The events of the late French-Prussian war tested the efficiency of the Swiss military organization and instruction. The French declaration was announced in Paris in the afternoon of Friday, July 15, 1870, and responded to by a counter declaration from Berlin on Tuesday, the 19th. But the Federal Council of Switzerland (which lay between the combatants, and might become the first theatre of belligerent operations), was summoned by President Dubs to consider the situation; and within an hour, the Cantons had been regularly summoned to complete their regiments with men, arms, horses, guns, and all stores and tools required for actual service, and five divisions of the Elite (the first, second, sixth, seventh, and ninth), were ordered to assemble in their several Cantons. The first division, under Colonel Egtoff, was to secure the bridge at Basle and occupy the two banks of the Rhine. The first news which the men of Aargau had of the impending war was late on Friday night. By noon on Saturday squads of men were falling into the ranks in front of the town-hall of the cantonal capital—companies were formed—guns were got out—sappers, engineers, and guards were in readiness—officers were at their posts. In the afternoon the first Swiss troops were in march for Basle, and by midnight the first regiment of Aargau were on the bridge; and by Sunday night the first division, under Col, Egtoff, with 8,296 men, and 692 horses, besides the staff and guides; and the second division, under Colonel Salis, with 8,319 men, and 632 men at the same hour had assembled at Basle and held the roads and streams which led to Bonn. By Tuesday night, before the Prussian manifest was known in Bonn, the five divisions of the first Swiss army, with their eleven batteries of artillery mounting 96 field pieces, and a total force of 37,423 men, and 3,541 horses and 104 staff and guides, were under arms and at their respective rendezvous; and the President was authorized by the Council to announce to all concerned, “that any troops belonging to belligerent states, whether regulars or volunteers, who violate the territory of the Swiss nation, will be repelled by force.”

Out of the officers whose men were first in the field, the Federal Council placed Colonel Herzog, of the Aargau detachment of the Federal army, in chief command, and by Saturday night the General’s head-quarters were established at Alton (the center of the Swiss railways), where he organized his staff, issued his instructions to organize two hospitals, one for wounded men, and the other for horses, and at the same time ordered magazines of stores and clothes to be established in his rear, and the forces to be moved up to the front. All railway companies were ordered to report their stock of engines, carriages, and open wagons, and telegraphic communication was established for night as well as day service, and engineers were sent out to study every pass and point by which an enemy in any strength was likely to enter the territory of Switzerland. When all danger to the Cantons had passed away in the victories of the German arms, Gen. Herzog was directed to raise his camps, and send to their several Cantons their respective troops. Later in the war, when it was authentically known that Bourbaki was moving an army of 150,000 strong, to sweep across the Rhine; and still later, that the Germans meant to push the French, in either whole or part, across the Swiss frontier, and put them out of service for the rest of the war—General Herzog satisfied the President and the Council, and the Minister of War, of the impending danger, and on Thursday, Jan. 19th, the third, fourth, and fifth divisions, with two batteries of mountain guns, well prepared for winter service in a district lying under snow, were ordered out; and in one week from that date, these forces were distributed through the various passes in the Jura, from Basle to Geneva, with orders to repel, or receive—to fight, or feed and lodge, according to the spirit in which the broken detachments of the French army should present themselves. For the enormous number (83,301), who laid down their arms, food and beds were distributed in the Swiss Cantons, by less than 20,000 citizen troops, without the forfeit of a single life. And when their work was done, these citizen soldiers laid aside their arms and uniforms and returned to their shops and industries of various kinds, to earn their daily bread, without forgetting for a moment their civic rights and household duties.

If the occasion had required it, as it did in the war of Secession in 1856, each Canton would have contributed 30 men from every 1,000 inhabitants, to the Elite, and 15 men to every 1,000 to the Reserve; and in case of danger to the Union, every male Switzer, from the age of nineteen to forty-five, not included in either of the above forces, would have obeyed the summons of the national authority for the Landwehr, adding 97,934 to the ranks, besides volunteering above and below the military age, to the number of 100,000 men, who, in case of a defensive war, could have been relied on,—all familiar with military tactics, and accustomed to obey as soldiers, as well as to the use of arms.

According to recent official statistics the strength of the several armies of Switzerland is as follows:

Elite.Reserve.Landwehr.
1. Engineers,900630. .
2. Artillery,6,5134,254. .
3. Cavalry,1,937932. .
4. Carabineers,4,6002,460. .
5. Infantry,55,99426,448. .
6. Sanitary Service,14478. .
Armorers,30. .
Total,70,08834,83297,934

The system of recruiting, drilling and brigading, is local—which brings neighbors and friends into camp and field companionship, and inspires a sense of trust and coöperation.

The cost of the reliable military force is as follows:

Cantonal expense,4,508,901frs.
Federal expense,5,486,396
9,995,297

Contrasted with the cost of education the figures stand thus:

Communal expenses,5,000,000frs.
Cantonal expenses,5,157,756
Federal Polytechnic,287,611
10,445,367