j-f'^rr-K: '■•.'.V V-'/'. ■ mf!Z^ 'iti> ■i A'' %,«* C^ V .0^ ; .0 o ,.^^ % "^y v-^' ^, .-^^ vV 'ci- -'^^^.^^' c'' >'' •^, %^^- X^^' % -.s' -%., H -t^ ■^^ ^ o ,-s<^- % %^ ^ , X ■* /\ ..^^ x^^ % ^^101 ii Swfe AND IN THE UNITED STATES COMPARED BEING THE ANNUAL ADDRESS, DELIVERED OCT. 20Tn, 1863, BEFORE THE 'IT IN THE HALL OF REPRESENTATIVES, CAPITOL, MONTPELIER , jr. TTATXS r>E PEYSTEK. • Do Thou direct Thy Chariot, Lord, And si'ido it at Thy will ; Without Thy aid our Strength is vain. And npelcsB all our f^kill." ' Send down Thy Pcaco and banish StrifR, Let Bitterness depart ; Revive the Spirit of the Past In every Switzcr's heart." ZWINGLI, THK Swiss KKFORMEn'a IItmm. CATSKILL. JOSEPH JOESBURY, PRINTER, "JOURNAL OFFICE." 1863. 1 .v^A(^ Eutercd according to Act of CongrcBS, in the year 1863, By J. WATTb DE I'EVSTER, in the Clerk's Oftice of the District i'ouri for tlic Southern District of New York. SECESSION IN SWITZERLAND. " The drum was beat ; and. lo ! The plough, the workshop is forsaken, all Swarm to the old familiar long loved banners.' "What? shall this 'land' become a field of slaughter, And brother-killing Discord, fire-eyed, Be let loose through its ' vales ' to roam and rage ? Shall the decision be delivered over To deaf remorseless Rage, that hears no leader? Here is not room for battle, only for butchery. Well, let it be ! I have long thought of it, So let it burst then !" Schiller's Death of Wallenstkin^. History is the School of Princes. It is their duty to derive Instruction therefrom in regard to the Errors of Times Past, in order to avoid them ; to understand tliat they must form for themselves a System ; to learn to follow that out step by step ; and to know that the Ruler, who has calculated his course of conduct the most wisely, is the only one who can get the better of those who act less in accord- ance with the lesson than he. Frederic the Great. The History of Foreign Nations is only interesting to us on account of its rela- tions (analogies) with our own, or of the great achievements, whose performance Is recorded therein. Voltaire. A student of history, not satisfied witJi mere superficial examination but ever urged to a closer and closer compar- ison of analogies, I have often been struck -with the pers- picuity of every sentiment of Jewry's •wisest monarch. — The Preacher-king seems to have exhausted the subtle- ties of human nature and reduced them to axioms in Ecclesiastes. When he declared that everything w\as vanity and vexation of spirit ; that there had been, was, and would be nothing new under the sun ; that the great- est services must expect nothing but ingratitude from individuals or communities ; he was merely rpducing to 4 philosopliical sententiousuess what Job, 1227 years before, liad experienced, and what 2S60 years have demonstrated as unalterable. Human means change, just as the row- galley has been succeeded by the steaiahoat, and the 7/ian- (/07iel, by the cannon; — human objects never : — '•Men change with fortune, Manners change with climes," "Tenets with books and Principles with times!. :"— nevertheless men's ends are always the same. The progress of human events advances, rolling on in circles, which may have been typified by the wheels — ''Wheel within wheel undrawn. Itself instinct with spirit" A\'hich EzEKiEL saw in his magnificent vision upon the ])lains of Chehar. In accordance with this immutable law of progression, those who have read closely and re- flected deepl}" will see that the events that have occurred in this, our, country are nothing new, but have had their parallels in the Free Governments of Ancient Times, in the Republics of the Middle Ages, in the federal career of the United Provinces of Holland, and, very especially, in the history of the Swiss Confederation. In the case of the last, the similitude is so wonderful that all whose at- tention has been called to the subject; have remarked and noted, almost in the same words, many successive, aston- ishing points of resemblance. Before entering however upon the particular parallel in history, one pertinent con- sideration should never be forgotten. Wherever a free government, invited or permitted foreign interference, that government was overthrown. The Monroe Doctkine is nothing more than a recognition of this immutable law, and, if energetically applied, it is an antidote to the poison of foreign intervention in the affairs of this, our continent ; ourif. by the law of nnJure, ours by the force of arms, as 5 soon as victorious over treason we can give due attention to the intrusion of foreign enemies'. The minds of our youth have not been sufficiently di- rected to the study of history, e^eciaUy the history of foreign cominonwealths. The Rules and Axioms deduci- ble from the Records of Nations, applied with common sense, can be relied with the same security as Experience. Republics however must learn from Republics. Any attempts to draw^ parallels bet\veen Republics and Mon- archies will lead to fallacious results. At the present time there is, besides the United States, but one real republic in the world, Nominal republics have arisen in abundance in the course of man's history, but the Federation of the Swiss cantons is the only one worthy to be named alongside of the great American ex- periment. The Spanish-American commonwealths are little better than anarchies. Of the three quasi European republics that existed before the French Revolution, all were extinguished by the arms of the first Napoleon. — Switzerland, however, still remains to bear witness on the Continent to the principles of self-government and the inextinguishable spirit of liberty. The failure of former republics or commonwealths, and the occasional license or sporadic excesses of liberal insti- tuticns, should neither discourage nor disgust thinking men. "Liberty," says Macaulay " resembles the Fairy of Ariosto who, by some mysterious law of her nature, was condemned to appear at certain seasons in the form of a foul and poisonous snake. Those who iujm-ed her during the period of her disguise, were forever excluded from participation in the blessings which she bestowed. But to those who, in spite of her loathsome aspect, pitied and protected her, she afterwards revealed herself in the beau- 6 tiful and celestial form which was natural to her, accom- panied their steps, granted all their wishes, filled their houses with wealth, made them happy in love, and victo- rious in war. Such a Spirit is Libekty. At times she takes the form of a hateful reptile. She grovels, she hisses, she stings. But woe to those who in disgust shall venture to crush her ! And happy are those who, having dared to receive her in her degraded and frightful shape, shall at length be rewarded by her in the time of her beauty and her glory.'" "There is only one cure for the evils which new acquir cd freedom produces — and that cure is freedom !'" Again, hear to him ! — "Many politicians of our time are in the habit of laying it dowTi as a self evident proposition, that no people ought to be free till they are lit to use their freedom. The max- im is worthy of the fool in the old story, who resolved not to go into the water till he had learned to swim ? If Men are to wait for Liberty till they hecome ivise and good in Slavery, they may indeed wait forever. "" Of the three European Republics, Holland, Venice and Genoa, destroyed by the great Kapgleo^t, that modern Attila, the fate of the first, Holland., is most sad to con- template. It would be wise for the people of these United States to reflect upon the results of partisan spirit and intestine conflicts in a country, which, while it occupied an almost imperceptible space upon an ordinary map of the world, but while it wa^ yet true to itself exercised the influence of a power of the first class, and like the duninutive-bod- ied but powerful polypn^, embraced and held fast the richest and remc»test regions in the tenacious grasp of its Briariaii anus. 7 Hollands armor of proof was torn open by the violence of her own political factions to receive the foreign thrust which deprived her of existence as a republic. It is painful even to read what exactions Holland suf- fered, at the hands of those who styled themselves her Emancipators. The result was, that a Commonwealth, which had planted its victorious banners, amid the roar of artillery, within the Arctic circle, when it fought the English off Spitzbergen ; which had blanched the cheeks of London with the broadsides of its triumphant navy, master of the Thames ; which had founded a New Am- sterdain on this continent, a polar Amsterdam in East Greenland, now Spitzbergen, and a Javanese Amsterdam, in the spice producing East ; which had kept the '"'■Feast of Kings''' in JS^ova ZemUa ; which had dotted the globe with its discoveries and acquisitions ; which had heaped a whole town La Cidade or Pavoassan, as a monument, upon the grave of a beloved admiral, under the equator ; which had governed a modern empii'e, Brazil, as a de- pendent colony ; which had chastised the Barbary Cor- sairs while still a terror to the mightiest monarchies ; which had held at bay the armies, and vanquished the united fleets of France and Britain ; fell from her place of pride and from a mighty republic, the arbitress of Europe, sunk into a third rate monarchy. From her misfortune, Davies, the elegant historian of the Dutch nation, deduces the following lesson — a lesson which should be thun- dered in the ears of our people in the public squares, and impressed upon their minds in the private circle — a lesson pregnant ^V^th significance to every American at this ter- rible epoch. "From her place of pride, among nations, HoUand has now fallen ; and in the history of her fall, may be read a useful, though melancholy lesson to every free and com- mercial people, to be on the watch lest tlwy mistake the heat of iKirty spirit, for the zeal of jyatriotiwi : and lest they seeTcfor national wealth as the exd, a-ad not as the MEANS, of national greatness.''^ Holland's catastrophe is but one additional proof that the disease, fatal to republics, never had its origin in ex- traneous causes, although the mortal blow maj have been eventually given from without. Some free states have perished like fruit, prematurely ripe, or ripe out of season, just as Hrss, Satanakola, and other Reformers suffered at the stake, because they were in advance of the age in which they lived, while Zwingli, Luther and Calvin survived to see their doctrines flourish having taken the times at the turn of the tide, or at the flood. From the failure of foreign and former republics, men have argued, that freedom in government is incom- patible with human existence, in great aggregations and developments, even as a congeries or family of confedera- ted republics. Switzerland has solved the problem on a small scale. The United States is now solving a similar problem on a grand scale. Woe to mankind, if we, the latter, fail to do our Duty. The Swiss Republic, in one respect, that is in their de- termined rejection of foreign interference in their domes- tic afi'airs, presented a perfect contrast to the Dutch. The result is, Switzerland exists in honored independence. Holland on the other hand, submitted to foreign interven- tion, and shorn of her liberty, subsists in comparative subservience. The Swiss absolutely refused, at any risl^ and at all times, to permit the slightest interference on the part of foreign governments, and when in 1847 they had estab- lished their blockade or cordon, they actually prohibited to foreign agents, all access to their rebel districts. And 9 while they were ready to mass their troops, to put down sedition at home, they were equally ready to mass their tfoops upon their frontiers, to prevent intervention from abroad. As an evidence to what exertions this patriotic spirit incited the people consider the case of the canton of Vaud. This canton has a population of 204,000 in an area of 11S5 square miles. Taking the usual ratio her regular contingent, permanently maintained, should not exceed 5,000 men, and her males capable of bearing arms, between 20 and 60, not over 50,000 men, for home service and under the most favorable circumstances. Neverthe- less, Oct. ?d, 1846, the same year that the Sondekbund promulgated their treasomable designs, this canton had nearly 20,000 men, belonging to the difterent services, armed and equipped according to regulation. Besides these, the authorities had organized 16 Battalions of "Hom- mes du Depot," garrison troops between 17 and 20 years of age, (each 500 strong,) and 8 battalions of Volunteers, be- tween the ages of 45 and 60, estimated as high as 6,000 in all: Total 34,000. The same proportion would give us 3,0C0,- 000 of soldiers under arms, while the ability to bear the burthen can scarcely be brought into comparison. This proves that in whatever other respect the Swiss may have retrograded, they have not degenerated in pat- riotism. Mrs. SxErTT, in h.er charming volumes, entitled "A Domestic Residence in Switzerland," observes that "Xature certainly only tueant the Swiss for two classes, soldiers and shepherds." "Attached alilce to Liberty and io Arm.9, the slightest appearance of infringement upon their fi-eedom, throws them simultaneously into a posture of defence." "The great tie that holds the Swiss cantons together is the neutrality they obBerve, with respect to other natious ; 10 and the common cause they make of ant attach upon themselves y " 'Another admirable trait of essential union among the Swiss, is the willing and ready chaeity with which they minister to each others wants, in times of calamity,' 'with a liberality that well illustrates the truth of a re- mark, which all who have studied mankind must have made, that it is always the habitually frugal, who are capable of the most generous actions." " Seek not the Swiss in cultured plains, Or towns, or beaten paths among, Where modish strangers idly throng, And luxury taints, and avarice stains : 'Tis where primeval nature reigna, Mid lonely toil and simple song, Secure alike from crime and wrong, He uncorrupt and true remains ; 'Mid the murmurings of his fountains. And the echoes of his mountains. Where the lordly eagle soars, Where the headlong torrent roars, He is, as he was meant to be. Poor and virtuous, calm and free." The prodigious effort of the little Canton of Yaud just alluded to, leads to the consideration of what would seem to be a want of sense of patriotic duty, in many of our own people. Through the ill judged interference of rich communities or associations, the administration is not deriving the ex- pected reinforcements from the draft just concluded. — That so many citizens arc unwilling to fight out, with their own arms, the great battle of