New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1894-10-28
HUMANIST GERMANY.
BETWEEN THE MIDDLE AGES AND THE
REFORMATION.

the story Of life in Germany and one cam there
fore forgive him an occasional lapse INTO me
style OF a Socialist pamphleeer. This volume is
merely an Introduction to the work ne mas
planned which will include review in detaii
Of the events of the years 1924 to l526. history
OF the Anabaptist movement in Central Europe
from its rise at Zwckan 10 its fall at Munster.
II would only be necessary to add other features
10 render the series complete study of Germany
in the time 10 which it refers. In any case, the
three volumes will form an interesting supple
ment TO any of the histories Of the country that
ore usually read in English. On the other hand
the book is contribution to the literature OF
Socialism and II has the defect. from the his
toricaI point Of view OF being tnged to degree
with partisanship Moderns to have a lesson
read 10 them out Of the experience of people who
lived in the days Of the Renaissance. The peas
antry its woes and its struggles and plots and
instructions form the largest and most interest
ing part OF the present volume. The Reforma-
ton. as a religious movement Is hardly consd-
cred though it is dwct upon as the natural out
come of the discomfort which was universal ow-
ing to great variety of causes Those were
DAYS when the farm laborers had just begun to
epjoy certain measure of freedom But TINS
was followed soon by very natural and serious
drawback They began also to find out now what
II cost to live, and Tor Inherent reasons,
perhaps from an increase of population and a
falling off in supply. the prices of indispensable
things advanced out of all proportion to the rise
in wages Before the opening Of the sixteenth
century the peasants Of Germany were described
as obstinate and ease-loving. because they were
SO Well-to-do and il was said of the Austrian
peasants that in those days they wore better
clothes and drank better wine than their masters
The result of this state of things was an increase
of legal restrictions in the form OF sumptuary
enactments and. on the other hand. more and
more liberty in reality. Every attempted re-
strctior and each new increment OF freedom
only added to the discomfort of people with their
situation. Some looked back with regret to the
good old days of their fathers to sort of
Land of Cockaigne where there was plenty TO
eat for everybody. For example, Mr.. Bax quotes
one author from the middle of the sixteenth
century who wrote 'ln the memory of my
father who a peasant man, the peasant dd
much better than now. Meat and food in plenty
was there every day and at fairs and other
junketings the tables did well-nigh break with
what they bore Then drank they wine it
were water then did man fill his belly and carry
away withal as much he could then was
wealth and plenty otherwise is it
costly and bad time hath arisen since
many a year. and the food and drink of
the best peasant is much than of yore
that of the day laborer and the serving man."
Others looked still further back. There were
many reminders in the existing political system
Of q time when each family group of families
was law unto itself when its labors were for
Its own behoof and when the land was prac-
tically free to all The feuda system was, in
fact merely superstTucture which bore heavily
upon the old units Of local self-government. but
could not crush them altogether. Tho primitive
communal fellowship still survived in the guild
and the villages. The politics of the peasantry
were still confined to such groups. and to their
relations with each ether, 1t was convenient
for the mobiles to handle their subjects in num-
beers rather than as individuals. Thus good
many causes contributed to keep alive the mem
DRY of the old life. which was no more free for
the individual than feudaism, but which was
license itself for the mass in which the indi-
vidual found himself, where all his hopes and
affections were centred. Mr.. Bax maintains that
all the peasant revolts of the Middle Ages. end
ing with those which are his theme in this vol
ume were inspired in part at least. by the ideal
of this ancient freedom, such as II was. But In
tracing the growth of the feeling Of separate
personality which dominated later times he fails
to notice that the methods by which these in
surrectons brought about were the main
| somebody apart from his group. For it was
largely by secret conversations with one and
another that men were drawn to strike for their
liberties This tendency one that grew with
use. The earlier rebels. like Walter. the Tyler in
England or Hans Boheim in Germany. preached
revolt 10 multudes. But ii was found that this
did not serve and more astute leaders. like
George Doza. in Hungary. and Joss Fritz. in
Germany awakened their followers by individual
appeals. Thus it came about that peasant move
ments began to overrun the very lines they were
meant to defend. This is an important fact to
remember along with those which Mr.. Bax. like
others has mentioned 1t makes all the differ
enc in the world whether individuasm the
direct outgrowth OF practical experience Of peo-
pie or was the artificial product of a legal sys-
tenn Mr. Bax attributes the change in the peas
antry to the spectacle Of the landlords separate
ownership under the Civil and Canon law. AT
the same time ne shows that the people never
had their eyes opened to this spectacle. What
they desired the old communal rights, and
In order to obtain these they were willing to
sacrifice not only the lords. but the priests-in-
deed everybody between themselves and the
Emperor They could not have learned lesson
from what they did not see. But when the exi-
1encics OF their own secret efforts at resistance
forced them to combine with little reference to
their former groups. when some were chosen
and others left out Of the same village. and
men of remote townships fought side by side as
sworn brethren, they soon learned to value them
selves not for the place they hailed from. but for
their own personality. In Mr.. BaXs own
narrative of the revolt under joss Fritz
in 1872 the chief actor is represented as de-
string to restore primitive conditions, com
mon ownership of woods. pasture. water
and the chase; but his method Of recruiting the
secret organization which he formed was not that
Of a village leader. but that of wandering ad-
yenturer. Early agrarian movements had shown
the features of a crusade. his was IKE a modern