M. Simond, how many of the latter were converted to revolutionary principles, from the feeling nourished by this apparently trifling grievance, although they had much to apprehend from a Revolution.' But a taunting speech made by one of the judges to a young advocate of the Pays de Vaux• Savez vous bien que vous n'êtes que nos sujets,' had, in its unforeseen consequences, a still greater share in hastening the downfal of the Bernese aristocracy, That young lawyer was La Harpe, who, in irritation and disgust, abandoned his profession and bis country. He repaired to St. Petersburgh, where, having attracted the attention of the Empress Catherine, he became the Seneca of the present Autocrat. As soon as the French Revolution was announced, he saw in it the means of emancipation for his country from what he considered as tyranny; and to the essays which he published at this juncture are attributed the first revolutionary symptoms in the Pays de Vaud, particularly those of 1791. When the consequences of the invasion became manifest, he bitterly lamented it, but it was too late. The constitution unitaire was forced upon the Nineteen Cantons at the point of the bayonet; and a government under which the great mass of the people had lived contented during five centuries, was violently and perfidiously overthrown by a ruffian Directory and its fiendish generals. The invasion of Switzerland is one of the blackest crimes in the annals of Revolutionary France: that of Spain by Napoleon was justifiable in comparison. The constitution thus tyrannically imposed, was not, M. Simond admits, a bad one; but the means by which it was propagated, were rapine and extermination. As a specimen of the transactions of this period, and the nature of the resistance made by the Swiss, we transcribe the following anecdote.

• General Schauenburg advanced, the 3d of September, 1798, with a division of from twelve to sixteen thousand men, against the small district of Nidwalden, counting about two thousand fighting individuals of all ages and sexes, and two hundred and eighty volunteers of the neighbouring districts. The landing-places on their lake were defended by abattis of trees, stakes driven on the beach, and six fieldpieces; they had two more pieces to protect the land-side. The French attempted a descent day after day, from the fourth to the eighth of September, under cover of batteries, at the foot of Mount Pilatus, firing across the lake; but were unsuccessful, and lost many men. Early on the ninth, they penetrated by the land-side, and succeeded in clearing the plain with their flying artillery. The Nidwaldians retired to a woody height, half a league from Stantz, where they had two field-pieces, and defended the position several hours; but thirty boats, full of French troops, having effected their landing on

three different points, while reinforcements poured in by the Oswalden, about noon the engagement became a promiscuous massacre, the people fighting desperately with such weapons as they could procure; and whole families, men, women, and children, were cut down, for no quarter was given on either side. Eighteen young girls, who had fought in the ranks, were found among the dead, near the chapel of Winkelried; and upwards of sixty persons, mostly the old and infirm, who had taken shelter in the church of Stantz, were put to death, together with the priest at the altar. Several officers of the 14th and 44th demi-brigades exerted themselves, with great zeal and humanity, to rescue such of the people as were found among the ruins; the buildings of Stantz were saved by their interference, but all those about the country (584 in number) were plundered, and set on fire; not a house was left standing. Notwithstanding this state of things, Schauenburg imposed a contribution of 60,000 livres on the country; but it was a desert, and the act appeared besides so odious, that the army itself, when the first fury was over, disclaimed all share in it, and refused even the offer which was made by the Helvetic Directory to pay it.

The loss of the French was never made known, but must have been very considerable, probably not less than three thousand men, as their opponents were expert marksmen. If the French had been repulsed that day as the preceding, there was every appearance of the whole country rising the next, and few of them would have escaped. "Nous avons perdu beaucoup de monde," Schauenburg wrote, " par la résistance incroyable de ces gens là. C'est le jour le plus chaud que j'aye jamais vu." All Switzerland sent money and provisions to the unfortunate survivors in Nidwalden, who must other wise have perished during the ensuing winter, and plentiful subscrip tions came from England and Germany. Schauenburg himself is said to have distributed 1200 rations a day for some time after the battle.

Pestalozzi, the same who tras since acquired so much celebrity by his method of education, appeared at this period as a tutelary angel among the unfortunate; he collected upwards of eighty children of all ages, whose parents had perished, and who were left entirely destitute; found them a house, provided for their wants, and attended to ther education; assisted, however, by the existing government.'

