Zurich was prevented by internal dissension and Catholic intolerance from a.s.sisting Constance, and, moreover, was compelled to release Mulhausen and Strasburg from their evangelical union with her. Thus Geneva, which the Papists threatened to level with the ground, was forced into an isolated position, and was near becoming the prey of invading Savoy. Considering the internal condition of the Confederation, we may well ask what it was that saved the little republic from complete destruction in the terrible storm of the reaction which swept over Europe, if it was not the very strength of the Federal union, and the common possession of the different Swiss bailiwicks, which bound the parts so strongly together, and which triumphed over both party feelings and private interests. Thanks to the moderation of the Protestants, war was avoided, and the country settled into a state of comparative repose.
Through Zwingli"s efforts Switzerland extended the _droit d"asile_ to all, and she henceforward followed out her mission as a neutral power.
It is the protection so freely given to refugees by Geneva, Zurich, and other Swiss cities that brightens the history of this gloomy reaction period.
Henry II., anxious to win over Switzerland to the Catholic cause, requested the Swiss to stand as sponsors to his daughter, Claudia, and received their emba.s.sy with marked distinction. Bern and Zurich, however, were not coaxed into an alliance with France by these blandishments. France wished for the preservation of peace from self-interest. But she extolled greatly the prowess of the Swiss, and called them the very "marrow" of her army. The Swiss excelled in single feats of arms, and amongst the Catholic captains stands out conspicuously the valiant Ludwig von Pfyffer, of Lucerne, who played a part, as regards political influence, not unlike that of Waldmann, and was nicknamed the "Swiss King." The wealth he had h.o.a.rded up during his French service he freely spent in the Catholic cause.
Pre-eminent amongst those who worked for the Catholic revival was the famous Carlo Borromeo, Archbishop of Milan, and nephew of Pius IV. He lived the life of a saint, and in due time was canonized. To his see belonged the Swiss bailliages in the Ticino and Valtellina.
Indefatigable in his labours, constantly visiting every part of his diocese, toiling up to the Alpine huts, he gathered the scattered flocks into the Papal fold, whether by mildness or by force. Shocked at the state of religious matters in the Forest Cantons, he founded a seminary for priests, to which Pfyffer at once gave a very large sum of money.
For the spread of Catholic doctrines he hit upon three different means.
He called into being the Collegium Helvetic.u.m in 1579 at Milan,[60]
where the Swiss priests were educated free. He sent the Jesuits into the country, and placed a nuncio at Lucerne, in 1580. In 1586 was signed, between the seven Catholic cantons, the Borromean or Golden League, directed against the reformers, and in the following year a coalition was, by the same cantons, excepting Solothurn, entered into with Philip of Spain and with Savoy. The Jesuits settled themselves in Lucerne and Freiburg, and soon gained influence amongst the rich and the educated, whilst the Capuchins, who fixed themselves at Altorf, Stanz, Appenzell, and elsewhere, won the hearts of the ma.s.ses by their lowliness and devotion. In this way did Rome seek to regain her influence over the Swiss peoples, and the effect of her policy was soon felt in the semi-Protestant and subject lands. To the impression made by the efforts of the Capuchins the great dissension in Appenzell bears witness, the canton actually breaking up into two hostile divisions. The Catholics removed to Inner, and the Reformers to Outer Rhoden, and each managed its own affairs independently of the other; the latter, however, soon began to prosper more than the former. In the Valais, the Protestant party, though strong, was quite swept out by the Jesuits, before 1630, and fled to Vaud and Bern. The history of lacerated Graubunden will occupy the next chapter.
