HUGH SIMONS GIBSON

Until 1847 Switzerland remained a pure Confederation of States, that is to say, she took five and a half centuries to make the step which the United States achieved at once.

If Switzerland was not the real cradle of the Reformation, she soon became its home, at least for the French and Anglo-Saxon countries.

The differences of opinion between the Catholic and Protestant Cantons [States] obliged Switzerland to remain aloof from European conflicts and, as a result, she remained in an untroubled state of peace throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. This was of great benefit to her economic development.

There can be no real federal state except when all elements of the people are united by a common patriotism. If there is no diversity federalism is unnecessary. If there is no common patriotism, federalism is dangerous because it is bound to result in the separatism of certain elements.

Because of the development of infantry into the most powerful instrument of war, the Swiss, who were a fine type of infantrymen, became one of the greatest military and political forces in Europe…. the Continent was divided into fragments by feudalism and that no monarchical state had achieved its territorial unity. Under these circumstances, during the whole of the fifteenth century Switzerland was the most stable political element in Europe.

Until 1847 Switzerland remained a pure Confederation of States, that is to say, she took five and a half centuries to make the step which the United States achieved at once.

The differences of opinion between the Catholic and Protestant Cantons [States] obliged Switzerland to remain aloof from European conflicts and, as a result, she remained in an untroubled state of peace throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. This was of great benefit to her economic development.

There can be no real federal state except when all elements of the people are united by a common patriotism. If there is no diversity federalism is unnecessary. If there is no common patriotism, federalism is dangerous because it is bound to result in the separatism of certain elements.

If Switzerland was not the real cradle of the Reformation, she soon became its home, at least for the French and Anglo-Saxon countries.

Because of the development of infantry into the most powerful instrument of war, the Swiss, who were a fine type of infantrymen, became one of the greatest military and political forces in Europe…. the Continent was divided into fragments by feudalism and that no monarchical state had achieved its territorial unity. Under these circumstances, during the whole of the fifteenth century Switzerland was the most stable political element in Europe.