STRUGGLE FOR LIBERTY.

3

the cliffs speedily intimated their advance, and the Appenzellers, taking leave of their wives and children, rushed forth to meet the torrent. Reinforced by two hundred men from Glaris, and three hundred from Schwyz, they mustered two thousand strong-the entire male population, with the exception of the aged and children. Eighty of the Appenzell shepherds posted themselves so as to command the hollow way, while their auxiliaries from Schwyz and Glaris planted their subdivisions in the wood. The enemy's cavalry advanced in excellent order; but in an instant the eighty men in ambush opened upon them with their slings and lances, while the others, debouching from the thickets, attacked them in flank, and thus hemmed in and maddened by the missiles showered upon them, the cavalry were thrown into confusion. With desperate efforts and serious loss, however, they gained the summit; but there, being encountered by the entire force of Appenzell, led by Jacob Hartsch, their position became worse, and their leaders, anxious to regain the plain, where the Appenzellers would follow and lose their present advantage, gave the word "Back!" This ominous monosyllable, repeated from rank to rank, and meeting those in the rear, led to a supposition that the day was lost, and struck a thorough panic into the advancing column. Seizing their advantage, the Confederates rushed upon the disordered troops from every point, and inflicted dreadful havoc upon them as they fled in confused masses along the hollow. Six hundred cavaliers in heavy mail lay dead in the pass, while their comrades, galled by the slings, and swords, and clubs of the shepherds, broke down the ranks of their own infantry, and crushing their unhappy associates, greatly added to the terror and carnage of the day.

The tidings of this disaster carried grief and consternation into the ten imperial towns-all of which had lost, in support of the abbot, many of their best citizens and most experienced soldiers. A reluctant peace was the consequence: the abbot was abandoned to his own resources; and feeling the critical position into which the temporal interests of the church were thus thrown, he made a powerful appeal to Frederick of Austria, taking for the basis of his argument, that unless these insurrections were immediately crushed by his powerful arm, Appenzell would be annexed to Switzerland, and every inch of the Austrian possessions sold to foment the rebellion. This prediction startled the duke; for the loss of the Higher Alps, where himself and subjects possessed sovereignty and seignory, was a danger not to be incurred so long as he had a single regiment at his disposal. After some deliberation, therefore, he promised once more to interpose his powerful arm. A numerous force, commanded by experienced nobles, was speedily under arms, and forming itself into two divisions, marched

upon Arbon and St. Gall. The news of this fresh armament summoned the Appenzellers once more to their standard; an assembly was instantly called to concert measures of defence; and while yet deliberating, Rudolf of Werdenberg suddenly entered the circle, and thus addressed the patriots: "The duke's army is again in motion—and even now, perhaps, violates our sacred frontier— driving the car of destruction over our hearths, and the brands of desolation into our dwellings. Ye all know me-who, and whence I am; now learn, also, wherefore I thus abruptly intrude on your deliberations. The sacred ground of Werdenberg, transmitted to me through a long line of ancestors, whose piety and personal valour were still nobler monuments than their possessions, has been seized by Austrian rapacity, the instruments of whose robbery are even now rioting in the hall of my fathers! Stript of my inheritance, I have nothing left but the sword of Werdenberg, and my incorruptible faith; these I offer you with a heart warm in your cause, and an arm prepared to second you in every enterprise. Will you receive me as a free fellowcitizen ?"

"We will-we will!" exclaimed the assembly, in one simultaneous shout: whereupon the count, stripping himself of the rich dress and arms of a noble, and substituting the coarse habit of a shepherd, exclaimed-" Now am I free indeed! and wearing the garb of freemen, henceforth I wield only the sword of freedom, and live or die in its cause." This frank avowal won every heart; and well assured from his past conduct that Rudolf of Werdenberg could never act a traitor's part, they elected him by acclamation for their general, and under his directions threw up fortifications along the frontier, renewed the alliance with St. Gall, and speedily found themselves in a position to give the invaders a reception worthy of their cause.

On one of those drizzly days which so frequently prevail in the Alps in the month of June, the main body of the Austrian force defiling through the Rheinthal, crossed the frontier of Appenzell, and began their ascent of the An-den-stoss. The short grass, and the path rendered slippery by the rain, opposed great obstacles to their progress; while the Appenzellers, to the amount of four hundred, taking full advantage of those means which the nature of the ground placed at their disposal, and acting on former precedents, continued to roll masses of loosened rock, and logs of timber upon the invaders. The terror and confusion thus occasioned among the Austrians, may be imagined; but though it obstructed, it did not stop their progress. At length, when about half way up, Rudolf of Werdenberg gave the signal to charge, and at the same instant the Appenzellers rushed from all sides, uttering fearful shouts; and

BATTLE OF THE WOLFSHALDEN.

