resist a considerable force. These precau- | themselves by any device not requiring a 'tions, which cost much money, are very great expenditure of time, as, for example, slowly taken, are apt to become effectual by enrolling themselves in volunteer artiltoo late, and leave ample time to the Chi-lery companies. Of course, it would be nese literati to try their favourite device necessary to regulate any resort to means the rush of an armed but apparently of defence; but the merchants are not irresponsible mob, bent on pillage, torture, eager to check trade, and there are Conand execution. It does not take twelve suls with considerable powers over their hours to organize a massacre like that of people. Fortified Consulates would, we Tientsin, and though the foreigners usually believe, prevent many a Chinese war. have some warning, they very often have not adequate force at hand. They can punish but not prevent atrocities, and every punishment is apt to assume the dimensions of a war, very costly, very inglorious, and very injurious to trade. It is indispensable to seek some means of defence which shall be more permanent, more complete, and less costly; and we cannot but think that it might be found in the expedient devised a century and a half ago by the East India Company, namely, the construction of a building or fort strong enough to resist any attack not supported by powerful artillery a fort to be garrisoned by sixteen or twenty gunners, and the European volunteers. It is not the Chinese army we have to fear, but the Chinese mob; and against an armed mob even an ordinary house is a sufficient protection. The Sepoys in India were frequently beaten off from mere dwellinghouses, the windows of which had been protected by bags of sand. Four low towers connected by walls, with an ordinary flat and incombustible roof over the enclosure, a minute railway station in fact, would afford a sufficient retreat for a few days, during which the European residents would be able to read the mob a terrible lesson, until orders either arrived from Pekin or support from the nearest squadron. Better still would be the plan of the old East India Company, of obtaining certain delegated rights over a limited plot of ground, within which the European municipality would be entitled to make its own byelaws, and defend itself as it best could. The capital cities of India, with their vast populations, are controlled usually by forts of very little use in war, and have for a century been wonderfully exempt from mob risings, though in one of them, at least, there is a populace more warlike, bigoted, and dangerous than that of any Chinese city. It should be observed that in China, as in India, civil residents are accustomed to a certain degree of selfdefence, and would very gladly protect

Before any scheme of defence can be carried out, it is, however, necessary to resume, if possible, our ancient position of isolation. The European Powers in China have contrived in the course of years to hamper themselves by a system of alliance of no practical value, and much practical injury. The theory is, that all Europe is, as regards China, a Federal Power, that all States are to help each other, and that consequently any concession obtained by one State is for the general benefit of all. Even if the theory were acted on, it would be a nuisance, as the representatives of France are never content with less than command, which England, in Asia, can never afford to cede; while American diplomatists have a knack of posing themselves as friends of both sides, and very candid friends, which destroys all appearance of unity among the strangers. But as a matter of fact it is not acted upon, French women being murdered under cir cumstances which implicate the officials without English representatives attempting to enforce reparation or punishment. At the same time, the discredit of not enforcing them attaches, in Chinese eyes, to the English as much as to the French. We suffer from an apparent obligation which, nevertheless, we do not fully acknowledge. Of course in very serious emergencies civilized men will hang together against semi-civilized men; but there seems no reason why we should exert ourselves to obtain concessions from Pekin, which must be instantly shared with Powers who have scarcely any interests in China, or why we should give up the power of controlling our own people, because any ruling local committee must be international, and, therefore, inefficient. We want to see an "English factory" of the old Company's fashion in each centre of Chinese trade, and we would ask Lord Granville whether the time has not arrived for releasing our policy in China from the confused kind of Federal idea by which it is at present so hopelessly embarrassed?

THE COMMERCIAL LAWS OF THE STATES: A Summary of the Laws of each State relating to Arrest; Assignments; Attachment; Collections; Commercial Paper; Corporations; Depositions; Dower; Deeds; Damages of Bills; Execution; Exemption; Factors and Consignees; False Pretences; Homesteads; Imprisonment for Debt; Interest; Usury; Liens; Statutes of Limitation; Receivers; Redemption; Stay Laws; Partnership; The Rights of Married Women, &c. This work will be found to contain a complete summary of the law of each State, on the subjects named. One volume, 328 pages, neatly bound. New York, 1870. Published at the office of the Bankers' Magazine and Statistical Register, No. 23 Murray Street. Price Three Dollars. For sale by Little, Brown & Co., Boston.

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The rustling leaves, the saddened winds, the And unto local love affection doth dispose.

Translated for The Living Age.
A LILIPUTIAN REPUBLIC.

THE REPUBLIC OF GERSAU.

BY ADOLPHE GAUTIER.

the promontory of the Obere Nase, the boundary of Lucerne, to a little east of the Chapel of Infanticide, the boundary of Schwytz. Its greatest width is three-quar ters of a league, and exterds from the lake On the Lake of the Four Cantons, on the to the boundary mark, placed a few paces right, or north side of that part called the behind the water-cure establishment of Bay of Buochs, lies a little valley, the steep the Righi Scheidegg. The boatmen of the sides of which form the beds of two tor- lake declare that five hundred and fifty rents, that rush down from the three sec-strokes of the oar suffice to go from one ondary summits of Mount Righi. These end of the Republic to the other, but nearthree summits, forming an amphitheatre, ly twice that amount is necessary. are from 4800 to 5200 feet high; they slope precipitously into the lake, to the east and west of the valley of which we speak, and isolate it so much from the surrounding country that there are no means of access to it, except from the lake, or through narrow mountain paths. On the shore, at the end of this valley, are seen the white houses of the village of Gersau. Situated in one of the most picturesque parts of Switzerland, inhabitated by an active and industrious population, surrounded by orchards, woods and pastures, this village has a distinct physiognomy; and, by its appearance of comfort and wealth, more resembles one of the chief towns of the Little Cantons,* than the other villages of the adjacent country. You see a pretty church, lately built, a large hotel, several handsome residences, and two large silk factories, lit by gas. A road, recently opened, connects Gersau with Brunnen and the rest of the Canton of Schwytz, and now the inhabitants hear the rumbling of carriages, which their fathers never did. In the neighbourhood is the fine thermal establishment of the Righi Scheidegg, where, during the summer many strangers follow the cure, and breathe the fresh Alpine air; and on the shore of the lake, most romantically situated, is the Chapel of Infanticide, (Kindlimord), built near a rock, whence, according to tradition, a minstrel precipitated his child, who asked him for bread.

