deeply embedded in the public sentiment of the country and engrafted in
the organic law, that has stubbornly blocked the way to all efforts,
on the part of the United States, to negotiate with that country a
naturalization treaty. Such treaties of reciprocal naturalization
exist between the United States and all the European nations, except
the two absolute monarchies of Russia and Turkey, whereby it is
stipulated that domicile of certain duration and naturalization shall
be recognized by both parties as terminating the previous relation. To
repeated invitations from the United States to Switzerland looking to
the conclusion of a similar treaty, the same answer always came from
the Federal Council,--“The conception of the imprescriptibility of the
Swiss citizenship, closely interwoven as it is with the views of the
Swiss people, and recognized by various cantonal constitutions as a
fundamental right, would make it impossible for Switzerland to conclude
a treaty, whereby a citizen, after a longer or shorter absence, would
lose his Swiss nationality.” In fact, to accede to this request, it
would be necessary to obtain an amendment to the Swiss constitution,
asserting federal control over the question. At present there is no
Swiss citizenship except as it is derived from the Canton and Commune;
and the Confederation is powerless to deal internationally with it.
The Swiss contention that a Swiss who becomes a citizen of any other
country, without specific exemption under the law, is held to the
obligations of Swiss citizenship, does not distinctly embrace the
doctrine of return and domicile _animo manendi_ in Switzerland. The
Swiss Federal Tribunal has even asserted jurisdictional powers with
respect to Swiss naturalized and resident in a foreign country.
The latitude given cantonal and communal officials in the construction
of the federal law of 1876, and the survival of a great body of
antiquated cantonal enactments and communal ordinances, which slowly
and reluctantly yield to federal legislation, complicate and render
almost impossible a compliance with its provisions. It has been held
that a renunciation, though presented in proper form, could not
be entertained, because the party was under “guardianship.” Not a
guardianship under which the law places a minor, but a guardianship
authorized by cantonal and communal laws; under which any improvident
adult citizen may be placed,--and these local officials are disposed to
classify under this head those who emigrate, and propose subsequently
to make a renunciation of Swiss citizenship, specially should any
inheritance fall to them in the Cantons or Communes. These persons are
coerced to return to Switzerland to obtain the possession and enjoyment
of such property; or by prolonged absence permit it to escheat, and
swell the common fund. Again, a very common ground of objection to
renunciation is the alleged fear that the party may at some time, in
the future, return to his native country and become a public charge;
and this is persisted on in spite of the assurance that he has become
a citizen, say, of the United States, a _bona fide_ resident therein,
invested with all the privileges and subject to all the obligations
pertaining thereto, and if from indigence, sickness, or other cause
he should become unable to maintain himself, he has a claim in common
with and to the same extent as other citizens of the United States in
the provisions made by law for persons reduced to that unfortunate
condition, in the State in which he might happen to reside at the time
of such contingency. In a recent case (1889), that of “Carl Heinrich
Webber (of Philadelphia) vs. The City Council of Zurich,” the plaintiff
had left Switzerland during his minority, and in due course of time
was naturalized in pursuance of the statute, and desired to secure
possession of his property in Zurich for purpose of transfer to the
United States. This was resisted by his guardian, on the ground that
while his renunciation in its preparation and presentation met the
requirements of the law, still he had left Switzerland without the
consent of his guardian, and therefore could not legally acquire the
domicile in the United States necessary for naturalization there.
This plea of the guardian was sustained by the Council of Zurich, and
Webber denied his property. On an appeal to the Federal Tribunal, this
decision was overruled, only on the ground that the guardian had given
an implied assent to the young man’s change of domicile; the court
adding that otherwise the plea, as made and sustained by the lower
court, would have been affirmed.[62] The judicial doctrine, which so
long obtained, that no one could expatriate himself without express
authority of law, has given way, in principle and practice, to the
natural and fundamental right to transfer allegiance, and that every
man should be allowed to exercise it with no other limitation than the
public safety or interest requires. The sound and prevalent doctrine
now is that a citizen or subject, having faithfully performed the past
and present duties resulting from his relation to the sovereign power,
may at any time release himself from the obligation of allegiance,
freely quit the land of his birth or adoption, search through all
the countries a home, and select anywhere that which offers him the
finest prospect of happiness for himself and posterity. This right
rests on as firm a basis and is similar in principle to the right
which legitimates resistance to tyranny. Two elements, each equally
important, enter into expatriation,--the one is emigration out of
one’s native country, and the other is naturalization in the country
adopted. All lexicographers and all jurists define naturalization in
one way. In its popular etymological and legal sense, it signifies the
act of adopting a foreigner and clothing him with all the privileges of
a native citizen or subject. This naturalization cannot do under the
Swiss contention; for the national allegiance of the Swiss cannot be
thrown off and another substituted in its place without the assent of
the sovereign holding the former. Naturalization in a foreign country
should operate, from the time of its completion, as an extinguishment
of the original citizenship; it should work absolute expatriation in
law as it does in fact. A citizen who has in good faith abjured his
country and become a subject of a foreign nation should to his native
government be considered as denationalized; leaving it to the law of
the land of his birth, whether or how he shall become repatriated. As
forcibly expressed by a former Secretary of State at Washington: “The
moment a foreigner becomes naturalized, his allegiance to his native
country is severed forever. He experiences a new political birth,--a
broad and impassable line separates him from his native country.”
The right of expatriation is fully and positively established in the
United States, by an act of Congress, in these words: “Whereas, the
right of expatriation is a natural and inherent right of the people,
indispensable to the enjoyment of the rights of life, liberty, and
the pursuit of happiness; and, whereas, in the recognition of this
principle, this government has frequently received emigrants from all
nations, and invested them with the right of citizenship; and, whereas,
it is claimed that such American citizens, with their descendants,
are subjects of foreign states, owing allegiance to the governments
thereof; and, whereas, it is necessary to the maintenance of public
peace that this claim of foreign allegiance should be promptly and
finally disavowed; therefore any declaration, instruction, opinion,
order, or decision of any officer of the United States, which denies,
restricts, impairs, or questions the right of expatriation is declared
inconsistent with the fundamental principles of the republic.”
Naturalization in the United States is a valuable privilege, which
is considerately granted to those who desire its advantages and are
willing to undertake its duties. The process is a decree of a court of
record, upon the satisfactory establishment by the applicant of his
lawful eligibility to the privilege of their nationality. The United
States cannot admit of qualified naturalization, subject to the consent
of the country of origin; nor can the United States Courts, in which
the judicial power of naturalization is vested, take cognizance of the
consent of a foreign state as a precedent condition to naturalization.
The admissibility of a change of allegiance in the United States,
without any co-operation or consent of the country of origin, is
plainly implied from the very statute itself; which requires conditions
of residence, of personal character, of publicity, and of abjuration
under oath of allegiance to every other government, and especially
to that of the country of birth, with sworn allegiance to the United
States. These are all indispensable for the completion of an act of
expatriation, and no more; and he who is in this manner endowed with
the nationality of the United States, thereby dissolves all ties of
native allegiance, and is clothed with all the rights and privileges
that pertain to a native citizen, and entitled to the same degree of
protection whether at home or abroad.
Citizenship is an attribute of national sovereignty, and not merely
of individual or local bearing. It is a sacred right, full of grave
consequences, granted with solemn formalities, and its existence should
always be well defined and indisputable. Between friendly States,
naturalization and expatriation should be reciprocal; and with an equal
measure of obligation. Conventional adjustment is alone adequate to the
removal of the most prolific source of constantly-recurring friction
and tension, inevitable, in the absence of treaty stipulation.
The persistency of Switzerland upon this question in a policy so much
at variance with all the liberal views of civilized nations, exhibiting
a stubborn conservatism and irrational disinclination to change her
laws to meet generally accepted principles and the requirements
of her external relations, might well subject the Swiss to the
characterization, applied at one time by Cobden to the English people,
as “the Chinese of Europe.”
All laws controlling States in their relations with one another are the
slow result of growth, coming from an ever-increasing and ever-varying
necessity; rendering any assumption of logical consistency not only
impossible, but in many instances wrong, if not dangerous, to the
inevitable concurrence of doctrines demanded by general usage and
international amity.
CHAPTER XI.
LAND LAW AND TESTAMENTARY POWER.
There can be no better security for the stability of the institutions
of a country than by enlisting a large number of the people in their
support, by giving them a stake in the prosperity of the soil. It is
the highest public interest that landed property should easily get
into those hands by which it can be turned to the best account; that
the title to property in land should be sure and incontestable; and
that there should be no legal obstacle to the subdivision of land,
when the natural economy tends to it, so that the number of small
land-owners shall not be artificially reduced by imperfection in the
law. The larger the number of land-owners in a country, the more who
have an interest in the soil they till, the more free and independent
citizens there are interested in maintenance of public order. There
is no ballast for a man like that of having a little earth, his own,
about his feet. Cultivating his own field, growing a part of his
food-supply, lodged under his own roof,--these make life pleasanter
and labor lighter. The thoughts, feelings, lives of those who live
under these conditions are of a higher order than the thoughts, the
feelings, the lives of those who do not. Property is the essential
complement of liberty. Without property man is not truly free. Whatever
rights the political constitution may confer upon him, so long as he
is a mere tenant he remains a dependent being; a free man politically,
he is socially but a bondsman. There is no country in Europe where
land possesses the great independence, and where there is so wide a
distribution of land-ownership, as in Switzerland. The 5,378,122 acres
devoted to agriculture are divided among 258,639 proprietors, the
average size of the farms throughout the whole country being not more
than twenty-one acres.[63] The facilities for the acquisition of land
have produced small holders, with security of tenure, representing
two-thirds of the entire population. There are no primogeniture,
copyhold, customary tenures, and manorial rights, or other artificial
obstacles to discourage land transfer and dispersion. No entails
aggregating lands and tying them up, so that no living person shall
be full owner, but a mere tenant for some unborn child. No family
settlements with “tenants in common in tail,” with “cross-remainders in
tail,” till some tenant-in-tail reaches the age of twenty-one years,
when he may be able with the consent of his father, who is tenant for
life, to bar the entail with all the remainders. There is no belief,
in Switzerland, that land was made to minister to the perpetual
elevation of a privileged class; but a wide-spread and positive
sentiment, as Turgot puts it, that “the earth belongs to the living,
not to the dead;” nor, it may be added, to the unborn. The natural
forces of accumulation and dispersion are not hampered by ninety-nine
years building leases, perpetual and irredeemable rent, or heavy
expense of conveyance; but are in every way encouraged, simplified, and
facilitated by the laws federal and cantonal. The wars of the fifteenth
and sixteenth centuries exercised, indirectly, considerable influence
on Swiss land tenure, by breaking up the large properties--monastic,
conventual, and private--which had for some time been steadily
augmented; and produced a reaction in favor of gradual redistribution.
This wider dissemination of land among the people was carried on
without rudely shocking or violating proprietary rights, as far as the
few recalcitrant owners permitted it to be done; certainly with not a
tithe of the legislative injustice or coercion, with which a greater
part of these accumulations had been made. It is from this period that
the existing system of land tenure in Switzerland may be said really
to date. The feudal rights asserted by certain Cantons over others,
which took the form of landed charges, were all swept away at the
time of the setting up of the Helvetian Republic, in 1798. Since the
commencement of this century, and especially since the constitutions
of 1830 were framed, the land throughout the whole of Switzerland has
been completely emancipated,--the system of peasant proprietorship
working side by side with that of small tenant farmers. The survival
of the Commune, intact with its various property rights in fee-simple
and usufruct, does not conflict with or impede the general tendency to
discourage the centralization of landed property in the hands of the
few. For it has come to be axiomatic with the Swiss that the effort to
acquire land is the mainspring of the life of the peasant, the root
of his industry, of his painstaking, frugal, and saving life. The
solid, sterling elements of the Swiss peasant’s character are traced
by all the native writers to their source in the educative power of
property,--property in land.