But we must now turn from the retrospect of the past, to Switzerland as it is. As we have been led to refer to the history more particularly of Berne, we shall transcribe M. Simond's description of that city.

It is not an easy matter to account for the first impression you receive upon entering Berne; you certainly think you enter an ancient and a great city; yet, before the eleventh century, it had not a name, and its present population does not exceed twelve thousand souls. It is a republic; yet it looks kingly. Something of Roman majesty appears in its lofty terraces, in those massy arches on cach side of the streets, in the abundance of water flowing night and day into gigantic basins, in the magnificent avenues of trees. The very

"1 silence and absence of bustle, a certain stateliness and reserved demeanour in the inhabitants, by shewing it to be not a money-making town, implies that its wealth springs from more solid and permanent sources than trade can afford, and that another spirit animates its inAhabitants. In short, of all the first-sight impressions and guesses about Berne, that of its being a Roman town would be nearer right than any other. Circumstances, in some respects similar, have produced like results in the Alps, and on the plains of Latium, at the interval of twenty centuries. Luxury at Berne seems wholly directed to objects of public utility: by the side of those gigantic terraces, of those fine fountains and noble shades, you see none but simple and solid dwellings, yet scarcely any beggarly ones; not an equipage to be seen, but many a country waggon coming to market, with a capital team of horses, or oxen, well appointed every way.

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Aristocratic pride is said to be excessive at Berne; and the an tique simplicity of its magistrates, the plain and easy manners they uniformly preserve in their intercourse with the people, are not by any means at variance with the assertion; for that external simplicity and affability to inferiors is one of the characteristics of the aristocratic government; all assumption of superiority being carefully avoided, when real authority is not in question. Zurich suggests the idea of a municipal aristocracy; Berne of a warlike one: there, we think we see citizens of a town transformed into nobility; here, nobles who have made themselves citizens."

From Berne to Thun, six leagues, is the finest road and richest country imaginable. The inhabitants in their holiday dresses were enjoying themselves at their doors, (Sunday) under the shade of walnut trees. Comfort and independence appeared conspicuous in their looks: although subjects of an aristocracy, they certainly do not seem conscious of a want of liberty. I never saw such a proud-looking set of men as the Bernese peasantry, nor any better fed and clad. The women are naturally good-looking, but most of them working in the fields, they become frightful old women. Female beauty is wholly incompatible with exposure and fatigue: it is a decree of nature, and that state of society in which they are subjected to hard labour, may be deemed somewhat barbarous. Sunday is by no means so strictly observed here as in England: many of the men play at bowls, and amuse themselves in different ways during the intervals of public worship.

The Bernese laws are not favourable to commerce. No debt is safe unless secured by mortgage. A debtor who refuses to give up his property, cannot be detained longer than six weeks, at the expiration of which he is banished the canton, and his property seized wherever found.

• Bernese morals have been the subject of much praise and much censure, both perhaps deservedly: fortunes are small, and the means

The capital condemnations in the canton of Berne, during the last seventeen years, out of a population of 350,000 souls, were 25 men, 4 women: total, 29. The crimes were mostly personal violence.

of increasing them, and providing for a family, are few; the number of unmarried people of both sexes must therefore be considerable, and the bonds of marriage being respected, the result is, that adultery is unknown, but low debauchery common, and the government even is accused of tolerating places of ill-fame as a useful succedaneum to political clubs !

