Home › Countries of the World › Kings of Spain: Fribourg

Kings of Spain: Fribourg

RELIGION AND EDUCATION. -The larger number of the people of Switzerland are Protestants, but in II of the 22 cantons the Roman Catholics are most numerous. The Catholics have 5 bishops, who are located at Basel, Coire (Chur), Fribourg, St. Gallen, and Sion. Jesuits and Redemptorists are excluded by the Federal Constitution from Switzerland, and convents and religious orders have been somewhat reduced during the present century. New convents cannot be founded. The Protestants belong mostly to the Reformed Church. Faculties of Protestant theology are connected with the universities of Bern, Zurich, and Basel, and there are several theological schools in French Switzerland. Basel is the seat of the greatest missionary and Bible society of continental Europe. As mentioned above there are three universities -at Bern, Basel, and Zurich respectively. That at Basel was founded in 1460, while the latter two have been established since 1832. They are fashioned after the German universities. There are academies at Geneva, Lausanne, Neuchâtel, and Fribourg, and besides these, lyceums and theological schools. All the academies, except at Fribourg, are Protestant, and all the lyceums Catholic. There are upwards of 7000 public schools, educating over 400,000 pupils. At Thun (Bern) there is a military academy. The communities pay a portion of the expenses of public education, and the remainder is made up by school funds and appropriations of the cantonal governments. All children must attend school between the ages of 7 and 14 years.

GOVERNMENT.-In 1815 a federal contract existed, but this was superseded in 1848 by a federal constitution, whereby the Union was changed into a Republic. In 1874 the constitution was revised. It provides that all the rights of sovereignty not expressly transferred to the confederacy shall be exercised by the 22 cantons, or, better expressed, the 25 States, the cantons of Unterwalden, Appenzell, and Basel being divided into half cantons. The constitution of every canton is guaranteed if it is Republican in form, if it has been adopted by the people, and if it can be revised on a demand of a majority of the citizens. Before the law all are equal. Complete liberty of creed is guaranteed; no penalties can be incurred for religious belief. Civil marriage is compulsory, Liberty of the press, of petition, and of association is guaranteed; but Jesuits and all religious orders which are affiliated to them are prohibited. There is a Federal Assembly, consisting of a National Council and a Council of States. The former consists of deputies of the people, about one for every 20,000 inhabitants, who are elected for 3 years. Every citizen 21 years old can vote, and every voter not a clergyman is eligible. There are 44 members in the Council of States, 2 for every canton and I for every half canton. A federal council exercises the executive authority. This council has 7 members, chosen by the federal assembly, by joint ballot, for a term of 3 years. Each one of the members takes a department, similar to that of the United States President's Cabinet. The President and Vice-President of the Federal Council, also President and Vice-President of the Confederation, are chosen for one year only, and are selected from the Council by the members thereof.

REVENUE, EXPENDITURE, DEBT, ETC. -The chief source of revenue for this country is the customs. These dues are now levied only on the frontier of the republic, instead of as before on the limits of each canton. The postal system and the telegraph establishment, the latter conducted by the government on the principle of uniformity of rates, also furnish considerable income. This public revenue is not alone applied to the payment of general indebtedness, but is turned over to the cantonal administrations.

THE ARMY.-No standing army can be maintained within the limits of the confederation, by the fundamental principles of the republic, but every Swiss is liable to serve in the defence of his country. To provide for the defence of the country every citizen has to bear arms, in the management of which the children are instructed at school, from the age of 8, passing through annual exercises and reviews. This is voluntary on the part of the children, but is participated in by the greater number of pupils at the upper and middle class schools. The troops of the republic are divided into classes, the federal army, or "Bundesauszug," consisting of all men able to bear arms between the ages of 20 and 32; and the militia, or landwehr, comprising all from 33 to 44 years of age. The strength of the armed force on a war footing is 499,405.

