The Sun.
London, England, 1836-09-03 00:00:00

SWITZERLAND.

BERNE, AUG. 22.—Switzerland was always divided be-
tween two interests. M. de Bombelles, the Austrian Am-
bassador, was all-powerful in Zurich, and the French inte-
rest prevailed at Berne. As long as M. de Rumigny was
the French Ambassador, the leading men of Berne, and
certainly much to the detriment of their popularity and in-
fluence, followed implicitly all the hints and orders of the
French Cabinet. But the fatuity and arrogance of his suc-
cessor, the Duke of Montebello, have produced a rapid
change. Wherever he appeared in public, he affected to
ridicule the Swiss people and their authorities by saying the
people would never stir to defend either their constitutions
or the authorities whom they had elected. His having
threatened Switzerland with a " hermetical" blockade if
the Diet did not immediately drive away all the foreigners
whose presence displeased the French and German Go-
vernments, was already an open violation of our national
independence. The note wherein he signified the final in-
tentions of his Government, was couched in the most ar-
rogant terms ; but, as if all this had not been enough, he
broke even th most common rules of decency by going in
the midst of the night into the house of the President of
the Diet, and making him rise from his bed, in order to
communicate to him the contents of his note. It was
chiefly the revelation of all those circumstances which
roused the indignation of the people in the public meetings,
as you can easily see from the resolutions which were pa&sod
at the meeting at Reiden, anwhich I subjoin ;
" The confederates of the cantons of Berne, Lucerne,
Schwitz, Solothurn, Basle, and Argau declare unanimously—
" 1. That they will resist any intervention of the foreign
diplomacy in Switzerland as a violation of the honour,
liberty, and independence of the Swiss nation i that they
are determined to sacrifice their fortunes and lives to second
the constitutional authorities of Switzerland in their efforts
to maintain the precious rights which they have inherited
from their forefathers ; and that any other conduct appears
ignominious to them.
" 2. That they consider, especially, the meal of the
French Ambassador, Duke de Montebello, as a matter Of
great urgency, as this diplomate ha; lost the eenfikVozia
the nation by his affectation of pretMclikliit tha4 the people
would not defend the eamititiOigns
which they have grveu
to themselvesr CP% the, authorities whom they have elected ;
Rild IV his want of respect shown to the President of the
Piet, and whom he surprised by a nocturnal visit t and,
above all, by his protensims of interfering in our national
" 3, That they consider the sacortmrifice of their cantonal in-
terests to the common weal of this country as the most
appropriate means to deliver Switzerland from foreign exi-
gencies ; and that, in consequence, they desire to see the
vicious Act of 1815 replaced by a federal constitution,
which may enable Switzerland to present itslo as Re na-
tion in face of the foreign tAwcll:l3
the'y ft9l. th him, a Nan %vim had taken
Ayvi rf,sgiuticm4 peen passed, the KQelltler, as
a leading part in the
events by which Basle country separated itself from Basle
town, ;-‘ r
proposed Ourtu resolution to nearly this tenor :
ic That, as
the Diet what it had to do, the people found it convenient
foreign Powers thought convenient to dictate to
to declare to the Diet, that if within four weeks it did not
revise and amend the Federal Act of 1815, the people
would take up arms." Pfyffer, of Lucerne, however, who

• presided at the meeting, dissolved it immediately upon this
proposition having been made and cheered by the assembly.
The affair of Conseil begins to turn out as the result of
the jealousy between the Austrian and French Ambassa-
dors. It was a spy of M. de Ilornbelles, called Barthola,
who
got hold of Conseil and induced him to betray his
master, and to give into his hands all his papers : the plot
being thus revealed, he took care to give to it the greatest
publicity, which engaged the prefet of Nidau to arrest them
both. On the other side it is thought, that during all this
time the Duke de Montebello was busied in playing exactly
the same trick upon M. de Bombelles. He was equally
successful, for the Duke de Montebello was a principal
party in assisting to discover the real quality and name of
Baron von Eib.
These intrigues might seem very amusing at another
period. But our country is in a terrible situation. The
leading men and our authorities, instead of relying upon the
nation, have sought strength from foreign influence, and
lost all their power and consideration through those diplo-
matical intrigues. We are threatened both with foreign
invasion and internal commotion ; wherever we look, we
discover party divisions and want of organization. We are
exactly in the circumstances which preceded the partition
of Poland. Heaven forbid that we should share the same
fate!

