The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1866-05-12
frOm tnt d. LOIiis ntfllJl
A Historical Parallel.


, are acquainted with no other crisis in the
, history of any Stats that shows more resem-
blance in all its features to our own than the
civil war in Switzerland. that Is known under
t the name of the Sondurban1s 1car, and the
subsequent restoration of the seven seeded
cantons to their full political rights in 1916
Afraid that the abolition of tie converts
By the Cantonal Government of Aaragau and
the order Of expulsion of Jesuits might lead
to still greater interference of the Federal
Government in the affairs of the several can
tons, and. encouraged by the Jesul.s to an
armed resistance, the older cantons seeded
from the General Government, and formed
separate alliance under the name of the Son
dcrbund. The other cantoEs did not agree
to the principle Of secession, and their repre-
sentatves at the Diet, on the Goth Of July.
| 1916, carried the motion of dissolution Of the
SonderJm1d The Diet at once collected an
army Of about lO0,0 900 troops under the COM
n,and cf General Dafour, while the Sender
band could only raise q force of 10000 men.
calculating besides upon a landsta7n' of
about $4,000. The war, contrary to all pre-
dietions, was of very short duration.
The isolated cantons of Freburs. after q
mere sk;rmish, submitted first. and the whole
army of the Sunderland was overwhelmed on
I the 23d of November, ut Gialicon, and all
thesevdn can.ons at once surrendered.
! Without regard to the mere formal points
! 81. I, n nd aoCe
I for smilcr causes rs our own. The war IN
both cases was commenced for the NANTES
nance OF n principle TO which a majority OF
the States would not agree. Here it was
slavery. in Switzerland it was the Jesuitical
character Of some institutions ; and here and
there the seceders submitted only because
they were overpowered, and not because they |
were convinced Of the I'M Hstice OF their prin-
cples. Nevertheless, both submitted to the |.
Federal power. Uniformity here, at least IN
some respects, the parallel ends; for, whilst
in Switzerland nobody thought either OF re-
venge or OF exclusion Of TIE seceders from |
the halls Of the Nationel Legislature, nor OF
the creation OF differences concerning the |
rights and privileges Of citizenship between /
the loyal and the ceceded. Here, the greater 4
duration of the struggle and the immenIity .
of material advantages, derived from the /
possession of political power, created the I'M I
fortunate and anti-democratic idea Of i:np0s-
ing a series of conditions to the vaEquished .
a. Z pretext for the pronulgaeion of excep
tional legislation, and of the rule Of tia:
party that drew in fact all the advantages
from the war.
In Switzerland the very first thing after the
surrender of The seeded cantons, was al in
ritation to them to at once reoccdpy their
positions in the Diet, and Oh the 18th OF
February. lS49, committee had already
commenced the revision Of the Federal COM
pact that was selected by the representatives
of all the Swiss cantons. We only state here
Incidentally, that the new Constitution rrs-
mulgared ia the fall Of the same year was not
in the le.st centralzrg scheme, 1t only
changed mere confederacy into a national
government, nearly in the same way as We
ourselves did in 1889. leaving the rights Of
the several caatons in regard to their home
institutions untouched, and even ai!owi ng
them exclusively TO decide about the condi>
,ions OF the naturalization OF for igners.-
Whilst here the war has been used a pre-,
text for the change of = most admirable
national Constitution for the benefit OF some
Eastern states. in Switzerland the war
against the Soaderbund furnished only an {
occasion, equally desired By all cantons, and T..
necess:tated By the relations Of Switzerland ,
to their neighboring states. to change many /
obnoxious and obstructing features Of the Old
com pact. The consequences OF this reason =
able policy were most benefcialto the whole !
The new Constitution was carried s
out with equal alacrity in all the cantons;
and not more than one year afterwards, when
the Pruxsians threatened Switzerland with
war, the whole Swiss nation stood up as one
man against the common enemy, and FrusN
sian hoyitg calculated upon the disunion
spirit of the subdued Sorderbund cantons. ,,
had al once to abandon its nefaroHs schemes.
It cannot be denied: tha: the cantons be-
longing to The Sunderbund were, to great /
extent, opposed to progress and reforms. But !
It was observed, with a great deal of justice. /
that this antipaihy against novel institutions
would not have been changed in the least bv
a proscriptive and tyrannical policy. On the
the spirit Of opposition, nourished
By hateful policy, or the part Of the stronger
cautons, would have forever been in thesway
Of any general Or national progresi I
and the welfare Of the whole, just as we NOW
nave it here. would have been imperilied BY !;
resistance that was prokoved, not only in {
directly By want of generosity, but directly G
17 our prctensious If servile and self
iegradiag submission TO measures THAT no .
Imaginable force Oh earth could make US V
agree 10.
To show what correct understanding the /
1eople of Switzerland possess OF their own q
State rights theory, We will briefly allude 10 t
IN instance that occurred only ew months o
100. In one of the old cantons, man was 7
,odiiv punished for some crude and ostenta> =
ious uttcrancs of infdeity or impiety. The C
pirit of all Switzerland was so much aroused n
~ infamous proceeding that the Federal :
Government proposed, among other amend Il
nents to the Constitution, a paragraph which s.
ocked 70 tie abolition Of corporal punish v
zent all over Switzerland.
The majority of all the eantons and great
majority of all the voters declared them
elves against that Federal interference with
natters belonging exclusively to the deter :
ninatioD Of the ssveeal caetons, and the pro- :