historical differences) in an identical political position, and that the most privileged yet given to any of them - the freedom of the free community of Schwyz. A few days later the Confederates made a fresh treaty of alliance with Zurich; and in 1310 the emperor placed certain other inhabitants of Schwyz on the same privileged footing as the free community. The Habsburgs were put off with promises; and, though their request (1311) for an inquiry into their precise rights in Alsace and in the Forest districts was granted, no steps were taken to carry out this investigation. Thus in Henry's time the struggle was between the Empire and the Habsburgs as to the recognition of the rights of the latter, not between the Habsburgs and those dependent on them as landlords or counts.

On Henry's death in 1313 the electors hesitated long between Frederick the Handsome of Habsburg and Louis of Bavaria. The men of Schwyz seized this opportunity for making a wanton attack on the great abbey of Einsiedeln, with which they had a long-standing quarrel as to rights of pasture. The abbot caused them to be excommunicated, and Frederick (the choice of the minority of the electors), who was the hereditary " advocate " of the abbey, placed them under the ban of the Empire. Louis, to whom they appealed, removed the ban; on which Frederick issued a decree by which he restored to his family all their rights and possessions in the three valleys and Urseren, and charged his brother Leopold with the execution of this order. The Confederates hastily concluded alliances with Glarus, Urseren, Arth and Interlaken to protect themselves from attack on every side. Leopold collected a brilliant army at the Austrian town of Zug in order to attack Schwyz, while a body of troops was to take Unterwalden in the rear by way of the Brunig Pass. On the 15th of November 1315, Leopold with from 15,000 to 20,000 men moved forward along the shore of the Lake of Aegeri, intending to assail the town of Schwyz by climbing the slopes of Morgarten above the south-eastern end of the lake. There they were awaited by the valiant band of the Confederates from 1300 to 1500 strong. The march up the rugged and slippery slope threw the Austrian army into disarray, which became a rout and mad flight when huge boulders and trunks of trees were hurled from above by their foes, who charged down and drove them into the lake. Leopold fled in hot haste to Winterthur, and the attack by the Brunig was driven back by the men of Unterwalden. On the 9th of December 1315 representatives of the victorious highlanders met at Brunnen, on the Lake of Lucerne, not far from Schwyz, and renewed the Everlasting League of 1291. In their main lines the two documents are very similar, the later being chiefly an expansion of the earlier. That of 1315 is in German (in contrast to the 1291 League, which is in Latin), and has one or two striking clauses largely indebted to a decree issued by Zurich on the 24th of July 1291. None of the three districts or their dependents is to recognize a new lord without the consent and counsel of the rest. (This is probably meant to provide for an interregnum in or disputed election to the Empire, possibly for the chance of the election of a Habsburg.) Strict obedience in all lawful matters is to be rendered to the rightful lord in each case, unless he attacks or wrongs any of the Confederates, in which case they are to be free from all obligations. No negotiations, so long as the " Lander" have no lord, are to be entered on with outside powers, save by common agreement of all. Louis solemnly recognized and confirmed the new league in 1 3 16, and in 1 3 18 a truce was concluded between the Confederates and the Habsburgs, who treat with them on equal terms. The lands and rights annexed belonging to the Habsburgs in the Forest districts are fully recognized as they existed in the days of Henry of Luxemburg, and freedom of commerce is granted. But there is not one word about the political rights of the Habsburgs as counts of the Zurichgau and Aargau. This distinction gives the key to the whole history of the relations between the Confederates and Habsburgs; the rights of the latter as landowners are fully allowed, and till 1801 they possessed estates within the Confederation; it is their political rights which were always contested by the Swiss, who desired to rule themselves.