It is painful to read of an act of violence committed by the Papists in the expulsion of the Evangelians from Locarno, in the winter of 1555, where a little band of two hundred adherents of the Zwinglian Church had formed round Beccaria. Zurich supported them, notwithstanding the opposition of France, and even of some of the Protestant cantons, and Bullinger was their comfort and strength in all transactions. However, Beccaria was compelled to flee to Misox valley, whence he ministered by stealth to his flock. In January, 1555, stronger measures were taken, and men and women were driven over the snowy heights to Misox, a sorry subst.i.tute for the luxurious homes some of them had left in Locarno. But they were soon moved on by the Papal legate, and in May some 120 of the band arrived at Zurich, where Bullinger had arranged for them a hospitable welcome. These new-comers revived the old trade with Lombardy, and reintroduced the silk manufacture, which, being a monopoly, became a source of great wealth to Zurich. Thus the town was rewarded for its hospitality. Some of the aristocratic Zurich families of to-day trace their origin to these Locarno refugees.
The city of Zurich was indeed at this time a general asylum for religious refugees from all quarters. Germans, Italians, and English fled there, and especially the Marian exiles from England. We find Peter Martyr from Oxford established as a professor at the Carolinum; and Occhino as minister to the Italian congregation in Zurich; Socinus and other famous Italians.[61] Martyr and Socinus both died at Zurich, and lie buried in its minster. For several years Peter Martyr and Bullinger had lived on terms of the closest friendship with each other, and their letters show how close was the tie between them. Their respective religious views naturally tended to greater mutual resemblance.
Bullinger, like Calvin, kept up an immense correspondence with the reformed churches, and was in frequent communication with monarchs, princes, powerful n.o.bles, and learned doctors. The readers of the present story will naturally feel most interest in the relation between the Swiss and the English Churches, and it will perhaps be better to leave on one side the tangled skein of religious dissensions which agitated Europe, and show from authentic sources[62]--letters chiefly--how the Swiss Churches and Swiss divines influenced the Reformed Church of England.
Though the English Reformation under Henry VIII. was greatly influenced by Luther, under Edward VI. the Church veered round more to the Swiss views, Cranmer especially leaning strongly towards Zwinglianism. Since 1536 the prelate had been on most friendly terms with Bullinger, and in this same year some young Englishmen, Butler, Udrof, and Partridge, by Cranmer"s desire, settled in Zurich, to study its religious aspect and enjoy intercourse with the distinguished Bullinger. In the following year Eliot and others arrived with similar intent, and a great attachment sprang up between the young men and their spiritual guide.
At the request of the students, Bullinger addressed to Henry two treatises on the "Authority of the Scriptures," and on the "Dignity and Office of Bishops," respectively, and was afterwards told that the treatises greatly interested both the king and the archbishop. "It is incredible what fame you acquire in England by your writings," says Eliot in his letter to Bullinger in 1539; "the booksellers are growing rich through you." Under Edward VI., Bullinger"s relations with Cranmer and Hooper, with Warwick and Dorset, and with c.o.xe and Cheke, grew closer and closer, and the Church of Zurich regained its ascendency. At Bullinger"s house Hooper pa.s.sed his second exile, and he says he was received with delight, "being a true Christian," and he states that his faith was greatly quickened by the writings of the famous Zurich divine.
The friendship between the two men was most intimate. At Hooper"s desire, Bullinger dedicated a series of his sermons on the "Christian Faith" to Edward, who was greatly delighted with them, and had them translated into English. During his imprisonment Hooper composed a remarkable treatise addressed to Parliament in defence of the Zwinglian teaching with regard to the Lord"s Supper, and Traheron states (1548) that England at large was inclined towards the Zwinglian view. In 1550 King Edward sent an envoy to ask the state of Zurich to unite with England with regard to a Church Council, and, curiously enough, with regard to reconciling that country with France.[63]
A charming episode in the life of Bullinger was the springing up of the friendship with Lady Jane Grey, then a young and studious girl of fourteen. Three letters written by her hand, and still treasured up at Zurich, bear witness to this friendship. Of the treatise on "Christian Marriage" dedicated to her, she translated a portion into Greek, and presented it as a Christmas present to her father. Bullinger"s sermons and letters were a delight to her, and were to her "as most precious flowers from a garden." She asked his advice as to the best method of learning Hebrew, and regarded him as particularly favoured by the grace of G.o.d. He it was whose teaching quickened her love for Christ, and gave her and her family such support in their great trials later on. Even at her last hour her thoughts were of him, for at the block she took off her gloves and desired that they should be sent on to her Swiss friends.[64]
It was on the Continent, among the Reformed Churches, that Hooper and others gained their taste for a simple form of religious worship. When Hooper was made Bishop of Gloucester, in 1550, he refused both the oath and the episcopal vestments, and was sent to prison for his refusal. His opposition, indeed, sowed the germs of that religious development which so strongly agitated the Church under Elizabeth, and which, breaking into open schism, resulted in the rise of Puritanism, and, later on, of the dissenting movements generally. And, as is well known, the Puritans fled to New England rather than give up their religious liberty. Hooper was exempted from taking the oath, but had to give way in the matter of the vestments. During his episcopacy Bullinger was ever his faithful and wise counsellor, and when the martyr"s death overtook him, he recommended his persecuted country to his Swiss friends. "Of all men attached to thee," he a.s.sures Bullinger in 1554, "none has been more devoted than myself, nor have I ever had a more sincere friend than thee."
