William Dennison McCrackan

“ Nothing can give one so good an idea of the extent of the family power of Habsburg on all sides of Uri, Schwiz and Unterwalden, as the roll of the estates, the so-called Urbarbuch, in which were recorded the lists of properties and offices with the revenues appertaining to them. An examination of this terrier, which was begun by Rudolf and finished by his son Albrecht, shows conclusively that the Forest States were surrounded by a veritable cordon of Habsburg estates, and that nothing but a determined effort on their part could save them from becoming completely owned by that ambitious family. ”

“ Uri, Schwiz and Unterwalden were not originally independent states with fully developed republican forms of government; nor can there be a question of their having voluntarily submitted themselves to the empire, since they formed a part of it as early as we have any records. If modern research has proved anything beyond the shadow of a doubt, it is that the Forest States gained their freedom after the lapse of centuries of persistent toil, and not at one blow. ”

“ Succeeding centuries have practically verified the naive declaration of this group of unpretentious patriots, for the perpetual pact remained the fundamental statue-law of the growing Confederation for centuries, and was only superseded by enactments of a more modern date, when it had as a matter of fact died of old age. ”