MRS. SINNETT'S TRANSLATION OF kitiGGE'8

SWITZERLAND.

THEODORE MUGGE is a Prussian literary man and traveller, who passed a portion of 1846 and 1847 in making a tour through Switzerland; not: merely looking at her landscapes, or testing her hotels and other appliances for the accommodation of tourists, but investigating &ET

present feeling and condition of her people, having previously studied her history. Neither was Herr Mtigge's journey a scampering tour, con- fined to the established line of roads and views. He appears to have visited every canton in succession—at least in describing them he speaks as if from actual observation; and to have mixed with her people, been present at the meetings of the Diet, and assisted at various political and popular processions and fetes. He thus possessed or made opportunities much beyond those of the common traveller ; and he had both ability and acquirements to turn them to account.

Switzerland in 1847 is not altogether a book of travels, although the narrative of journies forms a part of it; nor is there any formal arrange- ment beyond what the nature of the subject itself occasions. Having arrived at Schauffhausen, to be present at the National Vocal Festival, Theodore Mtigge describes his journey thither, and the constitution, politics, and predominating characteristics of the Canton and its people. He next passes on to Zurich, which he displays in a similar way; and then gives a precis of the revolutions of Switzerland, in order to enable the reader to understand the causes and merits of the existing contention. After dismissing the history, constitution, and present politics of Switzer- land, the author resumes his tour and his description ; passing from canton to canton, and noting the natural and national peculiarities of each, occasionally varying the more general objects by a narrative of ex- cursions to places not visited by common tourists. The temporary attraction of Swiss politics has in some measure passed away with the late defeat of the priestly and oligarchical party; one source of apparent interest when Mrs. Percy Sinnett undertook her trans- lation vanishing with the Sonderbund. Switzerland in 1847 is, how- ever, a useful and valuable book for itself. It contains as much of the history and political geography or geographical politics of Switzerland as is desirable for English readers, and perhaps no more than they ought to know; the general descriptions of scenery, manners, institutions, and national feelings, are as good and appropriate as in the better class of travels, with the additional advantage of purpose and completeness ; if the passing politics, now that the occasion is past, seem dwelt upon rather too fully, they are exhibited with animation, and with the in- troduction of the living politicians. If Theodore Mugge is a litterateur, he is an accomplished one, whose smart style conveys a consistent idea. He has also prepared for his task by a knowledge of Swiss history, as well as by a study of political philosophy, which has enabled him to ob- serve institutions and their working with advantage. There maybe a touch of the German theorist in his views ; and probably, as Mrs. Sinnett intimates in some of her notes, a little of the prejudice of the Continental Liberal against kings, priests, and aristocrats : but the Swiss oligarchy is known to have been a very narrow one in all senses ; the Parti-Pretre in Switzerland had the rustic Cantonal coarseness and cruelty without the plausibility or seeming amiability of Romanists; and Theo- dore Mugge can make a scientific if not a worldly allowance. The style of the book is close ; but it probably owes something in this respect to its translator, who has condensed the original throughout. It is possible, too, that this process may have caused a slight appearance of inconsistency between' the author's particular and general judgment ; or it may be that the seeming inconsistency is inseparable from the national characteristic of the Switzer and the freedom of his institutions. The Swiss may be bad, yet they cannot prevent the goodness of their liberty ; or they might have been worse than they are under the forms of an auto- cratical or aristocratical tyranny ; or it may be that the stranger, especi- ally from Germany and its restraints, should feel the Swiss liberty more than do its peasants and its poor, who are oppressed in the way described by Goldsmith in his verse, "Laws grind the poor, and rich men rule the law." When the Prussian crosses the frontier and is stopped by no gens- d'armes, and "no policeman inquires after your passport, or puts his head into your carriage to look after articles liable to duty," he feels the practical benefits of Swiss freedom ; he dwells upon the vigorous life of Switzerland compared with the torpidity of some of its neighbours ; and whenever he has to speak generally he speaks favourably. In particu- lars be is not so encomiastic. The Swiss, the very best of them, are sel- fish, hard, and grasping, without domestic enjoyments or affections, having no love for art or regard for philosophy, but estimating everything by what it will fetch, and thinking the whole business of life is to make money. With these sordid qualities are united a most egregious vanity, national in the outer, cantonal in the inner degree, with a narrow- ness and very often an ignorance of the world beyond their mountains, which are surprising. These characteristics attach to all alike, except that the Genevese have a conception of art, philosophy, and the world, but without many good effects flowing from their knowledge. To the na- tional Swiss vices the Catholic Cantons add an unscrupulous and bigoted priesthood, acting upon an ignorant and besotted peasantry ; in almost every canton there is a strong feeling of city against country, and to some extent of rushes against townsmen; in short a narrow corporate feeling everywhere prevails. A close-fisted mode of living obtains among the riches; which custom causes to descend through society,— possibly, however, from prudence or necessity. In the Catholic Cantons, where there are no manufactures, and generally in remote districts, the living is nearly as hard as in Ireland,—nay, much harder when the in- dustry and severe climate of the Swiss are compared with the laziness of the Irish and the mildness of their weather: even the potato has grown to be a main article of food among the peasants. Of the Swiss innkeepers H. Mugge has formed a very different opinion from that we last week quoted from Mr. Trench ; the Prussian inclining more to the conclusion of travellers in general. He says they have various scales of charges, which run somewhat in this advancing order : Swiss—German—French- Russian—English.