In the beginning of this century, the population comprised only twelve hundred and ninety-four inhabitants; the last census shows seventeen hundred and forty. They live by raising cattle, fishing, navigation, and the manufacture of silk, not only in the two factories, of which we have spoken, but in their own houses.

The valley and its slopes formed the territory of the old Free and Sovereign State of Gersau. Its greatest length is one league and a quarter, and extends from

The Cantons of Uri, Schwytz and Unterwalden, the original founders of the Swiss Confederation, are generally thus designated.

The topographical shape of Gersau has contributed, in isolating it from the rest of the world, towards giving it a peculiar character. History has confirmed the work of nature; it shows us this diminutive district living upon its own resources, during several centuries, and forming an independent State, of which one of its historians has truthfully said that, if there existed no smaller republic, neither was there a happier one.

The first historical document in which mention is made of Gersau, is an act dated 1064, enumerating the possessions of the Abbey of Muri. Among these possessions figures "all the territory of Gersau,” (Gersove per totum), but nothing is said of how the Abbey originally came into possession. Whether of old, or recent date, these possessions and rights were not destined to remain, for a long time, in the hands of the same proprietor, for in 1247 Muri possessed only the church and its dependencies, and a twelfth part of the ecclesiastical tithes. This loss to them was to the advantage of the Counts of Habsburg, who, as treasurers, (Kastvogt), of the Abbey, exercised justice in its name and held certain possessions, among them a domain called the Court of Gersau, the inhabitants of which were their vassals.

The yoke of the Habsburgs was much heavier than that of the abbots of Muri, and although the inhabitants, except those

of the Court, were not vassals, their condition was but little better; they were oppressed with taxes and duties of every kind, which deprived them of all feeling of security for their property.

sau.

still to be seen at the town-hall. Finally, another proof of the presence of the Gersovians on the battle-field is that, in the enumeration of the Swiss who fell on that day, the name of Camenzind appears. This name is that of the oldest and most influential family of Gersau; it exists there only and has always occupied and does to this day the most conspicuous and honourable position.

Even the most powerful nobles of the Middle Ages were often in want of money; and this doubtless happened to the Habsburgs, when, towards the end of the thirteenth century they mortgaged the domain of Gersau to the Barons of Ramstein, who Although Gersau had obtained its poliin their turn re-mortgaged it to the Von tical independence, it was not yet entirely Moos family, of Lucerne. This was a ben- free. According to the existing treaties efit to the people, as a document of the the Von Moos family still retained their period shows an increase in the number of feudal rights, and these rights might, under landholders and that the Ammann, a judi- certain circumstances, compromise the incial functionary, was a bourgeois of Ger- dependence of the Gersovians. This had The community, in acquiring greater happened to the neighbouring government wealth and importance, was steadily be- of Weggis, which, up to that time, had coming emancipated. It was the period had the same destiny as Gersau. In when the founders of the Swiss Confedera- the beginning a vassal of the Abbey of tion made treaties of alliance, in order to resist the design of the House of Austria to transform into a political sovereignty the feudal rights transmitted to it by inheritance in the Waldstetten. Gersau was included in these treaties from 1332, but its name only appears in the act renewing the alliance in 1359. This document states that Gersau and Weggis take the same oath as the four Cantons and enjoy the same rights. By an additional act Gersau and Weggis declare their acceptance of the compact and promise aid to the Can-power, in order to purchase for themselves tons, whenever they may demand it.

Pfæfers, then of the House of Habsburg, Weggis, with its dependency, Viznau, had been mortgaged to Lucerne, which had established a bailiff there. Under the government of such a city as Lucerne, liberty was in great danger; and although the Gersovians were very happy under the easy yoke of the Von Mooses they were in constant dread lest their rights should some day be sold by them, as the lords of Weggis had done. Consequently they resolved to make every sacrifice in their

their seignorial rights. During ten years
they submitted to the greatest privations
and, by persistence and self-denial, suc-
ceeded in amassing three thousand four
hundred and fifty florins,
sum for the times, which sum had
been agreed upon between their lords and
themselves. On the 3d of June, 1390,

-

an enormous

The political independence of Gersau was thus recognized by those who had shown that they were capable of acquiring and maintaining their liberty and who despised no aid, however small, such as Gersau could give. This assistance was never wanting. It was asked from 1386, when the Confederation, having increased in a deputation of four notables of Gersau size, was attacked by the grasping Habsburgs, who were completely beaten at the battle of Sempach. The Gersovians fought side by side with the Confederates and carried off, as a trophy, the banner of Hohenzollern, which hung nearly four hundred years in the church at Gersau, until it was stolen by a German dyer, living there. Another trophy also belongs to the same period; it is a portrait of the Duke of Austria, killed at Sempach, and is

went to Lucerne and, in the presence of witnesses, paid over the sum collected into the hands of Peter, John and Agnes Von Moos, whose father, the avoyer, had been killed at Sempach. The Von Mooses gave a receipt for the money, in which they surrendered forever to the inhabitants of Gersau all their seignorial rights. This receipt is preserved among the archives of Gersau.

Complete success crowned the perse