freedom, but are will- ing to confide it to another race, and hireling hands, is im worthy of a free people, and teeming with mischief, if no remedy is at hand and applicable. I particularly allude to the organization of a dispropor- tionate army of blacks. Their undue augmentation is pregnant with evil, if not restricted within reasonable 11 limits. Not that I am opposed to negro regiments. Far from it, since I believe that I was the tirot, in print, to snggest their organization. But I am opposed to a negro army outnumbering tliat composed of wliites. Carthage^ Venice^ Holland, relied upon mercenaries to maintain their polity within, extend their area without, and fight even for their independence. Rome's mobilized militia burned Carthage', the native armies of France seized Venice^ and handed her over to Austria as a prey ; and Holland, dictated to by Prussia imdi England, (the latter as false to the United Provinces, as she has proved to the United States,) stooped her free neck to the yoke of roy- alty ; stooped it to be abased a second time, and plundered in 1830-'l, despite their own solemn guarantees, by Hng- land and France, just as England and ^««(?e would like to dismember, plunder and humiliate us. The rough edge of the w^ork may be taken off by our black auxiliaiies, but the finishing touches must be put on by ourselves, by our white brethren. Thus by the consideration of a succession of introduc- tory suggestions, having an important bearing on the sub- ject, I have reached in order the main object of my Address. It is remarkable that Switzerland, a few 3'ears ago, was called upon to pass through a crisis very similar to that through which the United States is now passing. As a Federation it is composed of Cantons of quite dissimilar religious faith and social tendencies. Some of them are Protestants and others are Romanists, and the political jealousies which arise are apt to be intensified, if we may use the expression, by the antagonism of a deep religious ran- cor. On most questions, however, the Federal Diet would move along evenly enough if these causes of difference were not worke^^l upon and fomented by dextrous, unre- 13 lenting and bigoted bodies of men, particularly by that known as the Jesuits. In political cunning, recklessness and energy, they are not unlike the southern disunion leaders ; and they are like them, ngain, in the fact that for many years they ■were constant plotters of Secession. — They were always striving to arouse the prejudices of the Romanist cantons, until they should formally declare their separation from the others and from the general union. Nor were foreign influences wanting to aggravate the internal difficulties. The Pope afforded aid by intrigues, carried on through his Nuncios, wdio incited the ignorant ^ mass. The secession party comprised the whole of that part of the population wliich, dwelling in wild and moun- tain districts, had not been affected by the improvements of the age. They resembled in these respects the great mass of the southern secessionists, who live apart from the civilizing influences of commerce and intellectual pursuits, Austria helped also, not by mere hints, but open threats of intervention. She supplied arms, ammunition, and even officers. The staff of the secessionists was chiefly composed of foreign officers. France, likewise, smuggled arms and ordnance stores into the disaffected districts. — All the governments with despotic tendencies, in fact, either openly or secretly supported the secessionists. — Even constitutional governments, with the exception of Englan d, gave the national party the cold shoulder. Thus abetted, a Sonderbnnd, as it Mas called, assembled for de- liberation in May, 1846, and promulgated their Secession- ist Confederacy. Members of the Vermont Historical Society and Citizens of the famed Green Mountain State, De- scendants of the Gkeen Mountain Boys who distinguish- ed themselves by their stern determination and intrepid enterprise in the times which tried men's souls, I shall 13 endeavor, npon this occasion, to show you how another people, Sons of the Mountains, met the question of Seces- sion. They met it as I liavc no doubt you would have met it, as all kueal JVcw England and rueal Kew York would have met it, had tliey stood alone, fair and square, face to fac?, even as previous generations in the same dis- tricts asserted their rights on the fields of Bexnixgton and OEisivA>;y, Stillwatee (Bemus' Heights) and Sara^ toga (Wilbur's Basin). Before entering into any examination of historical oc- currences, or of military operations whicli have taken place in Switzerland, a few reinarl;s are pertinent to cor- rect a popular error in regard to the defensibleness, j!?er 5^, of that country, and, in fact, of any country presenting a similar physical aspect siu-h as Vrede'rn Virginia, Ten- nessee and Georgia. The plains of Italy and the levels of the Low Countries have been scareelv more fouo-ht over t];an the diversities and alternations of Switzerland. ZscnoKKE, aGernian by birthbut a Swiss by election, in his history of his adopted country, remarks that in its wars of the last 500 years, but particularly those growing out of the great French Revolution, " battle field touched battle field ;" that " horse and man (contending) passed over the mountain tops, whicli the chamois hunter alone had reached before;" that "in the valleys and on the summits of the mountains, on the lakes and above the clouds, the French and Anstrians fought." Surrounded by powerful, ambitious, and military mon- archies, Switzerland for centuries has been the "Valley of Decision," and the iron-heel of war has left its mark upon her snowy wastes, her vine clad slopes, her sunny valleys, and her romantic lake and I'iver shores. From the sum- mit of every Alp, deemed accessible, seventy years since, to man, to the bottom of her defiles, there is scarcely a 14 district that has not been drenched -with the blood of na- tive and of foi-eign soldiery, recruited from almost every known region of Europe, Asia and northern Africa. According to the hypothetical strategy of the newspa- pers and of the masses, j^ositions in mountain ranges and mountainous countries, militarily occupied, are considered impregnable. "Whereas it is a military axiom, established by the experience of all ages, that he who is master of the valleys is master of the mountains, for, although the mountains may not be susceptible of successful direct attack, they may be paralyzed by the cutting oif of com- munications and concjuered h\ blockade and famine. — This is indisputable except, in some rare cases, where mountain districts contain, or produce, within themselves supplies of ammunition, food and forage.* Perhaps the most remarkable instance of this is Fred- eric the Great's operations against the impregnable Camp of Refuge at Pirna, in Saxony, in 1756. Master of the communications and victorious over the Austrian army, * This remarkable fact, so seldom considered,— that the possession or master- ship of the valleys determines the fate of mountains,— indicates the Kcnts or GashcB in the apparentl}- invulnerable armor of an Alpine land. Through the Gaps ly which tiie torrent finds escape, the eneni)- finds entrance. They ofier to tl.e invader breaches through which his columns can advance against the Penetralia of Liberty. Even as the treacherous arrow of the Trojan Adulterer, Paris, found its way, through the undipped heel, to the life of the otherwise invulnerable Achilles, even 60 the enemy finds access, by its Passes or Cols (depressions of the mountain crest lines into the interior of an elevated country), not only in arms but with the more fatal lures of trade and the blandishments of luxury. The very Configuration of Switzerland and the disposition of its natural ramparts indicate, upon the map, the breaches through which its enemies have forced thtir way. n is least defensible towards the North and North-East. From those quar- ters the m.ijority of the invasions have occurred. Happily for the Confederation its lofty barren mountains inclose luxuriant vineyards, meads and fields, furnishing vast supplies for men and c;ittle. On tlie other hand the Protestants of Lausjucdoc, who held at bay for years the vast power of Louis XIV, occupied a territory rc- Bcmbling Switzerland in its capabilities for defence, but not analogous in its interior feature? of productiveness. The War of the Cevennes demonstrated what determined Few, although unprepared, can achieve, for a time, against the Many provided with all sufficient mc.ius. There is a period, however, to all such efforts which i* beyond the control of any wii.i,. howover resolute. As Ion;,' ap they had 15 Beeking to relieve the Saxon forces, he compelled the latter to surrender at discretion, in about 37 days. Nev- ertheless Firna^per se, was impregnable. We will see that the same rule has always held good with regard to Switz- erland, and that, throughout the hiatorj of the Confed- eration, its fate has not been decided on its rugged Alps or in its mountain Thermopylae's, but in its gladsome valleys, those depressions which give access to the interior of the country, and are traversed by the main-routes be- tween the capitals or chief towns ol;' the Cantons. Strange it is, but still as true as strange, the Arts of "War and the Arts of Peace are subject to the same immutable laws of progress. Water, "Wealth and War seek the same channels for their fertilizing streanjs or de- vastating floods. They equally shun the rugged heights and seek the fertile plains, for they are mutually depend- ent. Battle fields invariably occur in localities which have the same relations to the Operations of War which towns or the sites of great fairs bear to the tides of Travel and Commerce. The result is that as Holland opposed dykes of granite, oak and concrete to the inroads of the the means to support life, the Camisarrts of .Joiix Cavaliep. continued masters of their mountain fastnesses, and proved victorious .igainst astonishing odds of men and material. When at length want obliged them to descend into the plains in search of supplies, they wore overwhelmed by the disciplined masses of their roy- alist persecutors. Decimaicd through the efTorts and efl'ects of their own valor, they were at length coinpcllcd to retreat. Close upon them followed death and desolation, for the King's forces laid everj-thing in rnins and ashes as they ad- vanced. Thus a desert closed in upon the Huguenot heroes like the iron walls of the Italian tyrants daily diminishing dungeon, until, at last, all within the cncom- passingand converging columns of the invader was crushed into submissive formless- ness in respect to rights or religion and to individual or general security. Schamtl, in like manner, as the Protestants of the Ccvcnnes, found his Circassian strong, holds assailed by Russian armed floods surging up through the Circassian valleys which opened to the lowlands and to the sea, commanded by the Czaric fleets. Just so, the Deluges of Asiatic barbarism which overwhelmed Eastern and Cen- tral Europe followed the levels of the rivers, and burst in upon Cliristianity and Civilizution through the depressions of the border ranges, through which Com- merce had found linos of communication, proving that the Traffic and Strife, both bearing with them good and evil, in very unequal proportions however, tread the »me tracks either to blcas or blast. 18 ocean, so Switzerland dammed her valleys against the in- vasions of multitudinous enemies with ranks of iron men, 60 that it might be said of HelvetIxI as of the Spaeta of Agesilaus and the Sw^eden of the Yasas, "She did not defend her men wntli walls, but her walls with her men." Although the swarthy crisp-haired veterans of Hanni- bal picked and fought their way through the icy terrors of Mount Genevre (or the Little St. Bernard?); — Although the Emperor Majorian, sounding the depths of the drifts with the staif of his lance, indicated, in mid- winter, the track for the march of his legions, fresh from battling with the savage Moors and Yandals, across the Graian Alps, to the conquest of Gaul, Spain and Africa ; — • Although Francis I, tui^.neled the Monte Yiso, far under its perpetual snow, deeming the very rocks less impervious thsn the ranks of their Waleensian defenders, on his way to that '' Coinbat oi Giants," Marigi ano ; — Although the veteran Freundsbekg threaded the hor- rible snow depths and yawniug ravines of the Yal Sabbia, at the head of that " Arnn- of Yengeance" which repaid itself, with the accumulated gold of papal jubilees, for the spiritual tyranny and humiliations whicli Germany had experienced at the hands of the Popes ; — Although Prince Eugene transported " in a fearful and marvellous march,-' with the help of mechanical contrivances, his infantry, cavalry, and even artillery', through the frighti'ul Yal Suga and Yal Fredda, hitherto de3m2d inaccessible, to rescue his patrial Savoy from the closing grasp of the French spoiler; — Although the Muscovites, under the barbarian Suwae- Row, trampled the eternal snow of the St. Gothard and rc})lac:d the Devil's Bridge with trunks of trees k.shed together with his officers' military sashes ; — 17 Although the Gallic demi-brigades of Napoleon trod into slush the everlasting snow of the Great St, Bernard, hurrying forward to his greatest victory, Marengo ; — Although the exhilarating music of Macdonald's mili- tary bands excited his French divisions to charge the falling avalanches of the Splugen as if they had been columns of mortal adversaries ; — Although I say from the days of the Carthaginian Arch-strategist to those of the Conqueror of Solferino^ horse, foot, elephants, cannon and military equipages have fought their way, across the Alps, to victory, by the tracks of the hunter and the paths of the goat-herd ; — Although cavalry and artillery have charged upon fields of ice, above the clouds, and answered, amid the mingled wreaths of vapor and powder-smoke, the electric batteries of nature with their batteries of human invention ; — yet The fate of Switzerland has not been decided in her elevated mountain passes and upon her hoary Alps, but in her smiling valleys and along the shores of those lakes, which were alive with a semi-aquatic population, living in huts elevated on piles above their waters, anterior to the age of bronze and iron, and while her mountains were yet devoid of inhabitants. In one respect, however, mountainous countries are impregnable. Territories, like those of the Swiss, are inexpugnable in the race of men which grow up amid the sublimity of their scenery. " Solitude," says the philosophic prose-poet, Dora d'Istria, " is the mother of great ideas." We add, Sublimity is certainly their father in