AREA AND POPULATION. - The republic, as has been before remarked, is divided into 22 cantons, having an area of 15,981 sq. m. The population, according to the last census was 2,906,754. Of the cantonal divisions 14 have capitals of the same name. Of the entire population at the latest enumeration, 94.3 per cent. were natives, and 5.7 per cent. foreigners, the latter including, to a large degree, Germans, French, and Italians. Since 1816 the population has increased about

50 per cent., which is in a ratio larger than that of France. The larger number of the inhabitants are engaged in agricultural pursuits, the most available statistics showing out of the entire population 1,095,447 who were wholly or partly agriculturists; 216,468 employed in manufactures; and 241,425 who followed various handicraft occupations.

HISTORY. It is believed that the first inhabitants of Switzerland were of Celtic origin, and immigrated from the N.-E. Collectively they were known as Helvetians. For several centuries Switzerland was a province of the Roman empire, but in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th centuries the German tribes began to invade its borders, sacking towns and desolating the country generally. In the 5th century the province was divided among the Burgundians, Alemanni, and Goths, but in the succeeding century the Franks wrested the country from their grasp. Religion now took root, and convents were founded. In 888 the Franks lost Switzerland, the northern portion passing to Germany and the south to Burgundy. Later, Zurich, Bern, and Basel formed an alliance against the neighboring powers who held the country in subjection, and endeavored to secure their independence. Austria meantime had taken steps to secure the incorporation of the Swiss cantons with that kingdom, but these attempts were stoutly resisted, and a war of fully 200 years resulted, ending with severing the ties between Switzerland and Germany. In 1291 three of the cantons-Schwytz, Uri, and Unterwalden-which had from the earliest times stood together in the efforts to throw off foreign oppression, formed a league, which in 1315 was established as a perpetual Confederacy. This was the nucleus of Swiss independence. In succeeding years neighboring States joined them. First came Luzern, in 1332; then Zurich, in 1351; followed by Glarus and Zug in 1352, and Bern in 1353. The 8 united cantons then formed "the perpetual league of the 8 old places of the Confederacy." It was not until 1481 that any new members were received. The war with Austria resulted in victories for the Confederation at Luzern (1386) and at Nafels (1388), while in 1422 and 1444 considerable Austrian territory was annexed. In 1481 Solothurn and Fribourg were admitted, when internal dissensions broke out, which were not allayed until 1498-99, when Basel and Schaffhausen became members of the league, and Appenzell was admitted in 1513. There were now 13 cantons, and this number was maintained until 1798. In the 16th century the country was greatly disturbed by religious troubles, and open war resulted. At the time of the French Revolution, in 1798, 2 French armies marched into Switzerland, without the least pretext, captured the city of Bern, and proclaimed the undivisible Helvetic Republic, of 18 cantons, with the capital at Aarau. When the French troops withdrew, in 1802, civil war sprang up in nearly every canton, when Napoleon interfered and took upon himself the work of reorganizing the country. To the old 13 cantons 6 new ones were added, and a Diet was placed at the head of the Confederacy. On the whole the new order of things was well received, and Switzerland enjoyed peace for a season. Yet the people finally became restless, and a new Constitution was adopted in 1819, acknowledging all the 19 cantons constituted by the Act of Mediation, and adding 3 new ones, Geneva, Vallais, and the Prussian prinicipality of Neuchâtel. This was ratified by the European Powers, and furthermore the perpetual neutrality and inviolability of the Confederation was declared. During the French Revolution of 1830 there were violent agitations in many of the cantons, in some of which the people rose against the capital towns, and forced them to reorganize the cantonal constitutions on a more liberal and democratic basis. New religious contests sprung up in 1834 and 1846, ending in the expulsion of the Jesuits, but not without serious trouble and the enforcement of the decree by the army. In 1848 Neuchâtel declared herself independent of Prussia, and in 1857 Prussia was compelled to resign all claim upon the canton. In 1860 Switzerland protested against the annexation of Savoy to France, but without effect. In 1847 the boundary between Switzerland and Italy was fixed at the point called the Cravaviola Alps.