Many other Marian exiles settled in Zurich, to whom, however, only a pa.s.sing word can be devoted. Bullinger alone accommodated often as many as twenty guests at a time, and both ministers and magistrates--Gualter, Lavater, and others--received the English exiles "with a tenderness and affection that engaged them to the end of their lives to make the greatest possible acknowledgment for it," to quote the words of one Englishman. The correspondence between the Swiss hosts and their English guests proves how close were the friendships formed between them.
Amongst these correspondents we find the English archbishops, Grindal and Sandys, Bishop Pilkington, the Earl of Bedford, and other notable men. Other proofs without number might be given of the close connection between Switzerland and England in religious matters in the sixteenth century, but what has been said must suffice.
Enough has been said to show how the influence of the Reformed Swiss Churches was brought to bear on English Protestantism; on the Anglican Church in respect of doctrine; and on the dissenting Church, that is, Puritanism, in respect of both doctrine and form of worship. The Reformed Church is the result of an amalgamation between the two mother Churches of Geneva and Zurich, the union being brought about by the desire of the leaders Calvin, Farel, Beza, Bullinger, who, anxious for peace and concord, made mutual concessions.[65] Thus in Switzerland the narrowness of Calvinism has been tempered by an admixture of the broader and more enlightened teachings of Zwinglius, or rather the basis of the teaching is Zwingli"s, and Calvin has confirmed, intensified, and completed it. Over France, England, Scotland, Holland, and North America the reformed faith spread its roots "to grow up to trees of the same family, but of different shape and size according to the soil from which they started up." That Switzerland, with the exception of Geneva, inclined strongly to Zwinglianism we have already shown. To deal adequately with the question of the religious influence of Switzerland on other European countries would be impossible within the limits of this work. But that its influence was very great needs no saying. And not in Europe alone, for the Puritan spirit was carried beyond the ocean, and the reformers of Switzerland had their disciples in far-away New England. Even modern Unitarianism is, in a sense, the direct descendant of the reformation of Zurich, and its apostles--Williams, Channing, Parker--are so far the successors of Zwingli and Bullinger.
The revival of learning witnessed by the sixteenth century had its full effect in Switzerland. The thirst for knowledge was so great that men would undergo almost any privations in their pursuit of it. Thomas Platter--to cite but one instance out of many--rose from the humble position of goatherd to be a prominent master of Hebrew and the cla.s.sics at Basel. In early life he laboured at rope-making, or turned serving-man, or even begged in the streets. His son Felix was a notable physician. The great reformers have already been spoken of. Besides the above,[66] we may just mention among the Catholics, Glarean, the foremost cla.s.sical scholar of his country, crowned poet-laureate by the Emperor Max. I.; and Tschudi, of Glarus, the brilliant narrator, author of the national epic, Tell, and for centuries the first authority on Swiss history; Paracelsus of Einsiedeln: of Protestants, Manuel (Bern), the satirical poet, and painter of the _Todten Tanze a la Holbein_; and, above all, Gessner, of Zurich, scholar, philosopher, naturalist, the "Pliny of Germany."
