The Story of Switzerland

ANCIENT SWISS LAKE DWELLINGS, ZURICH LAKE. (From Design by Dr. F. Keller.)
NEW YORK G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS London: T. FISHER UNWIN 1890 Copyright, 1890 by G. P. Putnam's Sons Entered at Stationer's Hall, London By T. Fisher Unwin Press of G. P. Putnam's Sons New York
THE STORY OF GREECE. By Prof. Jas. A. Harrison THE STORY OF ROME. By Arthur Gilman THE STORY OF THE JEWS. By Prof. Jas. K. Hosmer THE STORY OF CHALDEA. By Z. A. Ragozin THE STORY OF GERMANY. By S. Baring-Gould THE STORY OF NORWAY. By Prof. H. H. Boyesen THE STORY OF SPAIN. By E. E. and Susan Hale THE STORY OF HUNGARY. By Prof. A. Vámbéry THE STORY OF CARTHAGE. By Prof. Alfred J. Church THE STORY OF THE SARACENS. By Arthur Gilman THE STORY OF THE MOORS IN SPAIN. By Stanley Lane-Poole THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. By Sarah O. Jewett THE STORY OF PERSIA. By S. G. W. Benjamin THE STORY OF ANCIENT EGYPT. By Geo. Rawlinson THE STORY OF ALEXANDER'S EMPIRE. By Prof. J. P. Mahaffy THE STORY OF ASSYRIA. By Z. A. Ragozin THE STORY OF IRELAND. By Hon. Emily Lawless THE STORY OF THE GOTHS. By Henry Bradley THE STORY OF TURKEY. By Stanley Lane-Poole THE STORY OF MEDIA, BABYLON, AND PERSIA. By Z. A. Ragozin THE STORY OF MEDIÆVAL FRANCE. By Gustave Masson THE STORY OF MEXICO. By Susan Hale THE STORY OF HOLLAND. By James E. Thorold Rogers THE STORY OF PHŒNICIA. By George Rawlinson THE STORY OF THE HANSA TOWNS. By Helen Zimmern THE STORY OF EARLY BRITAIN. By Prof. Alfred J. Church THE STORY OF THE BARBARY CORSAIRS. By Stanley Lane-Poole THE STORY OF RUSSIA. By W. R. Morfill. THE STORY OF THE JEWS UNDER ROME. By W. D. Morrison. THE STORY OF SCOTLAND. By James Mackintosh.
For prospectus of the series see end of this volume
G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS, NEW YORK AND LONDON
RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED TO PROFESSOR GEORG VON WYSS AND PROFESSOR G. MEYER VON KNONAU
For many reasons, some of which are obvious to the least thoughtful, the history of Switzerland is peculiarly interesting, and not least so to English-speaking peoples. In the first place, the playground of Europe is every year visited by large numbers of British and Americans, some of whom indeed are familiar with almost every corner of it. Then to the Anglo-Saxon race the grand spectacle of a handful of freemen nobly struggling for and maintaining their freedom, often amidst enormous difficulties, and against appalling odds, cannot but be heart-stirring. To the citizen of the great American republic a study of the constitution of the little European republic should bring both interest and profit—a constitution resembling in many points that of his own country, and yet in many other respects so different. And few readers, of whatever nationality, can, we think, peruse this story without a feeling of admiration for a gallant people who have fought against oppression as the Swiss have fought, who have loved freedom as they have loved it, and who have performed the well-nigh incredible feats of arms the Switzers have performed. And as Sir Francis O. Adams and Mr. Cunningham well point out in their recently published work on the Swiss Confederation, as a study in constitutional history, the value of the story of the development of the Confederation can hardly be over-estimated.