passed in their favor; even Uri and Zug came out
strongly against any interference incompatible with the federal laws.
The affair was regarded in a different light by Obwalden, and, under
the name, it is true, of an embassy to mediate between the parties in
the valley, a delegation was sent thither, accompanied, however, by
twenty-eight young men adorned with fir-twigs, the defiant badge of the
old party. Instead of reconciliation they brought fiercer quarrels. The
friends of the Reformation were roused, when they ventured to call them
heretics. Deputies from both sides now hastened to Bern, with prayers
for succor from one and a declaration from the other, that they were
willing to obey in all things, except matters of faith, which neither
the Confederation nor the government, but the Church alone, had a right
to touch. In this emergency, where they ought to issue commands, but
where those commands could not be executed, was a source of uneasiness
to the most skillful statesmen. Meanwhile this much was clear, that a
protest must be uttered against every interference from abroad. The
_schultheiss_ of Erlach, along with two members of the Small and three
of the Great Council, went to Sarnen. All save Councillor Wagner
belonged to the lukewarm friends of the Reformation. It was hoped that
their language would, for this reason, be less offensive in Obwalden.
The _schultheiss_, in his address, kept wholly within the limits of a
political consideration of the question. But when, among various
cutting remarks, it was cast up to him, that the very Articles of
Confederation, to which he appealed, and which were formerly, by reason
of the common, venerable faith of their pious forefathers, sworn to in
the names of the Saints, had been first brought into contempt by Bern
and violated by her antichristian innovations: "The Articles of
Confederation," said Erlach, "do not touch upon religion, and grant
full liberty in regard to it."--"Well!" replied the old _landamman_,
Halter, "if you yourselves say, that the Articles of Confederation do
not touch upon religion, then they cannot be violated even by our
intervention in matters of faith; and if your people or others appeal
to us for sympathy or succor, where true Christianity, as we have
received it from our old fathers, is concerned, we will pledge our
persons and property for its maintenance, and still keep our honor
towards you." The more clearly the Bernese tried, after this, to