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Special pages :
Measures Concerning the German Refugees
First published: in Neue Rheinische Zeitung No. 165, December 10, 1848.
Berne, December 5. The Federal Council has now taken measures to deal with the German refugees, partly in order to deprive the imperial authority of the pretext for hostile measures, partly to show its impartiality towards Tessin and to carry through in practice also in the northern cantons the triumph of the policy of strict neutrality which was won in the Tessin debate. The policy of Furrer-Munzinger-Ochsenbein is being pursued everywhere. A circular of the Federal Council addressed to the border cantons concerned repeats the basic principles expressed by the Vorort, and again insists on the internment of all refugees who took part in the Struve campaign[1]; and in order to give weight to this demand the President of the Federal Assembly, Dr. Steiger, already left yesterday as representative of the Confederation to visit the northern cantons.
There can be no objection to the measure in itself. Nobody will blame Switzerland for not wanting to get involved in unpleasantness because of a few volunteer insurgents who are thirsting for adventure and heartily bored in their exile. But why then the previous bold talk against Germany, the positive assurance that the Swiss had done their duty, when it is now indirectly admitted that they did not do it, when they are only now seeking to satisfy themselves how far the cantons have obeyed the orders of the Vorort? â It is not to be denied that this decision of the Federal Council, an act of justice towards Tessin, is a complete dĂ©menti of the last official act of the Vorort, and though the Note [sent to the Imperial Government on November 4, 1848] received unanimous applause, this beginning of disavowal in the Note will cause little joy.
Nothing has been heard about the closing of the German frontier, except that the whole of Swabia is protesting against it. Whether it will take place or not is again left to God to decide. In any case, the Federal Council has decided for the present not to range any troops opposite the imperial division.
The Federal Military Council has now concluded its current business and has been definitely disbanded. In its place there will be a War Office which Ochsenbein, as head of the Military Department, will organise and direct.
The new Spanish ambassador, Herr Zayas, who arrived here a few days ago with credentials for the Vorort, has now presented these to the Vice-President of the Federal Council, Herr Druey, and thereby made immediate contact with the new authorities.
The press is much incensed over the treatment of the Swiss in Vienna, of which I recently gave you some examples. It insists on the Federal Council demanding satisfaction and compensation from Austria. In particular the behaviour of the Bernese General Wyss arouses general indignation here. This generalâs brother is a master builder here in Berne.
- â The Vorort â
Under pressure from Radetzky, commander-in-chief of the Austrian army in North Italy, the Vorort Berne sent its representatives and a military detachment to Tessin, a canton bordering on Italy, where Italian refugees who supported the insurgent movement against Austria had found asylum. The representatives demanded that all the Italian refugees should he deported from Tessin into the interior of the country. The Tessin Government refused to fulfil this demand and agreed to deport only those Italians who had taken a direct part in the insurgentsâ movement. The conflict was discussed in the columns of the Neue Rheinische Zeitung for several months. Engels gave details of the debate on it in the new Swiss Federal Assembly in his article âThe National Councilâ.
The Vorort (the main canton) â the name given to a Swiss canton in whose capital the Diet, and later the Federal Assembly, held its sittings before Berne was proclaimed the Swiss capital. In 1803-09, there were six main cantons â Freiburg, Berne, Solothurn, Basle, Zurich and Lucerne; in 18 1 5 their number was reduced to three: Zurich, Berne and Lucerne, and the seat of the Diet changed every two years.
Until the Constitution of 1848, the Vorort authorities to a certain extent fulfilled the functions of the countryâs Government and its representative was President of the Diet.
Concerning the Struve campaign. The reference is to the invasion of Baden from Swiss territory by detachments of German republican refugees led by Gustav Struve on September 21, 1848, following the news of the ratification by the Frankfurt National Assembly of the armistice in Malmö and the popular uprising in Frankfurt in reply to it. Supported by the local republicans, Struve proclaimed a German Republic in the frontier town of Lörrach and formed a provisional government. However, the insurgent detachments were shortly afterwards scattered by the troops, and Struve, Blind and other leaders of the uprising were imprisoned by decision of a court martial (they were released during another republican uprising in Baden in May 1849).