The facts and instances from which we draw these general deductions are widely scattered through the volumes, as well as exhibited in detail ; and form more interesting parts of the book than the historical reveries, political speculations, or descriptions of scenery.

SWISS SOCIETY.

The seclusion of domestic life in Switzerland is one great cause of the deficiency of enlarged tastes and enlightened views. Every family is a strongly guarded fortress, into which no foreigner can penetrate. The stranger bringing letters of introduction to a Swiss family would receive no invitation, or only one of the most formal and ceremonious kind; .perhaps to meet its members merely at a coffeehouse, seeing nothing of the ladies or of the house, and learning nothing of the customs of the family. Most Swiss families have been accustomed never to mingle freely with any not precisely their equals, and strictly to shut out all intercourse with those decidedly below them.

Not only do the old families keep together in these little exclusive circles,. the new are, in this respect, not a whit behind them. Marriages are seldom ffirmed beyond the limits of the circle to which every member of the several families be- longs by right of birth, and to which no person born beyond the pale is admitted. The members of families are also strictly classed according to their ages; so that it often happens that the sons and daughters and elders of a family have all dif- ferent sets of acquaintances, who are scarcely known to the others. The spirit of separation is thus encouraged in them from their earliest youth; they are inocu- lated with it; and they seldom seek either love or friendship beyond its boundaries.

In this narrow plan of life there is, of coarse, but little real education—little true culture of the mind and heart. Many, indeed, send their children to boarding- schools; where they go through the old routine, learn a little music and Fnmell, and so forth, and then come back to tread the same stupid round: and my com- plaints of the difficulty I experienced in becoming acquainted with the ladies and their domestic life, were answered by assurances that I lost very little thereby. While the men pass their lives mostly in eoftiaehousesi occupied in smoking, drinking, talking politics, or play, it is not surprising that social circles' where subjects of general intellectual interest are discussed, should be almost unknown in Switzerland: whence, indeed, in this stiff, narrow life, shonld arise the tastes which make intellectual conversation possible?

Although High-German is the language of the cultivated classes, the Swiss la- dies are, I am told, little acquainted with it; a fact which may be, perhaps, both a cause and a consequence of their universal withdrawal from society. The in-

ferences concerning female education to be drawn from this fact are necessarily very unfavourable; but these deficiencies are probably little considered in Swiss

marriages, which are apparently commercial bargains, in which the parse has more concern than either the heart or the head. Once married, mental culture in the women is little called for; general social intercourse being denied them, and their lives being shut within the narrow range of their household duties and the circle of their female acquaintance. Good housewifes they are at least, and cer- tainly not behind their husbands in economical inclinations. Amongst me- chanics and artisans, women are much employed in trade and business of various kinds; but even in the higher classes household cares play necessarily a prominent part, since they present in many cases the only resource against the attacks of ennui.

Marriages between foreigners and native Swiss seldom take place, partly per- haps from the paucity of intercourse; but there are also in many cantons legal difficulties hard to overcome; as, for instance, the refusal of all civic rights to the children of such a marriage.

This civic right is of great importance, as without it a born Swiss might be in a worse position than the native of any other civilized com- munity.

THE HOMELESS.

Every parish or commune, which in Switzerland signifies not an ecclesiastical but a political division, has its assembly, consisting of all the citizens whose names, as belonging thereto, stand in the communal register. This point of communal

registry is of great importance, *hose names are not thus enteyed are of the "'homeless"; a word of melancholy significance in Switzerland, designating a class whose condition yet remains unaltered, though its injustice and cruelty ex- cite the deepest indignation in every unprejudiced mind. That the treatment of the "homeless" is the plague-spot of Switzerland, may be gathered from hundreds of Swiss books, containing histories of savage persecutions and frightful cruelties' • yet the causes of this atrocity lie deep in the whole social system of the country, which rests on the communal system, the canton beiug composed of a number of such communes, forming little states within the state.

Every child born of registered citizens becomes by birth a citizen of the com- mune, and thereby also a citizen of the canton and of the Confederation. He shares all political rights, exercises them according to established laws, is sup- ported by the communal funds when in distress, and assists in bearing all the common burthens. He is therefore fully entitled to every Swiss privilege when his name once stands in the communal register: not so, however, should he belong to the parias who are unable to prove their communal rights; which, through loss of papers, illegitimate birth, fraud, or neglect, may easily occur. Then he is " homeless ": the commune rejects him, and, often hunted like a wild beast, he flies from place to place, is moved from prison to prison, transported from canton to canton, persecuted, tormented, and everywhere left helpless; for every one of these little states consisting of a fixed number of communes, there is no space left for him to exist in, nowhere a safe place of refuge. In Zurich, the right of settlement has been now made much easier of attain- ment; and thus a way has been opened towards the alleviation and ultimate ex- tinction of the ancient cruelties; but in other cantons, especially the smaller ones, where it is almost impossible to obtain this right, the number of homeless still remains very great; and terrible things are related of their sufferings and persecutions.

