comprise 63 communes. The cantonal Constitution dates in its main features from 1858, but has been modified in several important respects. The legislature or Grand Conseil consists of members elected (since 1903) in the proportion of one to every 1200 (or fraction over 600) of the population, and holds office for three years, while since 1906, the principles of proportional representation and minority representation obtain in these elections. Since 1906 the executive of 5 members (since 1882) or Conseil d’État is elected by a popular vote. The 2 members of the federal Conseil des États are named by the Grand Conseil, but the 6 members of the federal Conseil National are chosen by a popular vote. Since 1879, 3000 citizens have the right of “facultative referendum” as to all laws and important decrees, while since 1882 the same number have the right of initiative as to all legislative projects, this right as to the partial revision of the cantonal constitution dating as far back as 1848, the number in the case of a total revision having been raised in 1906 to 5000.
We first hear of the novum castellum, regalissimam sedem in the will (1011) of Rudolf III., the last king of Burgundy, on whose death (1032) that kingdom reverted to the empire. About 1034 the emperor Conrad II. gave this castle to the lord of several neighbouring fiefs, his successors establishing themselves permanently there in the 12th century and then taking the title of “count.” In 1288 the reigning count resigned his domains to the emperor Rudolf, who gave them to the lord of Châlon-sur-Saône, by whom they were restored to the count of Neuchâtel on his doing homage for them. This act decided the future history of Neuchâtel, for in 1393 the house of Châlon succeeded to the principality of Orange by virtue of a marriage contracted in 1388. The counts gradually increased their dominions, so that by 1373 they held practically all of the present Canton, with the exception of the lordship of Valangin (the Val de Ruz and Les Montagnes, this last region only colonized in the early 14th century), which was held by a cadet line of the house till bought in 1592. In 1395 the first house ended in an heiress, who brought Neuchâtel to the count of Freiburg im Breisgau. As early as 1290 the reigning count had made an alliance with the Swiss Fribourg, in 1308 with Bern, and about 1324 with Soleure, but it was not till 1406 that an “everlasting alliance” was made with Bern (later in 1495 with Fribourg, and in 1501 with Lucerne). This alliance resulted in bringing the county into the Swiss confederation four centuries later, while it also led to contingents from Neuchâtel helping the Confederates from the battle of St Jakob (1444) onwards right down into the early 18th century. In 1457, through another heiress, the county passed to the house of the marquises of Baden-Hochberg, and in 1504 similarly to that of Orléans-Longueville (a bastard line of the royal house of France). From 1512 to 1529 the Swiss occupied it as the count was fighting for France and so against them. In 1532 the title of “prince” was taken, while by the treaty of Westphalia (1648) the principality became sovereign and independent of the empire. In 1530 (the very year Farel introduced the Reformation at Neuchâtel) the overlordship enjoyed by the house of Châlon-Orange passed, by virtue of a marriage contracted in 1515, to that of Nassau-Orange, the direct line of which ended in 1702 in the person of William III., king of England. In 1707 the Longueville house of Neuchâtel also became extinct, and a great struggle arose as to the succession. Finally the parliament (states) of Neuchâtel decided in favour of Frederic I., the first king of Prussia, whose mother was the elder paternal aunt of William III., and so heiress of the rights (given in 1288) of the house of Châlon, to which the fief had reverted on the extinction of the line of the counts of Neuchâtel. Thus the act of 1288 determined the fate of the principality, partly because Frederic I. was a Protestant, while the other claimants were Romanists. The nominal rule of the Prussian king (for the country enjoyed practical independence) lasted till 1857, with a brief interval from 1806 to 1814, when the principality was held by Marshal Berthier, by virtue of a grant from Napoleon. In 1814 its admission into the Swiss confederation was proposed and was effected in 1815, the new canton being the only non-republican member, just, as the hereditary rulers of Neuchâtel were the last to maintain their position in Switzerland. This anomaly led in 1848 to the establishment (attempted in 1831) of a republican form of government, brought about by a peaceful revolution led by A. M. Piaget. A royalist attempt to regain power in 1856 was defeated, and finally, after long negotiations, the king of Prussia renounced his claims to sovereignty, though retaining the right (no longer exercised) to bear the title of “prince of Neuchâtel.” Thus in 1857 Neuchâtel became a full republican member of the Swiss confederation.
