SWITZERLAND AND SAVOY.
Iv is an old remark that years have their characteristics, as well as nations or individuals. There are years of dearth, and years of abundance ; years of war, and years of peace ; years de- voted exclusively to commerce, to industrial enterprise, to poli- tics, and to diplomacy. The present year, the year of grace one thousand eight hundred and sixty, appears to be destined to be
preeminently the year of international Protestations. A kind of rivalry seems to be abroad, as to which nation can protest the mostand the loudest. The Pope protests against the doings of Sardinia ; the Kaiser against universal suffrage in Central Italy ; Venetia protests against the Kaiser's rule ; the Grand Duke of Tuscany against French influence ; the Duchess of Parma and the Duke of Modena protest against their own subjects ; and the King of Naples, with his Sister of Spain, against the subjects of the Pope. Even Switzerland, quiet, honest, peace-loving Switzerland, is at last joining in this chorus of protestations, this very whirl- wind of official circulars, notes, and manifestoes. This final symp- tom is the most serious of all, and just the more so, because of' our knowledge that it is but a symptom, " a voice and nothing more."
Who is there that does not love little Switzerland, the glorious poetic country of mythic William Tell, the realized dream of po- litical bliss in this our ancient spell-bound feudal-aristocratic Eu- rope ? Like a golden cloud, full in the noonday sun, the little republic is towering on its Alpine basis, a warning light to forgetful despots, a hopeful beacon to oppressed nationalities. But whether seen from a distance, or examined on the spot, looked at from Fleet Street or from Interlacken, we all love the country, and we all,—not only England but most of the nations of Europe, take a common-interest-in Switzerland, regarding the little republic not so much as the land of one particular race, but as the equal patrimony of the whole civilized world. And we 'have a certain right to look at her in this view, for Helvetia is the creation of thinking Europe as much as of her own citizens, of the Spirit of the Times as much as of the valour of the mountaineers. From a state of the smallest possible dimensions, Switzerland has grown up to be a political power, not like ancient Rome by the conquest of surrounding territories, but by the peaceful movement of prin- ciples practically and successfully. realized. This movement, however, has been acting in a twofold manner, internal and ex- ternal; the latter stronger at all times than the former. Helvetia and 'her democratic principles attracted, but Europe allowed its component members to be attracted, and, more than that, assisted at their incorporation into the new political body. The history of Switzerland is the history of the Congresses of Europe. Scarcely a diplomatic meeting, a Reichstag, or other international assem- bly has been held for the last four or five centuries, in which Switzerland was not spoken of, at which Switzerland was not favoured, and at the end of which she did not get some substan- tial advantages awardell to her. Switzerland has now twenty- two cantons, with a population of more than two millions of in- habitants ; but it was only on the 1st of January 1308, that she began her political existence by a Bund, or Union, of three cantons, now the smallest and most insignificant of the whole, Uri, Schwertz, and Unterwalden. So rapid was her career of "annexation," that in 1353, she had already eight, a century after ten, and in 1513, thirteen cantons. Every succeeding con- gress of European nations kept on adding to this, slowly but stead- fastly; and the last and greatest of these meetings, that of Vienna, gave her no less than three cantons at once, 'Valais, Neufchitel, and Geneva, each of them more populous than the collective trio which formed the nucleus of the Confederation. This last gift Of Europe, combined with a guarantee of neutrality, for part of Savoy was so important as to be almost alarming to the governlent of the republic, and a short diplomatic warfare between Switzerland and Sardinia was the immediate consequence thereof. The "pro- testations" then exchanged, become highly interesting at the pre- sent moment, as illustrative of the apparent change of opinion which has taken place in Switzerland from 1815, to this present year of universal protests. The protocol of the Congress Act of Vienna, which gave the three cantons of Valais, Neufchatel, and Geneva, to Switzerland, was signed on the 29th of March, 1815; and, already on the 15th of May the same year, the discussions for the execution of the clause regarding the neutrality of Chablais and Fauoigny began between the Helvetian Commissioners and the Court of Turin. The former strongly insisted on the outset, that the neutrality of Savoy should only be accepted by Switzerland "i titre onereux," that is, as a burdensome duty, and not as a right. According to the interpretation of the Act by -the Swiss Envoys, the Congress intended the neutralization of Faucigny and Chablais, as a protection of Sardinia against France, and so far from seeing any advantage in this arrangement, they thought that even the possession of Geneva was almost too dearly paid for by such a perpetual sentinel duty. So important was this point deemed, that the Commissioners of the republic absolutely refused to sign the act of neutrality, unless with the insertion, "sons la reserve qu'il n'en resulte mean prejudice pour la neutralitk de la Suisse." But this phrase the Piedmontese Government, still under the in- fluence of the events of the first French Empire, would not allow; and the dispute finally grew so warm as almost to threaten a rup- ture between the two states. Under these circumstances, the Vorort deemed it necessary to send the Swiss Minister at Paris,
M. Piotet de Rochemont, with new and precise instructions to Turin; charging him above all to establish the neutrality of Cha- blais and Fancigny, "as a benefit (bienfait) which these provinces shall enjoy, but not as an obligation on the part of Switzerland to occupy and to defend them." And, that there might be no mis- take as to the precise meaning in which the Swiss Government wished to understand the neutrality clause of the Congress,. the
Torort added :—" The great powers have made the solemn stipu- lation-to look at certain parts of Savoy as neutral territory ; but they by no means intended to lay on Switzerland the maintenance of this engagement (la garantie de cet engagement). They did not make her responsible for the execution of an act of their mu- nificence. Neither the parity of situation, nor the common en- joyment of a benefit, can possibly constitute a similar obligation on our part." We take this passage textually from the document ; and it clearly proves that at that period the Swiss republic was by no means desirous of either possessing or occupying Savoy in any other manner than "a titre onereux," as a bur- densome, or troublesome charge. It is now nearly half a century since the Vorort made this official declaration in the face of Europe, and it may be said, perhaps, that since that time the Government of the republic has become wiser, or at least of a different opinion. But this, according to the judgment of those best informed in Swiss politics, is not the clue to the present vio- lent agitation, the real cause of which lies in quite another di- rection.
