The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1909-06-13

capital grew more and more sharp. The
eject Of the cleavage was to poor
workmen despairing OF getting economic
justice from the guilds to undertake
work In their home quarters. So common
had become this practice in the sixteenth
century that a new word was coined to
define this unapprentced class-chdmbre-
Ions. These workmen piled their trades
in their W houses and sold the product
OF their handiwork anywhere. As early
indeed as 1857 and again ten years later
the master workmen had begun o COM
plain OF the practice. Prof. Thompson
points III the disastrous influence Of this
new form Of industry upon guild labor.
the new class OF workmen not being
subject either to the same money charges
or TO the same restrictive regulations.
In a word, to the toiling masses OF the
French population that had been trodden
down by the masters and economically
tyrannized over the Reformation came
as the first organized movement Of dis
content and hosts Of dissatisfied workmen
on both sides Of the Rhine fastened to
identify themselves with Professionalism,
not for religious eason but because the
Reformation constituted exactly that for
which they were seeking-a protest
against the existing state Of things. Our
author shows how the situation was
further aggravated by the influx Of foreign
workmen, chiefly from Germany, where
the economic revolution had been earlier
and more fully developed than elsewhere
in Europe; in great industrial centres
like Nuremberg and where small German
workmen had been shut out more COM
pletely from employment than had been
the case in France or England. These
men-such as cobblers, shoemakers, car
penters, wool carders and other similar
over France from n
province to another carrying the economic
gospel Of free labor and the religion OF
Lutheranism with them. Naturally they
imbued their French fellow workmen
with their sentiments, and to such an
extent that for years during the early
part Of the civil war; the H%uguenots were
commonly called Lutherans.'
Thus 1t came to pass that before 1880
the greater portion Of the Huguenot party
in France was made up Of wool combers.
fullers, diapers. dyers, shoe
makers. hosiers, ~tailors. hatters. %joiners,
GLACIERS. bookbinders. looksmiths, cut
lers. pewterers, coopers, DC. In a foot
note our author directs attention to the
fact that the early Identification Of the
French nobility with Calvinism has been
exaggerated There is, to be sure. in
the ten years from 1850 to 1880 ar in
crease in the number OF aristocratic names
with French Professionalism.
but Prof. Thompson recalls that it was
not until 1887 that the first prince Of the
blood espoused it's cause. This was
Antony OF Bourbon. In the same year
Coligny and Dandelot also inclined to it.
On the other hand. the Prince OF Condo
firmly refused to take part in the con-
Of Amboise. and thus saved his
head. Even as late as 1872, when the
movement had been directed
for years by noblemen like the Chatillons
and the ohans. the Venetian Ambassador
still characterized the Huguenots as a
sect which consists for the most part
OF craftsmen. as cobblers. tailors and such
ignorant people,
The economic importance OF the Prot
estant movement in France will be better
apprecia ted when we call 70 mind that a
OF the statutes Of the guilds was
one Of the objects Of the S~tates-General
Of Orleans. Only me man in that assem-
bly,. however. seems to have compre-
hended the real state OF things from an
economic point OF view. This was the
L'Hopital. Not content with
the mild reorganization OF the guilds rec
commended by the third estate. the Chan
cellor drew up the famous Ordinance OF
Orleans. The intent Of this statute was
indirectly to restrain the enlarged eco
OF apprenticeship and to establish
laboring conditions. This purpose
the Government aimed to attain by dis
the confraternities. for by strik-
ing at these it really struck at the guilds
in many instances the same associa-
ton would discharge both functions
No distinction was made by the ordinance
between those associations whose char
acter was religious or charitable and
those composed of patrons and working
men; all the confraternities were grouped
and Government supervision
was provided for all OF them. They were
not legislated out Of existence, but they
a partial Transformation.
Their accumulated boards of capital were
to be expended for the support
Of schools and hospitals and similar insti-
in the towns and villages where
the various guilds we're located and only
4 limited amount Of money was left In
the hands of those associations. The
significance of this proceeding is obvious.
Evidently b Government was pursuing
a policy OF partial secularizati ton of the
property OF the c~onfraternites for the
of the people at large; a policy OF
a distribution OF the great
that had come to be locked up in the
hands Of the guilds in much the same way
that the Church had come to possess
enormous sums in mortmain. Our author
out that this legislation II it had
really been effective would have do
the guilds.
The guilds. thus put upon the defensive
owing to the economic reforms under
taken by the Crown and the political
sought to save themselves
by pleading that they were religious asso-
By this movement the guilds
the support Of the Catholic party.
For a time the Crown refused to yield,
but ultimately had to succumb when the
guilds had become centres OF religious
agitation among the Catholics. Under
he new order OF things they became thu