_Kleinkunst_, lesser or practical art, also made brilliant progress in Switzerland. Painting on gla.s.s, wood-carving, manufacture of painted-tile stoves developed into industries almost peculiar to the country in their excellence. This is shown by an inspection of the magnificent specimens of these arts with which the country abounds--splendid painted windows, beautiful wainscots, exquisite relievi, beautiful tiled stoves, and so forth.
A few words respecting affairs in Geneva must close our account of the sixteenth century. The Dukes of Savoy, unwilling to renounce their claims, continued to hara.s.s the city. Henry IV., of France, came forward as a protector, and Elizabeth, of England, addressed to the Swiss cantons and reformed cities letters remarkable for the n.o.ble sentiments and clear judgment displayed in them.[67] She urged them not to throw away the key of Switzerland. However, on the night of the 21st of December, 1602, Duke Charles Emmanuel ventured on a treacherous _coup de main_ on the city known as the famous "Escalade." Eight thousand men had been drawn up before her gates, and some three hundred had already scaled her walls, when the sudden firing by a watchful guard roused the citizens to a sense of their danger. A fierce conflict took place in the streets, and the intruders were fortunately overpowered. This event caused the greatest indignation throughout Europe, but it sealed the independence of the Republic. The anniversary of the victory is still regarded by the Genevans.
FOOTNOTES:
[60] This still exists in connection with the episcopal seminary.
[61] Faustus Socinus, the nephew of this Laelius Socinus, formed into a regular system the ideas of his uncle, and really prepared the way for modern Unitarianism.
[62] The Zurich archives are remarkably rich in materials relating to the Reformation period. The Simmler collection contains copies of eighteen thousand authentic letters. The "Epistolae Tigurinae," published by the Parker Society, London, in 1842, contain copies of original letters from the Marian exiles to Zurich divines. At Zurich are preserved original letters from Erasmus, Henry the Fourth of France, Lady Jane Grey, &c.
[63] Pestalozzi"s "Life of Bullinger," Zurich.
[64] Pestalozzi"s "Life of Bullinger."
[65] In England the general name Calvinistic is applied to certain doctrines of the Reformed Churches, but not altogether appropriately, seeing that Calvin was only one of the teachers of these doctrines.
[66] Glarean and Tschudi were Catholics, Manuel a Protestant.
[67] Copies are preserved among the Zurich letters.
XXVI.
THE ARISTOCRATIC PERIOD.
(1600-1712.)
In the life of nations no less than of individuals there are vicissitudes, alternations of prosperity and adversity. If the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries witnessed the glorious rise of the Swiss people, the seventeenth and eighteenth saw the political decline of the Republic. Even the Reformation itself led the way to this decline by lodging all power--political, fiscal, moral, and educational--in the Protestant cantons in the hands of the governments. Patriotism was on the wane, and the old mania for foreign service as a means of securing foreign gold was again breaking out. Even Zurich, which for well-nigh a century had steadfastly borne in mind the patriotic maxims of Zwingli, now yielded to the persuasions of France. Indeed the Swiss Commonwealth was rapidly becoming a mere va.s.salate of that country, under the despotic Louis XIV. Swiss rule was taking that tinge of absolutism which was colouring the governments of almost all European states. Louis, the personification of absolute rule, had stamped the century with his _cachet_, and aristocracies and oligarchies were taking the place of the old democratic governments. This seems incompatible with the old Swiss republican tenets. Yet, drawn within the influence of the monarchical states, how could Switzerland escape the effects of that influence any more than Venice or Genoa?
The political and religious pa.s.sions and animosities of the previous century now found vent in the terrible Thirty Years" War, which from 1618 to 1648 convulsed Europe. Thanks to its good fortune and far-sightedness, Switzerland was not drawn into the conflict, save as to its south-eastern corner, close as it was to the theatre of the great struggle. Most anxiously was the neutrality of the country maintained, yet its territory was not unfrequently violated. To give one instance, General Horn led his Swedes into Swiss territory to besiege Constance.