minds susceptible of quickening. The mountain race, endowed with vigorous minds in healthy bodies, seejns everywhere gifted with an in- domitable repnlntion, as rugged and flinty as the rocks 18 thev have to climb and labor among in the pm'suit oi their livelihood. Moreover, jubt as we recognize an elevated region by its stnrdy growth of peculiar timber, whether stunted or lofty, alike in their powder of resisting the tempest, and by its hardy plants, characterized by their intense tenacity of life, just so a mountainous country is indicated by a stur- dy, courageous, athletic, well developed or close knit l)op- ulation of liberty-loving, patriotic men. During the American Revolution it was the moun- taineers of Eastern Tennessee, South-Eastern Kentucky, and Western North, and South, Carolina, who stemmed the tide of British conquest in the Southern ])rovinces, al- though led by its ablest and boldest }>artisan, l)ull-dog Ferguson. When the South Carolinian oligarchic chiv- alry and its aristocracy, rich in human chattels, had entirely succumbed, it was the energy, sagacity and self reliance of the Mountain Men^ accustomed to manual labor and exercised in their contests with savage beasts and still more savage men, which restored affairs and even hope, by their unexpected success, upon the bloodiest scene of Southern battle, the ever memorable Kings Mountain. Just so, in this very State, Gentlemen, J^eio Manvpshire and Vermont troops, under the simple but intrepid Stark, ratified ?ii Bennington., the great fundamental principle of government, that neither the Green Mountain region, nor any other region, should be the home of any but free-men. The same spirit inspired the rough but patriotic Allen, when he laid his iron grasp upon Ticonderoga " in the name of the great Jehovah and the Continental Congress." The same spirit, with its impulse as potential as the shrill note of the Abyssinian trumpet, styled the Cry of th« 10 Eagle, wliose electric eftectis dwelt upon \)\ the traveller Bruce, as marvellous to witness, aroused Vermont to arms at the commencement of the pending contest. The Voice of the same Spirit, resounding through the Green Mountains, as irresistibly as the appeal of the Mountain Horn or Bull of Uri, whose terrible roar re- sembled the bellowing of the enraged Urus, and of the hoarse Land Horn of Untericalden, — whose signals struck terror to the enemies of Switzerland who had experienced their effects, — summoned together, and urged forth, under such leaders as John "Wolcott Phelps, a magnificent array, exceeding in numbers the proportionate quota of your State, small in area and population, however great in virtues, a contingent, far more excessive in tlie quality of its soldiers, to fight the great fight of freedom, upon the soil, which the treason of a slavocrat-oligarchy sought to usurp and subject to the fatal influences of slaverj-, — hoping to build, there, upon the i-uins of our free institu- tions, an aristocracy based upon tlieir ownership in man. Even as your lovely state is intersected by fertile val- leys, watered by such beautiful streams as the Winooski, MissisQui, and White Eiver, whose banks afford easy transit to the iron horse dragging long trains, freighted with the spoils of commerce and of agriculture, even so Switzerland is cleft and checkered by connecting depres- sions, the basins of its chains of lakes, gleaming like dia- monds or sapphires amid the cloud-crowned mountains, snow-capped peaks, elevations robed in ever verdant fol- iage, and glaciers spectral in their ice, when not glorious, like Iris, in the sunshine. It is these very velvet pastures and rich meadows, bath- ed by the Swiss lakes and their tributaries, so dear to the tourist, the agriculturist and the herdsman, which have '20 afforded fields of manoBuvre and battle to the chivalry of the iiu'aders, seeking to enslave their possessors. Upon such slopes and meadows, most of the Swiss battles of their wars of independence have been decided. Such depressions, alone, have offered stages for the vast conflicts, which have occurred from time to time, during the last 600 years, whence the thundering antagonism of the ar- tillery, reverberating through the encompassing moun- tains, have jarred loose the dreadful avalanches to respond Avith the still more terrible echo of their fall, to the roar of the contending hosts below. * * ^ -A- * «■ * In the progress of our consideration of this subject — Swiss /Secession — it appears to me that this w^ould be the proper time, before proceeding farther, or entering upon the narrative of actual hostilities, to trace out the origin of the difficulty by a bi'ief examination of the History of the Helvetian Ttepublic. The Swiss Confederation^ born, 1291, in the Associa- tion of the Three Forest Cantons, on the Lake of Lucerne^ grew, in 1352, to Eight by gradual aggregations. Bap- tised in blood and fire, to use a military expression, it already constituted, in the XlVth Century, a strong family of small republics. These had gained over Austria a series of victories, whose parallels cannot be found in history. Still, al- though it had vanquished the empire, its arch enemy without, it could not overcome enemies almost as dan- gerous, although not so apparent, within ; the blemishes, cruelties and vices of its interior administration. The tyranny of oligarchs had been permitted to succeed that of feudalism. Spiritual foundations still held the fortunes, rights, and what was far worse, the minds of their sub- cctp in the fetters of superstition and ignorance. The L>1 terrible yoke of caste huni>- heavily upon the population, and nothing but the diricipline, as it were, of a frontier post, exposed to the danger of attack at any moment, kept the different populations of Freedom^ Citadel^ in Central Europe, from flying at each other's throats upon the least occasion. The exciting cause of disunion has ever been the same as that which lately stirred up Swiss Secession, — the intrigues of the Church of Rome, of its allies, of its affiliations and of its dependencies, in a word the lltkamontajs^e or eeactioxist party, not inaptly represented, in this country, by the Slayocrats and their abettors. In 1444, France succeeded Austria as the antagonist of Freedom and of the Cantons, and met with such a bloody reception at St. Jacob on the Birs, on the very threshold of the confederation, that, thenceforward, until her own great Revolution, the French rulers were willing rather to huy the amity than lo provoke the enmity of the Swiss. Unwilling or incapable of profiting by the experience of the astute Lons XI, his opponent, Charles the Rash of BuEGrNDY, determined to try his hand at oppressing Switzerland. Burgundy, although a feudal duchy, was, yet, at that time, a kingdom in power and influence, al- though its sovereign wore only a ducal coronet. More- over, the army with its train of artillery and equipages, which, twice renewed and twice entirely ruined, Charles poured over the Jura into what was then the Canton of Berxe, would be termed magnificent even at the present dav. Two defeats, so marvellous and overwhelminff, that nothing but the more recent routs of Rosbach, Leuthen, Jena, the annihilation of the whole French expedition to Moscow, Waterloo and Novara, could justify belief in the disasters which shipwrecked the 22 lame, the power and the armies of Burgundy. A third victory, I^ancy, in 1477, cost the magnificent Charles his life. At this period of triumph, in 1481, Soleure and Fuey- bukg, contrasts in their after political conduct, were ad- mitted into the Confederation as the ninth and tenth Cantons. Despots and kings, and, in fact, political administrations of everj texture, never appear to learn wisdom from the past. To impose the Austrian yoke, upon the Ten Cantons, which his ancestors could not impose upon three, or upon FOUR, or upon eight, the German Emj^eror took the field in person. Defeated by the Swiss in not less than eight battles in the course of as many months, Maximilian resolved upon peace. He had lost over twenty thousand men and seen nearly two thousand towns, villages and castles laid in ashes to satisfy' his ambitious attempts upon liberty. — Peace accordingly was concluded at Basle, September 22d, 1409. Thus ended the SuaUan, tlie last war of Swiss independence. TJiese Avars had di-agged out througli two hundi'ed and one years. The American AVars of Independence, if we consider, as many do, the "War of the Revolution as the First or Inceptive, and the War of 1812 as the Second or Decisive, forty-tive years. The first blood shed in the American Revolution, was not in King's Street, Boston, March 5th, 1770, nor at Lexington, April 19th 1775, but on Golden Hill, in John Street, in Xew York City, January 18th 1770, preceding by two months, the first New England martyr- dom for liberty. The last conllict to establish our complete independence of Great Britain Avas at N"ew Orleans, .lanuarv Sth, J 8 Li. 23 The tirst struggle of the Swiss Revulntion was on the DoNNEKiiUiiL (Thunder Hill) and in tlie Jannnerthal (Yale of Tears), appropriate names, in 1298 ; the last victory at DoKNACH iu 1499. It mnst be conceded the Swiss had a harder fight, against greater odds, for their Freedom, than we, Americans, for ours. AVhat is acquired with great diffi- culty is highly esteemed. The Swiss have maintained their freedom and consolidated their unity. AVill we emulate their example '( From that Treaty of Basle dates, properly speaking, the complete independence of Switzerland, which then ceased to be subjected to the sovereignty of the empire — a state of things ^vhich was sanctioned by the Peace of West- phalia, in 1(348. The French War, of 1444, had been a mere August thunder shower, fierce enough, however, while it lasted ; the Burgundian War, of 1475-'6-'7, a succession of torna- does ; the Suabian AVar, 1499, was a regular, furious storm, but the Cantons sustained the ^'iulence of all three as the Alps meet the FceJui and the Bue., two . furious winds peculiar to Switzerland, whose blasts accomplish nothing but to purify the air. In 1501, Basle and ScnAFFHAUSE^^ were admitted as the eleventh and twelfth, and in 1515, Appenzell as the last Canton necessary to complete the list of the Jirst Thirteen^ exactly the number of the British Provinces which transmuted themselves into the original Thirteen United States. Of these Thirteen three were Aristo-Democratic. The first of these was Zurich, afterwards the home of liberal ideas and the cradle of the Reformation. In considera- tion of the wealth and importance of the City of Zurich, the others yielded to it the first place in order of rank, 24 and it lias ever since borne the title, although it long since lost the prerogative, of the first Canton of the Helvetic body. This privilege, however, gave Zurich no supe- riority over the rest, but merely constituted it as a central point, where all the affairs, which concerned the whole confederation, were transacted ; its deputies had also for a time the precedency in the general diets. Of the other two, the most important, Basle, was then what it proved in the last Swiss Secession War, neither cold nor hot, as we shall see hereafter, looking only, like all commercial emporiums, to its own selfish interests. Of the four Aristocratic Cantons, Berne was subse- quently, 1798 — 1803, divided into four, and afterwards became one of the most Liberal or Democratic^ perhaps, for the same reason, that Samson became weak. Her extensive dependencies, like his long locks, the sources of her strength, having been shorn off by the very reactionary power, whose influences adverse to Liberty, had laid her to sleep. Two others, Lucekne and Feetbukg, have always been the enemies of progress, and completely in the hands of those whose interests it was to keep the people bigoted and ignorant. In 1782, Freyburg was the closest aristoc- racy or rather oZ«<7a/'us and political matters, permitted in certain Cantons, sought to invade and rule in more Liberal Cantons, just so Slavery endeavored to invade the Free States and impose and continue a suc- cession of corrupt administrations upon owvfi'ee North. For thirt}'^ two years, Switzerland presented two hostile camps, which rested their extremities on foreign lands, and which attempted reciprocally to weaken each other, by the withdrawal of adherents. An attitude gradually more resolute and bolder was the result of these separate alliances. According to the opinion of a writer, whose Christian sympathies and learning entitle her to reliance, the origin of the quarrel which brought these two camps into col- lision was the Suppression of the Convents of Argovia or 34 Aargau for taking part in political disturbances, in 1841, on the motion of a Member of the Diet of their own (Roman Catholic) persuasion.* Austria, which permits no opportunity of exercising its reactionary influence in the Swiss Confederation, interfered on the most frivolous grounds. To avenge the Suppression of the Argovian Convents, the Austro-Romanists or Ultkamontanists, by which term we shall distinguish the Kebels or Secession party in the Cantons, determined to invite the Jesuits to return. The Ultramontanists held the balance of power in Switzerland just, as it is to be feared, they do in this country. To re-establish their influence this part}' re- called the Jesuits, whose Institution or Society, as early as in 181S, had been energetically prutested against, even in bigoted Freyburg,%3 incompatible with a Free State. The project of inviting this unpopular Society to Lucerne, against the decided will of the majority of the Swiss people, and the suggestion, at Lucerne, of the formation of a Separate League or ^oulfcrbunb', for the armed main- tenance of the peculiar views of the Ultka-eetrograde 'party, produced a formidable agitation throughout the whole of Switzerland. This excitement engendered the Fkee Corps, which bear the same relation to Swiss Se- cession that our armed Emigration to Kaxsas bore to the aggressions of Slavery. But just as the usurpations and violences of Slavery produced such terrible results in Kansas, just so the Ultra-party, in Switzerland, must be held responsible for all that subsequently occurred there. The discovery of the Minutes of the Separate-League conspirators, of the 13th and 14th September, 1843, at the Baths of Rothen, near Lucerne, was a real triumph ♦ Compare Menzel's History of Germany [in Mrs. Horrocks' Eng. Trans. (Bohn's Edition), 1S54]. Chapter CCLXVIII.Pao;e9 395-400 (particularly last «". Page 400), Vol. in, with (,'oiintf!6s Dora d'Ts^tria's Switzerland, the Pioneer of the Eej'orma- Cion, H. G.'p Trans., London, l.'