We refer to the secession of the seven Swiss
cantons forming the Sonderbund, which, like the insurrection of the
Southern States, was a revolt of reactionary against liberal principles
of government; it was likewise the fruit of a well-organized and
long-matured conspiracy, which only delayed an open outbreak until all
its preparations were adequately perfected for a formidable resistance.
The issue of the contest was what we may hope will be that of our
own,--the triumph of free principles, and the complete reestablishment
of the authority of the legitimate Government on a firmer basis than it
had before occupied.
General Dufour was born at Constance, of a family of Genevese origin.
Having acquired his early education at Geneva, where he devoted his
attention chiefly to mathematics, he entered the Polytechnic School at
Paris, was commissioned two years afterwards in the corps of Engineers,
and served in the later campaigns of Napoleon, where he rose to the rank
of captain. He afterwards entered the Swiss Federal service, in which he
became colonel, chief of the general staff, and quartermaster-general.
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