SWITZERLAND
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SWITZERLAND
to Schwyz, Glarus, and Appenzell. In 1460 the
districts of Thurgau and Sargans were occupied by
the League as common property.
A new opponent of the Swiss Confederates now ap- peared in Duke Charles the Bold, of Burgundy. The Confederates formed an alliance with France and declared war against this powerful prince, who was allied, on his side, with the Duke of Savoy. The Swiss severely defeated Charles in the battles of Grandson and Marten in 1476. The city of Fribourg had taken part with the confederated Swiss and the two cities of Berne and PVibourg now took possession of several cities of Vaud, while the inhabi- tants of Upper Valais conquered Lower V^alais, that belonged to Savoy. In 1S41 the cities of Fribourg and Solothurn (Soleure) were taken as members into the League of the Confederates. The Burgundian War had brought the confederated districts into alh- ance with France, and consequently their connexion with the German Empire grew weaker and weaker. When in 149.5 Emperor Maximilian sought to reor- ganize the empire, the Confederates were unwilhng to recognize the changes. In the struggle, called the Swabian War between the Swiss Confederates and the imperial troops the Swiss were victorious. The Treaty of Basle of 1499 granted the Confederates almost complete independence from the German Em- pire by releasing them from the jurisdiction of the imperial chamber. Later, in the Peace of Westphalia of 1648, the political separation of Switzerland from Germany was expressly declared. On account of the Swabian War, the cities of Basle and Schaffhausen joined the Confederation in 1.501, and in 1513 Appen- zell also was accepted as a district belonging to it, BO that the Confederation now included thirteen districts. In addition the Countship of Neuchatel became an associate member, and the Confederation was joined as associate members by the three leagues of the Rhaetian Alps: the "Grauer Bund", the "Zehn- gerichtenbund" (League of the Ten Jurisdictions), and the "Gotteshausbund".
Upper Valais and other spiritual and secular lord- ships also became associate members. There was no central organized authority over all. The individual members formed special alhances among themselves; their common affairs were discussed at the assembly of the members, which was a congress of sovereign states. In addition to the representatives of the thirteen members of the Confederation most of the associate districts of the Confederation had also the right to send representatives. Other territories were subject lands of one or several members of the Con- federation, or belonged in common to the entire Con- federation of the thirteen districts. Geneva had formed an alliance with Fribourg and Berne for the protection of its Uberties against the bishops and dukes of Savoy; this made it an associate member. From this time on the Swiss Confederates took an important part in the general politics of Europe, espe- cially in the wars in Italy. The Confederates ac- quired new possessions south of the Alps in Ticino. However, at the battle of Marignano in 1.515, the Swiss troops were severely defeated, which put an end to Swiss intervention in European politics.
The inner organization of the diifferent districts of the Confederation varied greatly. Some had a demo- cratic organization; in others the rule of the patrician town council was aristocratic. In the course of the eighteenth century many disputes arose in the cities on account of the despotic patrician government. After the outbreak of the French Revolution this state of afTairs led to the interference of France, and in 1798 the territories of the Confederation were occupied by French trooi)a. After the dissolution of the oligarchic governments, the "indivisible Helvetic Republic" with a new Constitution was proclaimed. All the confederated districts and the former subject lands
were incorporated in the Republic. The opposition of
the original Swiss League was crushed by the French
army, the Helvetic Republic was entirely dependent on France. New quarrels constantly arose in Switzer- land over the Constitution. Napoleon, therefore, on 19 February, 1803, issued the Act of Mediation, by which Switzerland was changed into a Confederation of nineteen cantons under the protection of France. The Diocese of Basle, the city of Geneva, Ticino, and Valais were annexed by France; the Principality of Neuchatel was given to Marshal Berthier. In 1815 the Congress of Vienna gave back to Switzerland the districts of Geneva, Valais, and Ticino. Berne was obliged to grant freedom to its former subject lands of Aargau and Vaud, and received as compensation the greater ]iart of the territories of the Bishop of Basle in the Jura; Neuchatel was at the same time a Prussian principality and a Swiss canton. The second Treaty of Paris gave further districts of France and Savoy to Geneva. Thus Switzerland received its present ex- tent of territorj', and formed a confederation of twenty-two cantons, united in complete equality.
The inner political development of several cantons led to disputes concerning the Constitution, especially after the outbreak of the French Revolution of July, 1830. Half the cantons received democratic con- stitutions; this caused a civil war in Basle that divided the canton into two half-cantons (city of Basle and rural Basle). At the same time a movement for the revision of the Treaty of Confederation of 1815 was started by seven democratic cantons which had formed an agreement among themselves. The Cath- ohc cantons opposed a revision because they feared that it would not only result in a reduction of cantonal sovereignty, but also lead to interference with their religious freedom. The Articles of Baden, agreed to in 1834 by several cantons, introduced Josephinism into the relations between Church and State and greatly impaired ecclesiastical rights. In December, 1845, the seven Catholic cantons, namely, Uri, Schwyz, Untcrwalden, Lucerne, Zug, Fribourg, and Valais, united in a league, called the "Sonderbund" (separate league), for the protection of their sovereignty and of their territories. The majority of the cantons decided at the Diets of August, 1846, and of July, 1847, that this league should be dissolved, because it was not compatible with the Treaty of Confederation of 1815. At the same time the same majority voted for a re- vision of the Constitution, and also voted against the continued presence of the Jesuits in Switzerland. The seven Catholic cantons made ready for war. At the Diet held in October, 1847, their representatives moved that their sovereignty and their ecclesiastical rights be recognized, and that the question as to the Jesuits be removed from the subjects for discussion. The motion was rejected, and the protesting deputies of the seven cantons left the Diet. The civil war, called the War of the Sonderbund, now broke out. The Catholic cantons were defeated, and the war ended without much bloodshed. Radical govern- ments were now forced upon the conquered cantons, but these administrators were later set aside by the popular majorities of the Cathohc Conservative party. The ex-penses of the war to the amount of five million francs were imposed upon the defeated can- tons, the result of which was their economic impair- ment. The Jesuits were driven out and about fifty monasteries and religious foundations were suppressed. It wasavictory of Radical Liberalism over the Conser- vative party. In 1848 Neuchatel freed itself from Prussia and adopted a new republican Constitution.
On 12 September, 1848, the new Constitution of the Confederation was proclaimed and put in force. It transformed Switzerland into a Conf(>deration similar to the United States. The individual cantons re- tained, indeed, their sovereignty and their separate Constitutions, but the exercise of sovereignty waa
