January (no exact date) "Little else will appear in this book, than what concerns my homeland of the Toggenburg, and also some matters relative to our Helvetia. Since the beginning of the French Revolution I have always thought that many changes are to take place in Europe, many events and noteworthy happenings to come about before man can count the full 1800. And still today I believe that in Helvetia too, even in my homeland of Toggenburg, considerable changes will take place, as we already have all the appearance of it. Everywhere we see and hear political upheaval.
In Aarau the representatives of all regions in the Confederation have long since assembled, and are still considering what is best for the general good of the whole republic of Helvetia
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. The neighbouring new-risen republic now shows itself in a somewhat threatening guise towards Switzerland. But the representatives at Aarau will strive to the utmost to prevent a break with France. But in any case we must keep troops in readiness. But the aristocratic governments must first settle with the country people, and give them more freedom, to make them willing to accept a defensive position. And so we hear of great upheaval in all the cantons. Our Toggenburg also hearkens very attentively to all events, so as to seize upon more freedom. Our delegates from the country have already met with the prince's at Schwarzenbach, but the discussion closed without results. Because of this I have wished to set down the proposals which have been put to us by the monastery of St. Gallen, so that in time to come people may see on what manner of footing we stood with it at the beginning of this year.[...]"
Bräker's version of the Prince-Abbot's proposals [not given here] is very short; it seems likely that he was only making notes rather than transcribing a whole document. It is clear, however, that these proposals were made in August and September 1797 and listed the concessions that the Prince-Abbot was prepared to make in respect of grievances submitted to him by the Landrat.. These grievances had to do with the licensing of taverns and wineshops, the purchase of offices, granting of tenancies, death duties and so on. One clause says that the words "subject and henchman" will be omitted in future from the loyalty oath.
Despite Müller-Friedberg's warnings that the situation was critical, the Prince-Abbot's negotiators would make no further concessions, and on 8th January the Prince-Abbot rejected the additional demands made on 16th November. At the end of January Trees of Liberty appeared in Neu St. Johann and Lichtensteig. In the night of 30th January, in The Pike inn at Lichtensteig, some representatives of the communes of Oberglatt, Mogelsberg, Hemberg and St. Peterzell composed a "Patriotische Aufruf an alle biden Toggenburger" [Patriotic appeal to all right-thinking men of the Toggenburg]. [Chronik, pp 452-3]. This included a demand for independence, and, as Bräker recounts below, it was the beginning of the revolution in Wattwil. Similar demonstrations were seen in Thurgau, Rheintal, Sargans, Frauenfeld and Werdenberg (see Bräker's comments on the state of Werdenberg in September 1793). According to Dierauer, at this point Müller-Friedberg advised the
Prince-Abbot to relinquish all his temporal power, retaining
only his spiritual office of bishop, this being the only way to prevent bloodshed. On 31st January the Prince-Abbot sent a short and nasty letter to Müller-Friedberg, refusing to support his actions any further and leaving him no option but to resign.
February (no exact date) "Revolution in the Toggenburg"
"This I must set down first of all. For it is an event, the like of which neither I nor my forefathers have ever experienced. Already since the quarrel between the men of Gossau and the monastery of St. Gallen, some communes in the Toggenburg were showing a great desire for more freedom, some even for full independence. But most of the communes were content and wished to be left to stick to the old ways, or at the least excepting a few complaints. So things were until last month, when our deputies returned to matters left unfinished at Schwarzenbach, and complained among themselves about the inflexibility of the prince's deputies. Meanwhile a
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The last general assembly of the old Confederation had opened at Aargau on 26th December 1797. An oath of loyalty to the government was exacted.
