Swiss
officers were serving the English Government and were employed in America
in the war against the United States in 1812 and 1818, the Diet, then under
Napoleon's influence, issued a decree recalling them and commanding them to
quit the English service forthwith. This they refused to do and continued
to serve. No notice whatever was taken of this act of disobedience, when
they returned to their native country on being disbanded in 1814, and they
were very favourably received. Why then, says the author of this pamphlet,
is a similar act of disobedience to pass unnoticed in one instance and to
be so severely punished in another? Or do you wish to prove that your
vengeance is directed only against those who remained in France, to fight
for its liberties, when invaded by a foreign foe, while those who remained
in America to fight against the liberties and existence of the American
Republic you have received with applause and congratulation? Is such
conduct worthy of Republicans? O, fie!
Such an argument is in my opinion convincing for all the world except for
an English Tory, a French Ultra or a Bern Oligarch.
The Arsenal here is well worth seeing; here is a superb collection of
ancient armour, much of which were the spoils of the Austrian and
Burgundian chivalry, who fell in their attempts to crush Helvetic liberty.
By way of shewing how fond the Bernois are of old institutions and customs,
they have been at the trouble to catch three or four bears and keep them in
a walled pit in the city, where they are well fed and taken care of. The
popular superstition is that the bears entertained in this manner
contribute to the safety of the commonwealth; and this establishment
continued ever in full force, until the dissolution of the old Confederacy
took place and the establishment in its place of the Helvetic Republic
under the influence of the French directorial government. The custom, then,
appearing absurd and useless, was abolished, and the bears were sold. But
since the peace of 1814 other bears have been caught and are nourishd, as
the former ones were, at the expence of the state.
Bern derives its name from Bueren, the German word for Bears (plural
number). Only the French spell Berne, with an e at the end of it.
There are no theatrical amusements going forward here. Cards and now and
then a little music form the evening recreations.
In the inn at Bern I became acquainted with a most delightful Milanese lady
and her son. Her name is L - - - ; she is the widow of an opulent banker at
Milan and has a large family of children. She was about thirty-eight years
of age and is still a remarkably handsome woman.
