New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-06-18
BREMEN AND THE HANSA.
WHY THE GERMAN SEAPORT HAS ITS
OWN DIPLOMATIC SERVICE.

the Governments OF Russia and Of Bremen
chiefly interesting because. to most people. il
was surprise to learn that diplomatic, as dis
tnct from consular. relations had ever. could
have existed between the two. Surprising or
not. however. it is a fact that Bremen, like
Hamburg and Lubeck. is a sovereign State. one
of these sovereign Powers like the Kingdom Of
Bavaria or the Duchy Of Saxe-Coburg. which
form the Federal German Empire under EN-
peror William, only that these three cities
republics.
The three Hanse towns. they are still
called, OF Germany curiously interesting
historical relics both because like the tiny
republic OF San Marine in Italy. they represent
in days the once great and important class
Of municipal republics to which Venice. Florence
and Genoa belonged. and also because they con-
stitute ali that re mains of the redoubtable
"Hansa," or Hanseatic League, which the
founder and the foster father Of commerce In
Northern Europe. and. until the discovery Of this
continent and the awakening OF English
faring enterprise. continued to be its jealous
mOnoDOlist.
That the Hansa had outlived its usefulness
by the end Of the fifteenth century does not
alter the fact that it in earlier days indis
pensable to the development OF trade One Is
apt TO forget that in the days Of Edgar and
of Edward the Confessor law. even where it
effective. personal. not territorial The
laws which safeguarded the lives and liberties
OF Englishmen in London did not necessarily
protect the stranger within their gates as the
Law Of the State OF New-York protects the i'm
migrant from whatever quarter of the globe
who landed yesterday at Castle Garden. COnse-
quently it was imperative that merchants who
wished 10 reside and do business abroad should
organize for mutual protection abroad just as
in Asiatic countries traders join forces TO form
those enormous caravans which enable them to
bid defiance TO the armed banditti OF the desert.
Much the same sort OF arrangement within the
cities themselves. both on the Continent and IN
Britain secured the humble ourghers, whether
merchants or artifcers. in the exercise OF their
various trades against the violence and exac-
tions Of the feudal lords who held sway in or
about the cities. and these latter associations
are known to history and still survive in places
as guilds"
On a wider field than the city guilds the
Hansa taking its name from an old high Ger
man word which means AN organized army,
secured liberty and peace for its members while
they resided outside Of their own cities As early
as the days Of the Norman kings the Cologne
Guild" taking its name from what was then
tn chief city Of Germany, vas an established
anG well-recOgniZed and respectable fact IN the
city Of London Its members because, IKE the
Wise Men in the Bible they came from the
East were called "Easterlings." and their popu-
Lar name shOrn of its first two letters, supplied
the English language with its word for all that
il OF solid. unquestonabie worth. Their lac
tory or convent" where the rules Of the
Hansa compelled them TO live under strict
discipline almost like members of a religious
order. was known as the Steelyard, and three
hundred years later Merchant Of the Steel
tiII 10 Of
one Merchant Of the Steelyard" has been
immortalized on canvas by Hans Holbeln. An
old-fashioned weighing apparatus in the back
ground Of HObein's picture seems TO sho" thd'
the painter connected its name with that OF the
Kansas London house AS a matter Of fact
THE Steelyard" the place, probably got its
name through an Angliczing Of the German
"stalllng." and meant the stall yard where
goods were displayed on stalls, while the "elgh-
ing machine was simply yard or stick of steel
Very rapidly the Hansa was Increased IN I'M
nortance by the accession Of one North German
town after another. and the guilds already dong
business for the merchants Of, say, Hamburg
and Lubbock would join their forces with those
~ other cities trading in other foreign ports.
These two last named. in fact, entered the
Hanseatic League about l24l A d.
/, was in 12S3 that Bremen entered the Hansa
l. was in 1888 that Bremen entered the
Eansa. The town. which was founded about
7SS had by this time prospered as 10 De
an ACQUISITION Of some importance 10 the great
commercial confederacy. 1t was only le"
vears later that the burghers Of Bremen dl'er
some trouble between the civil and eccIeslaSIlcdl
...,,,-i,iee made curious treaty with their
Archbishop. Gisalbert by which the latter uh-
aartook 10 attend exclusively to his own spirit
ION