Germany and Sweden--Gustavus Adolphus especially[68]--did all they could to draw Switzerland to their side, but the Swiss had the good sense to resist all blandishments, and bear patiently with vexatious intrusions.
The terrible scenes that were taking place across the Rhine were enough to quell all intestine disputes in Switzerland itself, and the comparative peace and prosperity found within its borders was the envy of the neighbouring lands. A German traveller chronicles his surprise at finding in Switzerland neither rapine nor murder, but security and content. However rough and rugged its surface, the little republic seemed to him an earthly Paradise.
[Ill.u.s.tration: HIGH ALTAR, CHUR CATHEDRAL.
(_From a Photograph._)]
Different, however, was the experience of Graubunden, then a separate free state, and a connection only of the Confederation. In truth, the history of that old Rhaetian land at that time forms a striking pendant as it were to the great drama of the European struggle. The Latin-German inhabitants, combining northern prudence with southern pa.s.sion, had since the middle of the sixteenth century been steeped in internal dissension, owing to the religious divisions caused by the Reformation.
The Protestant party under Von Salis, and the Catholics headed by Von Planta, were at deadly enmity with each other, and sided with France and Venice, and with Austria and Spain respectively. John von Planta, head of his clan, and solicitor-general of the Papal see, was suspected of intending to reintroduce Popery into the Grisons. The mountaineers accordingly descended from their Alps in crowds, and flocked to Chur.
There they brought to trial Planta and sentenced him to death, and his fall struck the keynote to the tragedy that followed. With the opening of the seventeenth century the conflict grew fiercer, national interests and foreign policy being now inextricably mixed. Mistress of the beautiful Italian Signory Valtellina, Bormio, Chiavenna, and the Alpine pa.s.ses commanding the entrance into the Tyrol and Italy, Graubunden became the apple of contention between the southern states of Europe.
Austria and Spain possessing Milan were not without hopes of joining hands across Graubunden, and France was sanguine of her success in preventing it. This latter state with Venice had effected an alliance with Protestant Bunden, and that party strongly opposed the Spanish union for which the energetic but headstrong Rudolf von Planta was working. Fuentes, a Spaniard, Governor of Milan, furious at the resistance offered, erected a chain of strong forts on Lake Como, with the view of cutting off the Valtellines. Before long, George Jenatsch from the Engadine, Tschusch, and other high-minded and patriotic Protestants, began to decry the Spanish scheme, and tumults arose. An attack on Planta"s manor, Zernez (1618), having failed through the escape of Rudolf, Zambra, Landammann in Bregaglia, and Rusca, a priest in the Valtellina, both greyheaded old men, were seized. They were sentenced to death by a new court which had been set up at Thusis, a court which raged against popery and spread terrorism for some months.
In the Engadine a strange thing happened. The respective chiefs of the hostile clans were the two brothers Von Travers, and a hand-to-hand fight between the opposing parties having begun, suddenly the wives, daughters, and sisters of the combatants rushed amongst them like the Sabine women of old, and checked them. Foremost amongst these n.o.ble women was the spirited Anna Juvalta. The Plantas were now in exile, and were conspiring with Austria. Their cousin Robustello (Valtellina) at a given signal broke into the houses of the Protestants, and, with the help of hired a.s.sa.s.sins, put the inmates to the sword. This was on the 19th of July, 1620, and throughout the whole valley no quarter was given. Zurich and Bern on hearing of this shocking ma.s.sacre--the "St.
Bartholomew of the Valtellina"--sent troops, but they were defeated at Tirano by the Spanish forces and adherents. The Plantas returned from exile and asked the Forest Cantons to give their countenance to their party, and these were not unwilling; but the plot itself was opposed by the Protestant Grisons with scorn and fury. Jenatsch penetrated to the castle of the Plantas at Rietberg, and Pompejus fell by his hands (1621). The Catholics were defeated at Valendas, and the country was cleared of the troops of the Forest Cantons and of Spaniards. However, Jenatsch failed to take Valtellina.
