The financial situation was further complicated by the fact that ready money was practically unobtainable, H.M.'s Minister himself being only allowed by his own bank to draw frs. 50 per week. A solution, however, was soon happily found in a provision in the regulations of the Swiss National Bank to the effect "that if gold be deposited at an authorized centre, the Bank might issue notes against such gold." At the request of the Minister, H.M.'s Government deposited £25,000 at the Swiss Bankverein in London, upon which the Swiss National Bank opened an equivalent credit in notes in favour of the Minister at Berne. Mr. Grant Duff was thus enabled to issue cash in exchange for cheques, and so facilitate the return of stranded British visitors.
Mr. G. P. Skipworth, the representative in Berne of the Westinghouse Brake Company, volunteered to undertake the detailed work in connection with this transportation, which, as a matter of fact, lasted over two months. It suffices to say that it was no light matter to assemble parties of three to four hundred visitors scattered all over Switzerland, and to see them safely off to their satisfaction, if not comfort, whenever through conveyance could be placed at their disposal by the Swiss and French authorities.
Mr. Skipworth was, later on, appointed Assistant Commercial Attaché to the British Legation in Switzerland, a post he still happily occupies.
On taking up my duties in Berne, I made the acquaintance of the heads of the Military and Political Departments, of my Allied colleagues, and also of the Commander-in-Chief of the Swiss Army—General Ulrich Wille—and his Staff.
Based on the territorial system, the Swiss Army, in times of peace, possesses no officer of the rank of General; but on occasions of emergency, the appointment of a General as Commander-in-Chief is at once proceeded with. His choice finally rests with the Federal Assembly. The powers vested in him are of a very comprehensive nature; so comprehensive indeed during this war as to cause no little alarm among some sections of the community. In the emergency created by the declarations of war in August, 1914, the choice of a General Commander-in-Chief lay between Colonel Ulrich Wille, a citizen of the Canton of Zürich, married to a member of the Bismarck family, and Colonel Sprecher v. Bernegg, a citizen of the Canton of the Grisons, married to a member of the family of Von Bülow; and it was some time before the Government finally declared itself in favour of the former, appointing Colonel Sprecher v. Bernegg as his Chief of Staff.
With my Allied colleagues, Colonels Pageot, Gourko, and Golovane, the French and Russian Military Attachés, I maintained the most pleasant relations, and our mutual frank co-operation under sympathetic conditions will ever remain one of my most cherished memories. Colonel Gourko is the son of the Field Marshal Gourko (later Governor-General of Poland), of Shipka Pass fame. He had seen much active service, and is said to have received more wounds than any other officer in the Russian Army. Ever anxious to find himself in the trenches, he succeeded in returning to Russia in 1915, where he fought on several fronts until disabled by wounds, from which I am glad to know he again made a good recovery. Since the Revolution in Russia, he, like so many others, has given no sign of himself, and I have heard nothing further of him. Colonel Pageot returned to the Western Front in 1916, in command of a regiment, and greatly distinguished himself, receiving the "Croix de Guerre avec Palmes," a distinction which gave much pleasure to his former colleagues in Berne.
Prior to my departure from Thoune, I had been witness to the mobilization of the Swiss Army, and was much impressed by the smoothness with which that operation was conducted. There is nothing which touches more profoundly the life of each individual citizen than the exigencies of the defence of his country. Obligatory service has always been at the basis of the life of the Swiss people from the early dawn of their national history. The primitive cantons, even before 1290, were persuaded of the importance of a preparation for war, a persuasion which succeeding centuries have done much to develop and strengthen. The very first cantonal pacts laid stress on the dispositions regarding military organization, and as early as 1476, the Confederates placed contingents in the field numbering 50,000 fighting men.
The principle of universal service as adapted to present day requirements finds a willing acceptance amongst a people whose instincts, though ultra-democratic, make them realize that their independence rests on the attitude of the Confederation vis-à-vis of her powerful, and sometimes aggressive, neighbours. I have never in my experience of Switzerland heard a word of complaint of the burden borne by the State owing to the obligation entailed by universal service, though anger is deeply felt for the sacrifices imposed upon the country due to the ambitions of those responsible for the Great War.
On the outbreak of war the Confederation manifested their determination to maintain neutrality as against all comers, and, by the mobilization of some 300,000 men, made clear to the belligerents their strength of purpose.
The following table[1] gives a résumé of the gradual evolution of the military organization from the point of view of numbers legislated for at different periods:—