MILITARY ORGANIZATION OF SWITZERLAND. THE peculiar geographical situation of Switzerland, placed as a barrier between France and the Italian possessions of the House of Austria, having drawn some of the public attention to the arming and disarming of its military force; it may, perhaps, interest the readers of the United Service Journal to become acquainted with the Military Organization of the only State in Europe which has no standing army, and yet, in case of need, can in a few days, (I should almost say, hours,) produce, in proportion to the general population, the largest body of men equipped, drilled, and trained to the tactics of war. One of the first articles of the Constitution of every one of the Swiss Cantons is, that after exception of the clergy and the first functionaries of the State, every Swiss citizen is a soldier. Tout Suisse est soldat." That liability begins in some of the Swiss States at the age of sixteen, until fiftyfive. In some others it begins a few years later and ends at fifty. From the age of twenty to twenty-eight, the citizens are obliged to serve in the Contingents, and are liable to be called out at any moment. After those eight years, they are allowed to withdraw into the Reserve, or Landwehr. The proportion of the number of armed men in Switzerland is on an average of one for every eight inhabitants, or about 250,000 men out of 2,000,000 souls.* The above force is divided in three corps, or classes; namely, the two Contingents of regular troops, and the Reserve, or Landwehr. The first Contingent is composed as much as possible of unmarried men, as above stated, of the age of twenty to twenty-eight. The second, comprises men of the same age, married or single. The Landwehr comprises all the citizens, who having served their eight years in the Contingents, claim their discharge from active service. The basis of repartition amongst the several Cantons fixed in 1814, when the population of Switzerland was computed at about 1,700,000 souls, was two per cent. for each Contingent, making two armies of 33,758 men each, exclusive of the Swiss Federal Staff. Staff of the Battalions Men. 1704 142 71 1194 736 2000 666 217 Companies, Infantry, (Grenadiers, Voltigeurs, and Centre) 27245 with seventy-two cannon or howitzers of various calibre. The second Contingent consists of, 16 Companies of Artillery Waggon-train Corps (with 1141 horses) Staff of the Battalions with forty-eight cannon as above. 33758 Men. 1136 717 2000 666 29239 33758 * In almost every habitation or cottage, you will find hung up near to the bed, muskets or rifles, according to the number of men capable of bearing arms in the family. The Cantons which furnish the artillery are obliged to hold to the disposal of the Swiss Federal Council of war, besides the above stated, 120 cannon, thirty pieces and mortars of heavy artillery, twenty pieces of various calibre for replacement in case of accident, making altogether 170 pieces of cannon attached to the two Contingents. The Landwehr is organized in battalions of infantry, and as most of the Cantons have in readiness more cavalry, artillery, and riflemen, than required by the above table,* any corps of Landwehr called out in case of need would be supported by as much élite troops, so as to render it similar to the first or second Contingent. The Swiss Federal army, when called out by the Swiss Diet, is commanded by officers of the Federal Staff. This corps, to which officers of the cantons are promoted after a certain number of years of service, consists of a certain number of colonels, lieutenant-colonels, captains, lieutenants, &c. &c. of the Staff, belonging to the artillery, engineers, cavalry, and infantry, besides a proper number of commissaries for the administration of the army, and of superior medical officers. A grade in the Swiss Federal Staff ranks one grade higher in the Cantonal service. When the Swiss Diet deems it necessary to call to arms half or more of either of the Contingents, it proceeds to the election of a general-in-chief, a commander in second, and a quarter-master-general. These officers are chosen from the Federal colonels; and from that same Staff are afterwards taken those officers to each of whom is intrusted the command of a division of the army or of a brigade, and in short all the field-officers. That corps wears a peculiar uniform, and the Helvetic cockade, (white and red ;) they receive their orders from the general-in-chief, who acts in immediate communication with the Diet or the Federal Directory. Having already stated the way in which the men are raised, I shall briefly state the manner in which they are armed, equipped, and trained to military tactics. When the Swiss citizen has attained the age at which he becomes liable to military duties, he becomes also obliged to provide himself with full accoutrements; in the poorer States of Switzerland, he only provides his uniform, and the State furnishes him with the musket, cartridge-box, knapsack, sabre, and capote. In the other cantons, it is a sort of individual tax, (and a heavy one it is,) and the parish is obliged to assist those who have not the means of equipping themselves at their own expense. In the month of April each year, the captains of the Contingent recruit amongst the young men of the class of the year, a number of men equal to that of those who have finished their time, and gone into the reserve; the artillery has first the