** Bern, 9. Dezember. The last convent in the canton of Berne, that of the Ursulines at Pruntrut in the Jura, is approaching its end. The Executive Council has decided to propose its dissolution to the Grand Council, in execution of the resolution of the Swiss Diet which excludes from Switzerland all orders affiliated with the Jesuits (to which the Ursulines also belong).

After Radetzky once again permitted the Neapolitan-Swiss recruits to pass through Lombardy, King Ferdinand immediately again requested permission to recruit in Switzerland. Lucerne and the Forest Cantons naturally hastened to grant recruitment; the Berne government, to which the military capitulations are a thorn in the side in any case, has fortunately found a pretext to forbid it for the time being. It declares, namely, that according to the capitulation (which is an heirloom of the praiseworthy government of Mr Neuhaus) the recruits would have to travel via Genoa, a route that is still barred to them at present; and further, that the Neapolitan government must first compensate the Swiss in Naples for the damage inflicted on them on 15 May by pillage, etc. The god-fearing “Observer” is naturally again dreadfully scandalised at this breach of inviolable Swiss loyalty, which moreover blocks a glorious career (!) for a mass of good young canton citizens, compromises the future of Berne soldiers in Naples, leaves the recruiting non-commissioned officers present in Berne to starve, and reduces the earnings of the innkeepers with whom the bounty was otherwise drunk away. With such arguments the reactionary Swiss press fights!

The local pig-tailed patricians have suffered a serious reverse. Here, namely, there exists a so-called burgher community within the actual commune. This burgher community, whose core is formed by the patriciate, has, despite all revolutions, succeeded in ensuring that the former convent estates and other state and urban domains which accrued to it as the former holder of sovereignty were not transferred with the sovereignty to the state or the city, but remained its collective property. Only a small part of these very considerable estates, on which the patricians still fatten themselves today, was supposed to fall to the city; but the “burghers” always refused to hand it over. Now, at last, the designation of Berne as the federal capital, and the substantial urban expenditures it has necessitated, have forced the burgher community to cede its share to the urban commune, the so-called residents’ community, and furthermore to commit itself to a “tidy” contribution to the costs of the federal capital. The patricians declare that Zion is in danger, and they have cause to do so, for the federal capital very seriously threatens their purse.

The Federal Council, under the chairmanship of the head of the Trade and Customs Department, Mr Näff, has formed a commission to prepare the abolition of cantonal customs duties and the establishment of a Swiss customs tariff, and to propose the necessary measures. Switzerland will now also acquire protective tariffs, which, though they will not be high, will, given the advanced state of most Swiss branches of industry and the low wages, perfectly achieve their purpose. England, Paris, Mulhouse and Lyon will suffer most from it.

UrNr. 168, 14. Dezember 1848  Neue Rheinische Zeitung.