larus, and Appenzell--did the country people possess equal
rights, and, in the city cantons, only the burghers of the cities; and
often, even among these latter, only a few rich or ancient families. The
rest of the people, dependent on the cities, having been either purchased
or conquered, were subjects, often indeed serfs, and enjoyed only the
limited rights which they had formerly possessed under the counts and
princes. Even the shepherd cantons held subjects, whom they, like
princes, governed by their bailiffs. And the Confederate cantons and
cities would by no means allow their subjects to purchase their freedom,
as the old counts and lords had formerly permitted the Confederates
themselves to do.

But the people cared little for liberty; made rude and savage by
continued wars, they loved only quarrels and combats, revels and
debauchery, when there was no war in their own country. The young men,
greedy of booty, followed foreign drums and fought the battles of princes
for hire. There were no good schools in the villages, and the clergy
cared little for this. Indeed, the morals of the clergy were often no
less depraved than those of the citizens and country people; even in the
convents great disorders frequently prevailed with great wealth. Many of
the priests were very ignorant; many drank, gambled, and blasphemed; many
led shameless lives.

In the chief cities of the cantons, debauchery and dissipation were
rife. There was much division between citizens and councillors; envy and
distrust between the different professions. The lords, when once seated
in the great and small councils--legislative and executive--cared more
for themselves and their families than for the welfare of the citizens;
they endeavored to advance their sons and relatives, and to procure
lucrative offices for them. In all the cantons there were certainly some
great, patriotic souls who preferred the interests of their country to
their own, but no one listened to them.

As Switzerland had now no foreign wars to fear, and the neighboring kings
and princes were pleased to have in their armies Swiss, for whose life
and death they cared much less than for the life and death of their own
subjects, the principal families of the city and country cantons took
advantage of these circumstances to open fountains of wealth for
themselves. The desire of the kings to enlist valiant Swiss favored the
avidity of the council lords, as did the wish of the young m