THE
SWISS REPUBLIC.
BY
BOYD WINCHESTER,
LATE UNITED STATES MINISTER AT BERN.
PHILADELPHIA:
J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY.
LONDON: 10 HENRIETTA STREET, COVENT GARDEN.
1891.
Copyright, 1891, by J. B. Lippincott Company.
Printed by J. B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia.
TO
HENRY WATTERSON
THIS VOLUME IS INSCRIBED, AS A GRATEFUL BUT IMPERFECT TOKEN OF AN INTIMACY OF MANY YEARS, HOPING HE WILL ACCEPT THE
Dedication,
WITH THE ASSURANCE THAT IT IS NOT MEANT SO MUCH TO COMPLIMENT HIM, AS MYSELF.
Louisville, Ky., 1890.
PREFACE.
This book is based upon notes of studies and observations during fouryears of diplomatic service in Switzerland, made, at the time, witheventual publication in view. There is no attempt to treat the subjectsembraced, or rather touched upon, in any historical sequence, but,by brief hints and random suggestions, to seize the principal andinteresting features of the country and its institutions, the peopleand their characteristics.
The comparative method correlated with cause or effect is used in thechapters on the government and administration, national and cantonal.Many familiar facts in Swiss history, and experiences had by the UnitedStates, are introduced to show their relation to and effect uponcertain political ideas. In fact, all through the Swiss federal polityand that of the United States run not only parallels of illustration,but lines converging to and pointing out essential truths in populargovernment.
Dating from the “Eternal Covenant” of Uri, Schwyz, and Unterwalden,concluded in 1291, under all vicissitudes of government andconstitution,—with radical varieties of character, occupation,religion, language, and descent,—love of liberty and a passionatedevotion to the republic have characterized the people, with “life,liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” the great objects ofgovernment, federal, cantonal, and communal. During this period of sixhundred years the smallest free commonwealth and the oldest federalrepublic in the world presents a valuable stock of political experience.
It is very difficult for a stranger to discover all that is remarkablein any country, and perhaps as hard to treat of so[Pg 6] many differentsubjects with such care as to omit nothing that is material. The utmostendeavor, at least, has been used to be exact, and an effort to givea more complete view