^-^s, ij XXHT, Papes 4-39. particularly 28-30, Vol. 2. B5 for the partisans of the Free Corps. It proved that the adversaries of the Volunteers, not they^ liad inaugurated the struggle. These Free Corps, however justifiable in princjiples and intention, were censurable in action. — Their invasion of Lucerne and the Valais was a parallel of John" Browx's foray into Virginia without the lofty enthusiasm and purity of purpose of the '• hero of the Osawatoniie." Moreover the expeditions of these Free Corps e:s^erienced the fate of John Brown's rash attempt. And just as his partj^ were shot down at Haepkr's Ferry in tlie name of Slavery, the Free Corps were shot down at the bridges across the Trient, the Reuss and the Emme, in the name of another, no less dangerous, slavery. These and similar successes over the Free Corps, particu- larly the bloody victory of the Ultramontanists at Lucerne, incited the conquerors to outrage all liberal sentiment and complete their preparations for the great struggle which they had determined to bring on, for, unless blind and stolid, they must have seen the terrible consequences which would ensue. Let those who blame the operations of the Swiss Free Corps, or Volunteers, remember what bands of worse than savages, spiritual and political despots have often let loose upon Liberals; let them recall the invasion of Kansas by hordes of Missourian desperadoes ; and let them recollect that no sooner had the Ultramontane coalition or Swiss Sonderhund gained the advantage over the Free Corps by the " Fratricide on the Trient," than they actually forbade the practice of jprivate worship^ to Siviss Protestants^ in their own Canton. ^'■The Grand Coun^ cil of the Valais decided that the Roman Catholic religion alone should a have worship culte.'''' Louis XIV had scarce- ly claimed more despotic authority over his Reformed sub- jects than the Ultramontanists exerted, where they had 36 the power of influencing citizens to tyrannize over tlieir fellow citizens. Zsciiokke says that now the assertion of the Prebendaey of Ritaz was made good : — " That Valais^ra;^ of all was to be Catholic, then Swiss." As an antithesis to this declaration bear in mind that the ex- ponents of Slavery, at Richmond, assumed that any one who did not believe in the divine institution of Chat- telage, was an Abolitionist. Thus it was made to appear to the w^orld that the Liberals inangurated the contest, whereas the opposite party had not only been long and secretly at work but were actually prepared to receive the attacks upon Sion and Lucerne which their crimes and conspiracies had oc- casioned. Are we not justified in stating that the sum- mons to arms issued by the Kebel leaders invited and justified a corresponding action in the Loyal party ? The Secessionists, both in Switzerland and the United States, acted on the principle of Cardinal Richelieu, that " a Lie which lasts four and twenty hours, makes great opera- tion." This sentiment is attributed to Frederic the Great, erroneously however. It did not originate with the atheistical soldier, but with a Cardinal of that church whose disciples dispersed to the winds the ashes of the martyred Zwingli mingled with those of swine. The Free Corps had the same plea for their organization and action that European liberals, like Victok Hugo, admit- ted as valid in favor of John Brown. I am not here to justify or condemn John Brown. I should not and I would not presume even farther to discuss the subject. — I have simply referred to it as an historical fact in order to show how human events repeat themselves, even as to details, and that, therefore, a critical study of history is often equivalent to personal experience in a mind capable of close analysis and comparison. 3T In many respects, even to particulars, the parallel between the ideas, assumptions and operations of the Swiss-Separate-League-Cantons and the American-Seces- sion-States has been perfect. When Switzerland's War of Independence had been triumpliantly terminated, ZwiNGLi, the first and most practical of the Reformers, took his solemn stand against the Interventions of that Church, or rather Schism, which has been the Remittent Fever of the Confederation from his day to the present. In this prescience, he closely resembles our Washington, to whom Zwingli has been compared, in regard to his warnino;s asjainst foreio;n influences and entanglinor alii- ances. Both alike were reverenced by the wise and the good everywhere, and respected and beloved at home. — Both were true patriots, devoted to the best interests of their several countries, and "magnanimous." What a vast scope of the highest eulogy does the last epithet, justly applied, embrace. Zwingli energetically protested, I re- peat, with intrepid persistence against the lures and wiles of foreign incitations and entangling coalitions, and fell a victim to his foresight. His warnings were prophetic. The Influences, he denounced, as susceptible of produ- cing such demoralizing consequences, equivalent to the effects of Slavery, were the causes of differences and bloodshed in Switzerland from his day to the present time, and even so Slavery, proper, has always kept our own country in a state of feverish excitement, and has ended in producing one of the bloodiest wars upon re- cord. Alas, too soon for his country and the world, ZwixGLi fell a martyr to the animosity aroused by his patriotic eloquence. Looking back two hundred and seventy years we find that the Sondekbund of the XVIth Century known as the Borromean or Golden League of 1586, whose pretended 38 object was simply mutual protection and assistance, was not only a defen.sive but likewise an aggressive alliance. Just so tiie SoNDERBUXD of 1843-'6. In onr own case the Slav3 Party, its alherents and parasites, were never contented with the enjoyment of their own rights, but unceasingly endeavored to invade the prerogatives of ctliers ; to stem the tide of liberal progress and of free- dom ; and to acquire new guarantees for their very en- croachments. In a lesser degree and sphere we have seen the same spirit germinate into the treasonable x\sso- ciation of tlie Knights of the Golden Circle, a fitting title, with an object analogous to that of the Golden League, the violation of the Constitution, the extension of Slavery, and tlie subversion of Liberty, Just as the Ultramontanistsof Switzerland first violated the spirit and transgressed the limits of Federal compact, juit so the Slavocrat political leaders eluded the restraints of the AmericHU Constitution. Their urreasonable ex- actions and inexcusable violence, their cries of '' Give !" "Give!*' never to be satisfied, excited the Liberals, in both countries, to reprisals. In Switzerland the true Repub- licans took up arms simply to re-establish their brethren, the Unionists, within the territories of the traitorous alli- ance, in the possessions of those privileges which had been ravished from them by force. In the same manner the American Republicans responded to the Federal call to re-establish a violated Constitution, If, in order to do BO, they were compelled to break the letters of the Slave, what right had the chattel-owners to complain? Had they not trampled and spat upon the very compact which protected them in their uni-ighteous tyranny ; their hold upon the bodies and souls of their fellow men. As hereinbefore mentioned the Treaty of Alliance constituting the .^onbcvbuub^ (Secession Compactor Sep- 39 arate League of Ur-Schwyz, Old or Primitive Switzer- land,) was made public at Freybukg in May, 1846. In June it was, as it were, officially promulgated. Nothing new however was published, for Swiss Treason, like Southern Secession, had not been deliberated in se- cret. The very publicity of its proceedings and threats led the majority to suppose that there was more in them of menace than intention. Practical men could not be- lieve that Cantons or States would sacrifice their interests to their passions. Honest and sober men, however, both in Switzerland and in this country, were woefully mistaken.- Even as Secession arrayed Eleven Slaveholeing States, and relied with certainty- on the co-operation of Three more to resist the efforts of the Union abiding nineteen Free States, the S(juderbnnd arrayed seven Se- C3ding Cantons against twelve Cantons and two Half- Cmtons faithful to the Constitution. One Canton and two Haf-Cantons, like our doubting or doubtful Border States, remained indifferent, and constituted what has been styled the " IS'eutral Sonderbnnd." The effect of their attitude was like that of a cold palsy, upon many in tlie loyal districts who occupied about the same unin- teresting position as the Anti-coercion Unionists among us. One Canton, the money-making city of Basle, Avas deterred from decided action by fears of trade, but the Basle country, like rural Xew York, was true as steel to the Constitution and Union. It may be interesting to consider the relative po^it'on and forces of the two camps into which Switzerland was decided. Here was a little free country containing less than 2,400,000 inhabitants, all told, surrounded by mighty 40 sovereignties sympathising with, and aiding, the revolu- tionists, menaced by an internal convulsion, which ar- rayed 416,000 people, disposed in natm-al fortresses of prodigious strength and susceptible of protracted resist- ance, against 1,880,000 faithful subjects and about 111,000 neutrals. The proportion was Liberals, Federalists or Unionists, eighteen, to Ultramontanists, Sonderbundists or Rebels, j?i)5, to Neutral^^ one. The relative numbers in our own case are about the same, throwing out the slave element, Loyalists or Unionists, nineteen and one-fourth^ Slavocrats, Secessionsts or Rebels, ^6V, Neutrals, three. — Our Rebels however have this advantage, that their Slaves are a source of Strength, and the Sympathy of our Copperheads or Peace party almost divided our forces. The relative area of loyal and rebel territory were in both cases not much unlike. The territory of the Swiss Secession Cantons was, it is true, much more dislocated than that of the Confederate States, but its actual sus- ceptibility of defence was not inferior. The Districts of the Separate League lay in a crescent shape, somewhat resembling one of the mediaeval hunting horns, with a very large bell and mouth-piece. The latter, to the West, rested upon \\\q, Lake of Neuciiatel, while the Lake of the Four Cantons not inaptly represented the orifice of the former. The Sonderbund (Secession League) certainly enjoyed the best position militarily considered, for their troops could operate on interior lines while the Federals, as in our own case, were obliged to move on difficult exterior lines. What is more, just as the Secessionists had the pick, as they 8ui)posed, of our West Point officers, the Swiss Rebels had the advantage of entrusting their commands to leaders of great experience who had witnessed and 41 participated in the operations of actual war upon a large scale. Many of these officers were the more devoted to the Ultramontane party, and the more bitterly opposed the Liberals, from the fact that their talents had been exercised in the service of the king of Xaples and other despotic monarchs, where their superior abilities, Swiss courage, and the confidence, which their national charac- ter justified, had given them op|>ortunities far beyond those commensurate with their actual rank. Foreign officers also joined this unholy" league. Tiiese coincidences could be followed out much further would time permit^ but one point remains to be noticed. While the Ultramontanists, like the Slave faction. Seces- sionists and Copperheads, were claiming the most unre- stricted liberty for themselves, their tyranny exceeded all bounds, They abolished the Liberty of the Press, and permitted just as much free speech as would furnish an excuse for the punishment of the speaker. Pestalozzi, the celebrated Swiss " St. Vincent de Paul of Education," furnishes the only excuse for the excesses of the Separate League Cantons. " He saw that the principal cause of the misery of the multitude was their ignokance, which did not allow them to make use of their political rights, even for the amelioration of their position." The same can be the only explanation for the action and atrocities of the Rebels. Moreover had our Rebels been less igno- rant, they would not have permitted themselves to be slaughtered and expended for the interests of a wicked oligarchy. In the month of May, 1846. as we have said, the treaty of disunion constituting the Sonderhund (Separate League or Secession-Union) of Ur-Schweiz (the Switzerland of old time) was published. 