Gouverneur Morris and Switzerland: Political Commentary from his Diary, 1794 & 1798.

Gouverneur Morris, Switzerland, Oct-Nov 1794.

20: Our Route consumd three Hours and we were detained twenty Minutes at the Swiss Post. As we leave les Rousses we ascend a little and soon pass the dividing Line between the Territories of the Two Nations. It is marked by a Stone Wall which a Pig can jump over any where. Indeed the Land is not worth an Enclosure and yet should the french Republic establish itself this Mountain Top may be dyed with human Blood to determine who shall possess it. As soon as we get into Switzerland I observe Enclosures of dry Wall such as we have in WestChester County. No stronger Proof could I think be exhibited of the Value which Land acquires from being under a free Government.

21: This Morning I write and at twelve set off to see the Baron de Coppet alias M^r. Necker. He is abroad and I am so pressed to remain untill his Return that I cannot avoid it altho I had ordered Dinner at Home and wished for many Reasons to return. He arrives a little while before Dinner and is truly glad to see me so much more so than I can account for that I conclude there is Something behind. Company come after Dinner. The french Affairs form of Course the Subject of Conversation. He wishes to speak to me in private and I find that Leray [de Chaumont] has been dealing with him and that [I am [three words illegible]]. On my Return M^r. Counclerc is here with a Nephew of Mad^e. Prévost relative to her Son who is a Prisoner of War in France I recommend an Application to M^r. Barthelemy to obtain his Release on Parole for Switzerland—

22: This Morning I call on the Duchess de Liancourt in my Way to Cour near Lausanne where M^r. [Le Ray de] Chaumont resides. The Road is fine along the Cote with the Lake on our Right. The Soil is a warm gravelly Loam and good Management has rendered it very rich and productive. We arrive at half past Two. The Tavern I left is good tho dear and Horses are I find extremely dear in this Country each Horse costs me 15^lt from Nyon to Lausanne a Distance of about 25 Miles. If they would take a Carriage with two Horses only the Price would be the same as in England but they require three and of Course it is 50 p% dearer. A good Deal of Conversation with Chaumont on Affairs both public and private and some with [Jean Antoine] Gauthier on the former. He is to procure me a Servant. He expects that the Allies will make Peace to save Holland. After Dinner I walked to Lausanne about a Mile up Hill. Returning is troublesome and a little painful to my gouty Foot.

23: This Morning I have a smart Touch of the Gout in Consequence of my Yesterday’s Walk. Go to Dinner at Madame de Staahls where I am rec^d. with great Warmth The more necessary as I have a vilainous Ague. A good Appetite at Dinner but the Ague comes on very strong and then the Fever which is gentle. We have much Talk or rather I have for they are desirous of Information both public and private and I am more in Condition to give it than most others. There is here a little french Society which live at her Expence and are as gay as Circumstances will permit The Road to her House [château de Mézery?] is up Hill and execrable so that I think I shall not again go thither. On my Return being much out of Sorts I find Bed the properest Place for me and my Pillow the fittest Society.

24: This Morning I still suffer with the Gout. The Day passes away one knows not how owing to late rising and some Visits rec^d. before Dinner. One of the Grands dines with us whom I never saw before. M^r. De Narbonne comes after Dinner but Madame de Staahl who was expected does not appear. The Weather is lowering and not pleasant tho not cold.

25: Am better this Morning. M^r. Gauthier calls and Lord R^t. Fitzgerald the british Minister [plenipotentiary to Switzerland] with whom I have a good Deal of Conversation. Spend this Day in Business.

27: This Day I am still better. We go at one to call on the Bailli of Lausanne and the british Embassador. Afterwards take a little Airing the Weather is fine but threatens for the Morrow. In the Afternoon it becomes foul. Madame de Staahl pays us a Visit and gives me much of her History and Plans of Life.

4th November, from Lausanne through Montpreveyres, Moudon and Payerne en route to Bern: Since I have been in the Neighbourhood of Lausanne all the Politicisers talk of Peace. I am told that the Agio of the Bank of Amsterdam has been at 20 p% below par but that it is rising and their Exchanges also. This looks like an Assurance that the French are not to pay them a Visit. Time will shew us what to beleive on this Subject. Perhaps these Appearances in the Commercial Horizon may be only the Consequence of that Reaction which is almost always produced by violent Impulsions on public Opinion.

5: At a Quarter after eight this Morning I leave payerne and go eleven Miles to Morat. We stopped a Moment at Monsieur Garvilles to inquire for Col^o. Louis D’affry and took a Road on the Right of Morat to his Seat of Présles. He is gone to Fribourg so this is some Time and Distance lost. Leave a Note for him and return into the main Road at the farther Gate of Morat. […] It is after Sunset before we begin to descend by the Light of the full Moon. This Light is sufficient to shew that the Approach to Berne is grand and the City itself makes on Arriving within the Walls a very fine Appearance being built of hewn Stone. We reach the Falcon Inn at ten Minutes after seven. Our Days Journey amounts to twenty eight Miles and we are near eleven hours. This is the slowest Travelling I ever underwent and I can add the Dearest [in terms of cost].

