Council of Basel

“ It also accorded him the right to confirm all newly elected prelates and to receive the annates. Nothing was said in the concordat of a great part of the chief subjects of complaint. This gave the princes an excuse for the theory that the decrees of Constance and Basel were still in force, limiting the papal prerogatives in all respects not noticed in the concordat. It was Germany which gave the restored papacy the greatest amount of anxiety during the generation following the dissolution of the council of Basel. ”

“ In the liberal cantons the Burgomaster presided. The Council, however, encroached upon the rights of the people at large, and deprived them of direct influence in the management of affairs. Basel and Schaffhausen followed in the track of Zurich. Genuine democracies represent the cantons à Landsgemeinde. The government embodied the will of a sovereign people, and from its very antiquity commands our veneration and deserves special attention. ”

“ Germany remained neutral; Charles VII. of France confined himself to securing to his kingdom by the Pragmatic Sanction of Bourges, which became law on the 13th of July 1438, the benefit of a great number of the reforms decreed at Basel; England and Italy remained faithful to Eugenius IV. Finally, in 1447 Frederick III., king of the Romans, after negotiations with Eugenius, commanded the burgomaster of Basel not to allow the presence of the council any longer in the imperial city. In June 1448 the rump of the council migrated to Lausanne. ”

“ The result of this Assembly of Bourges was an ordinance and twenty-three articles which were called the "Pragmatic Sanction," a name introduced under the ancient emperors. In this were adopted, sometimes with modifications, most of the decrees of Basel. Among them the first was conceived in these terms: "General councils shall be held every ten years, and the pope, according to the opinion of the council which is closing, shall designate the place of the next council, which cannot be changed except for most important reasons and by the advice of the cardinals. ”

“ After this victory, the government of Bern addressed itself to the establishment of the Reformation in the entire canton as well as to its more rapid diffusion in all parts of the Confederacy. St. Gall, where the mass and images had already been laid aside, now joined the Christian Buergerrecht. In Basel, the middle class took a still bolder stand against the more aristocratic party belonging to the old faith. The Council was divided and cramped; one burgomaster stood opposed to the other. Now the deputies of the cantons and now those of the cities appeared with attempts at mediation. ”

“ The university library is very rich, and contains the original MSS. of the acts of the great oecumenical council. There are a number of modern monuments in the city, the most important being that set up to the memory of the Swiss who fell in the battle of St Jakob (1444) , won by the French. Basel is the seat of the chief missionary society in Switzerland, the training school for missionaries being at St Chrischona, 6 m. ”

“ To the honorable, the wise and the discreet, the Council and burghers generally of Basel, of Colmar, of Schlettstadt, of Rheinau, of Naffach, and after them, all those cities where this letter appears, Nicholas the younger Zorn, mayor of the city, and the burghers of Strassburg generally offer their free service with entire friendship. Many things are done honorably and justly, which in foreign countries are perverted, because their origin is not rightly understood. ”

“ The compulsory Referendum exists in the seven Cantons of Zurich, Bern, Solothurn, Grisons, Aargau, Thurgau, and the Valais, and in the rural half-Canton of Basel. In Schwyz and Vaud both forms obtain. In Zurich a popular vote must be taken upon all changes in the constitution, new laws, concordats, and the appropriation of an amount exceeding 250,000 francs, or an annual expenditure exceeding 20,000 francs. The power of the cantonal council in Zurich is further limited by the initiative. ”

“ As in other Swiss towns the trade gilds got all political power into their hands, especially by the 18th century. They naturally favoured the city at the expense of the rural districts, so that in 1832 the latter proclaimed their independence, and in 1833 were organized into the half canton of Basel Landschaft, the city forming that of Basel Stadt. ”

“ The people yields its servants, indeed, some compensation, but it does not reward them with pensions or with superabundant influence. It builds up no official class who forget their citizenship and separate themselves from the mass of the people, squeezing as many advantages as possible out of their offices, even to the prejudice of efficient service. The Cantons, upon enumeration, number not twenty-two but twenty-five, because three of them have been divided into half-Cantons, making nineteen whole and six half Cantons. Basel is divided into Basel-Stadt and Basel-Landschaft (urban and rural) ”

“ A draft constitution providing for a Federal administration distinct from the cantons could not secure a majority in its favour; a reaction against reform set in, and the Diet was forced to sanction (1833) the division of Basel into the “city” and “country” divisions (each with half a vote in the Diet) , though fortunately in Schwyz the quarrel was healed. Religious quarrels further stirred up strife in Connexion with Aargau, which was a Canton where religious parity prevailed, later in others. ”

“ The industries include silk ribbons (8000 hands) , metal articles, tanning, paper, aniline dyes and other chemicals, brewing, &c.; and the position of Basel, a little below where the Rhine becomes navigable and at the terminus of the French and German railways, has made it the emporium of a most important trade. At Basel was signed the treaty of peace between France and Prussia, 5th April, and that between France and Spain, 22nd July, 1795. ”

“ The canton borders on Alsace and Baden, has an area of 177 sq. miles, and a pop. of 222,000 (1916) , nearly all speaking German. It is divided into two half-cantons, Basel city (Basel-Stadt) and Basel country (Basel-Land) . The former consists of the city and its precincts, the remainder of the canton forming Basel-Land, the capital of which is Liestal. The whole canton belongs to the valley of the Rhine. The soil is generally well cultivated ”

“ But with the Reformation, Basel became the arena of contests which menaced the very existence of the university itself, the professors being, for the most part, opposed to the new movement with which the burghers warmly sympathized. Eventually, the statutes were revised, and in the latter half of the 16th century the university may be said to have attained its apogee. Before he had signed the bull for the foundation of the university of Basel, Pope Pius, at the request of Duke William of Bavaria, had issued another bull for the foundation of a university at Ingolstadt Ingolstadt. ”

