MODERN SWITZERLAND
There is carved in the face of a great rock at Lucerne a lion, wounded
to death, resting upon a broken spear. It is the monument of the Swiss
Guard massacred in the defence of the Tuileries at Paris in 1792. The
close connection between France and Switzerland in the seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries made it natural that the despotic French kings
should employ the faithful and courageous Swiss mercenaries as
guardians of their palaces. Louis XIV. in the dark hours of his fate
had no reason to regret the trust he had placed in these Swiss
mercenaries as the nearest defenders of his person. The mob coming to
the Tuileries demanded of the Swiss Guards that they should give up
their arms. Sergeant Blaser replied in the mood with which the
Helvetii had spoken to Caesar, and with eighteen centuries of records
of great bravery to justify the vaunt: "We are Swiss, and the Swiss
never surrender their arms but with their lives." The reply cowed the
rioters for the time and the king was safe for that day. When the king
had left the Tuileries the Swiss Guards were withdrawn. As they went
away from the palace they were attacked by the mob and, disdaining to
fly, were slaughtered almost to a man. Of 800 officers and men only a
handful survived. The incident--showing French patriots furious,
cruel, and treacherous, Swiss mercenaries steadfast, brave, and
true--gives a good standpoint from which to glance at the evolution of
the Switzerland which had grown up in the Middle Ages to the modern
Switzerland with its intensely democratic and socialistic Republic.
The brewing of the storm which broke over Paris in August 1792 had
been observable in Switzerland as well as in France. Accepting its
traditional position as a hostel of refuge for political exiles,
Switzerland had sheltered many of the men who had given the first
impulse to the Revolution. And there had been a domestic movement in
Switzerland working on parallel lines to that of the French reformers.
As far back as 1762 the Helvetic Society was formed by young men
aspiring to a political regeneration of Switzerland. By 1792 there had
been several peasant risings among the Alpine communities in protest
against oligarchic oppression. The cry for Liberty, Fraternity,
Equality, found its echo in the mountains as it came in a hoarse roar
from the French cities. The exiles from aristocratic France to
slightly more liberal Switzerland were in time matched by discontented
exiles from Switzerland to Paris. The "Helvetic Club" formed at Paris
of Swiss refugees had for its purpose the application of the
principles of the French Revolution to Switzerland. In 1797 Peter Ochs
of Basel was given by Napoleon the task of drafting a constitution for
Switzerland which would follow the system of government of the French
Directory. In 1798 "the Lemanic Republic" was proclaimed at the
instance of France, and, being resisted by some of the Swiss, a French
invasion followed. The victorious French abolished the Swiss
Confederation and proclaimed "the Helvetic Republic," with a
constitution framed on the lines laid down by Peter Ochs.
The new constitution was not in itself altogether suitable to the
political circumstances of the country. And no constitution, however
perfect, could have pleased the Swiss if it came to them from the
hands of a conquering foreigner. But to make quite sure of
antagonising the Swiss the greedy and impoverished Directory of France
set to work to rob the national treasuries of the Helvetic Republic in
the cause of Republicanism. The Forest Cantons, always to the fore in
the cause of independence, entered upon a hopeless campaign of defence
in which Reding was the chief hero. Brilliant victories were won.
Tragic defeats were sustained, culminating in the capture of Stanz.
Then, prostrate, Switzerland accepted the French command to be free,
and "the one and undivided Helvetic Republic" came into more or less
peaceful existence. Later a Franco-Helvetic Alliance was signed, and
almost immediately afterwards the little land suffered for its
alliance by being invaded by Russia and Austria, then making war upon
France. For the first time in history an Austrian invader was welcomed
by a part of the Swiss nation. The story of the campaign need not be
told in detail; but it had one vivid incident of which any visitor to
Switzerland interested in military prowess should seek out the
memorials. General Suwarow, commanding a Russian army, marched from
Italy to junction with General Korsakow at Zurich. Suwarow forced the
Pass of St. Gothard in the face of a French force and passed down the
valley of the Reuss to Lake Uri. Here he found his path to Zurich
blocked, as no boats for the conveyance of his troops could be found
on the lake. Turning up towards the mountains, Suwarow led his army
along the Kinzig Pass to Muotta, and there learned that Korsakow had
been defeated and driven out of Switzerland by the French. Suwarow led
his army then along the Pragel Pass, hoping to find in the Canton of
Glarus a friendly Austrian force. The hope was vain, and the path to
Naefels was blocked by the French army. The old Russian general,
indomitable, turned back to the mountains and crossed the Alps again
by the Panixer Pass. This was in October. After terrible hardships the
Russian army reached Cranbunden and made its way to Austrian territory
and safety. It would be an interesting Alpine holiday for a stout
walker to follow in the track of Suwarow's marches.