The Austrians still claimed supremacy over part of the _Zehngerichte_,[69] and we find them, from 1620 to 1629, twice invading and occupying Graubunden. The most dreadful cruelties marked the pa.s.sage of their general, Baldiron, and Catholicism was reintroduced by force.
In 1629, the Emperor Ferdinand had reached the height of his success and greatness, and Bunden with all its dependencies lay prostrate at his feet. France came to the rescue. Richelieu pursued the policy of Henry IV. to re-establish the balance of power by breaking down the prestige of the Habsburgs. With the view of gaining supremacy for France, he had drawn Sweden into the Thirty Years" War; and on the death of Gustavus Adolphus, when the zeal was somewhat flagging, he revived it by sending French troops into Alsace, South Germany, and the Grisons. The command of the Franco-Grison army was entrusted to Duke Henry de Rohan, G.o.dson of Henry IV. of France (and G.o.dfather to Charles I. of England), one of the n.o.blest characters of his age. De Rohan was also appointed amba.s.sador to the Eidgenossen states in 1631. He had been leader of the Huguenots, and had supported the Edict of Nantes in opposition to Louis XIII. Becoming obnoxious to the king in consequence, he withdrew to Venice. There he wrote a treatise on the strategical importance of the Grisons, as if he foresaw his future mission.[70] During his residence in Switzerland he watched zealously over its interests, smoothing over difficulties in the Diet to avoid war. Richelieu sent him neither money nor help, but left him to extricate himself as best he could from his position in that isolated mountain fastness; yet Rohan was the idol of his soldiers and of the people of the Grisons, and was always spoken of by them as the "good duke." In 1635, when France was doing its utmost to oust Austria, open war broke out, and Rohan gained four brilliant victories in succession--Jenatsch serving as local guide and combatant in advance, his superior tactics proving too much for the Austro-Spanish forces. Yet the "good duke" was soon to fall a victim to the perfidious policy of Richelieu, and the treachery of Jenatsch. This latter was a strange mixture of the n.o.ble and the vile--fierce, and ambitious, a seeker of gain, yet a man of honour, full of a wild patriotism and thirst for freedom. Eager to free his country from the grasp of the stranger, he and the hot-tempered Bundner, at whose head he was, suddenly found that they were but exchanging masters. Sticking at nothing to gain his ends Jenatsch entered into a secret understanding with Austria and Spain, and even turned Catholic to win more favour with them. Then, forgetting the many kindnesses he had received from his friend Rohan, he betrayed him to his enemies. It should be observed, parenthetically, that the question in dispute was that of the Valtellina, and Rohan had had no instructions from Richelieu to return that territory. Suddenly the French general found himself surrounded by hostile troops from the Grisons, and was compelled to capitulate (1637).
Unable to bear the sight of France again, he fought for her under the banner of Bernhard von Weimar, and fell at Rheinfelden, in Aargovy, seeking rather than fearing death. Jenatsch, however, did not long enjoy the fruits of his guilty action. Two years later he was stabbed at an officers" banquet, during the carnival, by some masked figure. Rudolf Planta, son of Pompejus, was said by some to have done the deed, whilst another story has it that the avenger was Rudolf"s sister, Lucretia, who was burning for vengeance on the slayer of her father.[71] One of the first German novelists of our time, Ferdinand Meyer, of Zurich, has worked these thrilling episodes into his fine story, "Jenatsch." The hero was buried with pomp at Chur, but his murderer remained unpunished. Thus Graubunden, after a struggle of nearly a hundred years, recovered both its independence and its lost territory.
That memorable event of the seventeenth century, the signing of the Peace of Westphalia, which concluded the Thirty Years" War, whilst, on the one hand, it sanctioned the dismemberment of the German Empire, yet ratified the independence and autonomy of the Swiss republics. This result was chiefly due to the n.o.ble efforts of two men--Wettstein, Burgomaster of Basel, who most effectively championed Swiss interests at the Congress; and Henry d"Orleans Longueville, count and reigning prince of Neuchatel, the French representative at the same conference, who supported the Swiss claims.
