ABSTRACT
The Swiss freely admit that they regard neutrality as an instrument of national egoism, as a necessity of state forced upon them by their situation. The same might be said of any reasonable principle of foreign policy. In the present grave anxiety for the life and the future of their native country, the Swiss have the right to regard neutrality in the first place as a mere means of self-preservation, of the preservation of their political independence and national character, without being obliged to justify, let alone extenuate, that axiom by works of philanthropy. In a world which has failed to put super-national law into action and knows no super-national means of keeping the law and preserving peace, the Swiss may have no qualms in refusing to wage war in the interests of a so-called “collective security.” It must, however, be said at once and most emphatically that neutrality properly understood and practised expresses the moral convictions of the Swiss and goes far beyond national egoism. The ideal nature of Swiss neutrality derives from its utilitarian character. In the long run the Swiss would be uneasy if they had to live solely for the sake of national selfishness, if they had to deny their traditional humanitarian aims. They regard it as providential that the idea of Switzerland should be so closely akin to the idea of humanitarianism. They may be citizens of the world, not in the sense of a watery cosmopolitanism but in the good and positive sense, and yet be a good Swiss. Indeed, it is just in order that he may be active for the whole of mankind that the Swiss must remain true to himself. To be truly Swiss does not exclude the sense of humanity as a whole, but fosters it 127or even requires it, for the crampedness of the Confederation demands as a compensation some super-national breadth. To be Swiss only is to be un-Swiss. But it is only as a sovereign state that Switzerland can fulfil her tasks of humane neutrality. Thus the utilitarian instrument of neutrality may serve for the realization of ethical aims.