“ The chief members were Basel, Colmar, Mulhouse, Schlestadt, and two dioceses, and it is referred to as the Basse-Union or the Lower Union, the purposes being to guarantee mutually the rights of the contracting parties, to meet for discussion on various questions, and, specifically, to help Mulhouse pay her debts. A few days later, March 19th, there was a fresh proposition to make an alliance between this Basse-Union and the Swiss confederation. This required a referendum. Each Swiss delegate received a copy of the articles to take back to his constituents for their consideration. ”

“ Basel city joined the Catholic League formed at Sarnen, in November, 1832, as a counterblast to the Siebner-Concordat. Uri, Inner-Schwyz, Unterwalden, Valais, and Freiburg also joined this league. The inhabitants of Neuchâtel had a double object, the reformation of their constitution, and their separation, if possible, from Prussia, the double régime being greatly disliked. An attempt was made on the castle, but it failed, and the Federation re-established order, and the old status quo. The royalist party in Neuchâtel now aimed at a severance from Switzerland. ”

“ In no canton in Switzerland is there more than one legislative body: in none is there a senate. The cities of Switzerland have no mayor, the cantons have no governor, and, if the title be used in the American sense, the republic has no President. Instead of the usual single executive head, the Swiss employ an executive council. Hence, in every canton a deadlock in legislation is impossible, the way is open for all law demanded by a majority, and neither in canton nor Confederation is one-man power known. ”

“ The canton of Bern has no other sovereign than the single city of Bern: The sovereignty resides in the grand council, which has the legislative power and the power of making peace, war, and alliances, and is composed of two hundred counsellors and ninety-nine assessors, the election of whom is made, by the seizeniers and the senate, from the citizens, from whom they are supposed virtually to derive their power; but a general assembly of the citizens is never called together, on any occasion, or for any purpose, not even to lay taxes, nor to make alliances or war. ”

“ In the Diet, six cantons which had a population of more than 100,000 (viz. Bern, Zürich, Vaud, St Gall, Graubunden and Aargau) were given two votes, the others having but one apiece, and the deputies were to vote freely within limits, though not against their instructions. Meetings of the Diet were to be held alternately at Fribourg, Bern, Soleure, Basel, Zürich and Lucerne—the chief magistrate of each of these cantons being named for that year the “landamman of Switzerland.” ”

“ The capital of the duchy is Karlsruhe, and among important towns other than the above are Rastatt, Baden-Baden, Bruchsal and Lahr. The population is most thickly clustered in the north and in the neighbourhood of the Swiss town of Basel. ”

“ Basel said that sending embassies and letters were useless. The overbearing disposition of these people, as well as their rudeness, was well known.--Deputies could easily meet in such a way as would only widen the breach. Let us once more call a Diet at Baden and bring up there our common complaints. Together we will demand a speedy remedy. If they promise, it is well; if not, our honor is preserved, though we break asunder. Schaffhausen and St. Gall expressed the same opinion, and Bern likewise fell in with the invitation. ”

“ The bells of Basle (Basel) , Strasburg, Speyer, Heidelberg, Worms, Frankfort, Mayence, Bingen, and Bonn all ring out a meaning to the German student that the ordinary traveller does not comprehend. Bell land is one of mystery.
“For example, the clocks of Basel. The American traveller arrives at Basel, and hurries out of his hotel, and along the beautiful public gardens, to the terrace overlooking the Rhine. He looks down on the picturesque banks of the winding river; then far away his eye seeks the peaks of the Jura.
[222] “The bells strike. The music to his ears has no history. ”

“ The reputation of the victory greatly strengthened the Catholic party.
But Zurich was now no longer the sole centre of Reform. At Schaff-hausen, Hofmeister, at Biel, Wyttenbach, Zwingli's old teacher at Basel, were preaching freely. In Basel Capito's work (1512-20) was more than carried on by Œcolampadius, now (February, 1525) minister at St Martin's. Bern, the most important of all the cities, was, in religion as in politics, inclined to a policy of its own. Political power was here in the hands of the aristocracy, the gilds being politically unimportant ”

“ One of the German emperors, therefore, issued orders that all the towns should erect fortifications, and that, in times of war, the rural population should take refuge within them. Basel was one of the first that was enclosed in Switzerland, being on the frontier. Then St. Gall, which had sprung up round the great monastery, and was also near the frontier; Zurich and Lucerne followed later. Lucerne has kept up the old Swiss character better than almost any other town, from its position near these forest cantons, which have more or less imbued it with their spirit. ”

“ Although Basel bears even yet, in its architecture, the stamp of an imperial city of the middle ages, it must be counted as somewhat modern. Nevertheless, of all the cities of the first rank in Switzerland it resisted the march of innovation the longest. For instance, there was a time when all the clocks of the city were an hour behind those of their neighbours. In 1778, however, the Swiss government decreed that on the first of the following January all the clocks of the city must be regulated by solar time. The innovation excited the indignation of{85} the people exceedingly ”

“ At the same time the jurisdiction of the Commission is extended to cover the upper Rhine between Basel and Lake Constance, if Switzerland consents, the lower Moselle, and tributary canals and artificial channels. The headquarters of the Commission are transferred from Mannheim to Strasburg, which is evidently meant to play a large part in the future development of the river. ”

“ There [pg.390] was no constitution binding these States in any effective union. Each of the cantons claimed a governmental sovereignty that was scarcely impaired by the deliberations of the Federal Diet. Besides these sovereign States were others that held an ill-defined position as allies; among these were Geneva, Basel, Bienne, Saint Gall, the old imperial city of Mühlhausen in Alsace, the three Grisons, the principality of Neufchâtel, and Valais on the Upper Rhone. ”