There exists no federal land code in Switzerland. Contracts relating
to the sale and purchase of lands, easements, and mortgages are
governed by the law of each Canton. In general, all questions as to the
devolution of property, by will or upon intestacy, are regulated by the
Cantons, and not within the competence of the Confederation. There is
an official survey containing a plan of each Commune, with the parcels
of land, their areas, annual values, and peculiarities indicated, of
which any one may have a copy under a fixed schedule of charges. The
federal code of obligations, adopted in 1861, contains twenty-five
articles relating to leases of land. It was claimed at the time of the
passage of this law, by some of the ablest lawyers, to be an assumption
by the government of a very doubtful power, an interference with the
ownership of the soil, and the infringement of an exclusive right
guaranteed to the Cantons. The friends of the measure contended that
its provisions did not involve the title or ownership of realty, but
only had to do with the rights of persons, which clearly fell within
the competency of the Federal Assembly. This view obtained. While
it is difficult to examine this elaborate act and its far-reaching
provisions, without a conviction that it bears a very close and strong
relation to the ownership of soil, in the popular apprehension of that
term, still its satisfactory operation has silenced all opposition,
and it is now believed to be accomplishing desirable ends that could
not otherwise be so efficiently done. It may be of interest to note
some of the leading provisions of this law. All contracts for leases
are required to be written. If the farm be delivered to the tenant
in a condition unsuitable for the purpose for which it was rented,
the tenant may renounce the lease. If deteriorations or restrictions
not mentioned in the covenant take place, without the tenant’s fault,
he may demand proportionate reduction of rent or renounce the lease,
if proper restitution is not made within a reasonable time. Urgent
repairs of any kind, required during the lease, are to be made by the
tenant. The lessor has the right to retain all the movables belonging
to the farm, as security for the payment of his rent, for the past
current year. This, however, does not include effects, which, under
the laws relating to debt and bankruptcy, are exempt from execution.
The lessor has the right to appeal to the authorities to compel a
tenant, who threatens to abandon the farm before paying the rent, to
leave property behind him on the place in value sufficient to cover the
amount due. A tenant cannot be relieved from rent when, through his own
fault or even from any accident in which he was directly concerned,
he is unable to enjoy the use or benefit of the lease. If implements,
stock, etc., are included in the lease, each party must furnish the
other with a specific inventory duly subscribed, with an estimate of
their value. The lessor must bear the expense of any repairs, on a
large scale, which may become necessary during the lease, as soon as
he receives notice of such from the tenant. The tenant must make a
conscientious use of the land, according to the stipulations of the
lease, and especially to keep it in a good state of cultivation. The
tenant cannot alter the existing mode of cultivation or cropping to
the damage of the land or the prejudice of a subsequent lease. He must
conform with all local laws and customs as to paths, foot-bridges,
ditches, dikes, hedges, roofs, aqueducts, etc., and must replace all
implements and tools of small value which may have become worn out.
The tenant cannot underlet without consent of landlord, regardless of
duration of lease. In absence of special agreement as to payment of
rent, it must be paid according to the local custom, and in event of
extraordinary accident by which he loses a considerable portion of
his year’s product, if in no way due to any fault on his part, and
if not covered by insurance, or taken into consideration in fixing
the rent, he may demand a proportionate reduction. In the absence of
agreement or well-defined custom, each party has the right to give the
other notice, which as to the land must be at least six months before
the 11th of November. With this notice in cases of long leases, where
circumstances arise to render its continuance intolerable to either
party, it may be terminated, with an equitable indemnity to the other
party; this indemnity, even when referred to the courts for adjustment,
must not be less than one year’s rent. If, on the expiration of the
lease, the tenant remains in possession with the landlord’s knowledge
and without his objection, the lease will continue in force from year
to year, until the six months’ notice is given by one of the parties.
When a tenant fails to pay his rent at the time it falls due, the
lessor may give him notice that if not paid within sixty days the lease
will be cancelled; in that event the tenant loses his right to the
growing crops, but he must be reimbursed for the expenses incurred in
their cultivation, to be credited on arrears of rent. The lessor has
the right to cancel a lease when the tenant neglects to keep the farm
in good order; or if, after receiving notice, he fails to execute any
necessary repairs within the period designated by the landlord. In
event of a tenant’s bankruptcy, the lease expires _ipso facto_, when
such bankruptcy is declared. At the expiration of a lease the tenant
must hand over the farm and everything specified in the inventory, just
as they are at the time of delivery, with indemnity for any injury
resulting from want of proper care on his part; and no compensation is
due him for improvements merely the result of ordinary care. The tenant
must leave on the land the straw and manure of the preceding year; if,
however, it exceeds what he received when taking possession, he can
claim compensation for the difference. The outgoing tenant, at the
expiration of the lease, has the right to compensation for any increase
on the original valuation of the farm which is the fruit of his labor
and outlay; this is sometimes ascertained to a nicety by means of a
system of chemical testing of the soil.
It seems almost incredible that a federal law should be so
circumstantial, rather than lay down the general principles upon
a question of the lease of land and leaving it to the Cantons or
Communes to supply the details, in conformity with the varying local
elements that must enter into it, from the great diversity of soil,
products, and customs. This law is but another illustration of that
patient and minute exactness which distinguishes all Swiss federal
legislation, aiming to cover every possible contingency that may arise
of construction or enforcement.
It is to the cantonal civil codes we must turn for the body of the land
laws. These codes appear to be derived from three distinct sources,
corresponding with the ethnical division of the people,--the Roman,
the Old Germanic, and the Napoleonic codes. The Cantons of Geneva,
Neuchâtel, and the western portion of the Canton of Bern, known as
the Jura-Bernois, have the code Napoleon almost in its entirety. The
codes of Vaud, Freiburg, Valais, and Ticino are based on the old Roman
law, harmonized in some features with the code Napoleon. The Cantons
of St. Gallen, Appenzell, Uri, Schwyz, Obwald, Glarus, and Basel-Stadt
are still governed by ancient statutes or customs, without any defined
codes. The remaining Cantons, constituting what is known as German
Switzerland, have their land laws framed on the old Germanic code, with
an admixture of the code Napoleon. There were no cantonal land codes
previous to 1819; the oldest one, that of Vaud, dates from that year.
A summary of the law, in a few of the representative Cantons, will be
sufficient.
Bern has two separate codes; the western or Jura district having
adopted the code Napoleon, while the other portion of the Canton
still adheres to the old Germanic code, with some alterations and
improvements grafted on to it. The sale of land is absolutely free and
unrestricted; the only formality consisting of a contract drawn up and
signed by both parties and deposited at the cantonal registry office,
for which there is a small registration fee, divided between the Canton
and Commune. The ordinary duration of an original lease is from five to
ten years. The lessee is in no way bound to any particular rotation of
crops, and any attempt to exhaust the soil unfairly is very unusual.
The outgoing tenant must deliver to his successor the farm in no worse
condition than that in which he found it; and if the requisite amount
of manure, etc., is not forthcoming, he must replace the deficiency.
Only one-third of the landed property is at the absolute disposal
of the testator, the remaining two-thirds must be divided in equal
portions among the children. The only way a testator may favor a child
is to bequeath to him that portion (one-third) which the law allows him
to dispose of _ad libitum_, as an addition to his distributable share.
Should, however, the wife survive her husband, she enjoys the absolute
use of all of his property for her life, with no power to alienate or
deal with it in any way, save with the consent of the Committee of
Wards, a body to be found in every Bernese Commune. Failing of wife
or children, the property is divided equally among the heirs at law,
should there be no will disposing of the available one-third. There is
an exception, not embodied in the code, but founded in an immemorial
custom, which prevails in the extensive valley of the Emmenthal, where
the youngest son inherits by right all the landed property at the
decease of both parents, subject to an annual indemnity paid to his
brothers and sisters, who in this way hold a preferred lien on the
land. The origin of this custom is thus explained: Motives of safety
formerly induced the proprietors of land to live within the walls of
Bern, where they had their house and establishment, which passed to
the eldest son, instead of land. The custom has held together the
exceptionally large farms in this valley, some running up to a hundred
and fifty acres each.
In the Canton of Vaud the sale and acquisition of landed property are
as unrestricted as in that of Bern. One-half of it is at the disposal
of the testator, the other half must go to the children in equal
proportions. Failing of issue, and if the deceased dies intestate, and
be unmarried or a widower, his brothers and sisters succeed to half
of the property and his parents to the other half. If none of these
members of the family survive, the property is divided equally among
the ascendants in the paternal and maternal line. In this Canton,
where the breeding of cattle forms so important an industry, certain
legislation closely allied to the occupation of the soil is worthy of a
passing notice. This is known as _Cheptel_,--the contract by which one
party undertakes to supply another with a certain number of cattle to
tend and feed under specified conditions. The _Cheptel_ is of several
kinds. In one, the hirer has the right to the milk, work, and manure of
the cattle, the increase and loss being equally divided. It is illegal
for the two parties to enter into any contract by which the hirer
undertakes to bear all losses. Then there is _Cheptel à moitié_,--where
two owners of cattle, who do not possess a sufficient number to lease
them, each on his own account, join together and lease their stock to a
third party, sharing the profit and loss with him on the same condition
and terms as in the case first described. The third class of _Cheptel_
is where the tenant farmer rents the landlord’s cattle in conjunction
with the farm, on the condition of his taking all risks, and that
when the lease expires he shall leave behind a herd of cattle of the
same value as that at which the original herd was estimated; all the
profits from these cattle go to the farmer until the lease expires;
the manure, however, belongs to the farm, and must be used for its
exclusive benefit.
In the Canton of Basel the testator can only dispose of that part of
his estate which falls to his heirs. If those heirs be children, he may
by will deprive them of at most one child’s interest or share, not in
any case to exceed the fourth part of the entire estate. If the heirs
be parents, he can dispose of one-half of the estate, or more by the
assent of the latter, written and properly authenticated. If the wife
survives, she is entitled, in the absence of a marriage settlement,
to two-thirds of the estate. A marriage settlement may entirely annul
the operation of the community of property which otherwise prevails.
In this case the entire estate of the deceased husband or wife falls
to the heirs. Sons and daughters share alike. Brothers and sisters are
regarded alike whether both or only one of the parents are the same.
In the absence of descendants, parents share equally as heirs; if one
of the latter is deceased, the survivor takes the whole. Descendants
of a deceased heir, who are within the fifth degree of consanguinity,
share equally the part which would have fallen to their ancestors.
Illegitimate children inherit from the mother, but not from the father,
unless legitimated by marriage of the parents.
In the Canton of St. Gallen a testator, in case he leaves but one
child, can dispose, by a will or otherwise, of one-half of the
property; if two children, only one-third; and if three or more, not
more than one-fourth. In event of having no legal heirs, he may dispose
of three-fourths of his property, the remaining one-fourth passing to
the Canton. If the heirs be father, mother, or other near relations,
he is not permitted to dispose by will of more than one-half. If there
are relations beyond that degree, and within the tenth degree, he
may dispose of two-thirds. If the wife survives, she is entitled to
one-half the estate; however, if there be children also, then the wife
takes only a child’s part. Sons and daughters share alike, with this
modification: the sons have the preference of the real estate; tools
and implements, if they are mechanics; books or libraries, if they are
professional men; for which, however, they must pay a fair price to the
other heirs. Two per cent. of all property disposed of by will goes to
the Canton. Any person eighteen years old and of disposing mind may
make a will. Every will must be attested by three witnesses, two of
whom must be able to write their names. A woman’s property brought into
the marriage remains her property; the interest only to be appropriated
by the husband for the benefit of the family.
In the Canton of Zurich there is no limitation as to right of testator
to dispose of his property by will, except as to interest of surviving
wife. When the wife survives she is first entitled to withdraw the
property she brought into the marriage, also the household furniture,
in case it does not exceed one-fourth of the net estate; and if there
be children, she takes the usufruct of one-half of the estate, or the
fee-simple of one-eighth; if there be no children, but parents of
the deceased living, she takes the usufruct of the whole estate, or
fee-simple of one-fourth; if only grand-parents living, the fee-simple
of one-half and the usufruct of the other half. If the wife marries,
the usufruct is reduced one-half. As to sons and daughters,--in
the father’s estate the sons have a preferred right to take the
real estate, with the appurtenances, against payment of a moderate
valuation; sons also have a preferred right to take the property
pertaining to the paternal industry, such as tools, professional
implements, cattle, etc., without, however, any deduction from the
actual value thereof; sons take without compensation the paternal
wardrobe, arms, outfit, and seal. Family records go to the oldest son
without charge. The common paternal inheritance is divided equally
among sons and daughters. In the maternal estate the clothing, house
linen, and washing utensils go to the daughters without charge; also
the jewelry, valuables, and savings of the mother, if they do not
exceed in value five-one-hundredths of the estate, any excess over that
must be paid for by them. The common maternal inheritance is divided
equally, but the sons have the preference of the real estate, against
payment of its full value.