• When speaking of Geneva, I shall give some account of what is called there the Societés des Dimanches. The custom prevails among the females of Berne with some of the same results. Gentle, modest, and domestic, the Bernese women above the lower ranks, much resemble those of Geneva, although probably possessing less information. The exclusive spirit of coterie is still more marked here than at Geneva, and political jealousies more violent, although of a different nature:—the Genevans are at issue about opinions, the Bernese about places, that is to say, personal distinctions, for most of these placesare without emolument. Political adversaries in all countries hate each other; at Geneva this feeling is disputatious, here it is rather sullen ; for the object is not to persuade or confute, but to supplant. The number of individuals of the same family who can be counsellors of state, being limited, a rivalry is of course established in the very bosom of families, and it extends to affairs of the heart, and the choice of a wife ; for brothers even are sure to fall in love with the young lady whose father can give his son-in-law a seat in the Bernese house of parliament. One of the most melancholy maxims of the melancholy book of La Rochefoucault, qu'il faut vivre avec nos meilleurs amis, comme s'ils devoient un jour devenir nos ennemis ! is said to be carried into practice here. All this is not peculiar to Berne, but inherent in an aristocracy; for when half the people of the same rank, and living habitually together, are active members of the sovereign council, and the other mere expectants, condemned to hear from morning to night at second-hand of active pursuits to which they are strangers, to be or not to be of this council, becomes an object of the first importance, and a moral want nearly as pressing as hunger and thirst.'

Geneva is, on many accounts, the most interesting city of Switzerland; and for a description of the state of society there, we shall avail ourselves of the information supplied by Mr. Bakewell's volumes, who passed three winters there. He first entered it on returning from Piedmont.

• Geneva,' he says, . had, from my earliest recollections, occupied a large space in my imagination, as the metropolis of Protestant Europe, placed in opposition to the mighty papal Rome: I was, therefore, rather disappointed to find that this celebrated city covered only a quarter of a square mile of the earth's surface, or about four times the extent of Russell Square in London. I had read, perhaps twenty times, statistical accounts of Geneva; but when early notions are once deeply fixed in the mind, they are not easily removed by subsequent information, unless we are compelled by circumstanees to examine them with attentivn.

Geneva, as a city, possesses few objects to recommend it to the notice of those travellers who view only "the surfaces of things." The public buildings are devoid of beauty, the streets are dull, and the houses, though lofty, appear massive and heavy; they are built of sandstone, and covered with dark tiles. There has been only one new house built in the city during the last forty years; the fortifications prevent its extension on each side.

Many families live under the same roof, as at Paris, each family generally occupying one story, or what, in Edinburgh, is called a fat; but among the poorer citizens, one room often serves for a whole family. A census was taken while we were at Geneva, in 1822, and there was one instance of twenty-two families living under the same roof; several houses in the lower part of the city contained upwards of fifteen families, more or less numerous.

The streets of Geneva generally feel cold, as from the height of the houses the sun's rays rarely shine into them; and as these rays are far more powerful here in the winter months, at mid-day, than in England, when you enter the streets, on returning from the country, a sensation is felt like that of descending from a warm atmosphere into a cold vault. To this sudden change may, I think, be partly attributed the disorders in the teeth, so prevalent at Geneva; but the proximity of the city to such a large extent of fresh water, is sup posed to be the principal cause of this malady. Part of the city is built on a level with the lake, and the Rhone passes through it, separating the parish of St. Gervaise from the main city. The river is crossed by four wooden bridges. The Rhone divides into two branches, which soon unite again, thus forming a small island, over which you pass in going to St. Gervaise. In this island, the earthquake which shook Geneva while we there, was most forcibly felt. The upper part of the city is situated about 100 feet above the lake; it is here that the cathedral of St. Pierre, and the houses of the more opulent and ancient families are situated, the lower streets being occupied by tradesmen and artizans. This division of the city into upper and lower, is supposed to have perpetuated the strong feelings of aristocratical distinctions, which have caused so many political dissentions among the citizens. Geneva has only three gates, so that you are obliged to traverse a great part of the town to go into the country. The gates are shut at an early hour, after which a trifling toll is paid on passing through; and at eleven o'clock they are finally closed for the night, and no one can pass without a written order from the commander of the garrison. Formerly the gates were closed at an earlier hour. The readers of Rousseau's Confessions will remember in what affecting language he describes his agony of mind when a boy, on seeing the draw-bridge raised as he was returning in haste from a truant excursion into the country. The inexorable guard refused his entrance; he slept without the walls, and being afraid to return to his master, he threw himself, a friendless fugitive, upon the world. To such a trifling event may be ascribed the circumstances of his future life, and the influence which his writings have produced in society. Had he remained in Geneva, he would probably never have been known beyond its walls.'