[To TR1 EDITOR Or Tait ''SlarriT0a^1
Sr,—Will you kindly allow me a few words in answer to the letter "Switzerland and Britain" in your issue of June 5th P We have been in Switzerland ever since the outbreak of war— at first in a large town in German Switzerland, and since November up in the mountains—and we can heartily endorse the statement of the writers of the letter that English visitors need fear no unpleasantness in Switzerland and may still be sure of a welcome. To suggest anything else would surely be an insult to the Swiss, who intend to defend their neutrality against all comere—not only on their frontiers, but in the interior of the country too. Even the children seem to have learut the lesson, judging by the small Swiss boy who said last winter to a grown-up friend " Wir Schweizer mfissen neutral bleiben." Asked what he meant by being neutral, he replied: " Wir sollen one Gang stills: halten." But I think that no one who has been in Switzerland for the last ten months eon possibly agree with the further statement that the Swiss people are entirely with the Allies. Our own observations have convinced us that this is not the case, and we have spoken with no one who would have entertained such an idea for a moment. The fact seems to be that the sympathies go, roughly speaking, by the languages. The French Switzerland is with the Allies—and more especi- ally with the French—the German Switzerland is with the Germans. As the German Swiss are in a large majority it is impossible to say that Switzerland as a whole is with the Allies. The last German outrages have probably alienated some of Germany's sympathizers, but she has many ardent supporters still. It is surely most undesirable that people in England should remain under a false impression in this matter. I must add that no one who has been in Switzerland for the last ten months can fail to be full of admiration for this noble little country and her great-hearted people. Suffering herself severely from the effects of the war, she bas yet devoted herself to helping the other greater sufferers around her. Belgian refugees, French and German wounded and prisoners, and the unfortunate interned civilians—all have been helped with an open-hearted, generous charity. Switzerland will surely be one of the nations who will look back with a justpride on their part in the Great War. She has seen to it that that page in her history shall be written in
letters of gold.—I am, Sir, &a., CONSTANT REAMER, Switzerland, Tune 14th.
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