departure, and on the following morning they reached the federal army at Morat, fatigued and exhausted, having continued their march all night under an incessant and heavy rain. The roads were consequently in a very bad state, so that they had been compelled to leave about 600 of their companions in the woods quite exhausted. After a very short rest, however, these latter also arrived and drew up with their friends. Day appeared. It was Saturday, the 22d June 1476. The weather was threatening, the sky overcast, and rain fell in torrents. The Burgundians displayed a long line of battle, while the Swiss scarcely numbered 34,000. A vanguard was formed, commanded by John Hallwyl, who knelt and besought a blessing from on high. While they yet prayed, the sun broke through the clouds, upon which the Swiss commander rose, sword in hand, crying: 'Up, up, Heaven smiles on our coming victory!' The artillery thundered forth as he spoke, and the whole plain, from the lake to the rocky heights, became one vast battle-field. Towards the main body of the Burgundians, the Swiss army poured down with irresistible force and courage; and clearing all difficulties, they reached the lines of the enemy. A fearful slaughter now ensued. The Burgundians were utterly vanquished. The haughty duke, pale and dispirited, fled with a few followers, and never stopped till he reached the banks of Lake Leman. The rout was so complete among the Burgundian army, that many, in terror and despair, threw themselves into the Lake of Morat, the banks of which were strewed with the bodies of the slain. From 10,000 to 15,000 men perished on the field. The sun of Charles the Bold of Burgundy set on the plain of Morat. In about half a year after, in an equally futile attempt on Lorraine, he perished ingloriously at the battle of Nancy (January 7, 1477). His body was found a few days afterwards sunk amidst ice and mud in a ditch, and so disfigured, that he was only recognised by the length of his beard and nails, which he had allowed to grow since the period of his defeat at Morat. The page of history presents few more striking instances of the retributive punishment of inordinate pride, ferocity, and ambition. The battle of Morat vies in history with the victories of Marathon and Bannockburn. As the deed which for ever freed a people from a grasping foreign tyrant, it was a matter of universal rejoicing, and till the present day is the subject of national traditions. According to one of these, a young native of Friburg, who had been engaged in the battle, keenly desirous of being the first to carry home tidings of the victory, ran the whole way, a distance of ten or twelve miles, and with such over-haste, that, on his arrival at the market-place, he dropped with fatigue, and, barely able to shout that the Swiss were victorious, immediately expired. A twig of lime-tree, which he carried in his hand, was planted on the spot in commemoration of the event; and till the present day are seen, in the market-place of Friburg, the aged and propped-up remains of the venerable tree which grew from this interesting twig.* Some years after the battle of Morat, the citizens of that town dug up and collected the bones of the Burgundians, as a warning to those who might in future attempt the conquest of Switzerland. Subse quently, they were entombed beneath a monumental chapel; but again they were disinterred, and long remained as scattered fragments on the margin of the lake, and became a marketable commodity. In the course of his travels, Lord Byron visited the spot, which he commemorates in his Childe Harold: 'There is a spot should not be passed in vain Morat !-the proud, the patriot field !-where men Nor blush for those who conquered on that plain; A bony heap, through ages to remain, Themselves their monument.' * On visiting the field of Morat in 1841, we found that the bones of the Burgundians had been once more collected and entombed by the side of the lake, at a central spot in the plain where the victory was achieved. Over the remains a handsome obelisk, commemorative of the battle, has been erected by the cantonal authorities of Friburg. To return to the history of Switzerland. By the victory of Morat a number of the cantons were free to form an independent confederation, and the way was prepared for a general union. In 1481 Friburg and Soleure, and in 1501 Basle and Schaffhausen, were numbered among the free cantons. In 1512 Tessin was gained from Milan, and in 1513 Appenzell was admitted into the confederacy. Two important parts of modern Switzerland still remained under a foreign, or at least despotic yoke. These were Geneva and the Pays de Vaud, the latter a fine district of country lying on the north side of Lake Leman. The progress of the Reformation under Zuinglius and Calvin helped to emancipate these cantons. In 1535, the power of the Bishop of Geneva, by whom the town and