42 Nothing new, however, was promulgated, for Just as treason at the South has been germinating for thirty years, so the Sonderbund doctrine was completely sys- tematized some time before the first attack was made upon the Swiss secessionists by the liberals. Nine months of conciliatory negotiation elapsed before the Swiss Diet came to the decision to act by force of arms. During that time the constitutional party was gradually becoming more and more satisfied that nothing remained but a resort to the ''''ultima ixdio reguinP The attitude of the Sonderbundists discovered that all other reasoning was in vain. Much the same state of things existed in the secession cantons as now exists in the seceding states. There, as here, there was a minority Union party who made themselves heard. There, as here, they attempted to make themselves felt also,, but, "whelmed in blood and tears," they were trampled under foot with savage severity by a treasonable majority. The Unionists at Lucerne and in other seceding cantons, ex- perienced exactly what would be the fate of a conserva- tive minority in Charleston, exactly w^hat has been the fate of such a minority in Tennessee. They were either bayoneted, or crushed by legal prosecution, into silence. The Rebel Swiss ought to have fought well. They were fanatics in the closest application of the word, and of a race brave, under any circumstances, to a proverb. They had sharpened their swords on the tomb of the mar- tyred St. Maurice, their rifles had been solemnly blessed by their spiritual guides, visions and miracles had been reported to cheer their hopes, and human assistance from abroad, and supernatural intervention from above, were confidently expected. Spiritual avarice, if the term be admissable, lent that vigor to the Sonderbund that the thirst for material 43 wealth, borrowing the mantle of chivalry, had infused into the lords and champions of Cottondora. Slowly but surely the unionist cantons proceeded with their preparations. On the 20th of July, 184Y, the con- servative portion of the Diet declared the Sonderbund, or Separate League, dissolved, and by successive decrees 11th August and 3d September, proceeded to forbid the introduction of arms into the revolted states, and finally 20th-29th October, to organize its forces for definitive action. In other words, the loyal and true cantons made ready to enforce the laws and coerce the rebels into sub- mission. Then Meter, deputy of Lucerne, in behalf of the Sond- erbund-Seven, rose in the Federal Diet and said ''The moment has come for us to withdraw." Invoking God's name, he cast upon the Federal, Loyal or Union repre- sentatives all present and future responsibility for coming events. Then the Rebel deputies departed. Had our Arch-rebel DA^^s and his associates critically studied the conduct of the Swiss secession leaders, they could not havo imitated and repeated with more hypocritical solemnity the farce of an unvoluntary departure — a withdrawing, a sundering, a Secession, deliberately planned and long since resolved upon, which was to plunge a peaceful, prosperous people in flames, in blood and in tears. The political difficulties in Switzerland had now reached their climax. The analogous period of our own struggle was the time of President Lincoln's inauguration. To use the quaint but emphatic old English phraseology, Loyalty and Disloyalty looked one another in the face. Both parties felt that the question, now, coi^ld not be determined without bloodshed. The Federal tJiet might, with reason, have addressed to the Rebel Administrative Council, the words of King John to the French monarch, before the walls of Anc-iers: 'to' Peace be to France ; if France in peace permit Our just and lineal entrance to our own ! If not : bleed France, and peace ascend to heaven ! While's we, God's wrathful agent, do correct Their proud contempt that beat His peace to heaven. These sentiments of England's King convey the very gist of Lincoln's inaugural. What a diiference, however, between the immediate consequents of the declaration of the Swiss Federal Diet and those of the Presidential Address. The first Swiss Federal Call for Volunteers was for 50,000 men, equal in proportion to our population to a levy of 650,000. President Lincoln's first demand was for 75,000 men, equal in pi'oportion to the Swiss popula- tion to less than 7,000. This was the great mistake of our "War. The second Swiss Federal Call was for 90,000 men, equivalent in the United States to a levy of 1,000,000; 100,000 responded. Literally, — " The drum was beat ; and Jo ! The plough, the work-shop is forsaken, all Swarm to tlie old, familiar, long-loved banner." and bound upon their left arms, above the elbow, the red band, emblazoned with the white Helvetian cross, the symbol of National or Federal service. Tliis Armlet is a token that the Militiaman is no longer at the disposition of the individual Canton or State, to which he belongs, but of the whole Confederation or Union. On the mountains and in the valle3'S, in the marts and in the manufactories of every loyal territory, the cry " To 45 Arms ! the country is in danger !" was universal. Every- ■where men felt and acted up to the sentiment. " Ever constant, ever true, Let the ■\Vortl be No ScrrejtdksJ Boldly dare, and greatly do : This shall brine; us greatly through; No Surrender ! No Surrender !" On the 26tli October, 1S47, General Dufour, of Geneva, the Federal Commander-in-Chief, issued his proclamation to an Army of from 90,000 to 100,000 coni'ederated free- men, formed into six divisions, Avith two hundred and sixty pieces of artillery. To these the Secession party opposed 30,000, in Lucerne, besides an army corps in other districts, and multitudes of mere militia filled with ra- ging enthusiasm. The bloodthirstiness evinced long beforehand by the Ultras of the Sonderbund was horrible, as repugnant to civilization as that of the majority of our Secessionists. "All means were employed to excite fana- ticism. The Papal Kuncio himself blessed the banners of those going to the frontiers, as formerly before the fra- tricidal war of Villmergen. Jesuits were appointed field- chaplains. Blessed amulets were distributed to the hordes of the Landsturm, to protect them from shot and sword, and preachers from the pulpit assured all the people of the assistance of the Virgin Mary to preserve theyn from death and make their victory sure." The regularly oi'ganized forces of the Sonderbund have been estimated as high as 36,000, supported by a Landi- turm of 4iS, 000. Total disposable numbers 83,000. From a comparison of all the different statements, between regu- larly organized troops, militia proper, &c., out of a popu- lation of 2,400,00t), at least 200,000 must have been in the field, or in garrison, or doing duty with the armies in the opposing camps. This would be equivalent to 2,250, 46 000 out of the population of our -whole country, North and South. It may seem surprising that a comparatively poor country like Switzerland could set in motion so large an army at so short a notice. The explanation is clear and convincing. The Cantons possess a Militia so admirably organized that it can be placed on a ^var footing at once. The Swiss motto is one which should be ours, ^^no Regu- lar Army hut every Citizen a Soldier ^ Our constitution contemplated this result. The Swiss Federal triumph was undoubtedly due to this preparation for -wak in time of PEACE. Dufour's address, " as energetic as it w^as moderate," seemed like the signal of the prompter for the rolling up of the curtain. Through what a series of magnificent scenery, rolled on the vigorous action of the short but startling, stringent but splendid, drama of Swiss military coercion. Strong in the Righteousness of their cause, the Loyal columns marched out from their homes to extinguish Secession. Moving proudly on, battery to battery, squad- ron to squadron, battalion to battalion answered wdth, — ■ "A martial song like a trumpet's call." From street and door-step, window and house top, hill and valley, matrons and maids, and all incapable of bear- ing arms, echoed encouragement. — "Singing of men that in battle array, Read)' iu heart and ready iu hand, March with banner and bugle and fife, To the Death lor their Native Land." "Singing of Death, and of honor that cannot die" — Death or the Salvation of the Fatherland. General William Henky Dufouk, the Crusher of the Sondorbund, like our Meade, the Hero of Gettysburgh, 47 was not by birth a Swiss. Even as Meade was born at Cadiz, in Spain, the son of Pennsylva- nian parents, even so Dufour, although born at Constance, in Baden, sprang from a family natives of Geneva. In the latter city he received his early educa- tion and made mathematics his peculiar study. When Geneva had been incorporated with France, he entered in 1807, the Polytechnic school at Paris, and, in 1809, received his first commission in the corps of military Engineers.* To this peculiarly scientific branch of the service we owe several of our best Generals, such as Roseceans, GiLLMOKE, Meade, if a combination not a speciality of talent is the test of superiority. At the period Dufour was appointed Commander-in- Chief, he had attained the age of 60 years. In personal appearance, if his portrait exposed for sale at the time, is reliable, he closely resembled, in face and form, our illustrious and lamented Clay, nor did he yield to that * DurocR participated in the last campaigns of the Empire, and rose to the rank of Captain. After tlie fall of Napoleon he entered the Swiss Federal Service, and soon became Colonel, the highest recognized grade. In 1S31. he was appointed Chief of the General Staff, and a short time afterwards Quartermaster-General. — To him was confided the Direction of the Triangulation, the basis of the Topo- graphical map of Switzerland. As Chief Instructor of Engineering at the Federal Military School at Thun, he rendered important services to his country. In 1S40, he published his •'■Memoir on the Artillery of Antiquity and of the Middle Ages,'''' and, in 1842, his "Manvalof Tactics for Officers of Ai^i. Arms," one of the best works of the kind in existence. In 1847, DtiFOUR, at the age of 60, received, with the title of General, the command of the Army opposed to the Sondekbcnd. ".Hm skillful mancPMvres speedily insvred the Triumph of Libei'al Switzerland. Fore- stalled by the rapidity of his action, foreign, governments did not dare to interfere, and the Roman Catholics sued for pardon. This campaign 7>nv«arisf>ii of Octmi** Piccoloinini. 50 "Straight forward goes the Lightning's, >Straight forward goes the cannon-ball's fearful path, Swift, by directest course, it hurtles on, Shattering it makes its way, that it may shatter." The Federal Diet, as soon as it had appealed to arms, eommitted everything to the grey -haired general to whom they had entrusted the Sword. This was as it should have been, and the result justified their confidence. The mem- bers of the Diet felt the influence of, the Federal Military School of Thun, the "West Point" of the Swiss Confed- eration. The French Emperor Louis Napoleon was a pupil of this institution. There he had made his debut in the Artillery, just as his uncle had graduated at Brienne, to enter the same Arm of the French service. Oth- ers had seen service themselves. All tlie Members of Diet had the sufiicient judgment to appreciate and con- cede, that " In the Field, There, must the Present ONE direct. Supreme, The Head in Person rule ; his own eye see. — If War-Chief needs all Nature's greatest gifts. Grudge him not then, to live in all the vast Proportions of her greatness. He, alone. The living oracle, indwelling, must consult Not orders old, dead books, or musty papers." Nor had the Swiss general, himself forgotten the adage of the Great Captain under whose eagles he had made his fij'Bt campaigns, that " he^ who gropes (or moves irresolute- ly) losesy He knew that at this crisis, to " amuse him- self at Gembloux" would ruin his country. Dufour was imbued with the spirit of those hero-bards evoked by the War of 1812-'13, for the Deliverance of Germany, whose poetic gems like " Sparks of noble spirits flew," struck out by the clasli between Tyranny and Avenging Freedom. A wonderful generation that of Korner, bro- ^In^rf^. ill race and instincts, of Zwingij. they poured forth 51 their blood and their song with et|uui conrage and hre lor their country. Sword in hand, the minstrel-martyr thun- dered the vital question : — " What would the Singer's Fatherland?— Strike to her feet the servile race, Forth, from her soil, the bloodhound chase, Free, bear free sons (upon her face) Or bed them, free, beneath her sand; That would my Fatherland ! And, in trumpet tones Korner responded, a few hours before lie fell upon the field of Gadebush, singing his Sword-Song while the wing of the death-augel beat chilly upon him : — "What I apture thus to he The Guardian of the Free. Hurrah !" Such were the Germans of 1S12-'15 under Bluciier ; such were the Swiss of 1847, under Dufour, who proved " Skill, mixed with Will, is he that teaches best." DuFOUR doubtless determined to commence his active operations with the capture of Freybm*g, for several reasons: morally, because it had long been a centre of Ultramontane intrigue and Secession conspiracies; physically, because the season was late for campaigning in a mountain region, and neither politics nor strategy could permit any unnecessary delay ; militarily, because it lay separate and unsupported. He selected Freyburg just as a good General falls unexpectedly on a dislocated corps or division en aire. The result showed that Dufour's plans had been digested with consummate discretion. The Canton of Freyburg is very peculiarly situated. Its capital, Dufour's object, even more so. Although completely embraced by the Liberal Cantons of Berne and Vaud, it has always been noted for its intolerance. Bisected ])y the Saane, or Sarine, the southern half is 52 mountainous but rich in pastures, while the northern embraces some of the finest agricultural ground in Swit- zerland. Portions of the latter are said to resemble districts in England, pleasant to the eyes of the farmer. Moreover this northern district is one of the few of the Confederation which produces corn in BuflBcient quantities to render it independent of foreign supplies. Between its animal and vegetable productions, the Canton is self- sustaining. Consequently as the harvest had been gath- ered, it should have made a protracted defence. Three languages are spoken in this Canton. Notwith- standing, the feelings of tlie people w-ere not divided as a rule, for the proportion of Protestants is very small and generally confined to particular localities. French is the predominating dialect towards the North, West, and in the towns, German in the North-east, and Romansch, a corruption of the Latin, in the South. "A Babylonish dialect, Which learned pedants much affect ; It was a parti-colored dress Of patch'd and piebald languages." The capital is even more singular, physically, morally, and relatively, than the canton. The upper town is French, the lower is German, both were behind the times, exclusive, opposed to new men and new ideas. Simond says "this town is so exactl}' on the limits of the Gallic and Germanic idioms, that one half of the inhabitants do not understand the other." Its site resembles that of Constan- tino in Algeria ; Civita Castellana in Yiterbo, States of the Church ; and Vicksl)urgh. Just as the Uvo former are seated on scarped rocks and the latter on a blufi", in Ox-bows of the Oued-el-Kebir, Rio Maggiore and the Mis- sissippi, just so Freyburg is situated on an elevated tongue of soft sand-stone rock, perforated Math caverns, and bare of vegetation, washed on three sides by the turbid Saane, 53 liowiiig without beauty, in its profound gloomy cLabUi. Before it, to the north, stretches as stated, one of the finest agricultural districts in the XXII Cantons. Behind it tower the Bernese Alps and mountain citadels of the Valais. With the latter it is connected by only a single good road, while five grand routes diverge from its gates to Berne, the Lakes of Bienne, Morat, Neuchatel and Geneva, The territory embraced between them, resembles a Fan, of which the Roads represent the Ribs, having a radius of fifteen miles. Of this fan, Freyburg city con- stitutes the knob or handle, grasped by the rapid Saane, rushing around and beneath the town, overhung by quaint buildings which seem to need only a gust of wind to topple them over the precipice into the gulf below. It is strange that while thus united, to the east, n©rth and west with the land of Progress and Liberality, by easy and fine roads and, to the south, the citadel of Romanism by only one circuitous route, Freyburg has lain buried in the sleep of apathy or worse. The population seemed willing to receive nothing beneficial by the many channels from the north, and any amount of