Switzerland had an evil time under the French Directory, despite its
"free and undivided Republic." But when Napoleon felt himself safe in
the saddle and could put the curb on the fiery spirits of the
Revolution, better days dawned for Switzerland as well as for France.
The great soldier and statesman, being a man of imagination, could not
help having a real sympathy with the heroic Swiss. They were people
after his own heart. In 1803 he took thought for the vexed condition
of the Swiss people and summoned to Paris the "Helvetic Consulta" of
sixty-three Swiss representatives to draw up a new system of
government. He presided personally at the meetings of this body, and
the constitution agreed upon bears the impress of the grand political
sagacity which was associated with Napoleon's military genius.
Switzerland, under the Napoleonic constitution, became a Federal
Republic of nineteen cantons, each of which preserved its local
autonomy but yielded full control of national matters to the Federal
Diet. This new constitution conferred upon Switzerland internal peace
and a reasonable instrument of government, under which the material
and moral advancement of the nation was greater than at any previous
period of history.
[Illustration: A VILLAGE ON THE ST. GOTHARD RAILWAY.]
The fall of Napoleon in 1813 brought a fresh crop of troubles to the
Swiss. The constitution he had granted to them was put aside by the
European Powers, not because it was bad but because it was Napoleon's.
A congress at Zurich drew up a new constitution, and this was
submitted to the Vienna Congress in 1814, and with some changes
approved. It was far inferior to the Napoleonic constitution, and
plunged the country into another series of internal troubles. Yet it
survived from 1815 to 1848, when, taking advantage of new troubles in
Europe, the Swiss settled their system of government anew, and shaped
a Federal constitution which exists to this day.
Switzerland now is divided into twenty-two cantons, self-governing as
far as their local affairs are concerned, but united into a Federation
for national purposes. The system of government is purely democratic
and marked by a Republican austerity. All citizens are equal. Most
offices are elective. The emoluments of office are scanty. There is no
standing army, but every male citizen is trained to the use of arms in
his youth. Thus the whole nation can take up arms in defence of the
country. The good quality of the citizen troops has been vouched for
by many competent judges. Australia has imitated the Swiss system in
her military organisation, and it is practically the same system which
a powerful party in Great Britain urges as a measure of military
reform in this country. The Federal Government has, of course, the
control of the army; it has also the management of the railways, posts
and telegraphs, universities and schools, and the regulation of the
conditions of labour. Full religious liberty is allowed, but the
Jesuits are not allowed to come into the country. No spiritual courts
are allowed. The Judges of the Supreme Court are elected from amongst
the legislators. Neither capital punishment nor arrest for debt is
legal (a defaulting tourist's baggage may, however, be put under
arrest). Laws passed by the Federal legislature must be submitted to
the people by direct vote before they become effective. If this
Referendum does not give them approval they lapse. There is machinery
by which the people can directly initiate legislation, _i.e._ propose
measures without the intervention of the legislature.
So wide-world an interest is taken in the Swiss military system (it
has its enthusiastic admirers in America as well as in Great
Britain), and so great a part does it take in the general life of the
Swiss people, that a brief summary of its salient features is worthy
of space here. The system dates from 1874, the Franco-Prussian War on
their borders having warned the Swiss of the possibility of their land
being invaded. From his earliest days the Swiss citizen is prepared
for his country's service. In the public (Cantonal and Communal)
schools instruction in gymnastic exercise is regularly given (60 hours
yearly), and almost all the boys participate in this instruction,
which is mainly given by the schoolmasters.
