The Sun.
London, England, 1836-09-20 00:00:00

SWITZERLAND.

We take the following from an article on the subject of
Switzerland, in the Journal du Commerce of Sunday last:--
" One hundred and thirty-three refugees have been sen-
tenced by the Federal Directory to depart Switzerland ; 83
are still at Switzerland, awaiting the decision of the Govern-
ments of the Cantons. Among the 136 against whom sen-
tence of expulsion has passed are 87 Germans, of whom 47
are from Prussia, 13 Poles or Hungarians, 4 Frenchmen,
1 Dane, 5 Savoyards, and 26 Italians. This is the result of
the official intelligence from Berne. This calculation, derived
from the Journal des Debate, an authority which will not be
questioned, exactlysorresponds with the notes of M. de Monte-
bello, and with all that we ourselves have said on this subject.
In the interest of the French Government there have been
found but four refugees for expulsion: There were 132 Prus-
sians and Austrians, that is to say, belonging to the Prussian
and Austrian States, from the Germanic Confederation, and
from Italy. Thus, in all this quarrel, the interest of the French
Government was the weakest ; we may even say that it had
none at all ; it cannot be imagined that the power of France
rests on so sandy a foundation as to endanger, by the sojourn
at Berne, at Zurich, or at Fribourg, of four persons, whose
names even are unknown. If this supposition be unwarranted—
if the residence at Switzerland of these four men did really
endanger the stability of the Government—we must infer that
the administration was very weak and incapable, or that the
system had been bad indeed for a period of six years, for no
Government whatever requires six years for its establishment.
A Government which has the masses with it has nothing to
fear from individuals. A Government which fears individuals
gives grounds for the assertion that the masses are not with it ;
it thus enfeebles itself at home as well as abroad; it propagates
the opinion of its own instability; and if it wish to again de-
monstrate its strength, one course only remains, that is, to
alter its policy.
" Four Frenchmen have been expelled. Does this, we ask,
afford sufficient reason why Switzerland should be threatened
with a blockade and invasion. How, we demand, and for
what cause has the Minister acted! thus, compromising our
alliance with a State which covers our frontiers. He has
evidently obeyed the requisitions of Prussia and of Austria,
and that alone is amply sufficient to show the intimacy of our
alliance with the Northern Powers. The interest of those
powers we showed yesterday. It is their interest to re-es-
tablish in Switzerland an Aristocracy which may be able, as
in 1815, if a continental war should break out, to open to
them the Yhine and the Alps. It is not because any notion
of a near invasion exists. All questions are adjourned, but
every day brings us nearer to the end, and that man possesses
but little sagacity who does not discover in the distance the
general confusion which threatens Europe. Now, on either
supposition, whether a war of principles or one of territory
break forth, the three Powers must organize Switzerlaad in
such a manner that she presents no obstacle in the prosecution
of their projects. If there be a war of principles, our frontiers
will be open; foreign armies will then penetrate into the very
heart of France without finding those natural or manual or
local obstacles which stand in the way of an invasion. And
if a war of territory should occur, these powers will have the
same advantages, and they will make use of them to drag us
forcibly iato their alliance, and to renounce that of England.
A combination like thislit appears beyond all question, the
Minister has aided. Now France in the actual state of her
foreign relations ought to apply herself in an especial manner
to the preservation of her own free agency, of her own unfet-
tered motions."