EVANGELICAL SOCIALISTS. 
109 
happy marriages and inspired the husband with respect for 
his wife. After he had developed these ideas, Most replied 
to him : “ I do not deny the good effect of Christianity on 
savages, and therefore I would urge many missionaries and 
court preachers to go and deliver their sermons to Hottentots. 
With civilized people they can only produce weariness and 
annoyance.” The meeting broke up half an hour after mid 
night, when the ladies left, singing the Marseillaise of Audorff. 
The formation of the Social Evangelical party was re 
ceived by the Liberal press in almost as hostile a way as 
by the demagogue papers. “We prefer,” said one newspaper, 
“socialists in blouse to socialists in surplice.” The official 
and Conservative press, on the other hand, praised the 
attempt. “We are glad,” wrote the ¡Norddeutsche Allgemeine 
Zeitung, “ to see men who are enlightened, patriotic, and 
devoted to the monarchy, bravely confronting the atheistic 
and anarchic movement which is daily gaining ground. It is 
a mistake for the upper classes to shut their eyes to the danger. 
Let them support the efforts of these men, who are placing 
themselves in the van in defence of all that we hold dear. It 
would be well if local societies, animated with the same spirit, 
were formed in all parts of the country.” This was, in fact, 
what the evangelical party of social reform were endeavouring 
to do. They showed the most praiseworthy activity. Besides 
frequent and well-attended conferences at Berlin, when the 
different points of the programme were discussed, they sent 
missionaries into the provinces to convene meetings, explain 
the objects to be pursued, and found local associations. In this 
way they succeeded in forming, in many districts, groups of 
well-to-do persons, who were disposed to take up the social 
question in both its theoretical and practical aspect But they 
had much less hold on the lower classes than the Catholic 
areles had. Obedient to the word of command, all the 
Catholic priests were engaged in the work, while the Protestant 
pastors acted in an isolated way and in accordance with their 
own convenience and convictions. 
The attempts against the life of the Emperor and the pre 
sentation of the Anti-Socialist Bill placed the Social Evangelical