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Emil Welti
Emil Welti
Friedrich Emil Welti (born April 23, 1825 in Zurzach , † February 24, 1899 in Bern , called exclusively Emil Welti) was a Swiss politician , lawyer and judge . From 1856 to 1866 he was a member of the government of the canton of Aargau , from 1857 also the Council of States . In 1867 he was elected as a representative of the liberal-radical faction (today's FDP ) in the Bundesrat . Welti was one of the most influential Swiss politicians of this era. He unified the army, designed the totally revised Federal Constitution of 1874 significantly and helped the Gotthard Railway on the political level for breakthrough. After the failed nationalization of the most important private railways, he resigned in 1891. Overall, he was six times Federal President , which succeeded only next to him Karl Schenk .
Contents
1 Biography
1.1 Family, study and profession
1.2 Cantonal and federal politics
1.3 Federal Council
1.4 Resignation
2 Film Documentaries
3 Literature
4 External links
Biography
Family, study and profession
He was born as the eldest of nine children of a distinguished politician family. His father Jakob Welti was a parish councilor of Zurzach , a major councilor and chief justice, his grandfather Abraham Welti a member of the National Assembly of the Helvetic Republic and the Consulta . After the community and secondary school in Zurzach Welti visited from 1840 to 1844, the Kantonsschule Aarau , where he was always class best and a fraternity KTV Aarau belonged. From 1844 to 1847 he studied with his school friend Samuel Wildi law at the Friedrich Schiller University in Jena (1844 member of the fraternity Arminia on the castle cellar ) and at the Friedrich Wilhelm University in Berlin . He was coined by Adolf Rudorff , Georg Friedrich Puchta and Friedrich Schelling .
At his father's request Welti renounced an academic career and instead worked as a lawyer . In 1847 he took part in the Sonderbundskrieg and was then actuary of the commission of inquiry against the war council of the Sonderbundes . From 1852 to 1856 he was president of the district court Zurzach. In 1853 he married Carolina Gross. The couple had two children: Louise Mathilde and Friedrich Emil Welti , later husband of Alfred Escher's daughter Lydia Escher .
Cantonal and federal politics
In 1856 Welti was elected to the Grand Council of the Canton of Aargau. This elected him in the same year to the government council . During his first term he was head of the Justice Department, in this time fall the introduction of a new Criminal Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure and the construction of the prison Lenzburg . From 1862 to 1866, he stood before the Education Department and created a new school law. His demands for civil marriage and the full legal equality of the Jews could not initially be enforced. In the years 1858, 1862 and 1866 he was Landammann .
In 1857, the Great Council also elected Welti to the Council of States and confirmed it annually until 1866. He immediately took a leading role and commented on numerous important issues such as the trade agreement with France and a railway line through the Alps. In the years 1860 and 1866 he was a Council President . In 1860, the Federal Council sent him to Geneva as Federal Commissioner to mediate during the Savoy trade . Then the Geneva gave him the honorary citizenship . In 1864 he again intervened in Geneva intervene when there broke out after the State Council elections riots. In 1866 he received an honorary doctorate from the University of Zurich , in 1867 the honorary citizenship of the city of Aarau .
Emil Welti around 1870
Federal Council
Recording about 1870 In the Federal Council elections in 1863 Welti was narrowly defeated the incumbent Friedrich Frey-Herosé . After this had declared his retirement at the end of 1866, Welti was one of the most promising candidates for succession. He received support as a supporter of a centralist state from the left wing, the radicals. He was also able to count on the representatives of the industry around "railway king" Alfred Escher, as he was a staunch supporter of the Gotthard railway . In the election of the fifth member of the government on December 8, 1866 Welti received in the first ballot 103 of 159 valid votes, on 1 January 1867 he took office.
From the beginning, Welti was one of the most influential figures in the state executive. During his 24-year tenure he represented four different departments: Military Department (1867-68, 1870-71, 1873-75), Political Department (1869, 1872, 1876, 1880, 1884), Post and Railway Department (1877-79 , 1882-83, 1885-91) and Justice and Police Department (1881). In the years 1869, 1872, 1876, 1880, 1884 and 1891 he was Federal President . Because of his appearance and his German-friendly attitude, he was sometimes referred to as "Swiss Bismarck ".
As Secretary of Defense, Welti pushed for the merger of the individual cantonal armies into a uniformly armed and trained Swiss army . The necessity became especially evident after the Franco-Prussian War of 1871, when it emerged that the army's ability to act was small and that there had been conflicts of competence with General Hans Herzog . In the debate on the total revision of the Federal Constitution Welti represented a centralist position. However, the constitutional draft of 1872, which was decisively influenced by him, narrowly failed in the referendum with 50.5% no votes. He had to accept some federalist compromises, but he was able to enforce his most important concern, the unification of law, in the final constitution of 1874. From the Kulturkampf he kept himself largely out and took a mediating role.
