I  IO

THE  SOCIALISM  OF  TO-DAY.

party  in  a  most  delicate  and  difficult  position.  Its  founders
were  court  preachers.  How  could  it  refrain  from  applauding
the  employment  of  the  most  stringent  means  against  savages
who  were  impelled,  by  a  barbarous  and  stupid  fanaticism,  to
commit  a  crime,  abominable  in  itself  and,  in  any  case,  useless
for  the  furtherance  of  their  designs  ?  The  Staats-Socialist  had
proclaimed  itself  monarchical  and  conservative.  Could  it  reject
a  law  presented  in  the  name  of  the  very  principles  which  it
had  undertaken  to  defend  ?  It  actually  did  so,  nevertheless  ;
and  in  so  doing  it  showed  both  foresight  and  courage.  It  saw
in  the  outrages  a  proof  that  it  had  not  exaggerated  the  danger
to  be  apprehended  from  the  Socialist  demagogy  ;  but  it  rejected
the  Anti-Socialist  law,  because,  without  removing  the  evil,  it
would  cause  it  to  disappear  from  sight,  and  thus  postpone  the
application  of  a  remedy,  and  because  it  would  have  the  disastrous ­
  effect  of  hindering  the  upper  classes  from  doing  their
duty  to  those  dependent  on  them.  It  may  be  questioned  if
the  Staats-Socialist  and  the  Social  Evangelical  party,  in  spite
of  the  ties  connecting  them  with  the  Court,  will  escape  the
rigorous  measures  which  are  striking  in  all  directions  associations ­
  and  papers  concerned  with  the  social  question.  The
object  pursued  by  the  Government  is,  apparently,  to  enforce
complete  silence  on  this  subject,  in  order  that  the  police  may
be  able  to  boast  that  they  have  established  order  and  peace.
Silentium  pacem  appellant.
To  get  a  complete  idea  of  the  tendencies  and  principles
that  presided  over  the  formation  of  the  Social  Evangelical
party,  one  should  read  Herr  Todt’s  book  on  “  Radical  German
Socialism  and  Christian  Society.”  *  It  has  had  a  great  success,
and  two  editions  of  it  were  sold  off  in  a  few  months.  It  would
be  interesting  to  compare  it  with  the  book  of  M.  François
Huet,  Le  Hègne  social  du  christianisme,  published  in  1852,  in
the  same  spirit  and  on  a  similar  plan.  Herr  Todt  places  the
following  epigraph  at  the  head  of  his  work  :  “  Whoever  would
understand  the  social  question  and  contribute  to  its  solution
must  have  on  his  right  hand  the  works  on  Political  Economy,
*  Der  radikale  deutsche  Socialismus  und  die  Christliche  Gesellschaft,  by
RoclolfTodt,  Wittemburg,  1878.