A foreigner, desirous of establishing himself comfortably in Switzerland, must in the first place obtain his citizenship; that is to say, he must buy it, and often for a high price, never less than a hundred gulden. This purchase naturalizes any children he may have below the age of fourteen, but for any above this me the right must be separately bought. In ancient times, the burgher-right in the towns implied great privileges, since only citizens could carry on trade in the can- ton. This is no longer the case; and the only remaining rights derived from this source are in the distributions of wood from the communal forests, and sometimes wine from the communal vineyards; reception, if necessary, into the burgher hos- pital, and pecuniary help when in distress.

This burgher-right, however, costs in the town of Zurich 1,100 Swiss francs.

SWISS LOVE OF TITLES.

The number of opulent families whose sons are eager to become officers causes an overwhelming superfluity of colonels, majors, and captains. I have already described bow we meet presidents at every tarn in Switzerland; who have, how- ever, according to our notions, nothing president-like about them. In the same way communal-councillors circuit-councillors, and men of the strangest, most varied, and high-sounding denominations, abound in every corner. Even these, however, seem not to be considered enough; for all who have at any time of their lives filled official stations continue to bear about with them their former title, prefixing, however, an ex. Hence the enormous number of ex-state-councillors, ex-burgomasters, ex-commune-presidents, and ex-communal-councillors &c.; though the rage for titles is as severely satirized in Switzerland as simile; follies among ourselves. It remains, however, unabated, especially among the ladies, who appear resolutely determined that their husbands should be bedded, some- how or other. I heard in Zurich of a "Mrs. Vice-Inspector of Fire-engines," (Frau Vice-SpnIzen Meisterin); and such instances are not exceptions: let th title be what it will, so it be but a title, it is welcome to a Swiss,

Switzerland resembles Republican America in its ravenous appetite for titles. Generals are, indeed, less plentiful in Switzerland, but its colonels would provide the largest army; and these, though not ignorant of their duty, are mostly the blest of men, contented with their titles, which cost the country nothing, and without the smallest desire of entering a field of battle.

Herr Miigge admits, however, the cheapness of these honours, and the general economy and financial prosperity of Switzerland. There is no debt; as much money is spent upon education as on the army, in some cantons more; and upon other directly useful objects in proportion.

The entire military expenses of the canton of Berne would not maintain a single Prussian regiment. One Prussian general costs as much as the whole Go- vernment of Zurich; and the hundred and fifty generals of the Prussian army consume double the entire revenues of this little republic; fifty of which, with a population of twelve million inhabitants, might be governed for the twenty-five millions of dollars yearly expended on the Prussian military service.

"The military expenses of Zurich being so trifling, greater meson remain for other departments of public service, and nearly twice as much is here expended on education as on war; while the outlay for education in Prussia forms scarcely a twenty-fifth part of the cost of its army.

"The order and strict economy observable in Zurich and many cantons in amry branch of the state expenditure, the well-regulated distribution of taxes, the precision and publicity with which official accounts are kept, the undisturbed state of industry, and the political freedom possessed by every citizen, may lead us to differ from certain an newspaper-writers, who so deeply lament the unfortunate state of Switzerland. The Swiss themselves are far from holding such an opinion: did they hold it here, where no censor reigns, it would not long remain concealed. I believe, indeed, that, spite of all grievances and all party discord, no Swiss would be easily disposed to envy the good fortune of a despotic- apy-governed subject, or even the condition of a Frenchman or Englishman."

PROTESTANT AND CATHOLIC.

One circumstance is remarkable, namely, that almost all the manufacturirg in- dustry of Switzerland is found in the Protestant part of it, while the Catholics possess little or none. Very often, as in Appenzell, the line of demarcation is quite sharply drawn. Manufactures and Protestantism cease at once, and give way to the herdsman and the shepherd; and that not because there is any sad- den change in the natural features of the country, for the little canton of Glarus, for instance, is a high mountain-land, and yet it abounds with industrial activity. But the people of Glarus are Protestants; they have fewer fast-days and holy- days; and Protestantism awakens the powers of the mind, abates the influence of the priesthood, and teaches men to rely on their own exertions. In Germany we have often occasion to make the same remark: of two villages close together, the Protestant community will be clean, industrious, and prosperous, while their Ca- tholic neighbours will remain always poor and dirty.

It should be remarked, that the facts warrant the inference that these differences may be almost as much educational as religious. In the mixed cantons, the priests have had no firmer opponents than the educated Eomanists ; the Protestants, from delicacy, or nnacquaintance with the practical evils, not being so forward in Papal reforms.