Railroad policy was another focus of Welti's work. When asked whether the planned Alpine railway should lead through the Gotthard or the Splügen , he could not intervene directly as a representative of the federal government, as the railway was a matter for the cantons and private companies. In negotiations, however, he was able to convince Italy and the German Reich to support the Gotthard project and to make subsidies for it. He also guaranteed the federal government a right of supervision and codetermination, since he did not want to leave this project of national importance to the private sector alone. In 1878, when the company threatened to fail due to the ever-increasing costs, it was able to enforce additional subsidies in parliament despite fierce opposition.
For the first time in 1862, the repurchase of private railways by the federal government had been the subject of debate, but had failed then at the resistance of the circles around Alfred Escher . The situation changed with the railway crisis in the late 1870s. For the first time in 1883, the Confederation could have asserted its right of repurchase, but because of the overvaluation of its assets, the price would have been too high. Thereupon Welti put the financial management of the railway companies under federal supervision. After negotiations with the Nordostbahn had failed, the federal government was able to take over in 1890 a large share package of the Jura-Simplon-Bahn .
Resignation
In 1891 Welti was able to conclude a repurchase agreement with the Centralbahn , which was approved by Parliament. But against the bill, a referendum came about and on December 6, 1891, the repurchase in the referendum was rejected by a two-thirds majority. That same day, Welti announced his retirement at the end of the year. Parliament tried in vain to dissuade him and finally accepted his resignation on 17 December. In 1898 succeeded his successor Josef Zemp the nationalization of the most important private railways. Another reason for Welti's resignation may have been the family tragedy involving daughter-in-law Lydia Welti-Escher , who took her life on December 12 after being locked up in a Roman madhouse the year before.
In politics Welti took no more tasks. On behalf of the Federal Council, however, he worked in trade and railway matters. He devoted himself to scientific studies and occasionally taught at the Municipal Gymnasium in Bern . At the age of 73, he died of concussion and pneumonia.
During his time in office he held the following departments:
Military Department (1867–1868)
Political Department as President of the Confederation (1869)
Military Department (1870–1871)- Political Department as President of the Confederation (1872)
Military Department (1873–1875)- Political Department as President of the Confederation (1876)
Department of Posts and Telegraph (1877–1878)
Department of Posts and Railways (1879)- Political Department as President of the Confederation (1880)
Department of Justice and Police (1881)
Department of Posts and Railways (1882–1883)- Political Department as President of the Confederation (1884)
Department of Posts and Railways (1885–1891)
He was President of the Confederation six times in 1869, 1872, 1876, 1880, 1884 and 1891.
Film Documentaries
The Swiss # Alfred Escher and Stefano Franscini - Battle for the Gotthard , four-part documentary of Swiss television , 2013.
Literature
- Helge Dvorak: Biographical Dictionary of the German fraternity. Volume I: Politicians. Subchapter 6: T-Z. Winter, Heidelberg 2005, .mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit}.mw-parser-output .citation q{quotes:"""""""'""'"}.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-free a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/Lock-green.svg/9px-Lock-green.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-registration a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-gray-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-subscription a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-red-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration{color:#555}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription span,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration span{border-bottom:1px dotted;cursor:help}.mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg/12px-Wikisource-logo.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output code.cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:inherit;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{display:none;color:#33aa33;margin-left:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration,.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-right{padding-right:0.2em}
ISBN 3-8253-5063-0 , p 256-258. - Adolf Frei: Federal Councilor Emil Welti 1825-1899. In: Biographical Dictionary of Aargau 1803-1957. Edited by the Historical Society of the Canton of Aargau. Sauerland, Aarau 1958 (at the same time Argovia 68/69), P. 269-284.
- Jakob Hunziker : Emil Welti in Aargau. In: Argovia 28 (1900), pp. 1-79.
- Peter Kaupp : Welti, Emil. In: From Aldenhoven to Zittler. Members of the fraternity Arminia on the Burgkeller-Jena who have emerged in the last 100 years in public life. Dieburg 2000.
- Wilhelm Oechsli : Welti, Emil . In: General German Biography (ADB). Volume 55, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1910, pp. 376-384.
- Heinrich Staehelin: . In: Urs Altermatt (ed.): . 2nd Edition. Artemis Verlag, Zurich / Munich 1991,
ISBN 3-7608-0702-X , S. 178-183 . - Heinrich Staehelin: Welti, Emil. In: Historical Dictionary of Switzerland
External links
Profile of Emil Welti with election results on the website of the Swiss Federal Council.- Heinrich Staehelin: Emil Welti in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.
| Political offices | ||
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| Preceded by François Briatte | President of the Council of States 1860 | Succeeded by Johann Jakob Blumer |
| Preceded by Johann Jakob Rüttimann | President of the Council of States 1866 | Succeeded by Christian Sahli |
| Preceded by Friedrich Frey-Herosé | Member of the Swiss Federal Council 1866–1891 | Succeeded by Josef Zemp |
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