In the Canton of Geneva the code Napoleon, or _Code Civil Français_,
substantially exists, that Canton having been a part of the French
_Département du Léman_ from 1798 to 1814.
The notion of family co-proprietorship prevails extensively in the
German Cantons, and testamentary power is much limited. In 1865 the
Canton of Appenzell relaxed so far as to decree that it was an anomaly
in this day of advanced civilization that a free citizen who enacted
laws for himself (referring to the Landsgemeinde of the Canton)
should be fettered, as in the benighted times of the past, in his
testamentary powers, and that, therefore, he should thenceforward have
the right to dispose by will of _one-fiftieth_ of his property, if he
had children, and of _one-twentieth_ if he had none. In the Canton
of Zurich, previous to the Bluntschli’s code, those who had children
were obliged to leave them all their property, and, failing of issue,
the relations, of whatever degree, had a right to their legitimate
share. In Glarus the consent of the heirs is necessary before the
smallest legacy can be made by the testator. In the Canton of Nidwald
the question of the validity of a legacy is submitted to a jury, who
are empowered to decide whether such legacy is just and in conformity
with the position of the testator, the testator’s children, and the
legatee. The three Cantons of Schaffhausen, Thurgau, and the Grisons,
which place restrictions on the free disposal of inherited property,
are more liberal as to acquired property. In Southern Switzerland,
except in the Cantons of Freiburg and Valais, the law goes so far
as absolutely to forbid special contracts made with regard to
successions,--except in the case of husband and wife,--so that the
testamentary power may remain free and untrammelled as to all property
at the disposal of the testator when he comes to die. There is a
manifest tendency to facilitate the disposal by will of property in
general, in view of the more extended movements of the population, and
the consequent dispersion of family. The laws of enforced succession
are being gradually modified or repealed. In point of fact, the Swiss
laws make little or no distinction between real, personal, and mixed
property in connection with testamentary power, and there is a vast
dissimilarity in the legislation and practice of the several Cantons.
Through all the varying degrees, in almost every Canton, there will
be found some limitation to parental freedom of bequest intervening
for the protection of the child. In some a distinction is made
between inherited and acquired property, but it is the same principle
asserting itself, the “_légitime_,” the portion secured by law to the
heir,[64] over which the testator is forbidden to exercise the power of
disposition, and under the term “children,” by some cantonal codes, are
included descendants of whatever degree, who, however, take together
as representatives of the stock from which they spring. No such
thing as a law of entail exists in any Canton. In reference to these
restraints on the power of bequeathing property by will, which at one
time existed in all the continental states, and in France restricted
within the narrowest limits, Adam Smith wrote: “By interfering to so
extreme an extent in the disposal of a man’s property, it lessens the
motives to accumulation; while, by rendering the children in a great
measure independent, it weakens the parental authority, and has the
same mischievous operation over an entire family that the law of entail
has over a single child. This, however, is not its worst effect. This
and every similar system inevitably tends to occasion too great an
increase of agricultural population, and to reduce landed property into
portions so minute that they neither afford sufficient employment to
the families occupying them nor allow of their being cultivated and
improved in the best and most efficient manner.” A few Cantons have
become alarmed at this infinitesimal subdivision of their soil, as
prejudicial to agricultural enterprise and causing emigration to take
place from the pastoral districts. The Cantons of Aargau, Thurgau,
and Solothurn have passed laws fixing the limit to the subdivision
of land at a minimum ranging from five thousand to twenty thousand
square feet. The excess to which subdivision may run is illustrated in
the Canton of Bern, where a case is reported of a cherry-tree in the
Oberland found to belong to seven different proprietors; and it is also
related that the people of that section are distinguished for being so
stiff-necked in sticking for their rights that an article of furniture
has been known to be sawed into so many parts that each member of a
family might have his share. Notwithstanding the opinion of political
economists, the Swiss know that this subdivision has worked as an
efficient auxiliary in making their soil a source of national comfort
and well-being, and a barrier against land accumulation to prop up a
ruling class, so common in many of her neighbors. No sort of social
distinction or political privilege is associated with land-ownership in
Switzerland. The cultivator, who, as a rule, is the proprietor,--for it
is rare to find a farm which is not worked by the owner,--is shorn by
neither rent nor taxes. The land fulfils its duty and guarantees the
tiller a fair enjoyment of the produce, a fair share in the sheaves
he reaps. Poets, historians, and philosophers, who love to dwell on
the simple virtues of the children of nature, find their Utopia in
Switzerland, where the households, each with its little tract of land,
represent a larger proportion of the population than can be found
in any other country. This distribution of small properties among
the peasantry forms a kind of rampart and safeguard for accumulated
property in other forms. It may be called the lightning conductor that
averts from society dangers which might otherwise lead to violent
catastrophes. The concentration of land in large estates among a small
number of families, is a sort of provocation of levelling legislative
measures. There are no influences more conservative, or more conducive
to the maintenance of order in society, than those which facilitate
the acquirement of property in land by those who cultivate it,--“’Tis
wonderful sweet to have something of one’s own.”
There is no influence fraught with more danger than that which
concentrates the ownership of the soil in the hands of the few, by
impediments, legal or fiscal, to prevent lands freely passing from
the hands of the idle into those of the industrious. Neither extreme
poverty nor extreme opulence is the thing to be desired. Pauperism and
plutocracy alike are the parents of vice in private and revolution
in public life. The genius of revolution truly exclaims, “With
wings twain do I fly;” of these wings one is discontented labor,
the other is over-reaching wealth. The system of the subdivision
of the soil among a multitude of small proprietors, for the most
part energetic, industrious cultivators of their own holdings, is
eminently conservative in its influence, and contributes in no small
degree towards maintaining the national spirit of independence and
self-reliance, the happy and contented condition of the Swiss peasant
proprietors; at once the strength and the safety of the Confederation.
This Swiss peasant has not only the responsibilities of a capitalist
on a small scale, but also those qualities of foresight, thrift, and
sobriety that such responsibility inspires. He has his home with the
dignity, stimulus, and all the civilizing influence of ownership.
“A great proprietor is seldom a great improver.” Private appropriation
of land is deemed to be beneficial; because the strongest interest
which the community and the human race have in the land is that it
should yield the largest amount of necessary or useful things required
by the community. The spectre of “excessive subdivision” of the soil,
once so potent an influence, has lost all its terror. It was Cobden
who wished to remove all remonstrances to the easy and economical
transfer of land, and to develop a process by which, under the natural
operation of a free exchange, the laborer might be re-settled on the
soil from which, in his energetic and suggestive phrase, the “laborer
had been divorced.” It was Mill who, in his powerful chapters on
peasant proprietors, clearly showed that “free trade in land” was the
condition under which the economic good of man can be best effected;
that a small or peasant proprietary is the most thriving, the most
industrious, the most thrifty of cultivators, and that under small
free holdings the capacities of the soil are developed to the fullest
possible extent, and the rate of production raised to the very largest
amount. Those who fancied that peasant proprietors must be wretched
cultivators have seen that some of the best agriculture in the world
is to be found in Switzerland, where such properties abound.[65]
These peasant proprietorships have neither bred over-population nor
converted the country into a “pauper warren.” The existence of peasant
properties has come to be regarded by philanthropists as eminently
desirable, and the removal of all obstacles to it has become an aim of
advanced politicians. Daniel Webster, in an address delivered before
the Massachusetts Constitutional Convention in 1821, referring to the
relation of civil liberty to property, as regards its security and
distribution and that the degree of its distribution settles the form
of government,--aristocratic, if the property is held by the few, and
popular, if held by the many,--said in reference to France: “A most
interesting experiment, on the effect of a subdivision of property,
is now making in France. It is understood that the law regulating the
transmission of property in that country now divides it, real and
personal, among all the children equally, both sons and daughters;
and that is, also, a very great restraint on the power of making
dispositions of property by will. It has been supposed, that the effect
of this might probably be, in time, to break up the soil into such
small subdivisions, that the proprietors would be too poor to resist
the encroachments of executive power. I think far otherwise. In respect
to this recent law of succession in France, I would, presumptuously
perhaps, hazard a conjecture, that if the government do not change
the law, the law in half a century will change the government; and
that this change will be, not in favor of the crown, as some European
writers have supposed, but against it. These writers only reason
upon what they think correct general principles in relation to this
subject. They acknowledge a want of experience. Here we have had the
experience; and we know that a multitude of small proprietors, acting
with intelligence, and that enthusiasm which a common cause inspires,
constitute not only a formidable, but an invincible power.”
Just fifty years from the date of Mr. Webster’s prophecy the present
republic was set up,--the government not having changed the law, the
law changed the government. It is this race of peasant proprietors
that has given France her wonderful recuperative power, enabling
her to emerge again and again _per varios casus, per tot discrimina
rerum_. From them her national life receives a vigor and unity which no
reverses seem to dominate and no blunders to ruin. Upon them she must
rely for the maintenance of her liberties, so gloriously conquered in
the past and embodied in her present institutions.
If men have but some share of comfort and property in the country,
they will abide there, for that is really the place provided for them.
“Towns, the haunt of pride, luxury, and inequality, foster the spirit
of revolt: the country begets calm and concord, the spirit of order and
tradition.” Under the old Roman system the city was the important unit;
under the Teutonic element the land was brought into prominence and
the possessor of it into power. The dominant member of society was the
landowner and not the citizen. In ancient society the “citizen” need
own no land; in the modern society of the feudal age the “gentleman”
could not be such without owning land.
CHAPTER XII.
MILITARY SERVICE AND ORGANIZATION.
Attached alike to liberty and to arms, the Swiss are no less famous
for their undaunted intrepidity than their simple and pure democracy.
