New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1892-08-14
GUILDS OF LONDON.
A VIGOROUS HEIR OF THE MIDDLE AGES

social and political importance. by w Carew
Uazltt. With two ool0red plates ana numerous
illnstrafions Pp XIV, 602 Macmillan Co.
OF the origin Of many Of the London guilds
which have a beginning historically clear, TINS
hook eiyes q good account. On the origin Of the
guild system there is nothing of value. Perhaps
the question never will be solved to the mutual
satisfaction Of the two opposing parties, one OF
which holds that these organizations had their
origin in certain mutual benefit associations of tho
Roman Empire while the other insists on their
spon taneous generation from the needs OF leu
tonic society in the Middle Ages. There is in
fact an interval Of few years when Europe,
intoxicated BY the turmoil and mixture or races,
was afflicted by that. temporary lapse OF memory
familiar TO drunkenness. Everything before that
period stands out with satisfactory clearness
ind the later events extend in unbroken series
down to the present day. But while much can
he asserted, nothing can be proved respecting the
moment when the world was sleeping OIL It's
deep potations and preparing for new aay
One thing is certain, without the culture OF the
Roman Empire there would have been no leu
tonic nor Celtic nor Iberian civilization in mod
ern Europe, and chivary, knghthood and the gnild
system, as well every other step toward mod
ern refinement owe their existence In near VI
remote degree TO what preceded them, 10 inc
civic life that descended in nnbroken continuity
from Babylon to Trcves The question turns on
the other veXed question whether human eVoi'-
ton is in any sense q matter of race or not, on
which learned men cannot agree mainly because
they insist on arguing the point without deciding
about the premises.
But aside from general considerations, 1t would
have been q remarkable thing if medieval Eu-
rope had not retained a "Reminiscences more or
loss distinct of the well-drilled well mounted,
well-armed, impertrbable Romans, the men I'M
der authority scattered in villages and out
posts or collected in garrsons, and had not trieu
to create defenders Of the same KIND. Equally
strange would it be if such organizations as the
Colegia Opicum pervadcd the urban lite OF the
imperial dominions without leaving an impression
on the people The similarity of the guilds TO
their Roman prototypes is very remarkable. Inc
objects of both We're common worship social IN
tercourse and mutual protection. 1t is confessed
that modern historians have exaggerated the
breach in continuity between the Roman and the
barbarian world it is even acknowledged that IN
one or two Gallo towns certain artisan corpo-
rations may have existed without interruption
from the fifth to the twelfth century; and that
Roman regulations may have served models
for the organization of serfs, skilled laDorers on
the lands of monks and mobiles But it must be
twelfth century the demand for skilled labor III
Europe was comparatively meagre and that the
stream of ancient tradition really growing
weaker with every decade What can he insisted
on is simply certain economy of intellectual effort
for the sake of human animal. the medlaeval
Celt Saxon, Norsemsn, Hun and so forth, with
whom intellect does not seem to have been
strong point. His invention may not have been
put TO the test in the matter of guilds. What he
needed had happily survived his own clumsy rage
as we'll as the indifference Of Romans and Pro-
vincials. Even in England one can ascend much
beyond the twelfth century by the discovery of
a rarc notice now and then of Knights Guild or
a Firth Guild in Saxon London.
A certain maturity of organization in the guilds
from the outset an alertness beforehand to the re-
suirements the duties. and the privileges of such
bodies, might also indicate memory OF previous
experience. There doubtless few associations
that could trace their most important annual GER
emonics to a dinner of beans and bacon like the
London Bockmakers, or to the necessity of provid-
ing a wax candle for an image of the Virgin In
AlLHallows Church. as was the case with the
White lawyers The very legends that grew up
around the most famous figure among the MERGERS
have the air, like the tale Of Romulus and Remus.
of being made up to conceal fact rather than
mythically to explain it. The prosac dcfnitive-
ness of the adventures credited to Sir Richard
Wilmington and his cat was less unnteresting than
a book Of minutes, beginning with day and date
and o solemn pursuant to call, the undersigned
have taken such and such action looking TO union
for their mutual protection" anything else of
the sort The Great Fire Of 1866 certainly de-
stroyed many guild memorials but it Is
doubtful even though every record were intact
if much light could be obtained to the organi-
cation Of what the organizers themselves viewed
with the indifference that would now be accorded
TO the parliamentary evolution OF country de-
batting society The medieval necessity of belong
ing to somebody made organization easy and pro-
duced that obedience which, heightened by little
ceremony converted the guild later into feudatory
person, of which the members seemed TO themselves
the vassals. Thus the guild bridged over, as if it
had been made for the very purpose, the gulf be-
tween the slavery which was the condition Of the
people under the Saxon conquerors, and the COM
parative freedom, sometimes the hilarious license.
of the great towns in after times. But they were
not the cause, much as the avenue, Of reform.
and so it is remarked by Mr. Hazlitt in his sum-
mary of the parliamentary return Of 1882: There
is no doubt that the custom Of the towns by which
freedom was obtained by means of residence for a
year and day within the walls was, along with
manumission and the growth OF the copyh0ld ten
ure, an instrument of enfranchisement and that
this custom obtained in London; but DR.. Stubs
is Of the opinion that the influence exercised by
tile civic Companies not in this respect consid
cradle" 1t must be remembered that while the
savage Saxon conquerors overspread the country,
parcelling il and it's inhabitants out among them
selves, the towns. unless destroyed were practi-
cay left to their ancient British owners and these
must from the first have granted what asylum
they could to their miserable fellow-countrymen.
And every device adopted for their own benefit
turned out in the end 10 be of use also to the
scattered rural population, to whom independent
action was almost impossible.
The one necessity for the growth Of these or
xanizations was to lie able to perpctuate
their own cN istence and to pcrpetuate their hold