ement, as well as their
persistent hints that the Swiss could not by themselves arrange their
own affairs, argued a desire to continue the epoch of quarterly _coups
d'etat_.

The victory of the so-called democrats at Berne now brought the whole
matter to the touch. They appealed to the people in the first Swiss
_plebiscite_, the precursor of the famous _referendum_. It could now
be decided without the interference of French troops; for the First
Consul had privately declared to the new Landamman, Dolder, that he
left it to his Government to decide whether the foreign soldiery
should remain as a support or should evacuate Switzerland.[222] After
many searchings of heart, the new authorities decided to try their
fortunes alone--a response which must have been expected at Paris,
where Stapfer had for months been urging the removal of the French
forces. For the first time since the year 1798 Switzerland was
therefore free to declare her will. The result of the _plebiscite_ was
decisive enough, 72,453 votes being cast in favour of the latest
constitution, and 92,423 against it. Nothing daunted by this rebuff,
and, adopting a device which the First Consul had invented for the
benefit of Dutch liberty, the Bernese leaders declared that the
167,172 adult voters who had not voted at all must reckon as approving
the new order of things. The flimsiness of this pretext was soon
disclosed. The Swiss had had enough of electioneering tricks,
hole-and-corner revolutions, and paper compacts. They rushed to arms;
and if ever Carlyle's appeal away from ballot-boxes and parliamentary
tongue-fencers to the primaeval _mights of man_ can be justified, it
was in the sharp and decisive conflicts of the early autumn of 1802 in
Switzerland. The troops of the central authorities, marching forth
from Berne to quell the rising ferment, sustained a repulse at the
foot of Mont Pilatus, as also before the walls of Zuerich; and, the
revolt of the federals ever gathering force, the Helvetic authorities
were driven from Berne to Lausanne. There they were planning flight
across the Lake of Geneva to Savoy, when, on October 15th, the arrival
of Napoleon's aide-de-camp, General Rapp, with an imperious
proclamation dismayed the federals and promised to the discomfited
unionists the mediation of the First Consul for which they had humbly
pleaded.[223]

Napoleon had apparently viewed the late proceedings in Switzerland
with mingled feelings of irritation and