Daily national Republican. (Washington City [D.C.]) 1870-1872, 1872-10-26
WILLIAM TELL.


The COlonge Gazette, In reporting the pro.
Ceedings at the recent meeting at ZnrIch of
the Historical Society Of the Old Swiss Can
tons, makes the following remarks ON he
Inquiries which hayo shown the story of
William Tell TO be purely mythical
II ls painful 10 every mind, susceptlble Of
poetic feeling, 70 be forced, by the Incontest-
able evidence Of historical records, 10 abandon
belief In cherished traditions long accented AZ
literal truth, and to exchange for them dry
narratives around the moral foundations Of
which there y no garment Of romance.
The Historical Society Of the old cantons-
that Is, Of Lu .erne, Uri, schwyz, Interval
den and Zurich, which was founded thirty
years ago, and which has conducted its in
qulries In the most cautious spirit for the last
twenty-seven years, under the presidency of
the hlstoriographer Of Lucerne, Joseph
SCHNEIDER, has rendered pre-emln ent services
10 INVESTIGATING the early history Of SwltZer.
land. The honor Of having first penetrated
Into thla field Of research and OF having torn
OIL the legendary veil which hid the true hIs-
tory of the liberation Of the forest ca ntons Ia
undoubtedly due TO the lameuted Professor
Eutychlas kopp, OF Lucerno. No doubt about
one hundred years before him the geneyese
preacher, Urlel Freudenberger, made an
attempt In au essay devoted 10 the subje ct,
TO shake the historical foundations on which
the story OF Tell rested. He was not, how
ever, In position TO convince historical stu
dents that the details Of the Swiss revolution
were mythical. This book, however did
arrest attention, for II was publicly burned
under the gallows In Altorf. ,Eopp was more
successful. He brought forward positive
evidence 10 show that the received version Of
the events which led 10 the foundation OF the
Swiss Confederation were at variation with
historical fact. His conclusions were these
There never was q Landvogt Gesslor nor a
William Tell. Tell never refused 10 lift his
hat, never fired ut an apple placed on his
sons head, although the very crOssbow with
which the deed was done Is exhibited At
Zurich; ho never crossed the Lake Of Luz
eerno In q tempest Of wind and rain; he
never boldly jumped upon the Tellplatte;
never spoke hls speech IN the deflle at Rus-
mach, and never shot the Landvogt. what's
more, the Inhabitants Of Uri, SchwyZ and
lnterwnlden never met by night on the Ruch.
johannes YOU Muller the great historian,
adopts the mythical story, and tells Il In his
History Of Switzerland" rs II absolutely
truei but the chronlclers Of the period know
nothing Of v lillian Tell, and the story APP
pears for the first time century and half
later.
KOpp skillfully separates the Legendary
matter from the Historical facts, and with the
records In bis hand estimated at their true
value Of the fables which were arst dressed
up as historical narratives by Tschudl Those
who know with what affection the SWlas
cling TO the story OF Tell and all the romantic
incidents which belong to IL will not deny that
much personal courage was required TO say
plainly TO them that there was no truth In
traditions 60 intimately interviewer with all
their thoughts aud feelings, and with all
their political Institutions. Prot Kopp dis
played this courage, and the His torical So
elety has based its inquiries on his labOrs
BY the publication Of a number OF valuable
papers on local history In the Friend OF His
tory, and by addresses delivered at the an
nual society meetings, new light was spread
on the early history Of the districts surround
Ing the Lake OF Lucerne.
The "a Nclety held Its thlrtieth meeting In this
month, AZ Zurich, and from the numerous
sIttlngs II ia a, 'dent that great interest was
felt In the procoeu, ngs: Addresses were de-
llyered by Herr jon. Schnellor, DR.: Casper
Kaiser, and by Choir Ma. Or Audi. Inc me
di9val history of the dlstrlcs was nGt the
only subject discussed. There we. "eAmOlteo
number OF objects found In the ne ny gus
covered pile dwelling In the Baldegger 4. axe;
Herr Schneider, the chairman OF the gener..
meeting, who for the last twenty-seyen years
has presided over this society, expressed a |
wish to retire In favor of younger member. |
The meeting, however, would moi hear Of his |
resignation, and he was again unanimously |
elected president