SWISS VALOUR IN NATIONAL CRISIS

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2228, 14 August 1914, Page 6

SWISS VALOUR IN NATIONAL CRISIS

• "AN AFFAIR WITH PRUSSIA, ■>.-.■ l -' The announced- detennination: of ,'th« : " Swiss to forcibly resist the invasion ot I their;territory by Germany in the pre- , sent-war is in keeping with the .martial... -. traditions of their nation; oMis-ny. no ' means a solitary instance.of its.. Kind. I, For many centuries,. from. the"tinieot- !■ the Romans onward, the Swiss people had to fight almost unceasingly, to maintain i" their national existence and they seldom :■ failed to' acquit'themselves with, ar val- ' orous-determination which compelled tue ■ ". 'respect of numerically more powerful nor tions>lono of the: mo3t striking instances : of the revival of ancient Swiss -valour showed itself in connection with events that- disturbed- the peace of Neuchatel in 1856-7:. ."Through the whole range ot modern, history", says Mr. F.GrenMl Baker in his "History of the Swiss People," "it Would , 'be difficult to find, an r example of greater national pluck than ■■•■ those events called forth.on the part of 8 Switzerland,' when alone; and in tuo ■- teeth ,of "tho European .Powers, she ; promptly.'.'prepared to face tho whole r might of Prussia and by her steadfast 4 determination to .perish rather than give i> up what she deemed her'own, saved her B honour and : preserved the integrity. of e her soil." Prussia asserted sovereign • ■ rights over Neuchatel although the cant ton was incorporated in .the Swiss Conn federation. Tn 185G a Royalist minority/ s in'Neuclutel organised a rebellion,, but o were easily-defeated. The chiet instia 'gators' of ; -:ho revolt were detained for a trial as .insurgents the rest being: libn erated on parolo by tho orders of tho Swiss Federal Government. Iheauestion e of the future of Neachatel now became li a matter , of, European importance. Prush sia- was supported by several ot the Pow--3 ers in a claim that the.sovereign.rights t of Frederick William IV had been vjop lated by the suppression of the..revolt e, and in a demand for the release of the ;. imprisoned loyalists. The SwissjGovern--6 ment, however, stood firm and,) lengthy. ,t negotiations • proved fruitless. I n "With a: resolution worthy ot a;bet- •. ter cause," says the historian, ■■' (a resp-' Y lntion conspicuously absent when Prussia had the great Napoleon for aii opponent) & .Frederick William withdrew his onibasn sador, from Berne, ordered. the mobiiisa. o tion of his army, amouuting. to 30O,UUU " men,- and threatened unless his demands h were at onco conceded; to declare war. , Face to face, with'death aud national 1 e extinction', t,ho Swiss nation, with a 0 unanimity never before-equalkd in her ° history, phose to shed fte of ~ blood, to perish- as one man, fistoW 4«. 1 powerful antagonists,' .rathcr.than falsify „ the principles of her newly-formed ,con- , I Btitution by submitting to demands she d deemed dishonourable. and And now began a strong, heroic, but none the ~ less pathetic sight. In an instant all 8 Switzerland was changed into o, camp. Led by their Government, who. repre-; f sented the nation in a'manner Governii ments seldom do, the country commenced II her preparation for the coming strife, 'I with a patriotio .enthusiasm..and disre- *"■ gard for individual interests os marked , as it was rare. In.cvery. canton .of the ? Confederacy, men of every class,, rich and IS poor, old men and youths, men. of every ,e - creed, ■ politicians' of every . party, those e that• had formed the -Sonderbund 'and " those by whose efforts 'the Soudcrbund-'-was destroyed; 'Germans, French, Itajr '< iana, • apd Romarisch, rivalled one , witii, p another to defend, their country an her, d time of peril." •..■•' Swiss residents abroad hastened to re- , - " turn to their native la"nd or sent large e money contributions. Supplies' were voted , 1- and eventually "30,000 well-armed and on- ■. ,v thusiastio troops inarched (in January, n 1857) to defend the frontier of the Rhine.' The resolute course taken by the Swiss had its effect on the Powers and eventu-' „ ally another Congress was called nt which ,f Prussia renounced, without indemnity, (1 oil light!;'and claims, over tho canton!of e ■N'euchatel; Frederick William' retaining x only a barren title which his successors '. have since dropped. . '