The Sun.
London, England, 1867-08-09 00:00:00

711 E EMPRESS CHARLOTTE.

Quoting from a Trieste letter the Memorial Dip-
lomatique says that the physicians were unanimous
in recommending the Queen of the Belgians to spare
her sister-in-law from any great excitement on the
occasion of their first meeting after a long separa-
tion. At the sight of her Majesty the Empress ap-
peared more surprised than moved. Her peculiar
sagacity caused her instinctively to comprehend that
some great event had occurred when she who had
been so long kept in complete isolation was
allowed oncl more to embrace a beloved relative.
but fearing, doubtless, to learn too speedily
the irreparable loss she had sustained, she made no
inquiry at the first interview for information con-
cerning tin .F.inperor M tx.milian. She rather
appeared to study the conntenance of the Queen,
in order to detect sa:n ) growl 1 for hope or alarm
The Queen was attired in half in urning only, the
object of occ tsioning as little excitement as possible
on the mind of the august sufferer. But the latter
the next morning perceived from the window of the
apartment that the Queen's attendants were in deep
mourning, and immediately understood the extent
of her misfortune, without, however, exhibiting her
deep emotion further than by a melancholy which
was the more affecting that it was not expressed in
words. It could not be doubted that the Empress
no longer entertained any illusion as to the fate of
her husband, although no one had ventured to reveal
it to her. Her calm resignation was a sufficient
proof of her knowledge of the sad event.

THE ORIGIN 0F 711 E MERCHANTS' GUILD

It seems highly probable that the home of the
guild system was Germany. It originated in the
sacrificial feasts of heathen times, and was modified
on the introduction of Christianity. Even before
towns were formed there to any great extent, sworn
brotherhoods had arisen, whose members were closely
bound to each other as the members of one family ;
but when the towns had grown up into existence
these brotherhoods were most readily- constituted,
and they succeeded in gradually freeing themselves
from the burdens connected with their place of resi-
dence, or to which the inhabitants were subjected
by powerful authority. By degrees they acquired
for themselves privileges from the chief ruler of the
country, or from the authority to which the place
belonged, and to whom the royal dues were
paid in greater or less amount. " Guild" and
" Town Community" were then conceptions of
the same significance ; and guild-right was in
many instances synonymous with town right. In
England, in most of the ancient boroughs, merchant
guilds were established in the Saxon periods. It is
related that Ethelwulph, King of the West Saxons
(circa 850 A.D.) granted to the, inhabitants of Win-
chester the privilege of forming such a society; and
as the progress of towns was generally simultaneous
we may infer the institution of similar guilds, or
clubs, in other places of importance was nearly con-
temporaneous, if not earlier in date. The order of
their development may be thus supposed : When, in
the Roman-British towns, the state of security to
person and property had become more or less com-
plete, after the conquest by the Saxons (which, it
may be presumed, was not until the middle or close
of the seventh century), and the inhabitants occupied
in trade began, however moderately, to acquire
wealth, a class of this kind was formed in every place.
The term " merchant" is probably the translation
from the medieval Latin of the word " mercator,"
which was deemed the equivalent of the old Saxon
word " chapman," and this designated the towns-
men who were tradesmen. They were, however, a
class different from what is now in existence in the
same position. They were persons who either wove
rude cloth at the loom, or collected the raw materials
of manufacture (wool, for example), or articles of
daily consumption, and conveyed them to fairs and
markets in towns adjacent, on their shoulders or on
pack-horses ; for the tram; of the places in which
they lived was manifestly ina lequate to their main-
tenance. E lea owned or occupied a small plot of
ground " burgage") on which his dwelling was
erected. They were not only liable to the taxes i:n-
posed on them by the kings, or thanes, or abbots, on
or near whose doms.ina they dwelt, but they were ex-
posed to numerous exactions on their way to other
towns, and in these towns, too, on their arrival. They
were also placed in peril, and subject to obstructions,
whenever they adjourned to distant localities. These
incidents of difficulty and danger gave them, therefore,
a common interest in their mutual safety anp mutual
exemption from legalised pillage. la such/ circum-
stances, doubtless, the merchants or chapmen's
guilds had their origin. Their members were bound
to each other by oaths and pledges, and they paid
a common contribution to the purse of the brother-
hood. They _built by their united funds a Guild
Hall, wherein they met to transact their aff
punished
committed by one guild brother upon another. They
assisted each other in times of sickness and adver-
sity. They clubbed together to purchase charters of
freedom from kings and lords, to repair the town
walls, and to promote other public objects. Being
composed of free men, and including all the more
energetic, thriving, and able inhabitant', the mer-
chants' guilds became, by successive steps, what were
subs.quently called the corporations of boroughs. It
was by them, in all probability, a transfer of the
powers of the Court beet from the lords of manors
to the townspeople was effected by purchase ; and
as independence of jurisdiction and self-government
in local affairs virtually constituted a borough, they
were the persons who were styled, in charters and
public documents, " burgesses" and " good men of
the town."—English Municipal History, by James
Thompson.