Bibliography.—A. Bachelin, L’Horlogerie Neuchâteloise (Neuchâtel, 1888); E. Bourgeois, Neuchâtel el la politique prussienne en Franche Comté, 1702–1713 (Paris, 1887); J. Boyve, Annales historiques du comté de Neuchâtel et de Valangin (6 vols., Berne and Neuchâtel, 1855); F. de Chambrier, Histoire de Neuchâtel et Valangin jusqu’à l’avènement de la maison de Prusse, 1707 (Neuchâtel, 1840); L. Grandpierre, Histoire du canton de Neuchâtel sous les rois de Prusse, 1707–1848 (Neuchâtel, 1889), L. Junod, Histoire du canton de Neuchâtel sous les rois de Prusse, 1707–1848 (Neuchâtel, 1839); A. Humbert and J. Clerc, A. M. Piaget et la république neuchâteloise de 1848 à 1858 (2 vols., Neuchâtel, 1888–1895); G. A. Matile, Monuments de l’histoire de Neuchâtel (3 vols., Neuchâtel, 1844–1848), and Histoire de la seigneurie de Valangin jusqu’à sa réunion à la directe, 1592 (Neuchâtel, 1852); Musée Neuchâtelois (published by the Cantonal Historical Society), from 1864; Le Patois neuchâtelois (an anthology) (Neuchâtel, 1895); A. Pfleghart, Die schweizerische Uhrenindustrie (Leipzig, 1908); E. Quartier-la-Tente, Revue historique et monographique des communes du canton de Neuchâtel (Neuchâtel, 1897–1904). (W. A. B. C.)
NEUCHÂTEL, capital of the above Swiss canton, situated
near the north-east corner of the lake of Neuchâtel. It is the
meeting-point of several important railway lines, from Bern
past Kerzers (27 m.), from Bienne (19 m.), from La Chaux de
Fonds (19 m.), from Pontarlier (in France), by the Val de Travers,
(3312 m.), and from Yverdon (23 m.). The railway station (1575 ft.)
at the top of the town is connected by an electric tramway
with the shore of the lake some 150 ft. lower. The older portion
of the town is built on the steep slope of the Chaumont, and
originally the waters of the lake bathed the foot of the hill on
which it stood. But the gradual growth of alluvial deposits,
and more recently the artificial embankment of the shore of
the lake, have added much dry ground, and on this site the
finest modern buildings have been erected. The 16th-century
castle and the 13th-century collegiate church of Notre Dame
(now Protestant) stand close together and were founded in the
12th century when the counts took up their permanent residence
in the town, to which they granted a charter of liberties in 1214.
Among the buildings on the quays are the Musée des Beaux
Arts (modern Swiss paintings and also various historical collections,
including that of Desor relating to the Lake Dwellings),
the Gymnase or Collège Latin (in which is also the museum of
natural history and the town library), the university (refounded
in 1866 and raised from the rank of an academy to that of a
university in 1909), the Ecole de Commerce and the post office.
The town owes much to the gifts of citizens. Thus David de
Purry (1709–1786) founded the town hospital and built the town
hall, while James de Purry bequeathed to the town the villa
in which the ethnographical museum has been installed (1904).
In 1811 J. L. de Pourtalés (1722–1814) founded the hospital
which bears his name, while in 1844 A. de Meuron (1789–1852)
constructed the lunatic asylum at Préfargier, a few miles from
the town. Among natives of the town are the theologians J. F.
Ostervald (1663–1747) and Frédéric Godet (1812–1900), the
geologist E. Desor (1811–1882), the local historian G. A. Matile
(1807–1881) and the politicians A. M. Piaget (1802–1870) and
Numa Droz (1844–1899). Neuchâtel (partly because very good
French is spoken there) attracts many foreign students, while the
town is a literary centre. In 1900 Neuchâtel numbered 20,843
inhabitants (in 1850 only 7727 and in 1870, 12,683), 15,277 being
French-speaking and 4553 German-speaking; there were 17,237
Protestants, 3459 Romanists and 80 Jews. (W. A. B. C.)
NEUCHÂTEL, LAKE OF. This lake, in W. Switzerland, is
with the neighbouring lakes of Bienne and Morat (both connected
with it by canals), the modern representative of the large body of
water which at one time seems to have filled the whole of the
lower valley of the Aar. It is now the most considerable sheet
