The Sun.
London, England, 1860-03-24 00:00:00

SWITZERLAN D.

The note of the Swiss Government on the an-
nexation of Savoy, addressed to the Powers who
guaranteed the Treaties of 1815, was sent from
Berne yesterday to London, to be communicated to
the English Government. It was yesterday, also,
communicated to the French Minister of Foreign
Affairs. General Dufour, who has been in Paris
for the last few days, had an interview yesterday
with M. Thouvenel, and subsequently had an
audience of the Emperor. The General has not
come in any official capacity. The note, which was
presented, of course, by the Swiss Minister at the
French Court, is as follows :

" NOTE OF THE SWISS GOVERNMENT.

" BERNE, MARCH 19.

" When at the beginning of last year the peace,
of Europe appeared to be seriously menaced, and
hostilities were on the point of breaking out in
Upper Italy, the Federal Council of Switzerland
felt itself called upon to explain with entire frank-
ness to the high Powers the attitude which, in ease
of war, the Confederation proposed to take with re-
ference to the provinces of Savoy comprised in the
Swiss neutrality—provinces on which Switzerland
has important rights, founded on European treaties,
and on the stipulations of the 29th March, 9th
June, and 20th November,- 1815.
" In the answers with which they honoured the
note of the Federal Council of the 14th March,
1859, the high Powers fully estimated the point of
view in which Switzerland then placed herself.
" After the close of the war, and the signing of
the peace of Zurich, the Federal Council once more
thought it its duty to call the attention of the high
Powers to the relations existing between Switzer-
land and the neutralised provinces of Savoy. At
that period there was a prospect of a meeting of a
Congress, which would be charged with settling the
affairs of Italy, taking for its basis the prelimi-
naries of Villafranca, in which the idea of an Italian
Confederation was mooted.
"In the note of the 18th of November,
1859, the Federal Council expressed the opi-
nion that if the international relations of Swit-
zerland were treated by the Powers, these could
not refuse to admit the Confederation to take
part in them. The international position of Swit-
zerland would evidently be affected by the for-
mation of an Italian Confederation, by the entry
into this Confederation of Sardinia with the
portions of Savoy comprised in the Swiss neutral
territory. It was for these reasons that Switzer-
land demanded of the Powers to be admitted to the
deliberations of the Congress, in so far as the Powers
had for object the relations with the neutralised
territory of Savoy.
" It is known that the project of a Congress was
not carried into execution, and that since the be-
ginning of the present year the idea was discussed
of modifying the grouping of the States of Central
Italy.
" The cession of Savoy to France was an idea
closely connected with that of a great Italian State
formed by the annexation of the Duchies to the
Kingdom of Sardinia. That idea acquired a
positive importance from the speech from the
throne which his Majesty the Emperor of the
French delivered an the Ist of the present month,
on opening the French Chambers.
" It is therein declared, and in terms by no means
equivocal, that in consequence of the transformation
of Northern Italy, which has for result the giving

to a powerful State the possession of *all the pas-
sages of the Alps, it had been the duty of France to
claim (revendiquer), with a view to the security of
her frontiers, the French slopes of the mountains.
The French Minister of Foreign Affairs had already
expressed himself in the same sense in a note which
he addressed on the 24th of February to the repre-
sentative of France at Turin. In this communica-
tion the French Government also let it be under-
stood that if all or part of the States of Central
Italy were annexed to Sardinia, the possession of
Savoy would become, for the security of the French
frontiers, a geographical necessity. The Minister
had the goodness to add that the interests of Switzer-
land, which France ever desired to take into consi-
deration, should be taken care of. In this situation
the Federal Council could no longer maintain an
indifferent and expectant attitude ; in the event of

the cession of Savoy being effected, it became its
duty to try to ascertain the intentions of the Powers
immediately interested with reference to the neu-
tralised provinces. To attain that object it took
the necessary steps, and, with tranquillising words,
France let her know that the question of the ces-
sion of Savoy to France was not at that moment in
question (sur le tapis), but that in such a contin-
gency the provinces of Chablais and Faucigny
should be ceded to Switzerland. These assurances
were, in the beginning of February last, repeated
orally by the Charge d'Affaires of France at Berne,
and by his Excellency the Minister of Foreign
Affairs to the Swiss Minister at Paris. At the same
time a similar communication was made to the
President of the Government of Geneva by the
Vice-Consul of France.