From early times the hardy mountaineers of the Alps were eminently and
splendidly martial. History is full of their steadiness and bravery on
the field of battle. When Rome was in its highest military glory, its
armies under the Consul Lucius Cassius were routed by the Helvetians
on the shores of Lake Leman, 111 B.C. The two armies are supposed to
have met about where the Rhone falls into the lake, and the conquerors
of all Italy, the masters of Greece and Macedonia, who had carried
their victorious armies over Asia and Africa, were overcome by a people
hitherto unknown. Julius Cæsar speaks of their “military virtue and
constant warfare with the Germans.” Livy and Tacitus refer to them as
a people originally of the Gallic nation, “renowned for their valor
and their exploits in war.” About the middle of the fourteenth century
attention began to be attracted towards these mountaineers, and great
was the wonder that cavalry, which made the only effective part of the
federal armies of those ages, should be routed by men on foot; that
warriors sheathed in complete steel should be overpowered by naked
peasants who wore no defensive armor, and were irregularly provided
with pikes, halberds, and clubs, for the purposes of attack; above all,
it seemed a species of miracle that knights and nobles of the highest
birth should be defeated by mountaineers and shepherds. The repeated
victories of the Swiss over troops having on their side numbers and
discipline, and the advantage of the most perfect military equipment
then known and confided in, plainly intimated that a new principle
of civil organization as well as of military movements had arisen
amid the stormy regions of Helvetia. The signal victory over Charles
the Bold of Burgundy, in which they routed the celebrated Burgundian
_ordonnance_, constituting the finest body of chivalry of Europe,
demonstrated their capacity as infantry. This, no doubt, contributed
to the formation of that invincible Spanish infantry which, under the
Great Captain and his successors, may be said to have decided the fate
of Europe for more than half a century. The “Swiss whiskered Infantry”
became distinguished in all the continental wars by pre-eminent valor
and discipline. Their principal weapon was a pike about eighteen feet
long; and, forming in solid battalions, which, bristling with spears
all around, received the technical appellation of the _hedgehog_, they
presented an invulnerable front on every quarter, and received unshaken
the most desperate charges of the steel-clad cavalry on their terrible
array of pikes. In the Granadine war (1484), among the volunteers that
flocked to the Spanish camp was a corps of Swiss infantry, who are thus
simply described by Pulgar: “There joined the royal standard a body of
men from Switzerland, a country in upper Germany; these men were bold
of heart and fought on foot. As they were resolved never to turn their
backs upon the enemy, they wore no defensive armor except in front,
by which means they were less encumbered in fight.” The astonishing
success of the French in the Italian wars (1494) was largely imputable
to the free use and admirable organization of their infantry, whose
strength lay in the Swiss soldiers they had. Machiavelli ascribes
the misfortunes of his nation chiefly to its exclusive reliance on
cavalry; this service, during the whole of the Middle Ages, being
considered among the European nations so important that the horse
was styled by way of eminence “the battle.” The arms and discipline
of the Swiss were necessarily different from those of other European
nations. The hill-sides and the mountain-tops and the deep valleys of
Switzerland have felt as frequently as any part of Europe the mailed
footstep of the warrior, and run as red with his blood. Zschokke, in
his history, remarks that, in its wars of the last five hundred years,
but particularly those growing out of the great French revolution,
“battle-field touched battle-field.” During the long struggle for their
liberties, they found that their poverty, with at that time a barren
and ill-cultivated country, put it out of their power to bring into
the field any body of horse capable of facing the enemy. Necessity
compelled them to place all their confidence in infantry. With
breastplates and helmets as defensive armor, together with long spears,
halberds, and heavy swords as weapons of offence, they formed into
large battalions, ranged in deep and close array, presenting on every
side a formidable front to the enemy. They repulsed the Austrians,
they broke the Burgundian Gendarmerie, and, when called to Italy, bore
down with irresistible force every enemy that attempted to oppose
them. Bacon, in his “History of King Henry VII.,” says: “To make good
infantry, it required men bred not in a servile fashion but in some
free manner. Therefore, if a state run most to noblemen and gentlemen,
and that the husbandmen and ploughmen be but as their workfolks or
laborers, you may have a good cavalry, but never good, stable bands
of foot, in so much as they are enforced to employ bands of Swiss for
their battalions of foot.” It was a trusty sword these brave and hardy
peasants offered. Some thought that nature certainly only meant the
Swiss for two classes, soldiers and shepherds. It is easy to convert
husbandmen into good soldiers. According to the institutions of the
Lacedæmonians, the employments of husbandmen and soldiers were united,
as alike the highest training-schools for the qualities that make the
best citizen and the best soldier. The plough was readily exchanged
for the sword by those engaged in peaceful occupations that seemed
to place them at an immeasurable distance from the profession of a
soldier. Happy had it been for Switzerland had she gained nothing
beyond simple liberty in her contest with her ancient masters, and
had continued to cherish pure and healthful feelings. When peace had
crowned their heroic struggles, their warlike spirit sought in foreign
states the excitement and military glory which were denied them at
home. The cravings of avarice and the thirst of plunder are inseparable
from the pride of victory. While the hardy mountaineers exulted in
the defeat and humiliation of Austrian chivalry, they purchased their
triumph, for a time at least, at the expense of the simplicity of their
nature. They accepted the dangers and privations of soldiers fighting
battles in which their own country bore no part. They became the ready
agents of the highest paymaster. These military capitulations dated
from the period of the Burgundian war. Treaties were often concluded
between foreign governments and one or more Cantons.[66] They made a
trade of war, letting themselves out as mercenaries. The Holy Father
himself entered the list of bargainers, and in 1503 Pope Julius III.
engaged the first of those Swiss life-guards whose name became famous
in Europe. From Louis XI. to Louis XV. the Swiss are said to have
furnished for the French service over half a million men. In the wars
between the French king and the Emperor Maximilian, in 1516, the
Swiss fought on both sides. In its last extremity, it was neither
in its titled nobility nor its native armies that the French throne
found fidelity, but in the free-born peasant soldiers of Luzern. Of
the undaunted ranks of the Swiss guard, defending the French royal
family at the Tuileries on the 10th of August, 1792, seven hundred and
eighty-six officers and soldiers fell in the place where they stood,
unconquered even in death; and for two days their bodies lay in the
gardens of the palace and the streets near by, exposed to the derision
and insults of the frantic populace.
“Go, stranger! and at Lacedæmon tell
That here, obedient to her laws, we fell.”
To their memory a colossal lion, twenty-eight feet long by eighteen
feet high, carved by Thorwaldsen out of the face of a solid sandstone
rock, in high relief, was dedicated in 1821 at Luzern. The lion is
holding the _fleur-de-lis_ in his paws, which he is endeavoring to
protect, though mortally wounded by a spear which still remains in
his side. Above the figure is the inscription: “_Helvetiorum fidei
ac virtuti_.” When the afternoon sun falls upon this effigy, it is
reflected beautifully in the dark pool close below; the gray rock rises
perpendicularly some little height above and ends in a crown of acacias
and drooping bushes and creepers.
The fame of the Swiss, in every war which desolated Europe from the
fifteenth century down, rose to an extraordinary pitch; but this
influence, which, as the hired soldiers of belligerent powers, they
exercised in the affairs of Europe, was neither conducive to the weal
of the state nor worthy of the Swiss people. Addison wrote in 1709 of
them: “The inhabitants of the country are as great curiosities as the
country itself; they generally hire themselves out in their youth, and
if they are musket-proof till about fifty, they bring home the money
they have got, and the limbs they have left, to pass the rest of their
time among their native mountains.” He also relates that “one of the
gentlemen of the place told me, by way of boast, that there were now
seven wooden legs in his family; and that for these four generations
there had not been one in his line that carried a whole body with him
to the grave.”
From their being so frequently in the personal service of foreign
potentates, the name of Switzer with some writers became synonymous
with guards or attendants on a king. The king in “Hamlet” says: “Where
are my Switzers? Let them guard the door.” In 1594, Nashe, in his
“Christ’s Tears over Jerusalem,” states that “Law, Logicke, and the
Switzers may be hired to fight for anybody.” Even the French were
so ungrateful as to chide the Swiss by saying, “We fight for honor,
but you fight for money;” to which the Switzer rejoined, “It is only
natural that each of us, like the rest of the world, should fight for
what he has not got.” These Swiss soldiers were in great demand and
liberally paid. They were not only hardy and patient of fatigue, but
bold in action and obedient in discipline. The very sight of them
alarmed the enemy, suggesting a passage in Tacitus of which every
soldier will probably feel the truth, “The eye is the first to be
vanquished in battle.”[67] Then these troops were as noted for their
fidelity to the service they engaged in as for their courage; and in
all their history there is scarce to be found any example of treachery.
From the dawn of the Reformation there was produced a material
change, and its effects were chiefly visible in the improvement of
moral feeling and the growing aversion to this mercenary service. The
Constitution of 1848 altogether swept away this system of military
capitulations. At the time of the adoption of the constitution there
was only one such convention in force, being that of the King of
Naples and several of the Cantons; but public sentiment was so greatly
aroused by their participation in the defeat of the revolution, that
the Cantons were compelled to recall them, and thus the last of these
capitulations came to an end. There were certain bodies of troops who,
bearing the Swiss name or composed for the most part of Swiss soldiers,
still continued to fight for foreign governments; and to prevent this,
as far as possible, a federal law in 1859 prohibited every Swiss
citizen from entering, without the consent of the Federal Council,
those bodies of foreign troops which were not regarded as national
troops of the respective states. This did not hinder individual
citizens from enrolling themselves in the national troops of a foreign
state. To further avoid any complication of foreign relations through
such military connection, the cantonal constitutions first forbade the
reception of pensions and titles from foreign states; and a similar
provision was embodied in the federal Constitution of 1874, whereby
“members of the federal government, civil and military officials of the
Confederation, and federal representatives or commissioners, shall not
accept from foreign governments any pension, salary, title, present,
or decoration. Decorations shall not be worn in the Swiss army, nor
shall titles conferred by foreign governments be borne. Every officer,
under-officer, and soldier shall be forbidden to accept any such
distinction.”
The first approach towards the establishment of a federal army
was after Swiss independence had been recognized at the peace of
Westphalia, when the Confederation in 1648 adopted an arrangement
called the “_Defensional_,” by which, in case of urgent danger, the
Federal Diet could call upon the several Cantons to supply troops for
the general defence, in such numbers as were stipulated. In 1848 it
was proposed that the Confederation should be charged with the entire
military administration. This was rejected. In 1874 the effort was
renewed, and this most important power was substantially vested in the
Confederation by the constitution adopted that year, which contains the
following provisions:
Every Swiss is subject to military service. Each soldier receives
without expense his first equipment, clothing, and arms. The arms
remain in possession of the soldier, under conditions prescribed by
federal legislation. The Confederation enacts uniform laws on fees for
exemption from military service:
The federal army consists:
1. Of the cantonal military corps.
2. Of all Swiss who, though not belonging to such military corps, are
yet subject to military service.
The Confederation exercises control over the federal army and the
material of war provided by law.
In cases of danger, the Confederation has the exclusive and direct
control over all troops, whether incorporated in the federal army or
not, and over all other military resources of the Cantons.
The Cantons may exercise control over the military forces of their
territory, so far as this right is not limited by the federal
constitution or laws.
Laws on the organization of the army are an affair of the
Confederation. The execution of the military laws within the Cantons is
intrusted to the cantonal authorities, within limits fixed by federal
legislation, and under the supervision of the Confederation.
The entire military instruction and arming of the troops are under
the control of the Confederation. The clothing and equipments and
subsistence of the troops are provided by the Cantons; but the Cantons
are credited with the expenses therefor, in a manner to be determined
by federal law.
So far as military reasons do not prevent, bodies of troops are
formed out of the soldiers from the same Canton. The composition of
these bodies of troops, the maintenance of their effective strength,
and the appointment and promotion of the officers are to be reserved
to the Cantons, subject to general rules to be established by the
Confederation.
On payment of reasonable indemnity, the Confederation has the right
to use or acquire drill-grounds and buildings intended for military
purposes within the Cantons, together with the appurtenances thereof.
The terms of the indemnity shall be fixed by federal law. The Federal
Assembly may forbid public works which endanger the military interests
of the Confederation.
No decoration or title conferred by a foreign government shall be
borne in the federal army. No officer, nor non-commissioned officer or
soldier, shall accept such distinction.
The Confederation has no right to keep up a standing army.[68]
No Canton or half-Canton, without the permission of the federal
government, shall keep up a standing force of more than three hundred
men; the mounted police (_gendarmerie_) is not included in this number.
By these provisions, while the military system, as a whole, has fallen
under the authority of the Confederation, many important details are
left to be exercised by the Cantons. Upon them devolves the responsible
duty of carrying the federal laws into execution. They appoint all
officers below the rank of colonel, keep the military registers,
provide the equipments, uniforms, and necessary stores for the troops
(to be reimbursed by the Confederation), recruit and maintain the
effective strength of the body of troops formed within their respective
limits. The infantry, field artillery, and cavalry are all recruited by
the Cantons and called cantonal troops; the engineers, guides, sanitary
and administrative troops, and the army train are recruited by the
Confederation and called federal troops. The enrolling of men belonging
to the same Canton, as far as practicable, in the same corps is known
as the _système territorial_. Every man fights under the banner of
his own Canton, follows the regiment of his own Commune, keeps step
with the company of his own hamlet, or dies beside his brother,
son, or neighbor. These were the tactics of nature, and probably of
heroism, with mutual enthusiasm and reciprocal attachments, with common
interests and similarity of manners; like the children of Israel who
went out to battle, each “under the colors of the house of his father.”
For the proper execution and furtherance of the constitutional
provisions, several federal laws have been enacted, establishing these
general rules:
Every Swiss citizen is subject to military service from the time he
enters his twentieth year to the close of his forty-fourth year of age.
There are seven classifications of officials who are exempted, during
the time they are in office or employed:
1. Members of the Federal Assembly during the session of the Assembly.
2. Members of the Federal Council, the Chancellor of the Confederation,
and the clerks of the Federal Tribunal.
3. Those employed in the administration of the post and telegraph (the
latter now includes the telephone); employés in government arsenals,
workshops, and powder magazines; directors and wardens of prisons;
attendants in public hospitals; members of cantonal and communal
police, and frontier guards, or _Landjäger_.
4. Ecclesiastics who do not act as army chaplains.
5. Those employed in the public schools, only so far as it would
interrupt their school duties.
6. Railroad officials and employés of the steamboat companies that have
received concessions from the government.
7. All those who have been deprived of their civil rights by sentence
of court are excluded from the service.
The omission of the members of the Federal Tribunal from the list of
exempts, while the executive and legislative officials, together with
the clerks of the Tribunal, are embraced, can be accounted for only
upon the principle of _inter arma silent leges_.
When a Swiss citizen reaches his twentieth year he must present himself
at the levy of troops of the Canton of his domicile and be enrolled.
