LVOXRNE
408
LUOBBHE
Catholic Church, to strive for the conversion of any of
their number who niiglit full away, and to protect the
Faith to the best of their ability. As the capital of
Catholic Switzerland, Lucerne made many sacrifices,
and rendered great services, at the beginning of the
seventeenth century to maintain the Faith in the
Oanton of Valais. At the same time the Council
atrongl^ insisted upon its ancient spiritual rights, in
opposition to the nuncio, and this lea to the sharp dis-
putes which eventually, in 1725. caused the nuncio,
Fassionei, to abandon Lucerne tor many years. In
domestic affairs the ascendency of the patricians in-
mased; eligibility to office was limited to a few fami-
lies, and the hereditary principle even invaded the
Council. Trials for witchcraft cast a deep shadow on
this period, and corruption was rife among pubUc
officials and members of the Government.
The eighteenth century wore on in a generally peaceful course, after its stormy beginning in the un- fortunate participation (1712) of Lucerne in the quarrel of the Abbot of St. Gall with the rebellious Toggenbuig. Signs of decay showed themselves little by nttle in the Ixxly politic. The embezzlement of state funds and the wrangles of certain families, who dragged the State into their private feuds, added to the im jx)pularity of the twenty-nine *' ruling families *\ The ideas of "enlightenment", emanating from France in the eighteenth century, found in Lucerne sealous literary champions in Councillor Felix Bal- thassar, whose work "De Helvetiorum iuribus circa sacra", appeared in 1768, and in Coimcillor Valentin Mever. Thus the Revolution found a well-prepared soil at Lucerne. After the entr>' of the French into the Waadtland (Vaud), and the Revolution at Basle in 1798, Jjuceme could no longer remain unaffect'Cd: without anv popular upheaval, the high Council, quite unexpecteJly, on 31 Jan., 1798, promulgated the abo- lition of aristocratic government, and ordered the con- vocation of delegates from the country, to consider a new constitution founded upon the principle of legal equality. Before this project could be realized, the entry of the French into Bern, in March, 1798, ended the old confederation. Under orders from France the "Helvetian Republic" was formed, and the terri- tory of the confederation was divided into uniformly administered subordinate provinces. The Act of Mediation of Napoleon (19 Feb., 1803), which restored the old federal constitution of the republic, also brought to the people of Lucerne a larger share of self- government. Witn the fall of Napoleon an d the entry of the allies into Lucerne, the old constitution was re- established there (Feb., 1814), with the patrician re- gime. At the same time Jjuceme became, alternately with Berne and Zurich, the seat of the National Diet.
In the following twenty years much feeling was aroused by the question arising out of the secu&riza- tion of the Bishopric of Constance. A vicar-general- ship, imder the Provost Ciiildlin von Beromtinster. was created for the part of Switzerland that had belonged to Constance. In 1821 the Bishopric of Con- stance was entirely abolished, and it being left to Lu- cerne to decide w-hat should take its place, the city wished to be itself the new see. After years of nego- tiation, however, the Diocese of Basle was erected (1828), with the see at Soleure. The liiberal Democratic movement, which began in that year, destroyed the Ocmservative Government. The Revolution of July in France helped on the Radical victor>% and at the end of March, 1831, a Lil)eral Government came into power, whose leaders were the Burgomaster Amrh3m and the brothers Pfyflfer. Josephinism thereupon be- eame dominant in the relations of Church and State. On the advice of the burgomaster, Edward Pfyflfer, the Government called a conference, on 20 Jan., 1834, at Baden, which agreed upon a number of articles de- fining the 8tat<»'s right* over the Church, and to in- Au^jRite certain ccclosiastical reforms. After the
High Council had adopted these Baden articles (which
the pope condenuied by the Bull of 18 May, 1835) the
Government began to carry them out; the schools
were laicized; the Franciscan monastery at Lucerne
and others were abolished; property of foundations
considered superfluous was inventoried; obnoxious
clergjy were called to account. The Government even
considered the idea of expelling the nuncio, but hc>
forestalled them, and transferred his residence to
Schwya. Those of the people who remained faithful
to the Church organized themselves under the leader-
ship of the worthy peasant Joseph Leu of Ebersoll.
Their first steps, such as the proposal to recall the
Jesuits, were mdeed without result. But when the
High Council of the Canton of Aarj^au, on 20 Jan.,
1841, on the proposal of Augustin Keller, director of
seminaries, had suppressed all the monasteries of the
canton, and the Liberal party at Lucerne had openly
expressed their sympathy with these hostile measures,
the Liberal regime was overturned by the Conserva-
tives in the election of 1 May, 1841, and a new consti-
tution was formed, which safeguarded the Church's
rights. Under Joseph Leu, Siegwart Miiller, and
Bemhard Meyer, Lucerne was again at the head of thi^
CathoUc cantons, the Baden Articles were declared
null and void, and the nuncio reinstated at Lucerne.
In 1844 the recall of the Jesuits was decided upon by 70 votes to 24, an act which caused much bitterness of feeling and loud protests among the liberals. Tlui more thoughtless of them even had some idcui of ob- taining their ends by force; guerilla warfare was or- gaziized in the Cantons of Basle, Soleure, and Aargau, which in 1844 and 1845, imited with their Lucerne sympathizers, to the number of 3C00, and marched against the city of Lucerne, but were easily van- quished by the city's forces. The victories of t\w Radicals in several cantons and the murder of Leu (20 July, 1845) caused Lucerne to conclude a separate? alliance (Sonderbund, 11 Dec., 1845) with Uri, Schwyz, Unto^'alden, Fribourg, Zug, and Valais, in oppo- sition to the alliance of the liberal cantons of lH^i2. Civil war was now almost inevitable. On 20 July the Swiss Diet decided on the dissolution of the Sonder- bund, and on 16 Aug. accepted a revision of the alli- ance: on 2 Sept. the expulsion of the Jesuits was de- cided on. Wnen, on 29 Sept., a proposal of the seven cantons for an arrangement was refused by the liiberal majority, who wished to ensure an extension of the federal power and a curtailment of the sovereignty of the individual cantons, the delegates of the Sander- bund left the Diet, and the war desired by the Liberal majority broke out. With the superiority of the alli- ance, the result could scarcelv be in doubt. On Vi Nov., Fribourg was conquered; on 23 Nov., the Son- derbund troops were beat^^n in the Battle of Gislikon; on 24 Nov., Lucerne was forced to surrender, where- upon the other Sanderbund cantons also surrendered one by one. The campai^ was decided in twenty days.* Under the protection of the troops of the Confederation, a Lit)eral Government was elected at Lucerne, the Jesuits expelled, a few monasteries sup- prrased, notably the rich foundation of St. Urban, and the remaining ones burdened with levies. The new constitution (1848) of the Confederation substantially curtailed the rights of the cantons, as also did the Revision of 1874.
After several decades of religious peace, the Old- Catholic movement brought fresh discord into the canton. The reckless proce^ngs of the Confederation in favour of the Old Catholics, the deposition of Bishop Lachat of Basle by the diocesan conference of 29 Jan., 1873, the bigoted suppression of the nunciature by the national Government, which had the approval of the Lucerne Liberals, goaded the Catholics. Their \ac- tory at the election of 1871 led to the establishment uf the Conservative Government (then headed by Pliilipp A. von Segesser) which since then has held its own at