The religious strife of Villmergen in 1656, which ended in the defeat of the Protestants, cannot be gone into here. Suffice it to note that this defeat was fully repaired by the second war of that name in 1712. A more important matter was the Peasants" Revolt, in 1653. It promised to grow to alarming dimensions, but was put down by the Government. This rising, however, is noteworthy, as marking the vast chasm which had formed between the labouring and the governing cla.s.ses. The peasantry were now in a state of complete subjection, and patiently awaited the dawn of a brighter day, which nevertheless came only with the French Revolution.
What they claimed was the restoration of their old liberties, relief from the excessive taxation, and the general improvement of their material interests. But many of the governing cla.s.ses, councillors, _landvogte_, and others, had served abroad at foreign courts, and had drunk in the spirit of absolutism, and were as much imbued as any James I. or Louis XIV. with notions as to the "divine right" of the privileged cla.s.ses to govern. They claimed seats on the administration as a right.
From their superior positions they looked down on the labouring cla.s.ses, and had little or no sympathy with them. Except in name the Swiss cantons were as absolutely governed by aristocracies as France was by Louis XIV. Nothing is more ludicrous, or more clearly shows the affectations and narrow pedantries of the age, than the childish delight in long or high-flown t.i.tles, by which the Swiss "regents," as they were called, were wont to address each other, and be addressed even by foreigners. "Leurs excellences," "n.o.ble-born," and so forth, were as common amongst Swiss republicans as in any monarchy.[72] Nor were they behindhand in the adoption of court fashions, wigs, frills, and the like; whilst they hunted eagerly for patents of n.o.bility, and placed the "von" so unblushingly before their names that the higher cla.s.ses, and really well-born for the most part dropped it for a time.
The Eidgenossen, however, were eminently useful soldiers, and Louis XIV.
in 1663 wheedled or tricked them into the renewal of the alliance with France, an alliance into which Le Barde had tried in vain for thirteen years to coax them. The wily Louis invited a Swiss emba.s.sy to his Court, and for a whole week amused and flattered his guests with a succession of banquets, ceremonies, and entertainments. Moliere played before them by royal command. The amba.s.sadors were thus beguiled into admitting some of the most important points in the treaty, the neutrality of Burgundy, the liquidation of the old debt, &c. On the 18th of November, in the presence of the whole French Court, at Notre Dame, the Swiss representatives agreed to a disgraceful and humiliating bargain with Louis. The king was not, however, inclined to lavish money on them like his predecessors had done. One day Louvois complained to him that his Swiss troops stood him dear, that for the money they had cost him and his predecessors the road could be paved with crown-pieces from Paris to Basel. Stuppa from the Grisons, overhearing this, quickly retorted, "Sir, you forget that with the Swiss blood spilt in the French service you might fill a ca.n.a.l from Basel to Paris."
Despite the engagements to France which Switzerland had entered into, it never ceased to give shelter to the French refugees who fled to escape the persecutions of Louis--to the Waldenses and the Huguenots. After the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, sixty-six thousand emigrants are said to have found shelter in Switzerland. Amongst the Swiss cities Geneva stands out conspicuously and honourably by her great benevolence. Not to speak of the vast amount of private a.s.sistance given, the munic.i.p.ality spent on the relief of the religious refugees no less a sum than five million florins between 1685 and 1726. Gradually the Eidgenossen became alive to the real character of Louis and his negotiations with them, and ashamed of their own lack of patriotism. As early as 1689, indeed, we find Swiss envoys from Bern and Zurich at Paris, rejecting his bribes, his golden chains, and what not. And on their return home they received the eulogies of their people for their integrity and independence. Gradually the league with France was set aside, or ignored. Nevertheless, the system of mercenary service remained an evil--one may say a cancerous evil--in the Swiss policy of the later centuries.
FOOTNOTES:
[68] Appealing to the absurd pretended national relationship between Swedes and Switzers, an etymology of the Middle Ages.