Page:The Book of Orders of Knighthood and Decorations of Honour of All Nations.djvu/716

 SWITZERLAND.

MEDALS.

1. Medal of 1815.—Under the Bourbons, the Republic, the Directory and the Consulate of France, a number of Swiss troops served as volunteers in the French army, and in 1812 a Swiss contingency was promised to the French empire by a formal convention. After the abdication of Napoleon, the four Swiss regiments, which he had retained, remained in France, and passed over to the restored monarchy. It was not so, however, when Napoleon returned from Elba; most of the Swiss officers and soldiers refused to change masters, and preferred going back to their own country, where, moreover, a call for their assistance had been made by the Swiss Confederacy. In acknowledgment of this proof of patriotism, the Swiss government resolved, on the 20th April, 1815, to issue a badge of honour for them. It consists of a silver medal, representing, on the obverse, the old Confederate banner, with the inscription: 'Schweizerische Eidgenossenschaft, 1815,' (Swiss Confederacy, 1815), and on the reverse an oak wreath, with the inscription: 'Treue und Ehre' (Faith and Honour), and is worn at the button-hole by a red and white ribbon (Plate 94, No 1).

By a decree of the 24th August of that year, the company of one hundred Swiss, who had joined Louis XVIII. at Ghent, was allowed to partake of the distinction. The distribution