choice, after come the grenadier captains, the riflemen officers choose those young men known as good shots; finally, the voltigeurs and centre companies are placed in full complement by the remainder. The cavalry is chosen amongst those rich peasants who always have horses, and so is the waggon and artillery train; the proprietor of the horses receiving an indemnity when called in active service. Various are the means of drilling the troops. In all cantons, there are a certain number of days of exercise in the spring and early part of the summer, besides inspections and reviews. At those exercises, which last from four to six hours each time, the contingents, the reserve, and Landwehr, are all drilled and trained from the first platoon exercises to the grand manoeuvres. The contingents are besides called into camps for three or six weeks, during which they are broken to all military duties, and subject to the most strict *The Canton de Vaud, which in the Federal army is rated at 5800 for the two Contingents, has always in readiness about 9000 of élite troops. discipline. The Cadres of several cantons and thirty soldiers by company, are besides called together, under command of Federal officers of the staff, in camps where manoeuvres are performed on a larger scale. Finally, in the larger cantons there is always in the chef lieu one or more companies of the contingents doing duty, and relieving one another every six weeks, which time is entirely devoted to drilling and manoeuvring. The officers of the artillery are named and advanced, but after very severe and strict examinations in mathematics and every thing relative to their arm, are obliged every two or three years to go for two months to the Federal School of artillery at Thun, near Berne, where the Cadres of the staff, and of the cavalry and light troops, are also called to the study of theory. In order to render the re-union of the Swiss army instantaneous, I may say, each company has its own officers in the same district; and its place of rendezvous in a central spot, where others join to form a battalion; a certain number of battalions form a brigade, which has its chief appointed, and a Federal colonel commands a certain number of brigades forming his division. Battalions of infantry, companies of artillery, cavalry, and riflemen, have their own officers of the same canton. Superior and field officers, as above stated, are taken from the Federal staff. The dress of the troops is not exactly uniform throughout Switzerland. Each canton being an independent and sovereign state, has its cockade, its colours, as well as its own uniform. This latter part of the dress is dark blue throughout Switzerland, the facings varying only, being in some states red, in others light blue. The artillery throughout Switzerland is dark blue and red facings, the cavalry green and red, the riflemen green and black. The head-dress is the Schacko, about the same shape as the present English When called out in the Federal army, all officers and soldiers wear on the left arm a piece of scarlet cloth with a small white cross, and the colours, red and white, have a large white cross set transversely. one. It is very much talked in Switzerland to have henceforth but one colour, one cockade, and one uniform. Old glorious recollections may render some of the cantons attached to their old colours, but the feeling for unity becoming very prevalent, I believe the time not far distant when such a plan will be adopted. ONE OF THE FIRST CONTINGENT. HINTS ON NAVAL AND MILITARY POLICY. THERE cannot be a question that the disposition of commercial men, to regard taxation principally as a withdrawal of a portion of the capital or revenue of the country, from the support of the productive labour of the people to the unproductive and even wasting expenditure of Government, may be carried so far as to paralyse those energies upon which the safety of the British empire depends. It never can be too frequently or seriously impressed upon the minds of the English people, that neither their commerce, nor their empire,-neither the comfort and security of their homes, nor the extent of their foreign dominion or commerce, can exist longer than the decided and undoubted superiority of their Navy and Army, and the possession of those In every town and village there is very frequent firing at the target, with the musket, and chiefly with the rifle, the prizes being given by the governments and by clubs. foreign citadels or depôts of warlike power, which are necessary to bring their arms to bear with sudden and decisive effect upon any offending power. The superiority of their Navy must depend not only on that of its matériel and composition, of its bravery and science, but also of its numbers and distribution, and its power of appearing in dictatorial force there, wherever its dictation is wanted. That of their Army must consist rather in the perfection of its discipline, instruction, and institutions; its distribution and capability of sudden and efficient increase, rather than its numbers. Both services should be treated honourably and liberally, otherwise they, as well as all public services conducted on a system of meanness and parsimony, will only be more prejudicial than beneficial to the state. Better would it be to throw yourself on the mercies of your enemies, than to protect yourself by defenders who can pay themselves only by robbing and betraying you. The