" It was subsequently ascertained that on the
4th of February the French Government had posi-
tively expressed itself in the same terms to the
English Government, and a few days afterwards a
declaration to the same effect was addressed to the
Sardinian Government by the French Ambassador
in London.
" These facts were of a nature to reassure the
Federal Council. It thought that in the event of
the status quo not being maintained—and which
maintenance it preferred to any change—the rights
and interests of Switzerland would, nevertheless,
be guarded, and that the result would be subse-
quently confirmed and guaranteed by the Powers.
Nevertheless, it endeavoured to obtain assurances
of a more precise nature and in writing, without,
however, exhibiting any disquietude. But what
was its astonishment and its painful surprise
when it saw in the proclamation of the Governors
of Annecy and Chambery, of the Bth and 10th of
March, that the populations of Savoy were called
upon to declare merely as to whether they wished
to continue belonging to Sardinia or to be annexed
to France, and that these important documents
made no mention of Switzerland nor of her rights,
solemnly recognised, to the neutralised provinces of

Savoy.
<<The Federal Council could not accept in silence
such a proceeding. It would have been seriously
wanting to the interests of the country which are
confided to it if it had not protested in a solemn
manner against this mode of acting. On. the 121. h
of March the representatives of Switzerland at
Paris and .Turin were instructed to call the atten-
tion of France and Sardinia to the fact that if
Savoy was the object of Au arrangement, Switzer-

land could not refuse to be heard, and that the

treaties recognised up to the latest date by all the
Powers of Europe interested established between

the Confederation and Sardinia the closest relations

precisely in what concerned Savoy, which it was
now proposed to cede. Switzerland believes, then,
that she has the right to demand that the cession
of the neutralised provinces, if indeed the status quo
was not tenable, should not be effected but with
her concurrence, as a principal contracting party,
and could not take place without her consent.
" Switzerland consequently awaits, with refer-
ence to the provinces, positive declarations neces-
sary to tranquillise her, and to remove all disquic-

,ude as to the maintenance of her rights.

" The representatives were, besides, charged to
protest against the manner of voting announced by
the governors, and to demand that before voting an
understanding should be come to with Switzerland,
since if this desire was not satisfied, the Confedera-
tion would be obliged to invoke the intervention of
those who had guaranteed the European Treaties.

" That notification has been made, but it has not
obtained, up the present date, a satisfactory answer.
Although Switzerland has still every confidence in
the assurances which were given to her in the
beginning of February, she, nevertheless, considers
in present circumstances, and seeing what is pass-

ing in Savoy, that it is her duty and her right to
claim such a declaration as can only tranquillise
her in the matter of her interests, which she has on
this occasion to defend.

"The legal basis of the pretensions of Switzerland
is so well known, and has been discussed in points
of view so various, that the Federal Council thinks
it might refer in this matter to its preceding notes,
and especially to the memorandum annexed to its
circular of the 18th November, 1859, a memoran-
dum in which the subject was explained in an ela-
borate and complete manner. It thinks then that
it may limit itself to insisting here on some of the
most important points.

