SWITZERLAND: Crime of Enlistment

First act last week of Switzerland's newly-elected President Giuseppe Motta (born near the Italian frontier, three times previously elected president—1915, 1920 & 1927) was to draw attention to a little- noticed clause in the new Swiss Military Penal Code making it a crime for Swiss to enlist without the Government's authorization under a foreign flag. As late as the 18th Century Spain, France and the Pope hired Swiss mercenaries. Pope Pius XI still has a Swiss Guard.† Whether they, in serving under the Papal flag, are now criminals under Swiss law did not...

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