Restoration
When Napoleon's fall appeared imminent, the Act of Mediation was suspended in late December 1813, and lengthy discussions about future constitutions were initiated in all cantons of Switzerland.
On 6 April 1814 the Long Diet met to replace the constitution. The Diet remained dead-locked until 12 September when Valais, Neuchatel and Geneva were raised to full members of the Confederation. This increased the number of cantons to 22. The Diet, however, made little progress until the Congress of Vienna.
At the Congress of Vienna (18 September 1814 to 9 June 1815), Switzerland was represented by a delegation of three conservative politicians, Hans von Reinhard, Johann Heinrich Wieland and Johann von Montenach, besides a number of unofficial lobbyists attempting to influence the country's re-organisation, such as Frédéric-César de La Harpe who, with the support of his former pupil Tsar Alexander I of Russia, campaigned for Vaudian independence from Bern — though, on the other hand, de La Harpe opposed the creation of a federal state as opposed to a united Swiss republic.
The official delegation had the mission of ensuring the recognition of Swiss neutrality, but their efforts were hampered by a complicated web of cantonal rivalries and diverging agendas, which went to discourage the interest of the great European powers in Swiss affairs. On 20 March, the Congress finalized a declaration on the future status of Switzerland, including the recognition of the territory of the 19 cantons of the Act of Mediation (including financial compensation for those cantons which had lost territory to newly formed ones) and the recognition of Valais, Neuchâtel and Geneva as part of Switzerland, while the Valtellina, Chiavenna and Bormio were detached from the Grisons and made part of the Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia.
Recognition of Swiss neutrality was left undecided, and on 20 May, after the Napoleon's return from Elba the Swiss Tagsatzung gave in to allied pressure and declared war on France, allowing the passage of allied troops across Swiss territory (see the minor campaigns of 1815). Swiss troops under General Niklaus Franz von Bachmann advanced to the Franche-Comté without orders from the diet, but were ordered back. The French fort at Hüningen near Basel was placed under siege by Austrian and Swiss troops and surrendered on 28 August. The Swiss were particularly eager to lay siege to this fortress after its commander General Barbanegre opened fire on the city of Basel.
The Treaty of Paris of 20 November included a financial compensation for Switzerland besides the acquisition of a small territorial gain, connecting the canton of Geneva (formerly an exclave) to Vaud. Most significantly, the Treaty included the recognition of permanent Swiss neutrality by all European powers.
Cantonal constitutions were worked out independently from 1814, in general restoring the late feudal conditions of the 17th and 18th century. The Tagsatzung was re-organized by the Federal Treaty (Bundesvertrag) of 7 August 1815.
Read more about this topic: Restoration And Regeneration (Switzerland)
Famous quotes containing the word restoration:
“The King [Charles II] after the Restoration accused the poet, Edmund Waller, of having made finer verses in praise of Oliver Cromwell than of himself; to which he agreed, saying, that Fiction was the soul of Poetry.”
—Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl Chesterfield (1694–1773)
“Men who are occupied in the restoration of health to other men, by the joint exertion of skill and humanity, are above all the great of the earth. They even partake of divinity, since to preserve and renew is almost as noble as to create.”
—Voltaire [François Marie Arouet] (1694–1778)
“The 1990s, after the reign of terror of academic vandalism, will be a decade of restoration: restoration of meaning, value, beauty, pleasure, and emotion to art and restoration of art to its audience.”
—Camille Paglia (b. 1947)