The following from Berne is of the 2Gth ult. :
The Diet has been to-day engaged in the discussion
of the Concordat proposed by Zurich for regulating in fu-
ture the admission of refugees into Switzerland, the conclu-
sum already adopted applying only to the past and the pre-
sent. The following are the terms of the new measure—
" The Cantons, seeing the criminal plots of which a cer-
tain number of political refugees and other foreigners have
lately been guilty—being agreed to prevent in the future,
by measures taken in common, a repetition of similar disor-
ders, reserving at the same time to each canton, so far as
concerns the admission and residence, or expulsion of fo-
reigners, the right of acting as it may deem right, are
agreed upon the following points :-
1,. The cantons will take care that there shall not be
tolerated within their respective territory, under the name
of refugees, any persons who are known to be ordinary cri-
minals or vagabonds. To this end the central police fthe
canton, whenever a foreigner arrives without regular pass-
ports, and demands permission to reside within it, shall
cause a summary inquiry to be made as to his identity, and
the cause and manner of his flight ; and such permission
shall not be given until after such inquiry.
2. The expulsion of a foreigner ordered by the Govern-
ment of a Canton from sufficient motive, shall be executed
in the following manner :—The person to be expelled shall,
with the concurrence of the federal Directory, be con-
ducted to the Swiss frontier, and be delivered into the
hands of the authorities of the neighbouring State, with
which an understanding shall be come to in this respect.
The delivery shall, nevertheless, be made solely with the
view of insuring the non-return of the individual in ques-
tion, but never in the sense of delivering up to justice, un,
less with the express intention of the Cantonal Government.
3. The Cantons admit the following as motives which ought
(but without prejudice to the action of justice against the
individual in question) to oblige them to expel a foreigner
under Article 2, and as giving them a right to proceed in
the mode prescribed, namely, in the case where a foreigner
enters into a secret association tending to the commission
of crime, the undertaking of violent enterprises against a
foreign State, also when he concurs in any other menner in
such acts, or takes part in meetings having such objects :
likewise when a foreigner assumes a false name, or gives
any other false indications, in order to obtain permission to
reside in the Canton.

4. When expulsion is ordered by a Cantonal Govern-
ment from other motives than those above pointed out, the
Federal Directory shall decide upon a demand to be made
by the said Government, after having having considered the
motives alleged, and declare whether it will proceed accord-
ing to the mode pointed out by Article 2, or whether it will
leave the case in the hands of the Canton.
5. The Cantons engage to take care that they will not
grant permission to reside, or rights of citizenship, to any
foreigners who, according to Articles 3 and 4, sti,ail have
merited, either before or after the conclusion of the present.
Concordat, expulsion from the Confederation.
6. This present Concordat shall come into force on the
Ist January, 1837, for such States as shall before that pe-
riod signify their accession to the Federal Directory. The
duration of the Concordat shall be five years.
" After a debate of some length upon the general princi-
ples of the measure, the Diet proceeded to the consideration
of each article separately. The first article was adopted
without amendment by twelve States. The second article
was adopted by twelve States, with an amendment proposed
by Basle country, which required that the word Canton'
should take the place of that of 4 Government of a Can-
ton,' and another by Schaffhausen, declaring that the ex-
pulsion of refugees should be at the expense of the Canton
requiring it. The third was adopted with an amendment
by Vaud, declaring that the production of false passports
should be a sufficient ground for expulsion. The fourth
was adopted by thirteen cantons, with an additional clause,
proposed by Schaffhausen, declaring that each Canton
should make known to the rest the names of the per-
sons to whom they granted an asylum. The fifth and
sixth were adopted without amendment. In the ques-
tion upon the ensemble of the project, Zurich and Lu-
cerne voted in its favour, on condition of its ratification.
The other States voted for the Referendum, with the ex-
ception of St. Gall and Glaris, which were against any
Concordat whatever. The Directory will communicate
the project to the States, requiring them to signify their
decisions on the subject. Appenzell (It. E.) will not ratify
the Clone/usunt of August 11, because it contains principles
which tend to render the Diet the mere executive power of
the Directory. Vaud has repeated its demand that the in-
quiries made at Zurich nod Berne, in the affair of the re-
fugees, be communicated to the States, in order that the
truth may be made known, and the suspicions thrown out
upo❑ certain magistrates and other persons may be cleared
up. The Deputies for Zurich and Berne promise that the
extracts required for this publication shall be communicated
by their respective Governments. On Monday next the
Diet will enter upon the discussion of the answer to be given
to the Duke of Montebello's note."--21/Orning Paper.