Army.—The federal army consists of the Bundesauszug, a regular sree which comprises men from 20 to 34 years of age; the reserve, :hich includes all those that have served the full time in the Bun asauszug up to their 40th year; and the Landwehr, composed of all nu able to bear arms, who are not enrolled in either of the preceding. n 1851 the federal army numbered 109,000 men-72,000 regulars nd 36,000 reserve. In addition to this there are also corps of avalry, artillery, and engineers. Foreign enlistment is generally wohibited, but the Swiss still volunteer to serve in foreign armies. ..ormerly they had about 15,000 men in the service of the.kings of 'ranee, about half that number in the service of Holland, besides everal regiments in Spain, in Piedmont, and at Naples. Those antons from which the respective regiments were drawn received VI annual subsidy from the state for whose service they were ecruited. There is now (august 1855) a Swiss legion in the British ervice.
The estimated revenue for 1855 is stated at 16,065,000 francs; and he expenditure at 15,475,000 francs.
Education and Instruction.—Elementary instruction is generally Massed. Secondary instruction is given in gymnasia and grammar ,ehools, which exist in most of the towns. Private schools are numer ms, and some of them rather famous for combining industrial raining with scientific instruction. For higher education Switzerland has the Universities of Bale and Zurich, and the Academies of Bern, aeneva, and Lausanne, in which degrees in law, divinity, and arts ire granted. There are public libraries at Zurich, Bern, Basel, Soleure, Luzern, St.-Gall, Aarau, Lausanne, and Geneva. Above thirty newspapers and reviews, weekly, monthly, or quarterly, are published in Switzerland.
Savings banks and insurance societies are pretty numerous in Switzerland. Hospitals for the infirm poor exist in every town, and some of them are richly endowed. Tho iudigent receive assist ance from the funds of the commune to which they belong. It is therefore of great importance for every man to be inscribed as freeman of a commune. There are also numerous local charities and subscrip tions for the poor; but there is a class of poor outcasts called 'beimathlosen, or people without a domicile, who are rejected by all the cantons. They aro people descended from individuals who lost their civil rights in their respective cantons, or from foreigners settled in Switzerland who did not purchase their citizenship. A few ssears ago several cantons offered to come to an arrangement for distri buting these individuals among the cantons, and restoring them to society ; but at the census of 1850 they still numbered 298, as stated above.
History of Switzerland.—The greater part of modern Switzerland was known in Roman times by the name of the Country of the Helvetii, a warlike and powerful Celtic people, who, after emigrating from their country westward, were defeated with great slaughter near Bibractc, the modern Autun, by Julius Caesar. (Cassar, 'Bell. Gall,' i.)
The eastern part of Switzerland, or the preseut Gramm country, was called Rhatia by the Romans, and was inhabited by a different race of men, who are said to have been descended from the Etruecans.
After tho conquest of Gaul, the Romans sent colonies into the country of the Helvetians; and, with the exception of the insurrection Of it can be so called) in A.D. 69, when they were mercilessly treated by Cecina, the lieutenant of Vitellius, as related by Taeitus (' Mist.,' i. 57, 58, 59), the Helvetiaus remained subject to Rome till the down fal of the empire. During this long period the Roman language, and Roman habits and manners, became prevalent throughout Helvetia, though it is supposed that the more central valleys and alpine recesses may have retained a sort of rude independence.
At the breaking up of the Western empire, the Burgundians, a tribe from the shores of the Baltic, were the first to form a permanent settlement in Western Switzerland, between the Jura, the Leman Lake, and the river Aar ; and Gebena, or Geneva, became the occasional resi dence of their kings. Meantime the Alemanni, a wilder and more barba rous race than the Burgundian', occupied the banks of the Rhine as far as Eastern Helvetia. These were defeated by Clovis at Tolbiacum, near Cologne (a.n. 496), and the Franks became masters of the country of the Alemanni, including a great part of Helvetia. The mountainous district of Ithmtia was seized upon by the Gotha from Italy, tinder King Theodoric. The old natives of Helvetia themselves became by turns subjects or serfs of these various masters. Being no longer a nation, their very name became obliterated, and they were included in the general appellation of Romans, by which the northern conquerors designated the inhabitants of the countries once subject to Rome. About A.D. 534, the Franks, having overpowered the kingdom of the Burgundians, became master& of all Helvetia, and soon after, at the breaking up of the gothic kingdom of Italy, they occupied Rhmtia also. The Burgundian' however, on submitting to the Franks, made conditions for themselves, by which they remained as a distinct nation, retaining their laws, usages, and privileges. The king of the Franks assumed the additional title of King of Burgundy. Several governors, with the title of Duke or President, were appointed by the Merovin gian kings of tho Franks to govern the various divisions of Helvetia. That part of the country which belonged to the kingdom of Burgundy was called Transjurane Burgundy the country between the Aar and the Rhine was called Alemannta, and Rhntia formed another distinct division. When the Frankish empire became divided into several kingdoms, Transjurane Burgundy formed part of the kingdom of Orl6ans, while the rest of Helvetia was attached to the kingdom of Australia or of Metz.