Then let us hold the Diet, as of old, And as we"re wont in peaceful times to do.
The time"s necessity be our excuse If there be aught informal in this meeting.
Still, wheresoe"er men strike for justice, there Is G.o.d, and now beneath his heaven we stand.
STAUFFACHER.
"Tis well advised. Let us, then, hold the Diet According to our ancient usages.
Though it be night there"s sunshine in our cause.
MELCHTHAL.
Few though our numbers be, the hearts are here Of the whole people; here the best are met.
HUNN.
The ancient books may not be near at hand, Yet are they graven in our inmost hearts.
ROSSELMANN.
"Tis well. And now, then, let a ring be formed, And plant the swords of power within the ground. [16]
MAUER.
Let the Landamman step into his place, And by his side his secretaries stand.
SACRIST.
There are three Cantons here. Which hath the right To give the head to the united council?
Schwytz may contest the dignity with Uri, We Unterwaldeners enter not the field.
MELCHTHAL.
We stand aside. We are not suppliants here, Invoking aid from our more potent friends.
STAUFFACHER.
Let Uri have the sword. Her banner takes In battle the precedence of our own.
FURST.
Schwytz, then, must share the honor of the sword; For she"s the honored ancestor of all.
ROSSELMANN.
Let me arrange this generous controversy.
Uri shall lead in battle--Schwytz in council.
FURST (gives STAUFFACHER his hand).
Then take your place.
STAUFFACHER.
Not I. Some older man.
HOFE.
Ulrich, the smith, is the most aged here.
MAUER.
A worthy man, but he is not a freeman; No bondman can be judge in Switzerland.
STAUFFACHER.
Is not Herr Reding here, our old Landamman?
Where can we find a worthier man than he?
FURST.
Let him be Amman and the Diet"s chief?
You that agree with me hold up your hands!
[All hold up their right hands.
REDING (stepping into the centre).
I cannot lay my hands upon the books; But by yon everlasting stars I swear Never to swerve from justice and the right.
[The two swords are placed before him, and a circle formed; Schwytz in the centre, Uri on his right, Unterwald on his left.
REDING (resting on his battle-sword).
Why, at the hour when spirits walk the earth, Meet the three Cantons of the mountains here, Upon the lake"s inhospitable sh.o.r.e?
And what the purport of the new alliance We here contract beneath the starry heaven?
STAUFFACHER (entering the circle).
No new alliance do we now contract, But one our fathers framed, in ancient times, We purpose to renew! For know, confederates, Though mountain ridge and lake divide our bounds, And every Canton"s ruled by its own laws, Yet are we but one race, born of one blood, And all are children of one common home.
WINKELRIED.
Then is the burden of our legends true, That we came hither from a distant land?
Oh, tell us what you know, that our new league May reap fresh vigor from the leagues of old.
STAUFFACHER.
Hear, then, what aged herdsmen tell. There dwelt A mighty people in the land that lies Back to the north. The scourge of famine came; And in this strait "twas publicly resolved, That each tenth man, on whom the lot might fall Should leave the country. They obeyed--and forth, With loud lamentings, men and women went, A mighty host; and to the south moved on, Cutting their way through Germany by the sword, Until they gained that pine-clad hills of ours; Nor stopped they ever on their forward course, Till at the s.h.a.ggy dell they halted, where The Mueta flows through its luxuriant meads.
No trace of human creature met their eye, Save one poor hut upon the desert sh.o.r.e, Where dwelt a lonely man, and kept the ferry.
A tempest raged--the lake rose mountains high And barred their further progress. Thereupon They viewed the country; found it rich in wood, Discovered goodly springs, and felt as they Were in their own dear native land once more.
Then they resolved to settle on the spot; Erected there the ancient town of Schwytz; And many a day of toil had they to clear The tangled brake and forest"s spreading roots.
Meanwhile their numbers grew, the soil became Unequal to sustain them, and they crossed To the black mountain, far as Weissland, where, Concealed behind eternal walls of ice, Another people speak another tongue.
They built the village Stanz, beside the Kernwald The village Altdorf, in the vale of Reuss; Yet, ever mindful of their parent stem, The men of Schwytz, from all the stranger race, That since that time have settled in the land, Each other recognize. Their hearts still know, And beat fraternally to kindred blood.
[Extends his hand right and left.
MAUER.
Ay, we are all one heart, one blood, one race!
ALL (joining hands).
We are one people, and will act as one.
STAUFFACHER.
The nations round us bear a foreign yoke; For they have yielded to the conqueror.
Nay, even within our frontiers may be found Some that owe villein service to a lord, A race of bonded serfs from sire to son.
But we, the genuine race of ancient Swiss, Have kept our freedom from the first till now, Never to princes have we bowed the knee; Freely we sought protection of the empire.
ROSSELMANN.
Freely we sought it--freely it was given.
"Tis so set down in Emperor Frederick"s charter.