This must be done before an application for exemption can be made. The
raw recruits are sent direct to one of the _Écoles des Recrues_, for
which the Confederation is divided into eight territorial departments,
for infantry, for cavalry and artillery, three each, and two for
engineers. The federal military forces, or _Bundesauszug_, are divided
into three distinct classes:
1. The _Élite_ or active army, in which all citizens are liable to
serve from the age of twenty to thirty-two.
2. The _Landwehr_ or first reserve, composed of men from the age of
thirty-two to forty-four.
3. The _Landsturm_, consisting of men from seventeen to fifty, not
incorporated in the _Élite_ or _Landwehr_. This last reserve cannot,
as a rule, be called upon for service beyond the frontier. Men are not
discharged from the _Élite_ until their successors have been enrolled,
and in case of war the Federal Council is authorized to suspend
discharges both from the _Élite_ and the _Landwehr_. The recruits at
the _Écoles des Recrues_ undergo a course of instruction for periods
ranging from forty-five to eighty days, after which they are drafted
into the different arms of the service, and (with the exception of the
cavalry, who turn out annually) are called out on alternate years for a
course of training (_cours de répétition_), continuing from sixteen to
twenty days. Periodically, once or twice a year, the troops of a number
of Cantons assemble for a general muster. The infantry soldier has five
periods of training during the ten years he remains in the _Élite_ or
active service:
First year, forty-five days as a recruit.
Third year, sixteen days as a trained soldier.
Fifth year, sixteen days as a trained soldier.
Seventh year, sixteen days as a trained soldier.
Ninth year, sixteen days as a trained soldier.
Total, one hundred and nine days.
The cavalry is called out annually instead of biennially, and as a
compensation for this additional drill service, the men are discharged
from the _Élite_ two years sooner than the infantry, or at the age of
thirty.
The standard of height required of the recruit is five feet one
and a half inches, and the chest measurement in no case less than
thirty-one and a half inches.[69] Men not of the required height,
if specially fitted, by profession or business, for service in the
administrative troops or as drummers, trumpeters, armorers, or other
military handicraftsmen, may be recruited to serve in these capacities
if their height is not less than five feet five-eighths of an inch. The
number of recruits examined annually--that is to say, the number of
young men who become subject every year to military service--is about
thirty thousand. A permanent corps of one hundred and eighty-seven
instructors of various grades, and representing all the arms of the
service, is maintained. The members of this corps are about the only
permanently paid officers of the Swiss army. But they must have
undergone a thorough course of education and passed an examination at
one of the training establishments erected for the purpose. The centre
of these is the military academy at Thun, near Bern, maintained by the
Confederation, and which supplies the army both with the highest class
of officers and with teachers to instruct the lower grades.
Besides this academy or _Central Militär-Schule_ there are special
training-schools for the various branches of the service, especially
the artillery and the _Scharfschützen_ or picked riflemen. During the
period of instruction eight hours is laid down as the minimum of daily
drilling. The arms, clothing, and personal accoutrements remain in the
possession of the soldier, and he is expected to keep each article
in good condition and in readiness for inspection at any moment; and
he is not permitted to wear his uniform except when on active duty.
The inspection of arms, accoutrements, etc., is made annually, and is
conducted with much strictness; any repairs needed are ordered to be
done at the owner’s expense; and negligence in complying with the law
subjects the party to a fine, and in some instances to imprisonment. At
the termination of the _Élite_ service, the uniform is retained by the
recruit, but the arms and accoutrements are surrendered to the Canton.
Horses are provided for the cavalry in this manner: the horses are
first purchased by the government through officers designated for that
purpose; these are sent to the government cavalry stable, thoroughly
broken, then sold to such cavalry recruits as may require them. The
sale is made at public auction to the recruits, and one-half of the
price at which the animal is knocked down is paid by the Confederation
and the other half by the recruit. One-tenth of the recruit’s share,
however, is refunded to him at the end of each year’s service, so that
after ten trainings the horse becomes his personal property. During the
years of service the horse remains at the disposal of the government,
but in fact is only required during the annual drill, and in the
interval remains in the possession of its part owner, at his own cost.
He may work the animal, but it cannot be let out for hire or lent,
and he is responsible for its care and good condition. If the horse
dies in the service, one-half of the value of the recruit’s share is
refunded to him; if, on the other hand, the horse dies when not in the
service, the recruit pays the government a corresponding amount, unless
he can show that the death was in no way occasioned by carelessness or
culpable negligence. The same liability is incurred in case of injury
to the animal, unless it occurred from ordinary fair usage. In either
case, if the recruit be found in fault he is compelled to provide
himself with another horse. These horses are inspected at least once
a year by military veterinary surgeons. Mounted officers must provide
their own horses. In time of war the _Piketstellung_ can be declared
by the Federal Council, by which the sale of horses throughout the
Confederation is forbidden.
The strength of the several lines of the army in 1888, as obtained
from an official of the military department, was--_Élite_, 117,179,
_Landwehr_, 84,046, which, with the _Landsturm_, reckoned at 200,000,
gave in case of extreme emergency an available force of 401,225.
The _Landsturm_ has recently been divided into two classes, the _armed
Landsturm_ and the _auxiliary forces_; the latter is composed of
pioneers, administrative troops, guides, and velocipedists: both of
these classes, under a federal law of 1887, when called out, are placed
on the same footing, with reference to the rights of combatants, as
the _Élite_ or the _Landwehr_. The first line, or _Élite_, must be
regarded as the only active force homogeneous in its parts and complete
in its equipment. Preference for infantry is still preserved among the
Swiss, the cavalry representing only one twenty-seventh of the force.
This disproportion may be somewhat ascribed to two facts: first, on
account of the expense involved in the advance payment to be made on
the purchase of a horse, and then that in Switzerland cavalry would
hardly ever be required except for reconnoitring or vedette duties. The
election on the part of recruits to join the cavalry is voluntary; but
having selected that branch they must remain in it.
The Vetterli rifle, with a magazine containing eleven cartridges,
has been used by the army; but after long and thorough experiments
under government expert commissions with the Rubin rifle, a later and
improved patent, in June, 1889, it was accepted, and is being rapidly
substituted. The budget for 1890 contains an appropriation of 5,734,600
francs for the purchase of these rifles and 3,000,000 francs for
ammunition.
The highest rank in the Swiss army is that of colonel. In the event of
war the Federal Assembly nominates a general, who takes command till
the troops are disbanded. The only officer at present in the service
who has held that temporary rank is General Herzog, the commander of
the troops in 1871, and who is now doing regular duty as a colonel.
Then come lieutenant-colonel, major, captain, and first lieutenant;
these constitute the commissioned officers. The non-commissioned
officers are sergeant-major, quartermaster-sergeant, sergeant, and
corporal. Colonels command divisions and brigades; lieutenant-colonels,
regiments; majors, battalions; and captains, companies. The Cantons
nominate officers up to the rank of _commandant de bataillon_, subject
to the approval of the federal military authorities. Officers of
higher rank than _commandant de bataillon_ hold their commissions from
the Federal Council. Then there is a general staff or _État major_,
appointed by the Federal Council, consisting of three colonels, sixteen
lieutenant-colonels or majors, and thirty-five captains. The chief of
this staff is appointed by the Council for a term of three years, and
is practically in charge of the forces during peace.
The pay of the army, like all branches of public service in
Switzerland, is on a very economical scale. With the exception of
the members of the general staff and corps of instructors (the
former substantially constitutes the latter), who are permanently in
the service, officers and privates only receive pay during active
service,--that is, during the short drill periods or in time of war.
The commander-in-chief (who only serves in time of war) receives fifty
francs per day.
Francs.
Colonel commanding division receives 30
Colonel commanding brigade ” 25
Colonel ” 20
Lieutenant-Colonel ” 15
Major ” 12
Captain ” 10
First Lieutenant ” 8
Second Lieutenant ” 7
Personal allowance for uniform and equipments:
Francs.
For officers not mounted 200
For officers mounted 250
For equipment of horses 250
The private soldiers are paid eighty centimes per day, and from this a
sum, to be fixed by the chief of the corps, is deducted to meet certain
contingent personal expenses of the private. Rations in the field
daily embrace 750 grammes of bread; 375 of fresh meat; 150 to 200 of
vegetables; 20 of salt; 15 of roasted coffee; 20 of sugar. Commutation
to officers is one franc per day. If a private furnishes his own
coffee, vegetables, and wood, a proportionate allowance is fixed by the
Federal Council. The rations are the same during the drilling terms,
but the pay is reduced to fifty centimes per day. The constitution
declares that “soldiers who lose their lives or suffer permanent injury
to their health in consequence of federal military service shall be
entitled to aid from the Confederation for themselves or their families
in case of need.”
A federal law grants pensions:
1. Up to 1200 francs in case of complete blindness, the loss of both
hands, or both feet, or other injury causing absolute incapacity to
earn a living.
2. Up to 700 francs in case of partial incapacity for work.
3. Up to 400 francs in case where business or calling must be changed
to one less profitable, in consequence of injury.
4. Up to 200 francs when this change is necessitated in a modified
degree.
Pensions to widow, children, or parent:
1. Widow without children up to 350 francs; with children up to 650
francs.
2. Children one or two, each 250 francs; more than two, total of 650
francs.
3. Father or mother (where no widow or children), 200 francs; if both
living, total of 350 francs.
4. Each brother or sister (when neither widow, children, nor parent
survive), 100 francs each.
5. Grandfather or grandmother (where neither widow, children, parents,
nor brother or sister survive), 150 francs; if both living, 250 francs
total.
These amounts may be increased in special and meritorious cases. Women
divorced or living apart from their husbands, and children eighteen
years of age, are not entitled to receive pensions.
Every Swiss citizen subject to military service, whether he resides
in the Confederation or not, who does not personally perform it, is
subject in lieu thereof to the payment of an annual tax in money.
Foreigners established in Switzerland are likewise subject to this tax,
unless they are exempt therefrom by virtue of international treaties or
belong to states in which the Swiss domiciled there are neither liable
to military service nor to the payment of any equivalent tax in money.
This is the only direct tax levied in the Confederation; and the gross
sum realized is shared proportionately between the Confederation and
the Canton.
Exempt from this tax are:
1. Paupers assisted by the public charity fund, and those who by
reason of mental or physical infirmity are incapable of earning their
subsistence, or who have not a sufficient fortune for the support of
themselves and family.
2. Those rendered unfit through previous service.
3. Swiss citizens in foreign countries, if they are subject to a
personal service or to an exemption tax for the same in place of
domicile.
4. The railway and steamboat employés during the time when they are
liable to the military service organized for the working of the
railways and steamboats in time of war.
5. Policemen and the federal frontier guards.
This military tax consists in a personal tax of six francs, and of
an additional tax on property and income; the amount exacted from any
one tax-payer not to exceed 3000 francs per annum. The additional tax
is one franc and a half for each one thousand francs of net fortune,
and one franc and a half for each one hundred francs of net income.
Net fortunes less than 1000 francs are exempt, and from the net income
are to be deducted 600 francs. Net fortune is the personal and real
property after deducting debts of record, chattels necessary for
household, tools of trade, and agricultural implements. Real estate and
improvements are assessed for this tax at three-fourths of their market
value. In computing the property of a person for this tax, half of the
fortune of the parents, or if not living, then of the grand-parents, is
included, proportionately to the number of children or grandchildren,
unless the father of the tax-payer shall himself perform military
service or pay the exemption tax.
Net income embraces:
1. The earnings of an art, profession, trade, business, occupation,
or employment. The expenses incurred to obtain these earnings are
deducted, also necessary household expenses, and five per cent. of the
capital invested in the business.
2. The product of annuities, pensions, and other similar revenues.
From the age of thirty-three to the completion of the military age,
only one-half of the tax is exacted. The Federal Assembly has the
right to increase the tax to double the amount for those years in
which the greater part of the _Élite_ troops are called into service.
The military tax for Swiss citizens residing abroad is calculated
every year by special rolls, and the persons advised by the officials
of the Canton of their birth, if their address be known, otherwise
by public advertisement. The tax for exemption is paid in the Canton
where the tax-payer is domiciled when the rolls are prepared. Parents
are responsible for the payment of the tax for their minor sons, and
for those sons who, though of age, remain a part of the household. The
period for prescription is five years for tax-payers present in the
country, and ten years for those absent from the country. The Cantons
are charged with making out the annual rolls and collecting the tax.
