Neuchâtel crisis

Neuchâtel crisis, (1856–57), tense episode of Swiss history that had repercussions among the Great Powers of Europe. The Congress of Vienna (1814–15), in its general settlement of territorial questions after the Napoleonic Wars, ordained that Neuchâtel (or Neuenburg) should have a dual status: it was to be a canton of the reorganized Swiss Confederation and, at the same time, a hereditary principality belonging personally to the king of Prussia but separate from the Prussian kingdom. This arrangement caused dissatisfaction among the people of Neuchâtel, and in March 1848, when the Swiss were revising their constitution and when France, Germany, Austria, and Italy were all being shaken by revolutionary movements, a successful insurrection established a republic there. Frederick William IV of Prussia, preoccupied with his kingdom’s troubles, could take no effective counteraction at the time. Four years later, in the London Protocol of 1852, the other Great Powers formally acknowledged his rights in Neuchâtel, but with the proviso that Prussia should do nothing to assert them without their concurrence. In September 1856 there was an unsuccessful pro-Prussian coup d’etat in Neuchâtel, conducted by loyalist aristocrats under the leadership of members of the family of Pourtalès. When its leaders were arrested, Frederick William appealed to the Swiss Federal Council for their release and also asked the French emperor Napoleon III to intercede for them. The Swiss at first persisted in declaring that the rebels must be brought to trial. Prussia severed diplomatic relations with Switzerland and began preparations for war—though it remained doubtful whether the south German states, under Austrian influence, would allow Prussian troops to cross their territory and though Great Britain was ready to back France in support of Switzerland. Napoleon III at last, in January 1857, induced the Swiss to release the prisoners into temporary exile, on the understanding that he would then negotiate a final settlement of the main question in Switzerland’s favour; and, after a conference of the neutral powers in Paris (March–April), a treaty was signed on May 26, 1857, whereby Frederick William renounced his sovereignty over Neuchâtel, keeping only the princely title.