" In the treaty of peace which was concluded in

564 between Berne and Savoy, under the media.

tion of the Confederate States, and which was ]
guaranteed by France and Spain, will be found a
provision to this effect :
" ' Neither of the parties shall alienate by means
of sale, exchange, or any other manner, the towns,
fortresses, countries, and populations to any other
prince, seigneur, city, country, or community what-
ever, in order that one of the parties shall preserve
the other from all foreign neighbourhood, impor-
tunate and onerous, and that each be, and continue
to be, preserved from it.'
" This stipulation of the treaty of peace of 1564
was confirmed, together with all the other treaties,
by the 23d Article of the treaty of Turin, dated 16th
March, 1816.
"The instrument in conformity with which his
Majesty the King of Sardinia consented to a
cession of territory in favour of Geneva comprises
the following provision, guaranteed by the High
Powers on the 29th March, 1815
' That the provinces of Chablais and Faucigny,
and the whole terrritory to the north of Ugine,
belonging to his Majesty, form part of the Swiss
neutrality guaranteed by all the Powers—that is to
say, that every time the neighbouring Powers shall
find themselves in a state of declared or imminent
hostility the troops of his Majesty the King of Sar-
dinia which might be then in these provinces shall
retire, and for that purpose pass through the 'Valais,
if that should become necessary; that no other
armed troops of any other Power can remain there,
or traverse it, except those which the Swiss Con-
federation may think proper to place there, it being
well understood that this state of things shall in no
manner interfere with the administration of these
provinces, in which the civil agents of his Majesty
the King may likewise employ the Municipal
Guard for the maintenance of order. This regula-
tion is formally confirmed by the 92d article of the
act of the Congress of Vienna.'
"In fine, the declaration despatched and signed
at Paris the 20th of November, 1815, announces
itself as follows :
" The Powers acknowledge, and equally guaran-
tee the neutrality of those parts of Savoy designed
by the act of the Congress of Vienna of the 20th
March, 1815, and by the treaty of Paris of that day
as having the right to enjoy the neutrality of Swit-
zerland in the same manner as if they belonged to
the latter.'
" The Powers who signed the declaration of the
20th of March acknowledge authentically by the
present act that the neutrality and inviolability of
Switzerland and its independence of all foreign in-
fluence are in the true interests of the policy of all

Europe.
" The idea which directed the high Powers in
these stipulations is evidently this—the neutrality
and independence of Switzerland are a condition
of European security in general, and in order
to protect as much as possible that neutrality
and independence some parts of Savoy are corn
prised in Swiss neutrality which are absolutely
necessary efficaciously to defend that neutrality,
and without which the object pursued in the in-
terest of Europe could be only incompletely attained,
if at all. These motives exist in as much force at
the present day.
" In presence of these facts—in presence of rights
solemnly guaranteed to the Confederation by
Europe—Switzerland can express an opinion that
her pretensions to the neutralized provinces of
Savoy are not of a nature to be set at nought by a
simple cession, and as little by a popular vote.
" Here is the place to take into consideration
both the geographical necessity and the political
opportunity. If France sets out her situation with
respect to a Power occupying the north of Italy in
the sense that it is her duty to claim the French
slopes of the mountains in order to secure her fron-
tiers, Switzerland has a much stronger reason to
form a similar claim. Switzerland being a State
bounded by two great military Powers, has a much
stronger reason for claiming a frontier such as will
render a serious defence of the western part of her
territory possible, and without which her neutrality
would be strongly and daily menaced.
" By their geographical position the provinces in
question evidently regard Switzerland and not
France. The mountains there have no slopes join-
ing France; on the contrary, these districts form
the natural continuation of the Cantons of Vaud
Valais, and Geneva ; their natural limits are on
the eastern side in the mountains which separate
Savoy from Switzerland, and on the southern side
in the chain of the Alps which separate the southern
part of Savoy from the north of that duchy.
"The admission and maintenance of that man-
ner of seeing are likewise an international neces-
sity ; for if these northern provinces of Savoy are
not connected with the fate of Switzerland, the
important passage of the Simplon, that of the
Great St. Bernard, as well as the cantons of Vaud
and Geneva, are constantly menaced.
" The motive for which at least a party urges
the annexation of the entire of Savoy to France
appears to arise from the circumstance that it is
contrary to the natural feeling to parcel out a
country which for a long series of years formed one
entire, and possesses so rich a history. These con-
siderations of piety have certainly their value when
it is proposed to separate Savoy from a dynasty to
which it has been attached for ages, and of which
it includes the cradle. But if this point of view be
removed, and one becomes familiar with the idea of
henceforth connecting one's fate with another
Power, that objection to a partition has no longer
any importance.
" The territory which at present constitutes the
Duchy of Savoy had, like all the States of the
middle-ages, a small beginning ; it was only by
degrees, by conquests and by successions, that it
arrived at its present state. The nucleus from
which the Savoy of to-day developed itself is the pro-
vince which at present bears the name of Maus
rienne. In the course of ages it extended itself so
as to comprise the territories which now belong to
the Swiss Confederation. As in the origin, the va-
rious districts which formed Savoy have in the
course of time been affected by the principle of
paatition. The Canton of Vaud, the Lower Valais,
and Geneva have for centuries belonged to Switzer-
land. Other p9rt ion s..—Bugey and Bresse—are in-
corporated at present with France.
" Thus, as has been already remarked, the geo-
graphical position itself of Savoy command*a par-