prejudicial influences through the single one to the rear. They admitted they were behind the time, but consoled themselves that other Romanist Swiss were stiU more so. They were now destined to realize the truth of Victor Hugo's remark that " the North and the People arc the reservoirs of humanity." " Yut, Freedom ! yet thy bauiiur, torn, but llyin^,', Streams like a thunder-storm agaim^t Iho wind : Thy trumpet voice tho' broken now and dying;, The loudest still the tempest leaves behind; Thy tree hath lo^t its blossoms, and the rind Chopp'd by the axe seems rough and little worth, But the sap lasts,— and still the seed we find Sown deep, even in the botom of the Norixii ; So shall a belter spring less bitter fruit bring forth." Seated aloft and looking out in every direction 54 upon scenery iinexceeded in beauty and sublimity, in full view of the majestic Alps, the birthplace of the Freyburgher resembles, in its glorious elevation and sur- roundings, the cradle of Zwingli. Notwithstanding, the former seemed to have derived therefrom ideas .diametri- cally opposite to the celestial influences which nature infused into the expanding mind of the Keformer of Zurich. Prior to its capture by Dufour, in 1847, it was the stronghold of the Roman Catholic priesthood. Pre- vious to that date the education of its population had been in the hands of tlie Jesuits, and their College in this city had been the chief nursery of the Society out of Italy. This may account for the fact, that down to 1782, the 'lj2t//^ou\-i^ government of^Sses^ was the closest aristocracy or oli- / // g'^^i'chy, even among those Cantons whose people in " the middle ages, vegetated under the cudgels of their lords and the crosiers of their bishops." In the administration of its public affairs, it was styled the Venice of Switzer- land. Nor does the comparison between Freyburg and the Queen of the Adriatic cease with the consideration of its government. Just as the latter is almost unique in its peculiar natural position, architecture and other objects of curiosity, just so Freyburg greets the curious traveller with an unwonted display of mediaeval constructions and feudal remains, "The dirt, the Madonnas, the colossal crucifixes, strongly recalled Italy." "Striking and roman- tic," and "possessing so many attributes of the pictur- esque" it has an exterior " with which the meanness of the interior does not correspond." "Even in these days (1841) it contained five convents for men and four for women, within its walls. One of the?e is a college, on a very large scale, ' a staring, modern building, like a manufactory, wuth five stories,' for the Jesuits." "On the whole, the place is like no other in Switzerland." 55 Long lines of embattled walls climb its steep heights and plunge into the gloom of the Sarine. Watch-towers shoot up from space to space, and mediaeval bastions de- fend its gates, specimens of the first steps of scientific engineering. The massive constructions might almost laugh to scorn a siege undertaken with the ordinary field artillery of sixteen years since, and would have done so had the spirit of Freyburg's men equalled the solidity of its walls. It has been remarked that Dufom-'s plan of operations had been digested with consummate discretion. It was now carried out with equal ability. The chief command of the Secessionists in this district, had been confided to Gen. Maillakdoz. This officer had served with distinction under the same master in the Art of "War, Napoleon, as Dufouk; likewise under the Bour- bon Restoration in France. Yet how inferior did he prove himself in the application of the rules, learned under th6 same ensigns. Dufour completely outwitted him. Maillardoz had been led to expect that he would be attacked from the east. He anticipated that the prin- cipal forces of the Confederation would invade Freyburg by Laupen, the scene of a wonderful victory of the repub- lican Bernese over the league of the imperialist Nobles, in 1339, — Neueneck, and Schwarzenburg, all three on the river Sense, the boundary between the cantons of Berne and Freyburg. From that quarter patriotic Och- 6ENBEIN, who Commanded the Free Corps, which had been beaten back from Lucerne in 1845, was indeed advancing. This movement, however, was more to attract the attention of the Rebel General than intended as a real attack, although capable, if necessary, of becom- ing one. Ochsenbein's march of about !■'*> miles, had to 56 be made tkrough long, deep and narrow defiles, susceptible of murderous defence, by the main route from Berne to Freyburg. This road emerging from the Bear's Gate of the Capital of the Confederation, passes through a diffi- cult but magnificent country, crosses the Sarine by a splendid suspension bridge 941 feet long, at an elevation of 180 feet, and delivers the traveller, at once, by a breach through the old houses, in the very heart of Frey- burg. Previous to the erection of this bridge, it required an hour of difficult descent, detour, and ascent, to cross the gorge of the Sarine, which is now accomplished in two minutes. While thus the attention of the Freyburghers was fascinated by the approach of Ochsenbein from the Ea&t, the other Federal divisions had been massed to the northward, in the loyal district of Morat, and, to the westward, in the Canton of Yaud, which sweeps round, beyond the head of the lakes of Geneva, to St. Maurice on the Road to Sion. On the 9th and 10th IS ovember, five days after promulgation of the Decree of the Federal Diet for the forcible dissolution of the Sonderbund, twenty thousand loyal troops invaded Freyburg. Relatively, this Canton occupied the same position in regard to the Sonderbund League that Virginia held to our own Rebel Confederacy. The frontier towns were occupied without a shot being fired. The capture of Staffis or Estavayer, on the Lake of Neuchatel, presents a perfect parallel to the capture of Alexandria on the Potomac. The Federals were astonished to meet with no opposi- tion. This was the more surprising since the whole canton of Freyburg, the district of the capital city espe- cially, was strongly defended by nature and art. This >*iTnultaneous closing in. would bo exactly exemplified by 57 the act of pushing in one of those Fans, whose size can be reduced, at once, one half, hy their ribs shutting into themselves like the joints of a telescope. From the north and west, strong columns advanced upon four of the five roads which come together at Freyburg. The Ut, most easterly, the direct connection between the beleaguered town and nucleus or main body of the Sonderbund, was already closed by Ochsenbein's occupation of Neueneck. The positions of Morat and Estavayer, on the 2d and 3d, now precluded all access to the lakes of Bienne and Neuchatel, by which the Rebels hoped to receive supplies from France, as well as smuggled assistance from "Cop- perhead" Neuchatel itself. The capture of Romont, on the 4:th, and Chatel St. Denis, on the 5tli, road, cut off all hopes of aid from sympathizing Savoy, across the lake of Geneva, through traitors in Lausanne and Vevay. Finally, the occupation of Bulle, at the junction of the road to Vevay, the 5tli, and the main route to the Valais, severed that, the last source of supply. From Bulle, like- wise, the mountain road through the same valley, but on the opposite shore, of the Sarine, could be completely su- pervised and commanded. On the 11th November, the Federals resmned their advance and, driving the rebels before them, huddled them in upon a centre incapable, under the circumstances, of maintaining such numbers. On the morning of the 12th November, Freyburg found itself completely surrounded on the west or left side of the Sarine, by an army of upwards of twenty thousand men, ready to move to the assault. Ochsenbein's division, meanwhile, observed the other side. Completely isolated, Freyburg had now to make good its boasts, and stand or fall alone. The population of this capital were commanded by officers considered skillful, and h;irl themselves a good 58 ■ Military reputation. ''It was announced in foreign coun- tries that the Catholics of Freyburg would renew the wonders of the heroic defence of Saragossa." The natu- ral position of the Spanish city wa^ by no means as strong. All that was required was a like determination in the people. This did not exist and, before a shot was fired, the mere sight of the environing masses had engen- dered ideas of submission. From his headquarters at Avenches, about six miles to the north, on the 12th, Dufour had addressed a proclamation to his army and on the I'^th, had despatched a flag of truce to the authorities of the beleaguered town to convince them of the futility of defence. The Council of State convoked a Council of War, and the latter were sufficiently intimidated at the aspect of aftairs to request a suspension of arms. This was granted, conditionally, till the morning of the 14th. Meanwhile the Federal Colonel Rilliet, commanding the 1st Division of Dufour's army, was either ignorant of this armistice or unwilling to accept it, unless his troops were permitted to occupy the "Wood of Dailliettes. This wood a]jpears to have been the key -point of the Freyburgher's line of defence, on the Xorth of the Sarine. It had been fortified with care and occupied by eleven hundred Reb- els, with orders to hold it to the last man. Rilliet's sum- mons to evacuate this post was refused. This was on the evening of the 13th. Thereupon the works were attacked, and the fiery Liberals of Vaud carried the main redoubts of Bertigny. The fighting continued after night- fall. Amid the darkness the Yaud troops charged through the abatis and ditches and drove the Frey- burgher's out of the wood. Had daylight lasted another hour, the Federals would have taken the City by storm. The struggle had been fierce and bloody, but it rendered farther sacrifices needlesf^. The Inspiration ot Liberty 59 proved too powerful even for tie Fanaticism of a Relig- ious Education, whose cardinal principle is blind and absolute obedience. At 8 A, M.. on the 14th, Freyburg capitulated and withdrew from the Sondcrbund. General Maillakdoz, the rebel commander, was obli- ged to seek refuge in the Federal headquarters against the outrages of his own troops, furious at their defeat, which they attributed to him while due to their own feeble resistance. Accused of betraying his associates in treason, he subsequently died in obscurity and misery. The Jesuits were expelled, the Canton militarily occu- pied and thoroughly subjugated, and, amid tears of joy, the incarceratsd Unionists welcomed their deliverers. To carry out the comparison in our own rase, witness the reception of Burnside in Eastern Tennessee. Thus satis- factorily the curtain fell on the first act of the Grand Drama of Coercion. Its action embraced a period of six days. Meanwhile, despite the loyal successes and tlieir own disparity of forces, the Rebels were enabled to make in- cursions into Loyal Cantons bordering on their own terri- tory, just as Maryland and Pennsylvania have suffered from Rebel invasion, and Ohio from Secessionist inroadsu The efforts of the Swiss Sonderbundists, however, were repelled and chastised with a celerity and loss whieli did not occur in om* own country. The fall of Freyburg did not make a decided impression on the more violent partisans of the Separate League. — "Matters would be very difierent," they said, " in }a\- cerne and in the Primitive Cantons.'' "The Sonderbund General di Sa.lis Soglio had at his disposal 30.000 men, at present entrenched behind impregnable positions. With such advantages he ji'ould be able," it was added, "to ar- r.eKt for years the progress of General Dufoin*"s 60,000 60 men." Lucerne was still proud of its victory over the "Free Companions" or Free Corps, in 1844 and 1845, and as for the Forest States, they were set down as uncon- querable. A slight success gained at Dietwyl, in Argovia, on the 10th November, by the Secessionist forces of Schwytz had confirmed all these hopes. Nevertheless, on the 20th November, Zug, the Georgia, as to location, of the Sonderbund, " terrified by the very appearance of the Federal flag, and somewhat lukewarm moreover, in the cause of rebellion, offered to capitulate, and on the 21st abandoned the Sonderbund. This alarmed even the most ardent Fire-eaters at the very headquarters of resistance to law, although the discouraging intelligence reached Lucerne at the very moment when the Imperialist Prince Schwartzenberg was tendering his sword to the Ultra- montane League, to which Austria had renewed her pro- mises of pecuniary aid and other assistance. The oppor- tune submission of Zug was doubly satisfactory. Its people received the Federals with rejoicing, and relieved them from the danger of a flank attack, not only through- out their advance, but at the very moment of their colli- sion with the enemy. What is more, it enabled the Federals to completely turn the strongest works upon which the safety of Lucerne depended. It likewise obvi- ated delay almost as dangerous to the Loyal party as a check or partial defeat, for the leaders of the Sonderbund liad positive assurances of foreign intervention in their favor, if they only could hold out a few days longer. In the selection of their leaders both the Loyal and Rebel Swiss presented a marked contrast to the action of our own people, whose infatuation leads them, too often, to entrust the direction of military aftairs to civilians of little or no experience in such matteK's. Another error into which we have fallen is the idea 61 that young officers are. 