The downfall of the arbitrary “Mediator” was for the Swiss, as for the greater part of Europe, the signal of a happy deliverance. The apparent interest taken by Bonaparte in the welfare of Switzerland, and his anxious desire to suit its civil institutions to the local prejudices and habits of each small community, were wholly military and political. He looked upon Switzerland as a watch-tower between the three great divisions of Europe, of which the Act of Mediation secured possession to him, without the trouble of a garrison. Soon after his defeat at Leipsic in 1813, the Allies invaded Switzerland, and in December of that year the Swiss Diet met at Zurich and formally annulled the Act of Mediation. A general council was assembled, and new articles of confederation agreed upon, known as the Federal Pact, in September, 1814. This Confederacy was acknowledged by the Congress of Vienna, November 20, 1815; by which the eight powers, Austria, Russia, France, England, Prussia, Spain, Portugal, and Sweden, proclaimed the neutrality of Switzerland and the inviolability of its soil. It must in justice be said that at that epoch of sweeping annexations and unblushing bartering of countries, Switzerland was better treated than she had reason to expect,--Russia and England were her steadfast friends. The nineteen Cantons were increased to twenty-two by the addition of Geneva, which had been annexed to France under the Directory in 1798, and Neuchâtel[7] (a Prussian possession), and the Valais. The greater Cantons demanded a return to the old status and their ante-revolutionary supremacy. The relapse would have been worse, had it not been for the Allied Powers, who would guarantee neutrality only on the condition that the new Cantons be maintained free. In 1817 Switzerland, upon the invitation of the Emperor Alexander of Russia, joined the Holy Alliance. The restoration of peace to Europe, and the securities obtained for the neutrality and independence of Switzerland at the Congress of Vienna, gave great encouragement to the intellectual and material progress of the country, wealth increased, and industry prospered. Public works of great utility were undertaken, including noble roads over the passes of the St. Gothard, the St. Bernard, and the Splügen. In July, 1830, the peace of the country was suddenly disturbed by the French Revolution. Violent political agitation broke out in riots and insurrection. Political wrongs were rudely redressed; but life and property were respected. The general aim of this movement was to wrest from the aristocratic class and the capital towns the exclusive privileges which they had gradually recovered since the beginning of the century, and to increase the power of the people. The Cantons were forced to reorganize their constitutions on a more liberal and democratic basis. This movement naturally drifted into a plan for revising the federal constitution; but the effort to do this in 1832 was defeated by a popular vote.