The Helvetian republic, according to the last statistical returns, has a population of 2,392,740 inhabitants. Of these, about 1,780,000 speak the German, 474,000 the French, and 138,000 the Italian language. In other words, the German element of the republic is to the French and Italian very nearly as three to one. The natural consequence of this is a certain antagonism of races which, always apparent in home politics shows itself still more in questions of foreign policy, such as the present affair of the Savoy annexation. The republic has sprung entirely out of Teutonic soil, and the German influence is, therefore, as old and strong as the French is new and weak ; but the latter, therefore, is not the less energetic whenever circumstances demand its ex- hibition. Until the year 1815, when Valais Neufchatel, and
Geneva, were added to the territory of the Valais, the French-speaking population was so far in the minority as scarcely to make itself felt; but the weight of these new cantons con- siderably altered the political balance, and made it possible for the Romanic race to make its voice heard on at least great occa- sions. It is in this fact that we must seek the real cause of the present anti-annexationist agitation ; as well as the explanation of the different modes of conduct of the Swiss Government in 1815 and 1860. The• thoroughly German Vorort of 1815, did not care at all for French-speaking Savoy ; would rather not have it, if left to its own choice. The semi-French Band of 1860, on the other side, is eager for an increase of the Gallic element, and strains every nerve to gain this augmentation of its own forces. Something similar, and more familiar to*English readers, is wit- nessed in the other great republic across the Atlantic. What Cuba is to the United States Savoy is to Switzerland ; the simi- larity, not fitting in all particulars, is true on the whole. But, to this struggle of nationalities, Switzerland adds another and still more powerful cause of 'agitation in the Savoy question, viz.—the religious element. Of the 2,392,000 citizens of the Helvetian republic, close upon one million and a half (1,417,754) are Protestants, and less than one million (971,840) Roman Ca- tholics. This somewhat Complicates the tendencies of rare, inas- much as' though-on the whole, the Teutonic element is Protest- ant and the Gallic Roman Catholic, yet not a few of the French- speaking population, are disciples of Luther and of Calvin, and some of the German highland cantons obey the mandates of the Pope. • The religious element, nevertheless is most powerful within the Confederation, as all will know who remember the last sanguinary intestine war in Switzerland, the so-called Sender- bundskrieg. The strife has somewhat subsided within the last few years, but is by no means extinct ; and in most provincial as well as general elections, and, speaking generally, on all occasions where public opinion manifests itself, the primary question to be decided is one of religious, and not of political creed. Under such a state of things, it may easily be fancied what a mighty question the possible incorporation of Boman Catlwlic Savoy into Switzerland is to a large and highly influential party in the Con- federation.
The inferences to be drawn from the preceding facts are of a twofold kind. First, the present Swiss Government in its violent protests against the Savoy annexation is playing the game of a party and not of the nation ; and, secondly, it is looking for the desired increase in strength not only in an unwise manner, but with an unwise purpose. Switzerland's real strength, she should never forget, lies in the protection of the whole of Europe, and not of a few square miles of more or less territory ; and Switzerland's future, she should never forget likewise, lies in the Protestant- Teutonic and not in the Gallic-Catholic element. The first is so generally acknowledged, and in fact so self-evident to every one who chooses to throw a glance on the map of Europe, that it is scarcely necessary to dwell on the subject. The second is a question less generally understood ; but one which, nevertheless, is much speculated on by the truest and warmest admirers of the Helvetian republic. Nature, language, origin, and race, point towards the East, as the proper soil of the growing tree, and it is in vain that local or party interests strive to push forward in another direction. Above all, Nature herself has struck out the boundaries of the republic better than that of any other country in Europe, with the exception of Great Britain, Spain, and Italy. Like gigantic granite walls the northern ridges of the Alps spring forward at certain pails, and fall back at others ; and, singularly enough, wherever the former is the case, there German is spoken, and wherever the latter in a westerly direction, there French begins. Clear, indeed, is this "handwriting on the wall"; but the Swiss themselves seem to be too near to see it.
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