January 1801. It is uncertain whether the soldier who shot him knew who Lavater was; some think that at their first encounter he did not, but during the few minutes before the second encounter had been told that Lavater was a prominent opponent of the Revolution. Lavater's own account of the incident says that the soldier appeared to be "seized with satanic rage". The killer was never identified and Lavater refused to co-operate in any investigation.
Fate of the Helvetic Republic:
In the remaining months of 1798 the Helvetic Republic began its work of reform of the tax system and the abolition of feudal dues, but by the end of the year war was breaking out again, this time between France on the one hand and the Second Coalition of England, Sweden, the Ottoman Empire, Portugal, Austria and Russia on the other. French troops were again billeted in St. Gallen at the end of September 1798. David Schlatter was again on good terms with his French lodgers, though he had to borrow the cook from another household to look after them. Some Swiss soldiers were recruited for the French side but they were badly equipped and of doubtful loyalty.
The Second Coalition War was fought partly on Swiss ground, most of the campaigns being led by General Masséna and the Russian General Suvarov, a man so ruthless that even many of his allies thought he was insane. By this time Switzerland had been stripped of most of its hoarded wealth by the aptly named Rapinat (a relative of General Brune) and other French agents. By the end of June 1799 much of eastern Switzerland was occupied by the Austrians, together with some
émigré
Swiss forces. 1799 was also a year of bad harvests and unemployment, the new Canton Säntis had 20,000 people out of work from a population of 133,000.
The problems faced by the new Republic were largely financial, many cantons could not afford, for example, the expenses of a standing army, which they were now expected to provide, and the abolition of tithes had removed much of the support of education and poor relief. The new taxes which were needed to provide public funds became nearly as unpopular as those they had replaced; discontent increased to the point at which the new government was organising a corps of agents to travel in rural areas to try to gain support from the peasants to the new laws. There was resistance to the new Republic in the Lower Toggenburg and open rebellion in some other cantons still under French occupation, suppressed after atrocities on both sides. Much of the government of the
ancien régime
was restored throughout eastern Switzerland, and on 26th May the Prince-Abbot of St. Gallen was able to return to his post and reassert his authority (though
there was no reconciliation between him and Karl Müller-Friedberg).
The Helvetic Republic did, however, bring in some overdue liberal legislation. More attention was given to the education of the lower classes, because it was thought essential to reconcile them to the recent political changes. Education was brought under the control of the state and improvements made to the curriculum, school buildings and the pay and working conditions of teachers. Scholarships were instituted to allow intelligent children from poor families to receive secondary education. The famous educationist Pestalozzi was given a chance to put his ideas into practice; he was put in charge of an orphanage for children whose parents had died in the Forest Cantons massacre. The churches lost much of their power to control people's daily lives and some attempts were made to improve the relief of the poor.
On the 30th May 1799 a trade treaty was concluded which would allow the import of Swiss goods into France, but the French refused to ratify it, which increased Swiss disillusionment about France and about the Helvetic Republic. The revolutionary leaders Ochs and La Harpe were driven from office in a right-wing
coup d'état
. In the late summer of 1800 a new parliament was appointed and political clubs, presumably the "Jacobins" that Bräker regarded with so much suspicion, were suppressed.