6: This Morning after I am dressed I call on Mess^rs. Zeerleders & Co: and on Mess^rs. Marcuard Beuther & Co: to whom I deliver Letters from Grand & Co: Go with a Partner of the latter House to visit Mr. Marval the Prussian Minister. He is not at Home so we take a little Walk and I return to write while my Companion dines. At two oClock he calls and we make a second Sortie. Meet M^r. Marval who is coming to see me we go back to his House and ask his Passport which is given  Then walk again. The Position of this City is very fine and the Terrass is a magnificent Work. The View from it is charming and the Monument or Record of the Leap made from it by a Clergyman on Horseback without Injury to him is the best Proof I ever yet met with of an Event which is so near to a Miracle. Every Thing in this Town breathes the Spirit of Order and good Government. I am assured that there are Peasants in the neighbouring Villages worth from thirty to sixty thousand Pounds Sterling this is delightful. Combine it with the Position of this Country and then judge of the Government. A thousand Volumes would not speak so clearly in it’s Favor to my Mind. This Evening Mess^rs. Mallet du Pan and Mounier call on me also Mons^r. Rœderen the Prussian Minister when I was in London. He was announced as a Saxon Baron. […] Mallet du Pin tells me that the Austrian Cabinet is seriously determin’d on continuing the War if it can be done.

7-8, through Solothurn and Liestal to Basel:  I am told that these People have gain’d immensely by their Traffic since the Begining of the french Revolution. Every Thing has an Appearance of Wealth and Business. There is particularly that animated Look and quick Step which generally I think characterize a trading Place.

9: This Morning as soon as divine Service is over I call on Persons to whom I have Letters. M^r. Passavant M^r. Ehinger the Baron [Sigmund Ignaz von Degelmann] Imperial Minister and Mess^rs. Zeslin & Son. M^r. Passavant dines with me M^r. Ehinger who was not at Home calls and so does the Baron d’Englemann and the younger M^r. Zeslin. Also M^r. [Jean, comte de] Diodati [Tronchin]. I pass the Evening at M^r. Ehingers in a Family Society. Supper is here I find the great Meal Dinner being an Affair of twelve oClock. In going out this Morning I observ’d that every Body as I passed saluted me with great Respect. I thought it odd that the Manners of any Country should extend so far the Exterior of Civility and especially to Strangers. It seem’d like what we read of China. This Evening Madame Ehinger explains the Mystery. In the same Inn with me lodge some Deputies of the other Cantons who according to the Constitution pass three Months here and are even obligd to live in this Inn. They it seems use the same Coach which I have for this Day and of Course all the profound Reverences I observ’d were made to me as Deputy. Perhaps only to the Coach. This extreme Respect for the Magistracy proves however in favor of the Government. M^r. Ehinger is connected in the french Affairs his Brother in Law being the Treasurer of the Convention. He tells me that the Export of Coin by this Route is at the Rate of three Millions per Decade which is 240.000 St^g. per Month. Much less than I imagind however at the End of two or three Years it will amount to something considerable. The Export of Commodities is much greater. I observe also that the Comm^rs. of Commerce and Subsistance in France are called on for an Account. I think they cannot stand long. It appears also that there is a Want of Fuel &c^a. at Paris—Every Body seems to agree that a Part of Holland is to be abandon’d and the Rest laid under Water so that Country is ruin’d for some Time to come. I am advis’d to go round by Schaffhausen to avoid the Armies and this coincides with my own Opinion on the Subject. We shall see farther Tomorrow.

10: This Morning M^r. Diodati breakf^ts with me and stays long. He brings some french Gazettes by which it appears that they mean to demonetize a Part of their Assignats. I dine with him and go to a Societé which is held here every Monday Evening. […] I learn also that the Deputies who are now here attend in Consequence of a Resolution of the Helvetic Corps made for the present Circumstances to assist in such Deliberations of the Council of Basle as may eventually affect the whole Union. Many such arise here from the Position of the Place and the Jealousy of the Powers at War.

11: Go to see M^r. Vaughan who has the Politicomania to Excess. He tells me that all his Family are resolved to go out to America. He gives a History of the Reasons of his Flight and communicates some useful Information. Return Home and have a long Conversation with a young M^r. Lubert of the House of Lubert and Dumas of Hamburgh. It appears that M^r. Swan has conducted his Business very strangely & very expensively for the french Republic.

12: There are arriv’d in Town some prussian Officers said to come for the Purpose of treating about an Exchange of Prisoners. Two Deputies are expected and the Idea is that a Treaty of Peace is in Contemplation.

Leaves Switzerland.

Gouverneur Morris, Germany, Jan-May 1798.

22^nd November, 1797: Write this Morning then call on M^r. Wickham late Minister of England to the Swiss Cantons. He tells me the People of Switzerland in Consequence of the various Revolutions in France have returned to their former Fondness for their own Institutions but the Government is weaker than ever.

19^th January, 1798 in Regensburg: Learn here that the Swiss are determined to assert their Independence and have proposd anew the Oath of Union disused since two Centuries. Also that they have demanded a categoric Answer from the Directory as to the Kind of Neutrality which they are to expect with France.