object of every truly patriotic English statesman should be, to ascertain not only how far reduction and economy may be carried in our warlike departments and expenditure, but where they should stop: not how far only, but how far safely, the pruning-knife may be applied to our institutions. Destroy the vitality of any of them, and you impair the vigour and safety of the whole. On these points, as regards the Army and Navy, and Military and Naval policy of the empire, none can be so good or such proper judges as experienced and scientific soldiers and sailors; and, indeed, the general science of war should be understood by every man who ventures to guide the destinies of a great nation. Sir H. Parnell, in his work on Financial Reform, seems to think that our military establishments in some of our colonies might be put on a more reduced and less expensive footing, and that some of our colonies, we might, indeed, be even better without. Now this may possibly be the case, but to decide that it is so, it is not sufficient to consider merely their exports and their imports, and the expense of keeping them; it is not sufficient to look at them in a commercial point of view; it is also requisite to consider their warlike importance, whether in our hands, or those of an enemy, and to take care not to weaken our hold of those strategic points upon which, in case of war, our operations, either for offence or defence, should turn. In the same spirit he seems to seek the means of economising in our military and naval establishments at home; but in conducting this experimental economy, let him destroy nothing useful; let him not leave the warlike habits, and character, and instruction of our sailors or soldiers, to the accidental operation of supply and demand in what may be termed a blood market; but let him keep every institution upon which these depend, to maintain always defenders of British honour and interests, who are sure and worthy of being feared; let him concentrate, as far as he can beneficially, the scattered and ill connected branches of an administration, which has gradually grown up, perhaps, in rather wild luxuriance, without sufficient method and arrangement, as circumstances have called for them, but let him not, in doing so, impair their powers and diminish their efficiency. MENTOR. ON NAVAL TIMBER. "Hail, hallowed oaks!-Happy foresters, Your leafy banners 'gainst the tyrannous North, ALTHOUGH the fervent liberalism of the age is making an 66 old song" of the Mare Clausum, which so long constituted the boast of these realms, we trust that it will yet be some time before the vital importance of our maritime interests is denied. The British Navy has such urgent claims upon the vigilance of every patriot, as the bulwark of his independence and happiness, that any effort for supporting and improving its strength, lustre, and dignity, must meet with unqualified attention. We, therefore, professing a warm regard for all its aiders and abettors, were well pleased on finding that a treatise on Naval Timber, by Patrick Matthew, of Gourdie Hill, had been launched in this teeming year of legislative innovations. Mr. Matthew boldly acknowledges but a slight acquaintance with the reputed standard authors on this subject; at the same time he very fairly warns the critic tribe to beware of handling him roughly, lest they expose their own ignorance. This is a heart-of-oak sort of frankness which we highly value; and we relish moreover the characteristic manliness of his style, albeit in turning from analysis to synthesis, he dissects several well-known authorities with such keenness, that were their names suspended over our timber nurseries, they would act as beacons rather than decoys. The terseness of his language, from its fulness and patriotic bearing, needs no apology: "Some technical or nautical terms," says he, "have unavoidably crept into this work; we shall not presume to think any explanation necessary. Britannia would blush jusqu'au blanc des yeux, to the tips of her fingers and toes, did she think it were doubted that any of her sons, not doomed to unceasing mechanical labour, were unacquainted with these." In thus testifying our hearty approbation of the author, it is strictly in his capacity of a forest-ranger, where he is original, bold, and evidently experienced in all the arcana of the parentage, birth, and education of trees. But we disclaim participation in his ruminations on the law of Nature, or on the outrages committed upon reason and justice by our burthens of hereditary nobility, entailed property, and insane enactments. We consider it a much easier undertaking to decry and pull down, than to replace an overthrown edifice; and, however short our Government may be of that theoretic optimism which can be attained only when mankind shall be perfect, we have long firmly thought, that it has produced more social happiness and freedom by the least objectionable means, than any other state or system, ancient or modern. We are not for permitting every one to legislate; for unlike the horde of newspaper politicians of the day, we hold legislation to require both study and talent, in a much larger proportion than many of our gallery-addressers of the Commons possess. While we readily admit that in substituting intellectual for physical strength, we verify the popular axiom, that "knowledge is power," yet we must never U. S. JOURN. No. 33. AUGUST 1831. 2 H |