Looking Out, I Saw A Regiment Of Boys Of A Tender Age, In
A Uniform Of Brown Linen, With Little
Light muskets on their shoulders,
and miniature knapsacks on their backs, completely equipped and furnished
for war, led on by
Their little officers in regular military order,
marching and wheeling to the sound of martial music with all the precision
of veterans. In Switzerland arms are in every man's hands; he is educated
to be a soldier, and taught that the liberties of his country depend on
his skill and valor. The worst effect, perhaps of this military education
is, that the Swiss, when other means of subsistence are not easily found,
become military adventurers and sell their services to the first
purchaser. Meantime, nobody is regarded as properly fitted for his duties
as a member of the state, who is not skilled in the use of arms.
Target-shooting, _Freischiessen_, is the national amusement of
Switzerland, and has been so ever since the days of Tell; occasions of
target-shooting are prescribed and superintended by the public
authorities. They were practicing it at the stately city of Berne when we
visited it; they were practicing it at various other places as we passed.
Every town is provided with a public shooting-ground near its gates.
It was at one of the most remarkable of these towns; it was at Freiburg,
Catholic Freiburg, full of Catholic seminaries and convents, in the
churches of which you may hear the shrill voices of the nuns chanting
matins, themselves unseen; it was at Freiburg, grandly seated on the
craggy banks of her rivers, flowing in deep gulfs, spanned by the loftiest
and longest chain-bridges in the world, that I saw another evidence of
the fact that Switzerland is the only place on the continent where freedom
is understood, or allowed to have an existence. A proclamation of the
authorities of the canton was pasted on the walls and gates, ordaining the
16th of September as a day of religious thanksgiving. After recounting the
motives of gratitude to Providence; after speaking of the abundance of the
harvests, the health enjoyed throughout Switzerland, at the threshold of
which the cholera had a second time been stayed; the subsidence of
political animosities, and the quiet enjoyment of the benefits of the new
constitution upon which the country had entered, the proclamation
mentioned, as a special reason of gratitude to Almighty God, that
Switzerland, in this day of revolutions, had been enabled to offer, among
her mountains, a safe and unmolested asylum to the thousands of fugitives
who had suffered defeat in the battles of freedom.
I could not help contrasting this with the cruel treatment shown by France
to the political refugees from Baden and other parts of Germany. A few
days before, it had been announced that the French government required of
these poor fellows that they should either enlist at once in the regiments
destined for service in Algiers, or immediately leave the
country - offering them the alternative of military slavery, or banishment
from the country in which they had hoped to find a shelter.
I have spoken of the practice of Switzerland in regard to passports, an
example which it does not suit the purpose the French politicians to
follow. Here, and all over the continent, the passport system is as
strictly and vexatiously enforced as ever. It is remarkable that none of
the reformers occupied in the late remodelling of European institutions,
seems to have thought of abolishing this invention of despotism - this
restraint upon the liberty of passing from place to place, which makes
Europe one great prison. If the people had been accustomed to perfect
freedom in this respect, though but a short time, it might have been found
difficult, at least in France, to reimpose the old restraints. The truth
is, however, that France is not quite so free at present as she was under
Louis Philippe. The only advantage of her present condition is, that the
constitution places in the hands of the people the means of peaceably
perfecting their liberties, whenever they are enlightened enough to claim
them.
On my way from Geneva to Lyons I sat in _banquette_ of the diligence among
the plebeians. The conversation happened to turn on politics, and the
expressions of hatred against the present government of France, which
broke from the conductor, the coachman, and the two passengers by my side,
were probably significant of the feeling which prevails among the people.
"The only law now," said one, "is the law of the sabre." "The soldiers and
the _gens d'armes_ have every thing their own way now," said another, "but
by and by they will be glad to, hide in the sewers." The others were no
less emphatic in their expressions of anger and detestation.
The expedition to Rome is unpopular throughout France, more especially so
in the southern part of the republic, where the intercourse with Rome has
been more frequent, and the sympathy with her people is stronger. "I have
never," said an American friend, who has resided some time in Paris,
"heard a single Frenchman defend it." It is unpopular, even among the
troops sent on the expedition, as is acknowledged by the government
journals themselves. To propitiate public opinion, the government has
changed its course, and after making war upon the Romans to establish the
pontifical throne, now tells the Pope that he must submit to place the
government in the hands of the laity. This change of policy has occasioned
a good deal of surprise and an infinite deal of discussion. Whatever may
be its consequences, there is one consequence which it can not have, that
of recovering to the President and his ministry the popularity they have
lost.
Letter LIII.
Volterra.
[This letter was casually omitted from its proper place near the
beginning of the volume.]
Rome, _April_ 15, 1835.
Towards the end of March I went from Pisa to Volterra. This you know is a
very ancient city, one of the strongholds of Etruria when Rome was in its
cradle; and, in more modern times, in the age of Italian republics, large
enough to form an independent community of considerable importance.
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