Between the ages of 16 and 20, when military service begins, there is
preparatory military instruction, comprising physical training,
gymnastic exercises, marching, obstacle racing, simple drill, the use
of the rifle, and preliminary musketry. In the year before he attains
20 the youth is enrolled by the Cantonal authorities (in his commune
or place of domicile) as a recruit--the canton being subdivided into
recruiting districts--and is fitted out with uniform and equipment,
and in the year in which he attains 20 (the year, too, in which he
becomes entitled to vote at elections) the recruit becomes liable to
military service and presents himself for instruction at recruit
schools, beginning either about March 15, May 1, or July 1, as
directed. All soldiers, whatever the rank they are destined for, pass
through the recruit schools, and the periods of duration of these
schools (including musketry) are: for infantry, etc., 60-70 days;
cavalry, 80 days. The soldier on completion of recruit school is
considered as having entered the Army. As a soldier of the Army he has
to attend an annual training camp.
The demands made on a citizen's time by this system are not very
great, say 70 days as a recruit, 80 days as a member of the Active
Army, and a few days afterwards as a member of the Landwehr or
Landsturm. In all the citizen is forced to give about 160 days during
his lifetime to the service of his country, an exaction which is very
slight in the total compared with the demands of countries where
conscription rules, and is almost negligible when allowance is made
for the fact that it is so well distributed over the term of the
citizen's life.
In ordinary times of peace there is no Commander-in-chief. The Army
Corps and Divisional Commanders are the highest appointments. There
is a Committee of National Defence, composed of the Minister of War
(president), four General Officers (militia), four "Chefs de service"
(staff officers), appointed for three years. This Committee stands at
the head of the Army in time of peace, but, when war is imminent and a
General is appointed by the Federal Assembly, the Committee drops out
of existence, the General taking all its powers.
Under this system the Active Swiss Army on a peace footing numbers
about 150,000 men. The trained army that could be called out for
service represents practically the total of the male population.
Training for military service is looked upon not as a burden but as a
pleasure by the citizens, and many of their voluntary sports are
designed so as to assist the work of military education.
Happy Switzerland that has thought out a system of military service
which imposes little burden on the national exchequer and no burden at
all on the national content, and which is yet withal highly efficient
if the experts are to be believed! I quote from one of them
(Lieut.-Col. G. F. Ellison):
Of the Swiss Army, as a war machine, it is impossible to write
in terms other than those which, to anyone who has never
witnessed its performance, must, I fear, appear somewhat too
laudatory. That it is perfect in all its details, or that it is
the same highly finished instrument that the French or the
German army is, I do not pretend to assert, but I do
unhesitatingly affirm, and in this opinion I am supported by
more competent judges than myself, that taken as a whole it is,
for war purposes, not unworthy, so far as it goes, to court
comparison with the most scientifically organised and most
highly trained armies of the Continent. In some respects it
even surpasses all other armies in its readiness for war, for
of no other military force in Europe can it be stated that the
establishment in personnel is the same both for peace and war,
and there is certainly no other country, that I am aware of, a
fourth of whose army is annually mobilised for manoeuvres on
exactly the same scale of equipment and transport as it would
be for actual warfare.
For the Englishman there is certainly no army in the world
which can afford more food for serious reflection than that of
Switzerland. He will learn, too, to appreciate what, for a sum
that appears insignificant when compared with the military
expenditure of other States, can be done towards producing for
Home defence a really well-trained force under a militia
system, provided that the system is based on universal
liability to military service, and that all ranks alike bring
goodwill and intelligence to bear on their allotted task. While
he watches this army there need be no grave misgivings in his
mind such as, perhaps, he may experience elsewhere, lest, in
spite of all the pomp and splendour, the burden that such
military display means to a nation may be crushing it beyond
endurance.
And that was written before the revised law of April 12, 1907, which
was the subject of a general Referendum. By its acceptance the Swiss
people intimated their desire to have the army maintained at such a
degree of efficiency as would ensure their independence and
neutrality, and agreed to several improvements in the system of
training imposing further obligations on the citizen soldiers.
In the present day the Swiss have no navy, and no need of one, and
"Admiral of the Swiss Navy" is a title equal to that of the Seigneur
de Chateau Rien. But once upon a time the "Swiss admiral" did exist.
He was an Englishman named Colonel Williams, who in 1799 was in
service with the Zurich government and commandeered a small fleet on
Lake Zurich, having orders to oppose with it the French army. When the
French, under Massena, completely routed the allied armies of Austria
and Russia, Colonel Williams calmly watched the battle from the lake.
Then, enraged at his own inaction, he discharged his crews, scuttled
his vessels, and took to flight.