THE REVOLUTION
At Lausanne, as at Geneva, the thunders of the French Revolution
echoed. Gibbon heard them, and was alarmed, as if at the approach of
the end of the world. The patriots of Vaud heard them, and rejoiced
at the hope of a new era about to be begun. Their Excellencies of
Berne felt the edifice of their dominion crumbling about their ears.
The burghers of Morges began the trouble by disinterring from their
archives an old charter, on the strength of which they refused to pay
for the mending of the roads, while a pastor named Martin exhorted
his congregation to withhold the tithe that was levied on potatoes.
Then a fête was held at Rolle to celebrate the anniversary of the
fall of the Bastille, and 6,000 Bernese invaded the country, arrested
the ringleaders, and compelled the magistrates to swear allegiance at
the point of the bayonet. César Laharpe and J. J. Cart appealed to
the French to intervene.
At first the French hesitated. Robespierre was not ambitious of
foreign conquests, having his hands full enough at home, but the
Directorate took larger views. Switzerland was reputed to be
rich--and _was für plunder_! A division of the army of Italy crossed
the lake on January 28, 1798, and took possession of Lausanne. For
a space there was civil war. Vaudois volunteers fought under their
green flag, while a certain Loyal Legion, under Colonel de Rovéreaz,
distinguished itself at Fraubrunnen, in defence of Berne. The French,
however, were so much stronger than the Bernese that the issue could
not long remain in doubt. It was the Swiss money that the French
wanted, and the gold found in the vaults of the Treasury of Berne was
carried off to Paris, while the Canton of Vaud was accorded a new and
independent constitution.
[Illustration: THE RHONE VALLEY FROM MONT PELERIN]
There were other revolutions, and revisions, and reconstructions to
follow. When the Holy Alliance remodelled the map of Europe in 1815,
the fate of Vaud, like that of so many other minor nationalities,
hung in the balance. The Bernese fully expected to be allowed to
re-establish their dominion; but Alexander I., prompted by Laharpe,
prevented them. 'You have done a great deal for me,' the Emperor
is reported to have said to the Liberator. 'What can I do for you?'
And the Liberator's answer was: 'Sire, all that I ask is permission
to speak to your Majesty of my country whenever I wish.' He spoke
in 1815, and the Emperor listened; and the claims of Berne were
rejected; and Laharpe took a house at Lausanne, and looked down on
the scene of his triumphs, and fought his battles over again, and
frequented Madame de Staël, whom in more stormy days he had written
of as 'une infernale gueuse,' and was reverenced by all as the 'Grand
Old Man' of the Canton.
There were further political changes in 1830, in 1845, and in 1861;
but of these we need not speak. Their interest is no more than local.
What the English traveller chiefly sees in the Lausanne of the
nineteenth century is an increasing English colony, and the loudly
vaunted educational facilities.