by which the province of Finland and the islands of Aland were ceded to Russia. By the treaty of Petersburg of 1812, between Russia and Sweden, the former promised to secure the possession of the Danish kingdom of Norway to the latter as an indemnity for the loss of Finland and as the price of an alliance against France. Denmark was at last compelled to desert the alliance of France, and make a separate peace with Sweden at Kiel, on the 14th January, 1814, by which Norway was ceded to that power, and Denmark was partially indemnified with Swedish Pomerania and the island of Rugen. These latter possessions were subsequently exchanged with Prussia for the duchy of Lauenburg.

The two Scandinavian kingdoms were thus united under one sceptre, and Russia completed, at the expense of Sweden, her arrondissement on the shores of the Baltic which had been commenced by the treaty of Nystadt, 1721. § 16. Union The union of Belgium, and the grand duchy of Luxemof Belgium with Holland. burg, with the former united provinces of Holland, under the monarchy of the King of the Netherlands, completed that new system which the congress of Vienna had designed for the security of Europe against the military ambition of France.

§ 17. Swiss

This arrangement, which may be said to form the corner stone of its edifice, was overthrown by the French and Belgic revolutions of 1830, by which the triumph of the armed interference of the allies, in the restoration of the elder branch of the house of Bourbon, was reversed, and Belgium was raised to the rank of an independent state. The terms and conditions of the separation between Belgium and Holland as settled by the treaty of November 15th, 1831, between the former and the five powers, having been at last accepted by the latter, have become a part of the public law of Europe.

Switzerland had felt in common with every continental confederation. nation bordering upon France the effects of the French revolution of 1789. The original number of cantons was

augmented to nineteen, in consequence of the separation of various districts dependent on the ancient cantons, as subjects or allies, such as Vaud, Saint Gallen, Argovie, the Grisons, and Thurgovie. The internal dissensions among the cantons were composed by the act of mediation of 1803, under the auspices of Bonaparte, as first consul of the French republic. They broke out anew, on the downfall of the French empire, and the invasion of Switzerland by the allied powers in 1813. A new federal pact was formed, under their mediation, to which all the cantons finally acceded in 1815. Their number had been, in the mean time, augmented to twenty-two by the addition of the Valais, Geneva, and Neufchâtel. The various conflicting claims. of the different cantons were adjusted by the arbitration of the congress of Vienna, and the integrity, independence, and neutrality of the Swiss confederation were recognized in the final act referring to the preceding declarations of the allied powers."

The confederation, as thus remodelled, consists of a union between the twenty-two cantons of Switzerland, the object of which is declared to be the preservation of their freedom, independence, and security against foreign attack, and of domestic order and tranquility. The several cantons guaranty to each other their respective constitutions and territorial possessions. The confederation has a common army and treasury, supported by levies of men and contributions of money in certain fixed proportions among the different cantons. In addition to these contributions, the military expenses are defrayed by duties on the importation of foreign merchandize, collected by the frontier cantons, according to the tariff established by the diet, and paid into the common treasury. The diet consists of one deputy from every canton, each having a single vote, and

u Martens, Nouveau Recueil, tom. vii. p. 173. Klüber, Acten des Wiener Congresses, 7 B'd, § 310.

assembles every year, alternately at Berne, Zurich, and Lucerne, which are called the directing cantons, (Vororte.) The diet has the exclusive power of declaring war, and concluding treaties of peace, alliance, and commerce with foreign states. A majority of three-fourths of the votes is essential to the validity of these acts; for all other purposes, a majority is sufficient. Each canton may conclude separate military capitulations, and treaties relating to economical matters and objects of police, with foreign powers; provided they do not contravene the federal pact, nor the constitutional rights of the other cantons. The diet pro

vides for the internal and external security of the confederation; directs the operations and appoints the commanders of the federal army; and names the ministers deputed to other foreign states. In addition to the powers exercised by the directing canton, or Vorort, previous to the year 1798, the diet may delegate to it special full powers, under extraordinary circumstances, to be exercised when the diet is not in session; adding, when it thinks fit, federal representatives to assist the Vorort in the direction of the affairs of the confederation. In case of internal or external danger, each canton has a right to require the aid of the other cantons; in which case, notice is immediately to be given to the Vorort, in order that the diet may be assembled to provide the necessary means of security.