By the end of January following the year of the tax the Cantons must
remit to the proper federal official the half of the gross product
collected. A portion of this is assigned by the Federal Assembly to
the fund for military pensions. In each Canton there is a tribunal
to pass upon appeals on the correctness of the rolls of tax-payers.
All disputes arising as to the tax are referred to and decided by
the Federal Council. With a view of insuring a uniform application
of the law of military service, the Confederation reserves supreme
supervision; and the ultimate decision upon all questions arising out
of the operation of it, and likewise upon decrees relating to the
imposition and collection of the tax, rests with it. The estimated
receipts from this tax for the share of the Confederation are placed in
the budget for 1889 at 1,330,000 francs. An eminent Swiss publicist,
Dr. Dubs, in criticising this tax-law, asserts “that in many points it
is equally irrational, and, in the construction of its details, leads
moreover to further absurdities of all kinds, of which undoubtedly the
claiming to tax those in foreign countries and the taxation of the
heir’s possible expectations form the highest point.” He might have
added that this tax, so far as levied upon incomes of persons liable
to military service but exempted therefrom by reason of disability
or other cause, partakes rather of the character of a law to raise
revenue than as providing a penalty for the non-performance of military
service. The failure to render such service on the part of one enjoying
a specified income is not more heavily punished than the failure of
one with less or no income. The operation of this tax has caused much
complaint on the part of citizens of the United States “established”
in Switzerland. Nearly all of the European states have concluded
treaties with Switzerland, since the enactment of this “military
tax-law,” bringing themselves within the conditions it prescribes for
the exemption of their citizens “established” in Switzerland, from any
personal service or any tax in lieu thereof.
The citizens of the United States residing in Switzerland, of whom
there are quite a number engaged in prosperous and large industries,
still come under the treaty concluded between Switzerland and the
United States in 1850, long previous to the passage of the tax-law
(1878), Article II. of which reads: “The citizens of one of the two
countries, residing or established in the other, shall be free from
personal military service, but they shall be liable to the pecuniary or
material contributions which may be required by way of compensation,
from citizens of the country where they reside, who are exempt from
that service.” This article seems to contemplate the imposition of
a penalty for the non-performance of a duty from which the party is
specially exempted. It is susceptible of a plausible argument, that a
proper construction of this article does not warrant the collection
of the tax imposed by the Swiss law of 1878, from the United States
citizens residing there. For this tax is not in fact a “pecuniary
contribution” required from citizens of Switzerland who are exempt from
personal military service, but is a tax required only from citizens
who by reason of their age are subject to military service, but who in
consequence of physical or other disability cannot perform it. That
the words, “by way of compensation,” were not intended to qualify the
phrase, “pecuniary or material contribution,” but refer to, “shall be
free from personal military service.” Should a citizen of the United
States residing in Switzerland prefer to render personal military
service rather than pay the tax, his service would not be accepted; he
would be informed that by virtue of the treaty with his country he
is “free from personal military service, but liable to the pecuniary
or material contribution,” and he must pay his tax,--“your money and
not your service is what we wish.” If his service was accepted, it
would carry an implication of the right to enforce either personal
service or in lieu thereof the payment of a commutation tax for
exemption. The language of the treaty obviously contemplated only such
general contribution as might be required of all classes of citizens,
and excludes the idea of a special tax levied upon an exceptional
class. During the last war in the United States the tax exemption or
commutation, to which a certain class of citizens were subjected by the
draft law, did not interfere with domiciliary rights. There is to-day
no exaction on the part of the United States government from foreign
citizens domiciled or established within them, of any pecuniary or
material contributions of a military nature; nor is it believed that
there is any such exaction on the part of any of the States.[70] The
Swiss construction of the treaty, as to the liability of the United
States citizens residing therein to this tax, was substantially
conceded by our Department of State in 1876, and left the remedy to be
sought by an international treaty. The Swiss government has indicated
its willingness to enter upon the negotiation of such a conventional
agreement to effect the relief of United States citizens from this tax,
after the manner prescribed by the law of 1878, and which was promptly
acted upon by all the European powers. The government of the United
States has not found it expedient to do this. Many difficulties are
suggested.
In parts of Switzerland there has appeared some dissatisfaction with
the military service and tax. It is alleged to be an unnecessary
waste of money expended on the country’s armed forces, draining its
limited resources to no practical purpose, and that an unprofitable and
irksome task is imposed upon them by this assessment. The statesmen of
Switzerland stand united in the expression that it is the only way to
be sure of their neutrality being respected; as was abundantly proven
by the prompt presence of the federal troops compelling Bourbaki’s
corps of 80,000 men, when in 1871 they were driven into the Swiss
territory, the moment they crossed the line, to lay down their arms;
and thereby saved the German army from crossing the frontier of the
Confederation and engaging the French on Swiss soil. The President of
the Confederation, in his address to the _Tir fédéral_ of 1887, voiced
the prevailing sentiment when he said: “The government of Switzerland
would remain foremost in maintaining peace and pride in its arts as
the supreme glory of the republic; and would constantly endeavor to
preserve her neutrality, but to do this she must not rely altogether
on treaties, but also look to her own strength and energy; to keep her
soldiery in condition to show that the adequacy of the Confederation
to all the needs of national life is, in no single department, taken
on trust. He therefore would urge them to be assiduous in improving
military training, to add such training to the education of the youth,
to hold rifle contests and to perfect drills, all of which should be
animated by a free fraternal spirit.” Notwithstanding the constitution
forbids the Confederation to keep a standing army, or any Canton to
have more than three hundred men as a permanent military body, every
able-bodied Swiss is a soldier of the republic; not on paper merely or
by legal and constitutional fiction, but _actually_. The necessity of
self-defence forced Switzerland to be the very first power in which
universal liability to military service was introduced in Europe, many
years and even centuries before other countries had recognized the
principle, which is now almost universal. The Swiss army is based
upon a “voluntary-compulsory” system. It is essentially a force of
militia intended for defensive purposes only. Admirable as it is in
a military and economic sense, it is scarcely more than a summer
holiday, compared with the rigid and grinding martial duties under the
other European systems. Two things make it a light burden, if not a
diversion, for the Swiss. They have a strong natural military instinct
coming down through generations.[71] Then this instinct is in every
possible manner encouraged and developed by the government, the Canton,
and the Commune. The elements of drill begin with the very first week
of a boy’s schooling, as soon as he can stand erect or poise a stick.
All kinds of games are practised that tend to open and expand the
chest, to nerve the limbs, give carriage to the form, and serve to
strengthen, temper, and adjust it. All these exercises fit him and, in
fact, contemplate his becoming in time a soldier. He not only learns
in his youth the elements of drill and the use of arms, but habits of
obedience, order, and cleanliness; and even those yet higher duties of
a camp, the will to mingle class with class, to put down personal hopes
and seek no object but the public good.
The _Schützenfest_, liberally encouraged by the government, is held
biennially. This is in many respects the parallel of the ancient Greek
festival game, which served the purpose of keeping alive the national
spirit. It is the most important and popular public gathering in
Switzerland; the entries for the various prizes running as high as
100,000. It is uniformly opened by a formal address from the President
of the Confederation and attended by all the leading men of the
country. It is a national fête day. Then there are the _Sociétés de
tir_, cantonal and communal shooting societies, which number about
1600, with over 100,000 members. These societies compete one with the
other, and in event of their conforming to certain regulations receive
subsidies from the Confederation. These regulations require:
1. Every member of the _Élite_ or _Landwehr_ must, on application, be
admitted to the club, if he is able and willing to pay his share of the
expense for targets, markers, etc.
2. The club must number at least twenty members.
3. The firing exercises must be done with the regulation arms and
ammunition; each soldier must use his own gun; regulation targets must
be had, and at least ten shots fired at every meeting, at each of the
distances named.
4. To receive the subsidy, every member of the club must annually take
part in at least three firing exercises, and must fire a total of fifty
shots, of which at least ten must be at one of the regulation distances
and regulation targets.
Every Swiss man therefore is drilled, armed, and ready to turn out
and fight; in his house, within arm’s reach, must hang his gun, his
uniform, and sword. The _concierge_ who accepts your _pourboire_ may
be a captain in the line, and the driver of your _voiture_ a corporal.
Some one, writing of the universal fusion between the military and
civic elements, tells this incident: A gentleman called to see a lawyer
on business; asking the servant if the lawyer was in, he answered, “The
colonel is not here, sir, but you can see the major.” So the visitor
was shown in, and saw the major, who was the lawyer’s partner, and when
he made a statement of his business, he was told, “That is not in my
department, the captain will look after it.” The captain was the firm’s
clerk, and while talking to him, a second clerk came into the office,
whom the captain saluted, saying, “Good day, lieutenant.”
In the public schools even the girls receive some training which fits
them to be useful auxiliaries in the army. They learn to stanch the
flow of blood, to dress a gunshot wound, and to nurse the sick; they
know some chemistry and are quick at sewing, binding, dressing, and
such medical arts. And if need, they would march in line with knapsacks
on their backs, as their mothers did in times past. The Helvetic women
fought against the army of Octavianus Augustus in 16 B.C., and when
all was lost, hurled their young children at the Roman soldiers and
rushed forward to meet their own death. In the old days of trial by
judicial combat, _assumere duellum_, the chronicles of 1288 contained
this curious entry: _Duellum fuit in Bern inter virum et mulierem,
sed mulier prevaluit_. Not only men but women fought at the battle
of Stantz, and among the killed were counted one hundred and thirty
women. During the French invasion of 1798, upward of eight hundred
women took up arms in the _Landsturm_, and bore all the fire of the
enemy in the last actions. At Fraubrunnen two hundred and sixty women
received the enemy with scythes, pitchforks, and pickaxes; one hundred
and eighty were killed, and one of them, whose name was Glar, had two
daughters and three granddaughters who fought by her side,--these six
heroines all were found among the dead. In the Swiss Reformed Church,
in administering the sacraments of the Lord’s Supper, the men go up
first and the women afterwards, with the single exception of Geiss, in
Appenzell, where, on account of their service at the battle of Amstoss,
the women go up first.
The Swiss owe their reputation to their freedom, and their freedom
to their valor. Their military spirit is entirely free from greed
of territory, lust of power, “the pride, pomp, and circumstance of
glorious war,” and other forces far from admirable in their motive,
which give prominence and predominance to modern armaments; it is
inspired by motives of civic manhood and manly self-assertion. A small
and by no means rich nation that relaxes not from its attitude of
defence is less likely to be attacked, though surrounded by powerful
and ambitious neighbors, than another nation which possesses wealth,
commerce, population, and all the sinews of war in far greater
abundance, but is unprepared. The more sleek the prey, the greater
is the temptation, and “no wolf will leave a sheep to dine upon a
porcupine.”
The spirit which animated the brave old Swiss was not that of revenge,
or plunder, or bloodshed. They fought simply when and because it was
necessary to insure the liberty of their native land. It was a sense
of duty rather than love of glory that strengthened and filled them
with an invincible heroism and inspired them with the sentiment so
often heard on the battle-field, _Wir müssen unsere Pflicht thun_ (“we
must do our duty”). The set of military regulations drawn up after the
battle of Sempach, more than five hundred years ago, might furnish a
model for to-day; a few taken at random will show their tenor:
1. Not to attack or injure any church or chapel unless the enemy have
retired into it.
2. Not to insult any females.
3. It is forbidden to any man to straggle for the sake of plunder, or
to appropriate to himself any part of the booty, which must all be
reported and be divided equally in good faith.
4. Every Swiss engages to sacrifice his life or property, if required,
for the defence of his countrymen.
5. No Swiss shall abandon his post even when wounded.
6. No Swiss shall take away anything from any of his countrymen either
in peace or war.
War has been the great training school of hardihood, endurance,
courage, self-sacrifice, and devotion to public duty. There is no
profession more favorable to the growth of noble sentiment and manly
action than that of the soldier; and to its beneficial action in the
formation of States, every page of history bears flaming testimony. A
great German professor declares: “Our army is not simply the organized
power of the state; it is also a great school, nay, our greatest
school for the masses, of intellectual culture, morals, politeness and
patriotism.” Let the Swiss ever cherish and imitate the simple lives,
the undaunted courage, the obstinate and enduring spirit, and the lofty
patriotism of their ancestors who, in the great contests which rolled
round the fort of their mountains, died on the fields of Morat and
Morgarten.