tition, inasmuch as the southern provinces of that
duchy have their natural slope towards France,
and those of the north just as naturally towards

Switzerland.

' But there is another fact not less important

than that geographical consideration. for the
most important necessities of life, for the affairs of
e-ery day, for the exchange of agricultural and
commercial produce—in a word, for all—the popu-

lation of that part of the neutralised provinces aro
obliged to address themselves almost exclusively to
Switzerland, while for these purposes they main-
tno relation with the remainder of Savoy. The
fact that already more than 11,000 citizens have
spontaneously manifested their wish to be nailed
to Switzerland in case they are to be separated
from the kingdom of Sardinia fully proves that
this population knows how to appreciate the con-
siderations which have been set forth—that they
comprehend how serious is their position—and
that they await the future with anxiety.
" An idea has likewise been started that the neu-
tralised provinces might remain in the status quo.
in case that even the entire of Savoy should be
ceded to France.

" The Federal Council has certainly no occasion
to discuss this hypothesis, and to demonstrate its
impossibility. A state of things which might
have its reasons with regard to a Power
of the second order would be completely
irrational with respect to cne of the
great military Powers of Europe, and would be
equally contrary to the dignity of the two States.
Suppose that Savoy is united to France, either that
Power would refuse to acknowledge the status quo
or else the actual state of things would have only
a nominal importance without any real value for
Switzerland. The stipulation of the eventual re-
treat of the French troops, which would at the mo-
ment, occupy the neutralised provinces by the can-
ton of the Valais and by the Simplon might even
be termed nonsense.

" After having explained these various points of
view, Switzerland claims the intervention of the
high Powers in so important an affair and so seri-
ous for her future. She takes this step with all
the confidence which she owes to the guarantees of
order between nations and to the treaties on which
European international law reposes.
" She may expect with confidence the main-

,enance of the rights which treaties secure to her

—she may expect that if really a change in the
existing position of affairs is to take place, and
if Savoy is to be ceded, the possibility will be
given her by the adjunction of the neutralised pro-
vinces to defend, with a chance of success, her neu-
trality and her independence.
" She may so much the less be deceived in that
expectation, as the question does not regard private
advantages, but interests which the great Powers
themselves have admitted to have general impor-
tance for all Europe, and that France has confirmed
towards her these last few days her good disposi-
tion to regulate this affair in a sense to preserve
her rights and interests.
"The Swiss Federal Council trusts that its de-
mand will be taken into a just and impartial consi-
deration, and that no final decision will be adopted.
without her co-operation.
It, moreover, takes this opportunity, &c.
"In the name of the Swiss Federal Council,
(Signed) " F. FREY HERGSEE,
" Chancellor of the Confederation.
" SCIIIESS,
" Chancellor of the Confederation."