'per se, superior to old officers, because a few example* of precocious generalship have startled the world. People forget that Alexander, Gusta- vus, Frederic, and even Napoleon, were surrounded by experienced officers of the highest merit, and a veteran or excellent soldiery. Dufour, as was stated, was sixty. His opponent, di Salis-Soglio, was fifty seven. He belonged to the old aristocratic Salis family, which even down to the year of his birth 1790, ruled alone, like sovereigns, in the democratic Grisons, with an influence indirectly abso- lute. He had served witli distinction against Napoleon, so that he and Dufour commenced and ended their careers in opposing camps. Morally, however, each had changed sides. In 1813-'14:, di Salis-Soglio was fighting for the Lib- eration of Germany from the curse of a tyranny, which Dufour, and this latter's defeated antagonist, Maillardoz were assisting to maintain. In 1847, di Salis-Soglio, al- though a Protestant, was commanding in behalf of the Jesuits, while Dufour was the champion of Free Thought and Liberty in general. It has been remarked that in the Swiss conflicts since the XVI century, the pedantic Protestants and the Jesuits, for their own interests, always joined hands with the Foreign Powers against the Lib- erals. Ochsenbein, aged thirty six, must have been a man of more than ordinary ability. He had been chief of the Federal Staff", President of the Berne Cantonal Administration, and, through that position, Presiding Offi- cer of the Federal Diet. Afterwards he was a general in the service of Napoleon III. The other Division com- manders justified the confidence of the nation. After the conquest of Freyburg, Dufour's next great object was the capture of Lucerne. Even there, despite the apparent unanimity of Rebel sentiment, an element of loyalty existed, suppressed however with the greatest 62 Severity. Moreover, while the Federal columns were concentrating for decisive action, many of the necessaries of life were already wanting in tlie main Rebel stronghold. Dufour now displayed as much Practical Strategy in his movements against this hot bed of seditition, as he had shown in his previous operations. ISTor was the Swiss Federal Secretary of State less equal to his position than the gray-haired General.in-Chief. His course was the direct opposite of that pursued by our own high official in the same relative position. He would not allow the French Embassy to communicate with the traitor autho- rities in Lucerne, or afford any moral support to the Rebel main -army, strangling in the coil of the loyal Anaconda. On tlie letli November, Dufour transferred his headquarters to Aarau. This town lies on the Aar, about thirty miles N, N. W. of Lucerne. It is situated at the apex of an ellipse, whose butt is marked out by the curve of the Emme and Eeuss. Opposite the centre of this convex, stands Lucerne, at the foot of the lake of the Four Cantons, It is useless in this connection, to go into a detailed description of this city. It Avas the residence of the Papal Nuncio; since 1845 one of the headquarters of the Jesuits ; con- tained, according to Murray, a population of eight thousand one hundred and fifty-nine Roman Catholics and one hundred and eighty Protestants ; and had distinguished itself, during the two preceding years, by the persecution of its citizens ojDposed to the majority or dominant party. Of these prosecutions Zschokke remarks "No page in the history of Switzerland is stained with blacker sins in the admiuistration of public justice." Lucerne not only resembled Charleston in the ultra-intolerance of its institutions but likewise in its military position. Just as that stronghold of Slavery, Nullification and Secession was formerly extremely defensi- ble in itself, just so this centre of Ultramontanism or spiritual Serfdom and Sonderbundism was, a century 'since, a place of mili- tary importance. Even as the South Carolinian metrojoolis trium- phantly repulsed a British attack in 177G, and was only captured after a sharp siege by Sir Henry Clinton in 1780 ; so the Swiss cita- del, centre or pivot of the successive "Separate Leagues" had held its enemies at bay with its circle of massive feudal watch-towers, gothic battlements and walls. Both are no longer tenable in these days of improved artillery after their advanced works have fallen. Lucerne demonstrated and Charleston is now exemplifying that their safety depends on the maintenance of an exterior line of great natural strength. This line of defence, a little concave towards the Swiss town constitutes the shortest diameter of the egg-shaj^ed district embraced within the most eastern and western of the five main roads, diverging from Aarau and converging to Lucerne, which band it like meridian lines. The principal positions which protect Lucerne, together, form a flattened arc having a chord of 63 twenty- two miles. Of this the eastern extremitj' rests on the lake of Zug and the western on the town of Willisau, on the Wigger, while its centre touches the southern extremity of the Lake of iSenipach. The Federal main army whose lieadquarters were at Aarau was distributed into four grand divisions, to break, with a simultaneous shock, tlirough this line of formidable positions from the North. A column of the first, most easterly, army-corps so to speak advanced through the extreme eastern portion of Aargau, which thrusts itself South, far dowu, between the Cantons of Zug and Argovia. This district is known in Switzerland as the Freiamt, or Free Bailiwicks. Prior to 1814, it had been a bone of contention, on & question of jurisdiction, between Zug and Argovia. Sul)sequent to that date, it proved an apjjle of discord in the Federal Diet. The Suppression of the Monastical institutions therein, for treason- able practices and violence against the established authorities, led, ostensibly, to the formation of the Sonderbuud in 184ci-"G-''7. As this district is flanked for about half its depth, by the territory of Zug, it w^as fortunate for the Federals that this Kebel Canton had submitted to them. Already a large portion of it had been milita- rily occupied by Union troojjs. The second column of the first corps, or Division-ZiEGLER, followed the 8d road, along the stream of the Winen, midway between the Hallwyler and Baldegger Lakes, to the East, and the Lake of Sempach, to the West, passing through Munster. This route bisected the Lucernese line of defence. The 2d corps, divisiou-DoNATS, advanced upon the 4th road, through Sursee, along the western shore of the Lake of Sempach and in sight of the battle fields of Buttisholz and Sempach, both so glori- ous to the republican Swiss ; the first as disastrous to the English Free Companies, in 1375, as the second had been to the Austrians, in ICSC). The 3d corps, division-BuRCKHARDT. directed its march by the 5th and most western road ujion Willisau, the extreme left of the Rebels. Meanwhile a 4th corps, reserve-division-OciisEN- BEiN, threatened, from the West, the left-vear of the Lucernese, just as this force, under his orders, had menaced the right-rear of the Frey burghers. Ochsenbein, at this date a Federal Colonel, became, subsequently, a general in the service of Napoleon IIL Having made a rapid return-march tlirough Berne, he Vtas, now, advancing thence, by the difiicult, serpentine route through the Emmen-Thal and the Entlibuch. On the 22d November, he had an action at E.scholzniatt, on the frontiers of the Canton of Lucerne. On the 23d a more serious engagement, five miles further on, occurred at Schupfheim. Thus advancing slowly and with difficulty, Ochsen- bein was forcing his way through, to work in, at the time fixed, as directed, with the rest. This gallant officer now had an opportu- nity to retrieve the credit he had lost in 1845, by the failure of his aggressive movements on the same; road, a failure attributable rather to the indiscipline of his Volunteer troops, (Free Corps) than to any fault of his own. At the same time a sixth column, the brigade-ZELLER, invaded Schwytz through the March, or mountain range, South of the eastern extremity of the Lake of Zurich, con- verging to take the right flank of the Lucernese line in reverse. A seventh column, the division Gmur, advanced through the baili- wick of Knonau, about two miles west from Capfel, where the magnanimous Zwingli, the First of the Great Reformers, was mur- dered in cold blood, after the battle of the 11th of October. 1531. in which he had been present as Chaplain. He was killed, by a 64 Roman-Catholic Captain of Unterwalden, while lying wounded and :;ueechless on the tield. In like manner, the Romanist Captain of the Swiss Guards of the Duke of Anjou, afterwards Henry III of France, assassinated the Prince of Conde after the battle of Jarnac, 12th or 13th March 1569. The Prince had surrendered and was sitting, exhausted, propped against a tree, with his thigh bone fractured and protruding, when his murderer galloped up and shot him through the head. The same spirit had prompted the Slaugh- ter of the Free Corps and animated many partisans of the Sonder- bund. This distribution of the Federal forces is founded on a comparison of the language of Zschokke and Richon, the historians at hand, who present the most detailed accounts of the military movements. Dutour intended to distract the enemy's attention by these seven distinct menaces and deceive them as to the point on which his real attack was directed. His superiority of force doubtless justified this disposition, although his different divisions and columns were divided from each other by huge mountains, dangerous defiles, broad lakes and rapid streams. He knew that the Rebels would have the greatest difficulty in reinforcing a weak point even if they attempted to do so, while their whole line was equally endangered. Having thus divided the attention of the Rebel leaders and attrac- ted it to so many different quarters, he rapidly massed the bulk of his troops in tne point of the Freiarat, shut in between the river Reuss, on the East, and the high range of the Linderberg, to the west. About ten miles north-east of Lucerne, these come together. This acute triangle has a base only five miles wide at Muri, ten miles north of Klein-Dietwyl, half a mile from its apex. A little less than a mile beyond this point, the road crossed the Reuss by a covered bridge, whose issue on the south shore was swept by the heavy artillery of a strong bridge-head. Here the road coming in from the N. E., from Brugg, and the lake of Zug, joined the route from Muri and continued on, through Roth or Root, to Lucerne. Both ran under the fortified heights of the Rothenberg, and, oppo- site the fork, stood the village of Gislikon, covered by extensive field works. These strong intrenchments had been finished several months previous, despite the summons of the Federal Diet to stop their construction. Since their completion, the Rebels had guaran- teed their possession by constantly maintaining strong garrisons therein. Gislikon had thus become the key to Lucerne on the North. The Lake of the Forest Cantons i^recluded attack from the South or immediate rear. On the atternoon of the 22d of November, the confined funnel or triangle between Muri and Dietwyl, above described, was literally gorged or overflowing with troops, destined to make the grand attack. Forward they must when the order to advance was given. The impulsion from the rear would have forced on those in front if their enthusiasm had failed. Momentum would have lent its immense forces to mass. This proved emphatically so, for the leading battalions carried the Rebel works with a rush. Just as Fkederic stormed the heights of Lissa in 1757; just as Laudohn escaladed the ramparts of Schweidnitz in 1761 ; just as Waynk charged bayonet into Stony Point in 1779 ; just as Stjwarrow captured Ismail by assault in 1790, and Praga in 1794 ; and just as the French columns, in the narrow streets of Paps, charged over the insurgent barricades, in 1848 and 1851 -their front ranks car- ried over, dead or alive, by the accelerated pressure of those 65 beliind— just so the Federals iDonrcd into the Rebel intrcnchincDts on the ensuing day. Tliis we sh;ill see hut more in detail. During the uight of the 22d and 23d November, tlie Federals threw two bridges of boats across tlie Reuss, one below the ruins of the permanent structure at Sins, three miles North of Dietwyl, which had been destroyed by the Sonderbundists, the other above the covered bridge of Gislikon. Early on the morning of the 22d, the sub-division Egloff crossed by the lower pontoon bridge to turn the Rotlienberg from tlie side of Zug. This manoeuvre against the extreme Reljcl right, brought on a sharp and protracted conflict which lasted throughout tlie day. The sub-divisions under Briga- tliers IsLER and Ritter, sweeping round to take the enemy's right in reverse, encountered the Rebels advantageously posted on shel- tered, rising ground, in the vicinity of Meyers-kappel. The defen- ders were chiefly Riflemen from the Forest Cantons, armed with weapons to whose use they liad been accustomed since their child- hood. After a hot conflict, these were compelled to abandon their position. They retreated, fighting however, behind Udligenschwyl to the Kiemenberg. Here they formed again in order of battle and, again, were driven back, disputing every inch of ground to Ebikon, three miles north ot Lucerne. This was between 2 and 3 P.M. when they were abandoned by their artillery, which galloped off into the invested town. Thus deserted and having to depend upon their rifles alone, the Unterwalden Battalion still held Ebikon after Lucerne itself had surrendered. Entirely forgotten by their generals, the Rebel authorities, in fact by their whole party, they still ])iesented an undaunted front when their superiors had fled and all the other troops had sul)mitted. All honor to these brave mountain men although fighting in the defence of erroneous principles and obsolete ideas. Befor'? nightfall, despite the desperate resistance they had encountered, the Federals had tiius fought their way to the summit of the Kiemenberg, in the rear of Gislikon. These heights, so gallantly won, commanded the main rebel fortifications, upon •whicli so much skill and labor had been expended in vain. Here the victors bivouaced within si.x miles, to the N. E.. of Lucerne. Meanwhile the sub-division-EoLOFF stormed the heights in the rear of Honau, after the Zurich artillery hurl silenced the rebel guns in that position. Driving the enemy Iiefore them, they crowned a second summit which commanded Gislikon. Here the two sul>-divisions Zieoler and Egloff were to have effected a junction, and, thence, to have moved, simultaneously, against the ))rincipal defences of the Sonderi)undists. This junction did not take place. Ziegler's division had passed tlie Reuss later on the 28d, by the upper bridge of boats, above Gislikon, to attack the north siile of the Rotlienberg. These troops, however, had a mighty task before them, and were correspondingly delayed. They had not only to face the heavy artillery in the works enfilading the de- bouches of the covered britlge of Gislikon, but also those around the village itself. Besides this, the heights of Gislikon were traversed by trenches lined with the practiced riflemen of Unter- walden, and the ridges of the mountain were occupied by militia, accustomed to the use of fire-arms and completely sheltered from their assailants, in the woods. Finally, amid sliouts whicli must have beeu heard in Lucerne, the heights and defences of Gislikon were car- ^ 66 ned and the loyal artillery of Soleure established there: The rebel Commander-in-Chief, however inferior to Dufour in Strategy, was not wanting to himself, in energy, at this crisis. He headed the rebel troops and made such a des- perate counter-attack upon the successful Federals that they were forced to give ground. Fortunately