31: It seems evident that the French mean if they can to overturn the Swiss Constitution or rather the seperate Constitutions and the general League. Insurrections, their usual Precursors, have taken Place in the Païs de Vaud. It is said that the new french Agent sent to Hamburgh is to demand of them and the other Hanse Towns fourteen Millions of Livres and also the Confiscation of all british Goods and generally of all british Property in their Dominion.

3^rd February: We are told that the Pais de Vaud is in compleat Insurrection against the Lords of Berne. I presume that this will be converted into a french Department.

7:  The Affairs of Switzerland seem to be in a bad Way. At Supper last Sunday M^r. Bacher told me that they had no Idea of joining the Païs de Vaud to France but meant to make of all Switzerland a new Republic (une et indivisible) like the Cisalpine.

9: Accounts from Switzerland shew that the French Force and french Intrigues have produced their Effect so that Switzerland will henceforth be melted into a single Representative Democracy. This by concentring their Councils and Force will make them a dangerous or at least a troublesome Neighbor to France.

14: War between Berne and France.

15: The Aristocracy of Berne have determined to change their Constitution into a Democracy.

6^th March: A Swiss Officer at Dinner communicated Letters he has received which shew that the Swiss are much disunited and must submit to the Terms which France may think proper to dictate. A small Affair has happened in which a few Men have lost their Lives. 

28^th April: Write—Gen^l. Hotzé calls on me—He has deferred his Departure in Consequence of a Letter received last Night from Switzerland. The Cantons of Uri Swiz and Unterwald are determined on defending themselves and have requested him to come and command them—Instead of setting off therefore he comes to ask my Advice. He considers their Efforts as unavailing unless they can be supplied with Bread and Salt. I recommend it to him to write to the Baron de Thugut and informing him of the State of Things urge an immediate Supply of these Articles. to reply to the Invitation of his Countrymen that he will come as soon as he shall have been able to obtain Means needful for their Defence in the procuring of which he is occupied and then to set off immediately for Vienna. […] Dine at Home and in Consequence of some Expressions dropt Col^o. Malcolm desires an Interview—He tells me his Mission from the Court of S^t James’s which is a strange disjointed Thing—He is coupled with M^r. Jolivé a young Geneva-Merchant who holds the Purse Strings which may be opened only to the Government of Berne now dissolv’d. He also desires my Advice. I tell him that the first Object is to secure £10000 then to set off for Augsburg and confer there with the Avoyer Steiger—To contract with Traders for the Delivery of Grain and Salt at different Places in the resisting Cantons and inform the Persons to whom it is delivered that the King of England as first Magistrate of a free People has seen with great Sensibility those Efforts which are worthy of their Ancestors and learnt at the same Time that the Want of Necessaries might render their Courage unavailing—That his Majesty had in Consequence taken immediate Measures to send them a small present Supply as a Proof of his Affection untill Measures can be taken for their more effectual Relief—As the Col^o. is in a State of Anxiety and Indecision I propose to bring Crawfurd into Council which he seizes with Eagerness. Crawfurd approves highly of the Measure and says if it were an Object of only £3000 he would himself Advance the Money—So the Col^o. Goes out to look for M^r. Jolivé and see if he can be induced to come forward on the Occasion with the needful Credit.

8^th May: Mons^r. de Formé who comes in has received Letters which announce great Loss by the French in forcing the Passes at Appenweiler and that the Swiss Peasantry are in general rising against them. Also that the french have not at present more than 25.000 Men in Switzerland.

9, Frankfurt: The French have abandoned hastily their Positions on the Lahn, the Nidda and the Sieg (as is said). The Object of this sudden Movement is reported to be the Strengthening of their Army in Switzerland where Things go badly for them.

10: Advices are received that the Swiss after great Slaughter of their Enemies shut up in one of the Vallies reduced them to a Capitulation by which the french agree to leave them Masters of their own Conduct and the Liberty to adopt such Form of Government as they may think proper.

16: Cobenzel has Orders to insist that the Pope have an Establishment Somewhere. That the French do not hold an Inch of Ground on the Right Bank of the Rhine and that they evacuate Switzerland. These the Prince considers as sine qua non of Treaty. While we are walking a Person overtakes us and I am not a little surpriz’d to see the Chevalier de Graave. He comes from Switzerland where he has been as I had heard a Commission Man of British Merchants which he denies and yet from what he afterwards says it seems to be the Fact for he tells me he is waiting here to receive and dispatch some Goods. He says the Directory were (as he was inform’d) much alarm’d at the Time the Affairs of Switzerland were in Suspense lest Austria and Prussia should interfere.

23: There is a Report in Town that the Swiss Peasantry have risen destroy’d a Number of the french and dispersed the Convention of Arau.

6^th March, 1801: We have News from Europe which communicate the Victories of the French and the Armistice of the 25 Dec^r. Also the Declaration of Buonaparte stating the Rhine as the Eastern Boundary of France and the Adige as the Western Boundary of the Austrian Dominions—The Guarantee of the Swiss and Dutch Republics.