THE
SWISS REPUBLIC.
BY
BOYD WINCHESTER,
LATE UNITED STATES MINISTER AT BERN.
[Illustration]
PHILADELPHIA:
J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY.
LONDON: 10 HENRIETTA STREET, COVENT GARDEN.
1891.
Copyright, 1891, by J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY.
PRINTED BY J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY, PHILADELPHIA.
TO
HENRY WATTERSON
THIS VOLUME IS INSCRIBED, AS A GRATEFUL BUT IMPERFECT TOKEN OF
AN INTIMACY OF MANY YEARS, HOPING HE WILL ACCEPT THE
Dedication,
WITH THE ASSURANCE THAT IT IS NOT MEANT SO MUCH TO
COMPLIMENT HIM, AS MYSELF.
LOUISVILLE, KY., 1890.
PREFACE.
This book is based upon notes of studies and observations during four
years of diplomatic service in Switzerland, made, at the time, with
eventual publication in view. There is no attempt to treat the subjects
embraced, or rather touched upon, in any historical sequence, but,
by brief hints and random suggestions, to seize the principal and
interesting features of the country and its institutions, the people
and their characteristics.
The comparative method correlated with cause or effect is used in the
chapters on the government and administration, national and cantonal.
Many familiar facts in Swiss history, and experiences had by the United
States, are introduced to show their relation to and effect upon
certain political ideas. In fact, all through the Swiss federal polity
and that of the United States run not only parallels of illustration,
but lines converging to and pointing out essential truths in popular
government.
Dating from the “Eternal Covenant” of Uri, Schwyz, and Unterwalden,
concluded in 1291, under all vicissitudes of government and
constitution,--with radical varieties of character, occupation,
religion, language, and descent,--love of liberty and a passionate
devotion to the republic have characterized the people, with “life,
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” the great objects of
government, federal, cantonal, and communal. During this period of six
hundred years the smallest free commonwealth and the oldest federal
republic in the world presents a valuable stock of political experience.
It is very difficult for a stranger to discover all that is remarkable
in any country, and perhaps as hard to treat of so many different
subjects with such care as to omit nothing that is material. The utmost
endeavor, at least, has been used to be exact, and an effort to give
a more complete view of the modern state of the country than has yet
appeared. There is no design in the “Introduction” to write even an
historical outline; it is not necessary to the purpose of this work;
but only to relate such general facts, as to its former state, as may
serve to discover the causes which gave rise and birth to the present
Confederation.
Where references to national and local laws or ordinances and leading
historical events are necessary, partial repetition has been deemed
preferable to directing the reader to previous citations.
As the Swiss, in different Cantons, speak different languages with
several distinct idioms, there is necessarily a great diversity of
nomenclature; the aim has been to follow that locally prevalent, and
especially in the designation of the Cantons by their German, French,
and Italian names.
The writer has had frequent recourse to the following authorities:
“The Swiss Confederation,” by Sir Francis Adams and C. D. Cunningham,
London; “The Federal Government of Switzerland,” by Bernard Moses, San
Francisco (these two books are of recent date, supplementing each other
well, and constitute the only systematic and valuable publication in
English on the constitutional history and public law of Switzerland);
Woolsey’s “Political Science,” Woodrow Wilson’s “The State,” Freeman’s
“History of Federal Government,” May’s “Democracy in Europe,”
“Encyclopædia Britannica,” Reclus’s “The Earth and its Inhabitants,”
furnish briefer but valuable accounts. Elaborate works in German
and French consulted are Bluntschli’s “Staats und Rechts Geschichte
der Schweiz,” Dubs’s “Das öffentliche Recht der schweizerischen
Eidgenossenchaft,” Droz’s “Instruction Civique,” and Magnenat’s “Abrégé
de l’Histoire de la Suisse.”
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I. PAGE
INTRODUCTION 9