As early as 1320 we find the name " Switzerland " (Sweicz) (derived from Schwyz, which had always been the leader in the struggle) applied to the three Forest cantons, and in of Eight 1352 extended to the Confederation as a whole. But it was not till after Sempach (1386) that it came into popular use, the historian J. von Muller (1785) fixing the distinction between " Schweiz " (for the country) and " Schwyz " (for the canton), and it did not form the official name of the Confederation till 1803. (Officially in the middle ages and later the Confederation was named " les Ligues de la Haute Allemagne," or, as Commines, late in the 15th century, puts it, " les vieilles Ligues d'Allemagne qu'on appelle Suisses," while from c. 1452 onwards the people were called " Swiss "). This is in itself a proof of the great renown which the League won by its victory at Morgarten. Another is that as years go by we find other members admitted to the privileges of the original alliance of the three Forest districts. First to join the League (1332) was the neighbouring town of Lucerne, which had grown up round the monastery of St Leodegar or Leger (whence the place took its name), perhaps a colony, certainly a cell of the great house of Murbach in Alsace, under the rule of which the town remained till its sale in 1291 to the Habsburgs. This act of Lucerne was opposed by the house of Austria, but, despite the decision of certain chosen arbitrators in favour of the Habsburg claims, the town clung to the League with which it was connected by its natural position, and thus brought a new element into the pastoral association of the Forest districts, which now surrounded the entire Lake of Lucerne. Next, in 1351, came the ancient town of Zurich, which in 1218, on the extinction of the house of Zaringen, had become a free imperial city in which the abbess of the FraumUnster (the lady of Uri) had great influence, while in 1336 there had been a great civic revolution, headed by Rudolph Brun, which had raised the members of the craft gilds to a position in the municipal government of equal power with that of the patricians, who, however, did not cease intriguing to regain their lost privileges, so that Brun, after long hesitation, decided to throw in the lot of the town with the League rather than with Austria. In this way the League now advanced from the hilly country to the plains, though the terms of the treaty with Zurich did not bind it so closely to the Confederates as in the other cases (the right of making alliances apart from the League being reserved though the League was to rank before these), and hence rendered it possible for Zurich now and again to incline towards Austria in a fashion which did great hurt to its allies. In 1352 the League was enlarged by the admission of Glarus and Zug. Glarus belonged to the monastery of Sackingen on the Rhine (founded by the Irish monk Fridolin), of which the Habsburgs were " advocates," claiming therefore many rights over the valley, which refused to admit them, and joyfully received the Confederates who came to its aid; but it was placed on a lower footing than the other members of the League, being bound to obey their orders. Three weeks later the town and district of Zug, attacked by the League and abandoned by their Habsburg masters, joined the Confederation, forming a transition link between the civic and rural members of the League. The immediate occasion of the union of these two districts was the war begun by the Austrian duke against Zurich, which was ended by the Brandenburg peace of 1352, by which Glarus and Zug were to be restored to the Habsburgs, who also regained their rights over Lucerne. Zug was won for good by a bold stroke of the men of Schwyz in 1364, but it was not till the day of Nafels (1388) that Glarus recovered its lost freedom. These temporary losses and the treaty made by Brun of Zurich with Austria in 1356 were, however, far outweighed by the entrance into the League in 1353 of the famous town of Bern, which, founded in 1191 by Berthold V. of Zaringen, and endowed with great privileges, had become a free imperial city in 1218 on the extinction of the Zaringen dynasty. Founded for the purpose of bridling the turbulent feudal nobles around, many of whom had become citizens, Bern beat them back at Dornbuhl (1298), and made a treaty with the Forest districts as early as 1323. In 1339, at the bloody fight of Laupen, she had broken the power of the nobles for ever, and in 1352 had been forced by a treaty with Austria to take part in the war against Zurich, but soon after the conclusion of peace entered the League as the ally of the three Forest districts, being thus only indirectly joined to Lucerne and Zurich. The special importance of the accession of Bern was that the League now began to spread to the west, and was thus brought into connexion for the first time with the French-speaking land of Savoy. The League thus numbered eight members, the fruits of Morgarten, and no further members were admitted till 1481, after the Burgundian War. But, in order thoroughly to understand the nature of the League, it must be remembered that, while each of the five new members was allied with the original nucleus - the three Forest districts - these five were not directly allied to one another: Lucerne was allied with Zurich and Zug; Zurich with Lucerne, Zug and Glarus; Glarus with Zurich; Zug with Lucerne and Zurich; Bern with no one except the three original members. The circumstances under which each entered the League can alone explain these very intricate relations.

After a short interval of peace the quarrels with Austria broke out afresh; all the members of the League, save the three Forest districts and Glarus, joined (1385) the great union of the south German cities; but their attention was soon called to events nearer home. Lucerne fretted much under the Austrian rule, received many Austrian subjects among her citizens, and refused to pay custom duties to the Austrian bailiff at Rothenburg, on the ground that she had the right of free traffic. An attack on the custom-house at Rothenburg, and the gift of the privileges of burghership to the discontented inhabitants of the little town of Sempach a short way off, so irritated Leopold III. (who then held all the possessions of his house outside Austria) that he collected an army, with the intention of crushing his rebellious town. Lucerne meanwhile had summoned the other members of the League to her aid, and, though Leopold's feint of attacking Zurich caused the troops of the League to march at first in that direction, they discovered their mistake in time to turn back and check his advance on Lucerne. From 1500 to 1600 men of Uri, Schwyz, Unterwalden, and Lucerne opposed the 6000 which made up the Austrian army. The decisive fight took place on the 9th of July 1386, near Sempach, on a bit of sloping meadow-land, cut up by streams and hedges, which forced the Austrian knights to dismount. The great heat of the day, which rendered it impossible to fight in armour, and the furious attacks of the Confederates, finally broke the Austrian line after more than one repulse and turned the day (see Winkelmed). Leopold, with a large number of his followers, was slain, and the Habsburg power within the borders of the Confederation finally broken. Glarus at once rose in arms against Austria, but it was not till the expiration of the truce made after Sempach that Leopold's brother, Albert of Austria, brought an army against Glarus, and was defeated at Nafels (not far from Glarus) on the 9th of April 1388, by a handful of Glarus and Schwyz men In 1389 a peace for seven years was made, the Confederates being secured in all their conquests; an attempt made in 1 393 by Austria by means of Schuno, the chief magistrate of Zurich and leader of the patrician party, to stir up a fresh attack failed owing to a rising of the burghers, who sympathized with the Confederates, and on the 16th of July 1394 the peace was prolonged for twenty years (and again in Political 1412 for fifty years), various stipulations being made of by which the long struggle of the League against the Habsburgs was finally crowned with success.

By the peace of 1394 Glarus was freed on payment of £200 annually (in 1395 it bought up all the rights of Sackingen); Zug too was released from Austrian rule. Schwyz was given the advocatia of the great abbey of Einsiedeln; Lucerne got the Entlebuch (finally in 14