In the fourteenth century the Eidgenossen established a _ménage politique_ of their own, and fixed its independence; in the fifteenth they raised it to power and eminence, and obtained for it an important military position in Europe. Yet though their family hearth was established, all was not done. The allied states could not stop there. They were still surrounded by lands ruled by Austria, by Italy, by Savoy; lands which could and did threaten the independence of the little infant republic. In fact, at a very early stage, the acquisition of additional territory became a vital question. This was to be done by means of new alliances, or by purchase or conquest. Zurich, for instance, had already, between 1358 and 1408, spent some two million francs in the buying of land. The struggles for independence had kindled a like desire for emancipation amongst the neighbouring Alpine states. But the efforts resulting were not all equally successful. Some of the states drifted from monarchical subjection to that of the federation or canton as subject lands (_Unterthanen laender_); others became "connections" (_Zugewandte_), or allies of inferior rank; others, again, took the position of _Schirmverwandte_, or _protégés_. One might indeed go thus through a whole graduated scale of relationships developed amongst the crowd of candidates seeking admission into the league. And though as yet kept outside they received a helping hand from the Eidgenossen. But it is not till the opening of the nineteenth century that we find the list of twenty-two cantons made up. Thanks to the mediation of Napoleon Bonaparte (1803), St. Gall, Thurgau, Grisons, Aargau, Vaud, and Ticino were added to the confederation of states. And by the Congress of Vienna, in 1814-15, were also added Valais, Geneva, and Neuchâtel. The latter, however, still continued under the sway of Prussia, although partly a free state, till 1857. The reader will clearly see into what a complicated fabric of unions the league is growing, and that the Swiss fatherland did not spring at once into life as a _fait accompli_. Each canton had its separate birth to freedom, as was the case with the free states of ancient Greece, which joined into confederations for a similar end--protection against a common foe. Each little state has its own separate history, even before it amalgamates with the general league. We shall, however, notice only the leading features.