this part of the field admitted the rapid manoeuvring of artillery. A Bernese 12-pdr. howitzer battery was brought up at full gallop and poured a storm of shell upon the opposing guns. It is claimed that out of sixty shots fired, fifty hit the points aimed at. They exploded the ammunition boxes of the rebel artillery,, and dispersed the cannoneers in an instant. Salis-Soglio himself was wounded by the fragment of a shell. Everything was thrown into ir- remediable confusion. This artillery charge, improvised by Colonel Denzlee of Zurich, like the Dragoon charge made by the younger Kellerman, or the x4.rtillery. volley of Marmont at Marengo, decided the fate of the day. It was now 4 F. M. Among the Kebels all was terror and confusion. The fortifications of Gislikon were abandoned ; the militia had already fled from their coverts. There was fighting on the heights however until night-fall. — But as darkness closed in the horizon towards the north- east and north was all aglow with the bivouac-fires of the victors. To the west likewise, the sky was illuminated, for, while the principal fighting had been going on so fiercely towards the north, Ochsenbein's leading battalions had occupied the plateau and heights of Littau, within three miles of Lucerne. The city was completely at the mercy of Dafour. He demanded an unconditional surren- der, and the haughty Charleston of the Sondcrbund was forced to throw itself upon the mercy of the Federal Chief Thus Dufour, who had smothered the fire of rebellion in Froyburg in five days, in seven more days quenched 67 this furnace of revolt. The next moruing, the 24th No- vember, an apparently almost endless procession of victo- rious Unionists poured into the city. To the corps which had so distinguished themselves upon the Rothenberg, and those which had fought their way, step by step, for twenty five miles, through the upper Entlibach, were now united the Brigade, or Division, Gmur, which had crossed the Canton of Schwytz, thro the March, and the third division, whose unopposed advance, through the valley of Ilitzkirch, had been a mere military promenade. Such a magnifi- cent spectacle had never before been witnessed in the Confederation ; 60,000 citizen-soldiery perfectly organized with all their material and equipages, swelled the triumph- ant procession of Loyalty through the streets of the Rebel city. With the troops returned the crowds of proscribed Unionists, who had been exiled on account of their re- formed faith and liberal opinions. Every generous heart will sympathize with their joy and glory in such a resto- ration to their native seats. Previous, however, to the surrender of Lucerne, and while Salis-Soglio still held out hopes of being able to maintain his ground at Ebikon, the Jesuits who had been the moving cause of all the bloodshed, the expenditure, the losses, and the misery consequent on the Separate League, the Sonderbund Council of War, the prominent factious, and even associations of monks and nnns, fled from the town. These embarked, under the protection of a company of infantry, on board of a steamboat already prepared. Twenty land-jagers served as a guard to the fugitives. They carried with them the treasure and seals of the State, the archives of the Rebel Council of War, important official documents, the booty captured by the foray into the Canton of Ticino, and stores of grain. Thus they escaped into mountains, and thence into foreign 68 countries, leaving rich individuals, who had fostered, and wealthy institutions, which had^favored, the rebellion, to pay dearly for their wicked co-operation with treason. This may prefigure the fate of our Secession Leaders and Abettors. Like the leading Swiss traitors they may save their worthless lives to expiate in exile and poverty or contumely, amid the hatred and execrations of their dupes, the evil and sorrow they have brought home to the fire- sides of our common country. On the 25th, the Cantons of Uei, Schwytz and Untek- WALDEN, belonging to the Sonderbund (corresponding to Alabama, Mississippi and Florida in this country), which, in 1798, displayed so much heroism against the French, imitated the prudence of the people of Freyburg, and of Lucerne, and capitulated. Here we should observe a fact extremely pertinent to our own situation. Notwithstanding the extreme de- fensibleness of the mountains of Switzerland, — particu- larly those of the original Forest Cantons, embraced within the limits of the Sonderbund, — as soon as Lucekne had yielded, the Eebel Leaders, at once, acknowledged that the fate of Swiss Secession depended upon the pos- session of the large fortified towns, and upon the main- tenance of the armies massed in and about them. This should be a consolation to those who fear that a Guerilla War in the South can lead to any successful result or defer, for more than a short period, its entire subjugation. The Sonderbund Generals saw at a glance the game was up, after their armies had been dissipated and the principal places taken. So it will be with our Southern Secession. It will collapse at once when the armies of Lee, Bragg, Beaukegajrd, Johnson and Ma- GRUDER are destroyed. On the 29th November, the Valais, — beyond the lofty 69 Bernese Alps and along the Rhone, — which might be said to represent the Rebel territory beyond the Missis- sippi, — the Texas and most remote border State ofSwit;^- erland, the focus of retrognde ideas, bordering on the most bigoted district of Sardinia, petitioned to be received back into the Union. Meanwhile on the 27th ISTovember, 23 days alter tlie decree of the Diet or Congress, had ortlered the Swiss General to draw his sword and unfurl the Federal stand- ard, the military chief of the Union was enabled to annonnce that the Secession Alliance was dissolved. The fire-e:iting Cantons had gained nothing by their rashness but the humiliating conviction of their own weakness as compared with the Federal power and wilh* Let Traitors and Demagogues, whom the thirst for power induces to pander to spiritual and material des- potism, read a lesson in the fate of the Swiss Sonderbund, Separate or Secession League, and its Leaders. " That (Separate League) which had been proclaimed before Europe as the rock of religion and of true freedom, col- lapsed at the first dash of the waves like a house built upon the sand." It is to be hoped that the Cotton-States- Confederate-League, built upon the corner stone of Slavery, will likewise utterly perish bet\veen the shattering of war and the earthquake of moral regeneration. The spiritual guides (not inaptly reproduced in our own country by the blavocrat divines) who had excited their dupes to rebel- lion in Switzerland by pretended miracles, had not in- spired them with the same resolution, to maintain the * It is but just to myself to state that an Article entitled "Secession in Switz- BBLand" was furnished by me. iu February, ISO], to the New York Evening Poet, and published in the first column, first page, of that paper. If the example which the Swiss Authorities presented for our Instruction, had been imitated by our Government, this War would not have dragged on through fearful years. Never- theless the Delay has been Providential, for it has effectually solved the Pr9blem, whether Slavery or the Union shall survive, and proved that Slavery ia incom- patible with Free Institutions. Now that Slavery is doomed, if wc arc faithful to God and true to ourselves, what a glorious Cureer looms up before our Nation in tbe Future. J. VV. ue P. 70 Independence of the Separate League, that their real wrongs and a good cause had given them to win and maintain the freedom of the same districts, centuries before and against greater odds. " The Jesuits had ev^erj^where fled on the entrance of the Confederates," says Zschokke, " now tliey were forever banished from Swiss soil." The rebellion had been so promptly ex- tinguished that the French envoy actually had not time to proffer foreign assistance, or even to propose to mediate between the Federal Diet and the Council of War of the Seven Rebel Cantons. Its members were already fugi- tives when the French messenger went to seek them. At the outbreak of hostilities the French ministers with other Diplomatists had retired to neutral or, as we would term it, "copperhead" or "peace-party" Neuchatel. That Canton and another, Inner-Appenzell, which had re- fused to perform their duty as loyal Confederates during the war, were subjected to very heavy fines for the benefit of the reorganized Confederation. Nor ■u'ere the Expulsion of the Jesuits and the pecuniary suffer- ings of the Neutral Sonderbund, the only consequences of this mad attempt " to arrest the ettulgent chariot of Holy Liberty." "Lu- cerne," temporarily ruined, " instituted judicial suits against the members of her former council for embezzlement of the public money, and conliscated tlie estates of those who provoked the war." " Siiortly afterwards she sought a doubtful remedy by suppressing the convents, that she might be indemnified by their property ; and the people before whose veto the decree was laid, did not refuse their consent." The members of the Freyburg Council who had voted for the Separate League " were brought to a most severe account in discharging the war expenses." •' The Valais, also, laid almost all her share of the expenses upon those who had voted for, advised and preached the war." These burthens had to be espe- cially borne by the monastical and other ecclesiastical institutions which had hoped to profit by the rel)ellion. In fact the Sonder- bund Cantons were called upon to reimburse the War Expenses incurred by the Confederacy. They were militarily occupied until the first installment had been paid and adequate security given for the balance. " Great reforms now took place (in 1848) in all the Cantons of the former Sonderbund. Even in Urt, irhere, since Tet.l's time, no written constitution had ever existed, one teas now draicn up and accepted, by the communes." No Failure could have been more decided, no Sup- V-;. tfii n pression more mortifying than that of the Ultramontane or Secession League in Switzerland. No Action could have been more prompt and energetic, no Triumph more complete and beneficial than that of the Swiss Loyalists or Union party. " One cannot too much admire the calm firmness which the men ■who presided over the destinies of the Confederation manifested in 1847. Menaced by France, Russia, Prussia, and Austria, and liaving at their disposal only a portion of the forces of a nation which does not possess altogether two millions and a half of citizens, they -were discouraged neither by the intrigues of the monks, nor by the anathemas of the Romish clergy; l)y the anger of certain empirics, nor by the military reputation of those Cantons, which were so sadly misled by fatal iniluences. What an example tor such coun- tries as are Avont to be alarmed on account of their comparative %i' •weakness! Switzerland has taught them that a people, conscious of its right, and resolved to defend it, has nothing to fear on earthy This Triumph of Patriotism realized the Truth of ' V Zschokke's prophetic declaration, that ^* Heaven helps only those loho march joyously to hattle and to death in a just cause I hut rejects those who sit sluggishly in arrogant ^! security.'''' Eighteen days of military operations, wliich might even be reduced to fifteen of manoeuvring and fighting, anni- hilated the Sonderbund, The history of the world pre- sents but few examples of such a speedy solution of a great political problem. The most pertinent examples are the destruction, in a few days, of the Bohemian King- dom of the Elector-Palatine, Frederic, by the generals of Ferdinand II; the total defeat of the Belgian armies, in eight days, by the heroic Prixce of Orange, and the complete overthrow, in three days, of the Sardinian armaments by PxVdetsky. Compared however with the rout of the Weissex-Berg, in 1620, the conflicts of Has- SELT in 1830, and the battle of Novara, in 1819, the combat of Gislikon, in 1847, was a mere fiasco, "A whift' of grape-shot," to use a Napoleonic expression, or, more properly speaking, a flurry of shells, blew away the pretentions of the Sonderbund. The final result seems to justify the idea that the mad 72 ness and incipient success of tlie Separate League was permitted by Providence, in order that its suppression might convince Switzerland of the defects of its dislocated Confederacy, and induce the Cantons to consent to a more ■determined Centralization of authority. The Separate League which was to have divided Swit- zerland ; to have arrested the progress of the age ; to have restored abuses for t!ie beneiit of the few to the suffering of the many ; liad a directly opposite result. It transmuted the loose Confederation of XXII Independent Cantons into a well-knit Nationality of twenty two members. May the example not be lost upon us. May Providence conduct our affairs to the same happy result that he vouch- safed in the case of the Swiss, must be the prayer of every honest man and true patriot. The lessons of this history we think can scarcely be lost upon us. The effort to shatter tlic Alpine Republic, in a brief period, proved a miserable failure, and the attempt here made to divide and destroy our Free Government, we know will, in God's good time, come to naught. And even as the National Life Struggle, in Switzerland, ended in a more healthy and vigorous National Existence, so, we trust, that the fiery trial through which we as a people are now passing, will eventuate not only in a restored UNITY, but, if need be, in a stronger democratic-rkpubli- CAN GOVERNMENT, better fitted to perform its great work, and hold its connnanding position among the Nations. " Gort of our Father?, hear onr earnest Cry ! Our Hope, onr Strength, onr Refnee is in Thee. Conlonnd onr Foe?, and make their Legions fly; Streujthcn our Hosts and give them Victory I Victory !— Victory I— Oh, God of Armies, give us Victory!" " For the sad JUUions of the groaning Earth, Helpless and cnisned beneath Oppression's Rod, For every Hope that haUows Home and Ilc.^'-th. For heaven-born Liberty, the Child of God, Victory ! — Victory ! — God of the Nations, give ns Victory ! " From War's red Hell, involved in smoke and flame, From up-piled Altars of onr noblest Dead. "We cry to Thee ! oh. for Thv glorious Name, Make bare Thine Arm and smite our Foes with dread. Victory !— Victory ! — On. God op Battles, give its Victory !" Anchor. 0^ c <^ %t .o> v,^^ %%^ A^^' '^ V 1^^ :l- "oo< x^e.. \«^ ■'* N " ;>*!.^-«, ■ S ,'^^^. •>• V -t. .--Jv^ o 0' vOo, '•^.-. V^ %- /^ •is ■ o' •*b 0^ / c*-. ^^, .-^^ ./ ^' to-^^ 'OO^ 'c^ >•> LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 012 028 993 7 '■■■''. •<^'fc,"'i