CHAPTER XIII.
EDUCATION.
No inquiry can be more important than that which proposes to discover
the legitimate purpose and the best course of general education. All
men, how much soever they may be distinguished from each other by a
variety of circumstances, connections, and pursuits, have yet one
common set of duties to perform; and it is in forming this character,
and imparting the ability to discharge these duties, that the business
of what may be called, in the most general sense, a good education,
properly consists. Such an education may, therefore, fitly be described
to be that course of discipline which is accommodated to man, as he is
man; which is to lay the firm foundation of excellence in future life;
and by which it is designed to effect the highest preparatory culture
of his whole nature. It happens, however, that the foundation of those
virtues which are to render us useful and happy must be laid at a time
when we are least willing to receive instruction,--when we are in
search rather of amusement for our imagination than of employment for
our reason. Aware of these difficulties, the instructors of mankind
have been in all ages solicitous to discover popular and efficacious
methods for their admonitions. Theories once embraced as judicious
and complete are succeeded by others which, in turn, are declared
as erroneous and defective. Plans at present deemed ill-concerted
or impracticable are the same which it was once thought reasonable
to adopt. Where government, national or state, insists upon having
every child given over to it for the first and formative educational
period, it assumes an infinite responsibility for the judicious and
reasonable training of the young committed to its care. And they have,
in turn, the right to conclude that the instruction given is that, of
all others, which the wisdom and wit of the age have pronounced to
be the most beneficial and important for them to receive. The system
of education is proportionately more enlightened and liberal as the
liberty of the subject is the basis and aim of the constitution. The
interested caution of a despotic government cares not to open too wide
every avenue to science. The state of public instruction is one of the
greatest glories of Switzerland. There is no country where primary
instruction is more developed and more wide-spread. A Switzer will tell
you that every child in the Confederation, unless under the school age
or mentally incapacitated, can read and write. This is true to the
extent that the exceptions to the rule are not sufficient to constitute
an illiterate class. Keeping school is the permanent business of
the state, and the attention to it is not merely a fixed and formal
business, but an unceasing and engrossing duty. A school is one of the
first things present to the eyes of a Swiss child, and one of the last
things present to the mind of a Swiss man. On reaching a certain age,
the right to stay at home and play ceases; the school seizes the child,
holds him fast for years, and rears him into what he is to be. The two
great items of expense which figure in the budget of a Swiss Canton
are the roads and public instruction. The sum bestowed on the latter
is immense, relatively to the total means of the Canton, standing far
ahead of the disbursements for military service, which, in Europe, is
a startling fact. On the continent, with the exception of Switzerland,
the cost of the public forces, even in times of absolute peace, is
estimated to be nearly fourteen times that of the public schools.[72]
The passion for public education, and the large expenditure so
cheerfully made for its support, are but natural in the land that gave
birth to Rousseau, Pestalozzi, and Fellenberg. John Henry Pestalozzi,
born at Zurich in 1746, was the most celebrated of Swiss educational
reformers and philanthropists. His system furnished the basis and gave
the first impetus to the public school organization; it furnished also
a model for the rest of Europe, and especially for Germany. The main
features of this system, with the improvements made upon it, are to-day
regarded in Switzerland as the chief corner-stone of their superb
educational condition. His whole school apparatus consisted of himself
and his pupils; so he studied the children themselves, their wants and
capacities. “I stood in the midst of them,” he explains, “pronouncing
various sounds and asking the children to imitate them. Whoever saw
it was struck with the effect. It is true, it was like a meteor which
vanishes in the air as soon as it appears. No one understood its
nature. I did not understand it myself. It was the result of a simple
idea, or rather of a fact of human nature, which was revealed to my
feelings, but of which I was far from having a clear consciousness.
Being obliged to instruct the children by myself, without any
assistance, I learnt the art of teaching a great number together;
and as I had no other means of bringing the instruction before them
than that of pronouncing everything to them loudly and distinctly,
I was naturally led to the idea of making them draw, write, or work,
all at the same time.” Combining the experience with the ideas he had
received many years before from Rousseau, he invented his system of
object-lessons. The Yverdon Institute had soon a world-wide reputation.
Many came to wonder, many to be educated, many to learn the art of
education. Pestalozzian teachers went from it to Madrid, to Naples, to
St. Petersburg. Kings and philosophers joined in doing it honor. While
Pestalozzi did not invent the principle that education is a developing
of the faculties rather than an imparting of knowledge, he did much to
bring this truth to bear on early education, and to make it not only
received, but acted on. We must, at least, concede to him the merit,
which he himself claims, of having “lighted upon truths little noticed
before, and principles which, though almost generally acknowledged,
are seldom carried out in practice.” The motive power of his career
was the “enthusiasm of humanity.” He never lost faith in the true
dignity of man, and in the possibility of raising the Swiss peasantry
to a condition worthy of it. “From my youth up,” he says, “I felt what
a high and indispensable human duty it was to labor for the poor and
miserable, that he may attain to a consciousness of his own dignity
through his feeling of the universal powers and endowments which he
possesses awakened within him, so that he may be raised not only above
the ploughing oxen, but also above the man in purple and silk who lives
unworthily of his high destiny.” It is claimed of him that he was the
first teacher to announce convincingly the doctrine that all people
should be educated; that, in fact, education is the one good gift to
give to all, rich or poor, and, unlike any other giving, it helps and
does not hinder self-help. Pestalozzi was no friend to the notion of
giving instruction always in the guise of amusement, contending that
a child should very early in life be taught the lesson that exertion
is indispensable for the attainment of knowledge. At the same time
he held that a child should not be taught to look upon exertion as an
evil; he should be encouraged, not frightened, into it. “An interest,”
he claims, “in study is the first thing which a teacher should endeavor
to excite and keep alive. There are scarcely any circumstances in which
a want of application in children does not proceed from a want of
interest; and there are, perhaps, none in which the want of interest
does not originate in the mode of teaching adopted by the teacher. I
would go so far as to lay it down as a rule that, whenever children are
inattentive and apparently take no interest in a lesson, the teacher
should always first look to himself for the reason. Could we conceive
the indescribable tedium which must oppress the young mind while the
weary hours are slowly passing away, one after another, in occupations
which it can neither relish nor understand, could we remember the
like scenes which our own childhood has passed through, we should no
longer be surprised at the remissness of the school-boy, creeping
like a snail unwillingly to school. We must adopt a better mode of
instruction, by which children are less left to themselves, less thrown
upon the unwelcome employment of passive listening, but more roused by
questions, animated by illustrations, interested and won by kindness.”
The efforts of Pestalozzi went down in clouds, and when he died, at the
age of eighty-one, in 1827, he had seen the apparent failure of all his
toils. He had not, however, failed in reality. And when twenty years
later the centenary of his birth was celebrated by school-masters,
not only in his native country but throughout Germany, it was found
that Pestalozzian ideas had been sown, and were bearing fruit, over
the greater part of central Europe. Even to-day school-masters might
learn much from Pestalozzi, in aiming more at a plan of education
founded on a knowledge of human nature, and its modes of instruction
which shall better develop their pupils’ faculties. The true functions
of Pestalozzi, it is alleged, were to educate ideas, not children.
Even those who are most averse to theoretical views, which they call
unpractical, will admit, as practical men, that their methods are
probably susceptible of improvement, and that even a theorist might
lead them to make many observations which would otherwise have escaped
them; might teach them to examine what their aim really was, and
then whether they are using the most suitable methods to accomplish
it. Such a theorist is Pestalozzi. He points to a high ideal, and
bids us measure our modes of education by it. When Switzerland would
honor Pestalozzi’s name, the monument she built was more than brass
or bronze. It was a school,--a school where the memoirs of the man
were carved, not on wood or stone, but in the minds of happy, growing
youths, the fortunate beneficiaries of a system whose foundation he
laid.[73] Down to 1848 all the public schools in Switzerland had been
in the hands of the Cantons; in the federal constitution, adopted at
that time, it was provided that the Confederation might establish a
university and a polytechnic school. A proposition for a university was
soon thereafter submitted and rejected. Subsequently a law was passed,
in 1854, establishing a federal polytechnical school. In view of the
antagonism existing between the German, French, and Italian Cantons,
and the social friction that followed between the adherents of the
different creeds, it was found important that the Confederation should
be in a position to strengthen and direct the forces which make for
unity, and attention was directed to the vital forces which proceed
from a wisely-arranged system of public instruction. This resulted
in more extensive power being conferred upon the Confederation, in
the revised Constitution of 1874, with respect to education. The
27th Article of the Constitution declares: “The Confederation has
the right to establish, besides the existing polytechnical school,
a federal university and other institutions for higher instruction,
or may assist in the support of said institutions. The Cantons shall
provide for primary education, which must be adequate, and shall be
placed exclusively under the direction of the civil authorities. It is
compulsory, and in the public schools free. The public schools shall
be open to the adherents of all religious sects without any offence
to their freedom of conscience or of belief. The Confederation shall
take the necessary measures against such Cantons as shall not conform
to these provisions.” Primary instruction was first made compulsory
under this Constitution of 1874. The promotion and organization of the
elementary education are left in the hands of the Cantons, subject to
the control of the Confederation; but it must be exclusively under the
civil authority. This does not exclude the clergy--if not Jesuits--from
the position of teachers and other school officers, but simply
requires, if occupying these positions, they must stand on the same
footing as laymen. No person who belongs to a religious order, claiming
allegiance paramount to the state, can be a teacher in the public
schools. The provision guaranteeing freedom of conscience and belief
is complied with by the Cantons in a way suitable to their wants.
Religious instruction is usually given on fixed days, at stated hours,
so that every facility for absenting themselves is afforded to children
whose parents wish them only to receive secular instruction. In many
instances the religious instruction is confined to truths common to
all Christians, and to readings from the Bible. In reference to the
relation of the schools to religion in Switzerland, Matthew Arnold
reported: “Whoever has seen the divisions caused in a so-called logical
nation like the French by this principle of the neutrality of the
popular school in matters of religion might expect differently here.
None whatever has arisen. The Swiss communities, applying the principle
for themselves and not leaving theorists and politicians to apply it
for them, have done in the matter what they consider proper, and have
in every popular school religious instruction in the religion of the
majority, a Catholic instruction in Catholic Cantons, like Luzern, a
Protestant in Protestant Cantons, like Zurich; and there is no unfair
dealing, no proselytizing, no complaint.” The first school-year varies
from five to seven years of age, and runs up to twelve, except in
a few Cantons, where it extends to the fourteenth, fifteenth, and
sixteenth years. Primary instruction is left to the determination
of the several Cantons, only it must be, under the constitution,
“adequate.” With the exception of the Canton of Solothurn, where all
children must receive their primary instruction in the public schools,
a person is not obliged to send his children to the public school. He
is perfectly free to have them instructed wherever he wishes, provided
they receive an education, at least as good as that which is given in
the public schools. Parents who neglect or refuse to do one or the
other are cited before the authorities and subject to a fine, and
in case of a repetition of the offence to imprisonment. In most of
the Cantons the gratuity covers books and other school-materials to
children of indigent parents. There is no class of vagrant or destitute
children which the system fails to reach; even to those too poor to
obtain proper food and clothing, both public and private assistance
are freely rendered. The obligation resting upon the Confederation
to see that the Cantons meet the constitutional requirements has so
far not been supplemented by any federal legislation, prescribing the
method of such enforcement, or imposing any penalties for disregard
of the law. Certain Cantons having failed to do their duties in this
respect, the Federal Assembly in 1882 instructed the Federal Council to
take steps to insure a general compliance with the provisions of the
constitution. The Council proposed the creation of a Federal Department
of Public Instruction, with a number of inspectors, whose duty it
would be to enforce the law. So soon as the Assembly submitted this
suggestion in the form of a federal law, nearly two hundred thousand
citizens demanded its subjection to the _Referendum_ (30,000 was
sufficient to do so), and upon the taking of the popular vote, it was
rejected by the extraordinary majority of 146,129. It was an indignant
protest against what was regarded as an attempted interference with
their local home-government of the schools. Therefore the details
of school administration, organization, and inspection still remain
in the hands of the educational department of each Canton. In some
Cantons inspectors are appointed by the educational department; in
others, it is voluntarily conducted by a board composed chiefly of
professional men,--pastors or persons of influence. These inspectors
decide as to the course of studies, the books to be used, and act as a
sort of tribunal to hear and decide all controversies that may arise
between the teachers and the local authorities. As a rule, women are
not eligible as school inspectors. Every Commune, in addition to the
inspectors, has a school commission, elected by the communal assembly.
