(headed by Ochs and Laharpe) and “Federalist” parties. Many drafts were put forward and one actually submitted to but rejected by a popular vote (June 1802). In July 1802 the French troops were withdrawn from Switzerland by Bonaparte, ostensibly to comply with the treaty of Amiens, really to show the Swiss that their best hopes lay in appealing to him. The Helvetic government was gradually driven back by armed force, and the Federalists seemed getting the best of it, when (Oct. 4) Bonaparte offered himself as mediator, and summoned The Act of Mediation. ten of the chief Swiss statesmen to Paris to discuss matters with him (the “Consulta”—December 1802). He had long taken a very special interest in Swiss matters, and in 1802 had given to the Helvetic republic the Frickthal (ceded to France in 1801 by Austria), the last Austrian possession within the borders of the Confederation. On the other hand, he had made (August 1802) the Valais into an independent republic. In the discussions he pointed out that Swiss needs required a federal constitution and a neutral position guaranteed by France. Finally (Feb. 19, 1803) he laid before the Consulta the Act of Mediation which he had elaborated and which they had perforce to accept—a document which formed a new departure in Swiss history, and the influence of which is visible in the present constitution.
Throughout, “Switzerland” is used for the first time as the official name of the Confederation. The thirteen members of the old Confederation before 1798 are set up again, and to them are added six new cantons—two (St Gall and Graubunden or Grisons) having been formerly “associates,” and the four others being made up of the subject lands conquered at different times—Aargau (1415), Thurgau (1460), Ticino or Tessin (1440, 1500, 1512), and Vaud (1536). In the Diet, six cantons which had a population of more than 100,000 (viz. Bern, Zürich, Vaud, St Gall, Graubunden and Aargau) were given two votes, the others having but one apiece, and the deputies were to vote freely within limits, though not against their instructions. Meetings of the Diet were to be held alternately at Fribourg, Bern, Soleure, Basel, Zürich and Lucerne—the chief magistrate of each of these cantons being named for that year the “landamman of Switzerland.” The “landsgemeinden,” or popular assemblies, were restored in the democratic cantons, the cantonal governments in other cases being in the hands of a “great council ” (legislative) and the “small council” (executive)—a property qualification being required both for voters and candidates. No canton was to form any political alliances abroad or at home. The “communes” were given larger political rights, the burghers who owned and used the common lands became more and more private associations. There was no Swiss burgher ship, as in 1798, but perfect liberty of settlement in any canton. There were to be no privileged classes or subject lands. A very close alliance with France (on the basis of that of 1516) was concluded (Sept. 27, 1803). The whole constitution and organization were far better suited for the Swiss than the more symmetrical system of the Helvetic republic; but, as it was guaranteed by Bonaparte, and his influence was predominant, the whole fabric was closely bound up with him, and fell with him. Excellent in itself, the constitution set forth in the Act of Mediation failed by reason of its setting.
For ten years Switzerland enjoyed peace and prosperity under the new constitution. Pestalozzi and Fellenberg worked out their educational theories; K. Escher of Zürich embanked the Linth, and his family was thence called “von der Linth”; the central government The pact of 1815. prepared many schemes for the common welfare. On the other hand, the mediator (who became emperor in 1804) lavishly expended his Swiss troops, the number of which could only be kept up by a regular blood tax, while the “Berlin decrees” raised the price of many articles. In 1806 the principality of Neuchâtel was given to Marshal Berthier; Tessin was occupied by French troops from 1810 to 1813, and in 1810 the Valais was made into the department of the Simplon, so as to secure that pass. At home, the liberty of moving from one canton to another (though given by the constitution) was, by the Diet in 1805, restricted by requiring ten years’ residence, and then not granting political rights in the canton or a right of profiting by the communal property. As soon as Napoleon’s power began to wane (1812–1813), the position of Switzerland became endangered. Despite the personal wishes of the tsar (a pupil of Laharpe’s), the Austrians, supported by the reactionary party in Switzerland, and without any real resistance on the part of the Diet, as well as the Russians troops, crossed the frontier on the 21st of December 1813, and on the 29th of December the Diet was induced to declare the abolition of the 1803 constitution, guaranteed, like Swiss neutrality, by Napoleon. Bern headed the party which wished to restore the old state of things, but Zürich and the majority stood out for the nineteen cantons. The powers exercised great pressure to bring about a meeting of deputies from all the nineteen cantons at Zürich (April 6, 1814, “the long Diet”); party strife was very bitter, but on the 12th of September it decided that the Valais, Neuchâtel and Geneva should be raised from the rank of “associates” to that of full members of the Confederation (thus making up the familiar twenty-two). As compensation the congress of Vienna (March 20, 1815) gave Bern the town of Bienne (Biel), and all (save a small part which went to Basel) of the territories of the prince bishop of Basel (“the Bernese Jura”); but the Valtellina was granted to Austria, and Muhlhausen was not freed from France.
On the 7th of August 1815 the new constitution was sworn to by all the cantons save Nidwalden, the consent of which was only obtained (Aug. 30) by armed force, a delay for which she paid by seeing Engelberg and the valley above (acquired by Nidwalden in 1798) given The Pact of 1815. to Obwalden. By the new constitution the sovereign rights of each canton were fully recognized, and a return made to the lines of the old constitution, though there were to be no subject lands, and political rights were not to be the exclusive privilege of any class of citizens. Each canton had one vote in the Diet, where an absolute majority was to decide all matters save foreign affairs, when a majority of three-fourths was required. The management of current business, &c., shifted every two years between the governments of Zürich, Bern and Lucerne (the three “Vororte”). The monasteries were guaranteed in their rights and privileges; and no canton was to make any alliance contrary to the rights of the Confederation or of any other canton. Provision was made for a Federal army. Finally, the Congress, on the 20th of November 1815, placed Switzerland and parts of North Savoy (Chablais, Faucigny and part of the Genevois) under the guarantee of the Great Powers, who engaged to maintain their neutrality, thus freeing Switzerland from her 300 years’ subservience to France, and compensating in some degree for the reactionary nature of the new Swiss constitution when compared with that of 1803.
5. The cities at once secured for themselves in the cantonal
great councils an overwhelming representation over the neighbouring
country districts, and the agreement of
1805 as to migration from one canton to another was
renewed (1819) by twelve cantons. For some time
Attempts at Reform.
there was little talk of reforms, but in 1819 the Helvetic Society
definitely became a political society, and the foundation in 1824
of the Marksmen’s Association enabled men from all cantons to
meet together. A few cantons (notably Tessin) were beginning
to make reforms, when the influence of the July revolution (1830)
in Paris and the sweeping changes in Zürich led the Diet to declare
(Dec. 27) that it would not interfere with any reforms of cantonal
constitutions provided they were in agreement with the pact
of 1815. Hence for the next few years great activity in this
direction was displayed, and most of the cantons reformed
themselves, save the most conservative (e.g. Uri, Glarus) and
the advanced who needed no changes (e.g. Geneva, Graubünden).
Provision was always made for revising these constitutions at
fixed intervals, for the changes were not felt to be final, and seven
cantons—Zürich, Bern, Lucerne, Soleure, St Gall, Aargau and
Thurgau—joined together to guarantee their new free constitutions
(Siebener Concordat of March 17, 1832). Soon after, the