The above compact is plainly nothing more than a mere league, or system of confederated states; not differing essentially from a treaty of perpetual alliance between independent communities, in which each member of the union retains its own sovereignty unimpaired. After the French revolution of 1830, various changes had taken place in the internal constitutions of the different cantons, tending to give them a more democratic character. A plan for a revision of the federal pact of 1815, which in various parti

▾ Martens, Noveau Recueil, tom. viii. p. 173.

culars tended to give the central authority more of the character of a supreme federal government, or compositive state, was drawn up by a committee of the ordinary diet assembled at Lucerne in 1832. This plan encountered very decided opposition on the part of the cantons of Neufchâtel, Uri, Unterwalden, Schweitz, Bâle, Valais, and Tessin ; which had formed a sort of separate confederation, called the league of Sarnen, insisting upon the conditions of the pact of 1815, and the exclusion of the two newly formed cantons of Bâle-campagne, and what are called the Exterior districts of Schweitz, which had declared themselves independent of the cantons from which they had separated. This plan of revision was submitted to the deliberations of an extraordinary diet, assembled at Zurich in 1833, in which sixteen of the principal cantons were fepresented, and which again modified essentially the proposed plan upon entire federal principles. It retained, however, the most important feature of reform proposed by the diet at Lucerne, by which the central executive power was to be vested in four councillors, with a president under the title of Landamman, elected for the term of four years. This council was to be divided into four departments of the interior, foreign affairs, finances, and war; each councillor being charged with the duties of a department. The plan, thus modified, was submitted to the legislative councils of the several cantons, by some of which it was rejected; by others, accepted, either conditionally, or subject to an appeal to the 'people in their primary assemblies : while the dissentient cantons, adhering to the league of Sarnen, continued to protest against any alteration in the original pact of 1815. The ordinary diet, convened at Zurich in July, 1833, adopted measures for recognizing the separation of Bâle campagne from the ancient cantons; and for dissolving the league of Sarnen, and compelling the dissentient cantons to send deputies to the national diet. At a subsequent session of the diet at the same place in 1834, in which all the cantons were represented, the question of

§ 18. Definition of the re

the revision of the federal pact was again taken up, and considered as to the manner in which it should be effected. Three different modes were proposed for this purpose; that of a constituent assembly representing the whole Swiss nation; a free conference among the different cantons; or by the diet itself under special instructions from the constituents represented in that body. Neither of these propositions obtained a majority of votes, so that Switzerland still remains subject to the federal pact established in 1815 under the mediation of the allied powers.w

Besides the above territorial and federal arrangements, lative rank of several general principles, more or less important, were espublic Minis- tablished by the decisions of the congress of Vienna, and incorporated into the international code of Europe.

ters.

I. The modern usage of the European states constituting the positive law of nations had introduced several distinctions in respect to the different classes of public ministers, which for want of exact definition became the perpetual source of controversies. A uniform rule was adopted by the congress, by which public ministers are divided into the three following classes:

1. Ambassadors, and papal legates, or nuncios;

2. Envoys, ministers or others accredited to sovereigns. 3. Chargés d'affaires accredited to the minister of foreign affairs.

The congress of Aix la Chappelle amended this regulation by declaring, that ministers resident, accredited to sovereigns, should form an intermediate class between ministers of the second order and chargés d'affaires.y

1836.

Wheaton, Elements of International Law, p. 69, edit. Philadelphia,

* Klüber, Acten des Wiener Congresses, 6 Band, § 204.

y Protocol du Congrès d' Aix la Chapelle du 21 Novembre, 1818, Martens, Manuel Diplomatique, ch. 4, § 38.