canton had been governed, was set at naught, the Roman Catholic faith abolished by law, and the Genevese declared themselves the masters of a free republic. The Duke of Savoy, who latterly held sway over the Pays de Vaud, interfered to suppress the revolt of the Genevese; but this brought Berne into the field, and with a large army that canton expelled the troops of the duke, along with the Bishop of Lausanne, took the castle of Chillon, and, in short, became the conquerors of the Pays de Vaud. Chillon here spoken of is a strongly-fortified castle near the eastern extremity of Lake Leman, partly within whose * In most of the towns and villages of Switzerland a 'Tree of Liberty' will be found, representing this ancient lime. An annual procession of the youths of the place (who, from the age of seven, are trained to arms), is marched in military costume and rank around this symbol of liberty, and there made to swear allegiance to their country's cause. waters it stands. On the occasion of its capture the Genevese assisted with their galleys, while the army from Berne attacked it by land. On being captured, many prisoners were liberated; among others, François de Bonnivard, who had been imprisoned on account of his liberal principles and the sympathy he had manifested in the cause of the Genevese. By the peace of Lausanne, in 1564, Savoy renounced her claims on the Pays de Vaud, and was thus driven from Switzerland as Austria had been before. Vaud henceforth became a portion of Berne, but has latterly been declared an independent canton. By the events narrated, the Swiss were not altogether free of occasional invasions from without; nor were they without intestine divisions, caused chiefly by religious differences; yet, on the whole, they maintained their integrity, and extended their boundaries by the absorption of districts hitherto under the oppressive dominion of feudal barons. By the peace of Westphalia, Switzerland was recognised by Europe as an independent republic. SWITZERLAND AS AN INDEPENDENT COUNTRY. From having been a country universally oppressed by native barons or foreign powers, Switzerland, after a struggle, as we have seen, of five hundred years, attained in 1648 its political independence. For nearly a century and a half after this event, the country, though occasionally vexed by internal dissensions, enjoyed a state of comparative repose. Commerce, agriculture, and manufactures prospered, and the arts and sciences were cultivated. The people generally enjoyed civil freedom and numerous municipal rights; certain towns, corporations, and families, however, inherited and maintained peculiar privileges, which were the source of occasional dispeace. From the reform of these abuses the nation was suddenly diverted by the French Revolution in 1790. The French took possession of Switzerland, and converted the confederacy into the Helvetic republic-Helvetia being the ancient Roman name of the country. The oppressions of the French intruders at length roused the Swiss to attempt a relief from this new foreign yoke. A civil war ensued; and Napoleon Bonaparte, by way of conciliation, restored the cantonal system, and gave freedom to districts hitherto subordinate to the Swiss confederacy, so as to increase the number of the cantons. In 1814, with the sanction of the congress of Vienna, the old federal compact was established; and, November 20, 1815, the eight leading powers in Europe-Austria, Russia, France, England, Prussia, Spain, Portugal, and Sweden-proclaimed, by a separate act, the perpetual neutrality of Switzerland, and the inviolability of its soil. The re-established confederation was divided into twentytwo cantons, each of which was represented in a Diet, which was appointed to hold its annual meetings alternately at Berne, Zurich, and Lucerne. The old abuses which had crept into the constitutions of the cantons were revived, and representation in most of them became based on property qualifications. Officials, the aristocracy, and the clergy joined to oppose innovations, and succeeded in doing so until 1830, when the French Revolution broke out. Armed demonstrations were made against the towns, and universal suffrage was generally conceded. The consequences were not what had been expected by the liberals, who found that they had not yet the means of remedying the chief defect of the constitution—namely, the want of any efficient central power, either to control the action of the separate cantons or to unite them in the common defence. Then ensued a period of civil strife and confusion which lasted for more than a dozen years, and into the details of which we cannot enter. The struggle was at bottom one between liberalism and Protestantism on the one hand, and the reactionary and Ultramontane parties on the other. In Valais, where universal suffrage had put power into the hands of the reactionary party, a war took place, in