The Infantry is now armed with the Kropatschek repeating-rifle; till quite recently, they had the Enfield rifle. The Field Artillery is chiefly armed with 3·54-inch steel Krupp guns.
More attention appears to be paid in Portugal to the Navy than to the Army, and it seems unlikely that the latter will be engaged in war, at all events for some time to come.
Spain and Portugal.
SWITZERLAND.
The Swiss Republic, or rather the Free Confederation of twenty-two small Republics (Cantons), had its beginning in the four “Forest” towns of Schwyz, Uri, Unterwalden, and Glarus. It was by the treaties of 1815, upon which, after the downfall of Napoleon I., the present distribution of Powers was founded and still to a great extent remains, that the neutrality of Switzerland was recognised, so that she is now, to all intents and purposes, excluded from taking part in an European war. Being, however, surrounded by three Great Powers, whose Armies may at any time traverse her territories from any quarter, she is obliged to guard her neutrality very strictly. This object she seeks to accomplish by universal conscription and by a military system which is adapted to the exigencies of the country and rests on the so-called “Militia System.”
Terms of Service.