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falling upon the enemy's broken files, committed dreadful havoc. Rudolf, barefooted, like those he led and who thus found a surer footing, pressed his advantage. The bows of the Austrians, now that the strings had become relaxed and useless from the rain, were only an incumbrance; their spears and swords, therefore, opposed to those of the shepherds, maintained for some time a desperate conflict, and compensated for other disadvantages by receiving a constant accession to their numbers. Suddenly, a fresh body of Appenzellers debouched from the wood, and manoeuvring as if they intended to cut off the Austrians' retreat, the latter became panic-struck at the sight, fled precipitately, and, being pursued for six hours along the Rheinthal, by the vindictive swords of their opponents, left many of their bravest combatants in the track.

In the mean time, the second division of the Austrians, led by the Duke in person, and laying waste the country through which it advanced, encamped in great force and splendour under the ramparts of St. Gall. These, however, as he conjectured, being too strong and well manned to surrender without a struggle, the duke waved the experiment, and directed the full tide of his vengeance towards Arbon. But here the citizens, forming themselves into reconnoitring bands, gave his advanced guard such a warm reception near the Hauptlisberge, as to stagger the whole body, and convince their leader that the march to Appenzell was not to be a triumphal progress. Informed, at the same time, of the disastrous events on the Stoss, his rage and disappointment knew no bounds; and he made a solemn vow on the spot not to leave the country, till he should have inflicted summary chastisement upon the authors of this disgrace to the Austrian flag. But while princes only propose, God disposes. Resolved on the accomplishment of his sanguinary project, the duke caused it to be given out that his orders were to march back into the Tyrol; and with this appearance he continued his retreat towards the Rhine. On reaching the village of Thal, however, the ruse was dropt, his real object divulged, and the troops ordered to scale the steep acclivities of the Wolfshalden-a measure by which he hoped to entrap the Appenzellers in the midst of their security, and exercise fearful retaliation for his late defeat. The latter, accustomed to witness the tempest burst over their heads, even from a blue sky, were prepared for the same transition in the moral as in the natural world; so that where the Austrians expected to find them asleep, they found the sentinels at their post, the whole population on the alert, and Werdenberg and his warriors, fully apprised of the mysteries of the game, ready to rush upon them once more with the appalling shout of-" Freedom and Appenzell !"

The Austrians, justly apprehensive of an ambuscade, and hastily assuming

the defensive, met the assailants on an advantageous post near the church, and fought with a courage worthy of a better cause. Forty of the Appenzellers sank under the swords and spears of the invaders; but over their bodies, their sons and brothers rushed with such impetuosity, that the duke's second ranks were broken at several points, the brave fell fighting, the mass fled, and the declivities of the Wolfshalde were strewn with the slain. The rout was complete, and with the double disgrace of detection and discomfiture, Frederick of Austria withdrew his shattered forces beyond the Rhine. The result needs not here be dwelt upon. The people of Appenzell had now evidence of their own strength, and with the fame of their exploits, united the sweets of freedom. The hereditary possessions of Werdenberg were wrested from the Austrians, and restored to their owner; while Rudolf, in the proud association of shepherds, enjoyed that happy independence to which, by his sword and counsel, he had so richly contributed.

For nearly a century past, the village of Gais, not far from the scene of this victory, and two thousand eight hundred and eighty feet above the sea, has been much resorted to by strangers, as well as natives, for the sake of the goat's whey-diet, or milken-kur, which has been found to contribute very essential benefit in cases where more artificial means have failed. Of this beverage, upwards of a hundred quarts are consumed every morning during the summer. It is brought quite fresh and warm from the chalets, in the high pasturage of the Sentis Alp, and distributed in glasses to the guests who meet every morning at the sound of a bell-a signal employed to draw the wheydrinkers from their several apartments, which, owing to the great influx of visitors for some years past, are often difficult to be procured.

The salutary effects of this simple regimen, aided by exercise, amusement, and the invigorating air of these mountains, gain fresh testimony every season. In certain states of disease in the pulmonary and digestive organs, a course of goat's whey has been found eminently successful, and may be still further improved in its beneficial virtues, by combining it with the jelly of Iceland moss. Several mineral springs in the immediate neighbourhood enjoy considerable reputation for their salubrious qualities. Of these, the Baths of Gruti and Schussemuhle, as well as Weissbad and Waldstatt, are much frequented, and often employed in conjunction with the whey regimen.*

On the employment of the whey-diet, no fixed rules have been laid down; but able advice is to be had on the spot from the resident physicians, who have devoted their attention to the subject, and can pronounce, with almost certainty, on every case where it may be prescribed with specific advantage. Those who wish for more particular information on this subject, will find it amply treated in Stegner's Melkenkur, and in a similar work by Koonfels.