which the latter were victorious. They then ruled with a strong hand, and actually forbade the celebration of Protestant worship within the canton. In Lucerne, the headquarters of the Jesuits, the Ultramontane party acted even more extravagantly; they so persecuted their political opponents, that the latter were compelled to leave the canton. These measures caused the greatest discontent. In 1844, a proposal was made in the Diet to expel the Jesuits; but that body declined to act. The radical party then determined to resort to force they organised bodies of armed men, called Free Corps, which invaded the Catholic cantons; but they were defeated. Changes favourable to them took place in some of the cantons. The Catholic cantons then formed a league, named the Sonderbund, for defence against the Free Corps. This was a virtual secession from the confederation, and there was a general clamour for its suppression; but in the Diet the measure could not at first be carried. At last a majority in the Diet, in 1846, declared the illegality of the Sonderbund, and decreed the expulsion of the Jesuits. In the war which ensued between the federal army and the forces of the seven cantons constituting the Sonderbund, about 200,000 men, counting both sides, took the field. In two actions, at Friburg and Lucerne, the federals were victorious. The leagued cantons were made liable in all the expenses of the war, the Jesuits were expelled, and the monasteries were suppressed. An attempt was made by diplomatic notes to intimidate the Swiss government, but the revolution of 1848 broke out, and prevented further interference. In the same year, the radical party, convinced of the necessity of a more powerful central government, carried the new constitution, which is briefly described below. The greatest danger that has since threatened Switzerland arose regarding the canton of Neufchatel. This canton, although a member of the Swiss federation, was a monarchical principality, belonging by hereditary right to the king of Prussia. The events of 1830-48 had assimilated the constitution of Neufchatel to the rest of Switzerland, and the authority of Prussia had become almost nominal, when, in 1856, the royalist party rose in insurrection, and took possession of the government. The rising was immediately suppressed by armed force; but Prussia interfered, and demanded that those concerned, who were about to be tried, should be set free. The threat of war called forth an extraordinary burst of Swiss patriotism, and the whole trained population stood to arms. This energetic bearing led, through the intervention of the other powers, to a compromise by which the king of Prussia gave up all his rights, retaining merely the title of Prince of Neufchatel. Constitution.-Switzerland is now composed of twenty-five cantons, having a united area of nearly sixteen thousand square miles, with a population of two millions and a half. The names of the cantons are: Zurich, Berne, Lucerne, Uri, Schwytz, Unterwalden (Upper), Unterwalden (Lower), Glarus, Zug, Friburg, Soleure, Basle (Town), Basle (District), Schaffhausen, Appenzell (Exterior), Appenzell (Interior), St Gall, Grisons, Aargau, Thurgau, Tessin or Ticino, Vaud, Valais, Neufchatel, and Geneva. Owing to the nature of the country and the circumstances of its history, these cantons continue to this day to be in a great measure separate states, each managing its own internal affairs, and having its own form of constitution. The cantonal constitutions are divided into two classes, absolute democracies and representative democracies. In the former, the chief power belongs to the Landesgemeinde, an assembly of the whole adult male population, which meets once a year, to pass laws, and to regulate the taxes and expenditure of the canton. Uri, the Unterwaldens, Appenzell, and Glarus have constitutions of this kind. In the Grisons and the Valais, the people may be said to possess similar powers, as all measures must be approved of by them. In the other, the representative cantons, a great council is elected by the people, and to it are deputed most of the powers of the Landesgemeinde. These local assemblies produce a remarkable effect on the Swiss people. Their debates have an importance far beyond that of an English towncouncil, or even of a colonial parliament, for their power is much greater, and the population are more immediately interested in them. To the interest they excite is, no doubt, to be attributed, in a great degree, the intelligence and public spirit of the Swiss. The greatest disadvantage lay in the power the cantons formerly had to levy war against each other, and to resist the general government in conducting the foreign policy of the country. But these defects have been to a great extent remedied by the new constitution, which came into operation in 1848. It handed over the control of the army, the conduct of |