SWITZERLAND.

THE Country lying at the foot of the Alps was in the earliest periods of history denominated Helvetia, or the land of the Helvetiaus, from its ancient inhabitants, a tribe of German origin. It received its modern name of Switzerland from one of its cantons, which was among the earliest to enrol itself in the league which was entered into for the support of national freedom in the 14th century. Switzerland extends from 45° 50' to 47° 50' N.L., and from 5° 50′ to 10° 30' E. L. Its greatest length from E. to W. has been estimated at 200 British miles; and its greatest breadth from N. to S. at about 130 miles. Its figure, however, is pretty nearly that of a right-angled triangle: having its right angle at Schaffhausen, and the two others at the Mont-du-Chat, and Munsterthal. Its superficies is estimated by Schoch at 875.61, or 18,825 British miles, but by Stein at only 696.33 German, or about 15,000 British square miles. It is bounded on the N. by Baden and the lake of Constance; on the E. by the Tyrol; on the S. by Lombardy and Sardinia and on the W. by France.

The Swiss confederacy consists of 22 independent cantons: viz.

Hassel's Staatshandbuch, (II. 96), published in 1816, gives 1,714,810

as the population of this country; and another work published at the

same period, estimates it at 1,686,215: Balbi fixed it in 1826, at 1,980,000. From Jacob's late Report on the Corn Question, we learn that, by a census taken in 1821, the population of Switzerland was found to be 1,783,231; and in 1827 it was found to be 2,037,030, showing an increase of 253,799 in six years, being above 42,000 yearly. From Schoch's statistics, it appears that the canton of Geneva has the most dense population, being 9,776 souls to the German square mile; while the canton of the Grisons has only 522. Such differences in the relative population of different districts can easily be accounted for in a country like Switzerland, whose varied surface presents tracts of luxuriant fertility in the immediate neighbourhood of the most dreary and sterile districts.

CHAP. I.-HISTORY.

Early History.] When Switzerland was invaded by the Roman armies under Julius Cæsar, and subsequently under Tiberius-then commanding the legions of Augustus-that country was inhabited by the Tigurini, the Rhætians, and other German tribes. Cæsar, in a narrative which still continues to be admired for its historical fidelity and elegance, has transmitted to posterity a circumstantial account of the subjugation of these tribes to the authority of Rome. Helvetia continued a Roman province until the empire was dissolved by the irruption of the Northern hordes. During this period the Roman language, manners, laws, coins, dress, and architecture, were introduced into Helvetia. Christianity is supposed to have been first preached in this country in the year 300. In 430 the Burgundians took possession of the southern and western districts between the Ursa or Reuss, the Rhone, and the ridge of the Jura; while the Alemanni conquered the northern and eastern parts between the Rhine and the Rhone. In consequence of these inroads and conquests, the language of the Swiss became blended with that of the German dialect of the Western Suabes; and the country received a new political constitution modelled upon that of the German nations. Every warrior received a piece of ground in feu-farm from his chief; one hundred of these farms constituted a cent; and justice was administered among the freemen of each cent by a judge or centgraf, whose court or place of judgment was called the mallus. Several cents formed a gau or county, of which the head-officer was called the graf or count; and these counts held allegiance to a duke. At first the counts held their gaus during life only; but they afterwards became hereditary, and the counts yielded only such allegiance to the king as suited their own purposes, while they compelled the free inhabitants of their respective gaus to acknowledge them as their liege lords. In 496, Clovis, king of France, conquered the Alemanni; and in 534 his sons subdued the Burgundians, and reduced Helvetia to a province of the Frankish empire. In the division of Charlemagne's empire, which took place in 843, the Burgundian part of Helvetia fell to the lot of Lothar, and the Alemannian part to that of Louis the German, who shortly afterwards united the Burgundian part also, under the name of Minor Burgundy, to his Helvetian territories. Upon the death of Charles le Gros, Rudolph of Stretlingen founded an independent kingdom of Minor Burgundy, and fixed the seat of government at Payerne or Peterlingen; but the Alemannian part of Helvetia continued subject to German sway, and was bestowed by the emperor on the duke of Zähringen, who after