They are charged with providing sufficient school accommodation, and
keeping the buildings in repair; also to visit the schools and see
that any suggestions made by the inspector have been properly carried
out. The Commune provides the sites for the school buildings, and
these are erected at the joint expense of the Commune and Canton.
Great attention is given to the construction of these school-houses,
as to their comfort and convenience; the windows must face the east
or southeast, and the benches so arranged that the light falls upon
the pupil’s left hand. Then there is sure to be a large and grassy
plot for the children’s play-ground, with a fountain of pure water on
it, shady trees, and all the accessories for athletic exercise. The
school-house is the most commodious, modern, and handsome edifice to
be seen in a Swiss town. One may look in vain for the court-house and
town-hall, but on the most central and costly site is the school-house,
the pride of every city square and village slope. The schools are not
mixed, and when the Commune is not able to sustain separate schools,
the boys attend in the morning, and the girls in the afternoon.
Saturday is not a holiday. Each class has so many hours of schooling
for the week, apportioned among the six days. Every form of corporal
punishment is forbidden. No bodily pain, no bodily shame, is suffered
in the schools. Chastisement, it is claimed, first brutalizes a child;
second, makes him cowardly; and, third, blunts his sense of shame,
which must soon form the bulwark round virtue. “A lad has rights,”
says the Swiss teacher. “We cannot stint his food, we cannot lock him
up, we cannot crown him with a dunce’s cap, or we cannot make a guy
of him. Our discipline is wholly moral; our means are prizes, good
words, all leading up to public acts of honor. Should we have any
incorrigible ones, they are expelled, but expulsion is a very serious
matter, and must be exercised under prescribed rules, with due notice
to parents and the school officials; and at first only temporary and
conditional, and never final and absolute, without the formal sanction
of the school commission. This emergency rarely occurs. A threat or
admonition suffices, for expulsion is considered only one degree from
ruin.” Obedience which is rendered merely because there is a sense of
authority about the commander destroys the sympathetic relation which
should exist between the teacher and pupil. The best and only true
discipline is that which is secured, not through habits created from
the will of the teacher, says Professor Shaler, of Harvard, but won
through the exercise of the will of the pupil; only when accomplished
by sympathetic stimulus, is the effect truly educational. Manliness,
sincerity, and conscientiousness are its legitimate fruits; it fosters
honesty and truthfulness more than any regimen discipline.
The pupil’s manners and appearance are also cared for. He is taught
how to appear and act no less than how to read and write; how to walk,
stand, and speak; that his hands and face should be kept clean, as
well as his papers and books. A blot upon his page and a smudge upon
his face are regarded as equally bad. “A book befouled,” the teacher
tells us, “with grime is wasted, and our simple economical habits will
not suffer such waste; turn over any of these books, which are in
daily use, no leaf is torn or dog-eared, nor the covers defaced with
scribbling.” The same observation would apply to the school furniture
and building. The desks, though extremely plain, look as if they are
daily washed and polished; not a spot nor splash of ink to be seen
on their surface, not any evidence of the bad boy’s knife; the large
corridors and spacious stairways show no scratch or scrawl; the wall
free from fingermarks and inscriptions, and no bits of paper on the
floor. The children, representing all classes of society, from the
patrician to the poorest peasant, are neatly and comfortably clad;
none dirty, ragged, or shoeless. To an expression of surprise at this,
we are informed “that if a child comes to school with face begrimed
or clothes torn, he is washed, cleaned, and mended up, and then sent
home; the mother gets ashamed on finding that some other woman, or
it may be a man, has had to wash her child; the child also becomes
mortified, and it is never necessary to repeat the treatment.” The
moment that a pupil is on the street he has passed from the circle of
his home, and that moment has commenced the school’s authority. The
regulations, printed on slips and dropped in every house, contain,
among a score of others, the following rule relating to conduct on
the street: “Delay of any kind between the scholar’s home and school
is not allowed. No whooping, yelling, throwing stones and snow-balls,
teasing children, ridiculing age or deformity can be endured. Grown
persons shall be met with kind civility, politely greeted as they
pass, and thus shall honor be reflected on the school.” There is very
little contumacious absence from school. The children have the habit
of going to school as a matter of course, and the parents equally
the habit of acquiescing in their going. The Federal Factory Act of
1877, with a purpose of preventing any interference with attendance
at school, forbids the employment, in a mill or public workshop,
of any child until he has attained the age of fifteen. And every
Swiss _recruit_ for military service is required to pass an _examen
pédagogique_, with a view of enabling the authorities to ascertain
the degree of instruction attained by the youth of the country. This
examination consists of arithmetic, geography, and Swiss history;
and those who do not come up to the minimum educational standard are
required to undergo instruction at the _recruit_ school, and the odium
attendant upon this is found to exercise a marked beneficial effect on
the education of the peasantry. The teachers of the primary schools
are nominated by the school inspectors and elected by the Communal
Assembly. Teachers of the higher schools are appointed by the Cantonal
Director of Education and confirmed by the Board of Educational
Department. They are elected for a term of six years, and after
service on a differential scale are retired on a pension of not less
than one-half of their salary at the time of their retirement. Each
Commune decides for itself whether male or female teachers shall be
employed. The teachers are trained for a period of four years in one
of the cantonal normal schools. In the Grisons and Neuchâtel, normal
schools are attached to the secondary schools, but in the Cantons of
Zurich, Bern, Luzern, Schwyz, Freiburg, Solothurn, St. Gallen, Aargau,
Thurgau, Ticino, Vaud, and Valais separate establishments exist. The
students are usually lodged and boarded at the actual cost; and free
and half-free places are open for those unable to pay in full. Each
Commune must pay to the primary school-teacher a minimum salary of
550 francs, but these salaries will run from 600 to 1000 francs, with
free lodging and fuel, the latter being an important item of expense.
Those in the larger towns receive from 1200 to 1700 francs, secondary
school-teachers are paid from 2200 to 2500 francs, and teachers in the
gymnasiums an average of 3300 francs. The Cantons assist the Communes
in augmenting the lower salaries and in the payment of the pensions.
After thirty years of service, or in case of disability or illness
contracted in the line of professional duty, teachers may retire on
the pension above indicated. In some Cantons, after five years of
service, 100 francs are added to the salary, and an additional 100
for each _quinquennium_. In Basel a female teacher, after ten years
of service, is entitled to a supplemental salary of 250 francs per
annum; after fifteen years, 357 francs per annum, and then on voluntary
retirement, after fifteen years of service, a pension for life equal to
two per cent. on the amount she was being paid at time of retirement.
Thus the Swiss teacher has pragmatic rights,--that is, he has a legal
claim to a fixed salary, and to a retiring pension in case of age or
illness. The Swiss teacher is to his pupil a father and companion.
He leads and assists on the play-ground the same as he does in the
school-room; a free and unrestrained companionship, beautiful as it is
beneficial, unmixed with foolish fondness or paternal pride. Together
they will run and leap and laugh and dance and sing as well as learn.
The hours of study past, the pupil and teacher wander to the forests
and the field; together pluck wild flowers and plants; together climb
the hills, cross lakes and streams, searching for curious rocks and
plants, learning again from them the lessons of the day. This is the
very essence of education: for a man who professes to instruct to get
among his pupils, study their character, gain their affections, and
form their inclinations and aversions, together with that affectionate
vigilance which is experienced in the best home-circle. These men
regard the school as a psychological observatory, where they are to
practise the very difficult art of discovering the capacities of the
pupils, receiving them with a tender consideration for the good and
evil they bring with them, and with an apt adjustment of the resources
of education to their individual needs. The primary or communal schools
come first in number. In every hamlet, where there may be twenty girls
and boys, the communal officials must provide a school-house and hire
a master. These are supposed to embrace the pupilage for the first
five or six school-years. The lessons average from twenty to thirty
weekly, and they have annual vacations from ten to twelve weeks. The
children who are old enough to assist in work at home are only required
to attend one-half of the day during the harvest season, or other busy
times. In some instances there is provided for this class what is known
as the supplementary school, which is held only on two mornings of
the week; the aim being to help the pupil retain what he has already
learned in the primary school until he can again resume his regular
attendance. A curious custom prevails in some of these communal schools
with respect to the supply of the necessary firewood in winter. Every
boy or girl must contribute a piece; and in winter the children may be
constantly seen tearing down-hill, each with a log of wood tied to a
_luge_ (little sledge) as his contribution to the school-fire.
The course of study in the primary school embraces:
1. Religion.
2. Native language.
3. Arithmetic.
4. Writing.
5. Physical and political geography.
6. History of Switzerland.
7. Elements of civic instruction.
8. Drawing.
9. Elements of natural science.
10. Singing.
11. Gymnastics; and
12. (For the girls) Manual work in knitting and sewing.
Connected with the primary schools in some Cantons is the
_secundar-schule_, or secondary school; this school is open on
Sundays and in the evenings, during the winter months; and the course
includes book-keeping, business composition, such as letters, bills,
contracts, and obligations of various kinds appertaining to trade
and industry. In many Cantons the secondary or advanced division of
the primary school is free, and attendance compulsory; in others,
attendance optional, with a nominal charge of five francs. The course
is three years for boys and four for girls. In the Cantons of Zurich
and Luzern, the children from the primary schools are given four
years of gratuitous instruction in these supplementary schools. By
the last accessible report, it appears there were in attendance at
the primary schools 455,490 pupils, under the care of 8763 teachers.
Sixteen Cantons provided 437 secondary schools, with 20,500 pupils. The
_intermediate_ schools present much variety, and have only one feature
in common, in that they represent a higher grade than the primary,
with an enlarged and more deepened course of study. They extend to
elements of literature in the mother tongue, composition of an advanced
kind, reading of classical authors, higher mathematics, and foreign
languages (which practically are confined to French for the German and
Italian Cantons, and to German for the French Cantons); geography and
history also become much extended.
These schools, however, do not have any pretensions beyond what
their title of _intermediate_ indicates. There are several grades
of these intermediate schools, such as the _district school_ and
_under-gymnasium_. In these, still more advanced literary, technical,
and artistic instructions are given. The ancient languages, Greek,
Latin, natural history, physics, and chemistry are taught. Many of
them are free, and in no case does the fee exceed 25 to 40 francs
for the scholastic year. The greater portion of the expense of these
schools is defrayed by the Communes, some of the cantonal governments
assisting. The Canton of Bern pays one-half the salaries of the
teachers, and pensions meritorious and indigent pupils from 50 to 100
francs per annum. The highest grade of an intermediate school is the
high-school or _gymnasium_. The course is from three to six years, and
is preparatory for the university. Pupils who obtain a “certificate” at
the close of the gymnasium curriculum are, as a rule, enabled to enter
the university or the polytechnic without examination. These schools
are all subject to cantonal control and supported by them, except in
a few of the largest towns, where they are under municipal authority,
and then the towns bear much of the expense. With the exception of the
federal palace, the most costly structure in Bern is the _gymnasium_,
and the same relative superiority prevails as to these school buildings
throughout Switzerland. The age for admission is from fifteen to
seventeen years, with a fee from 10 to 100 francs covering the annual
session. There are 58 of these _gymnasiums_, with 12,500 students. As a
fair sample, the weekly curriculum of a first-class girls’ _gymnasium_
in Bern may be given:
Monday, history; Tuesday, religion; Wednesday, arithmetic; Thursday,
religion; Friday, French; Saturday, religion, eight to nine o’clock.
Monday, German; Tuesday, French; Wednesday, geography; Thursday,
singing; Friday, German; Saturday, French, nine to ten o’clock.
Monday, arithmetic; Tuesday, natural history; Wednesday, German;
Thursday, history; Friday, natural history; Saturday, geography, ten to
eleven o’clock.
Monday, gymnastics; Tuesday, singing; Wednesday, French; Thursday,
German; Friday, arithmetic; Saturday, arithmetic, two to three o’clock
P.M.
Monday, drawing; Tuesday, readings; Wednesday, holiday; Thursday,
book-keeping; Friday, readings; Saturday, holiday, three to four
o’clock P.M.