I might have spared myself the disagreeable feelings I experienced the
first night of my arrival at Hamburg, leaving the open air to be shut up
in noise and dirt, had I gone immediately to Altona, where a lodging had
been prepared for me by a gentleman from whom I received many civilities
during my journey. I wished to have travelled in company with him from
Copenhagen, because I found him intelligent and friendly, but business
obliged him to hurry forward, and I wrote to him on the subject of
accommodations as soon as I was informed of the difficulties I might
have to encounter to house myself and brat.
It is but a short and pleasant walk from Hamburg to Altona, under the
shade of several rows of trees, and this walk is the more agreeable
after quitting the rough pavement of either place.
Hamburg is an ill, close-built town, swarming with inhabitants, and,
from what I could learn, like all the other free towns, governed in a
manner which bears hard on the poor, whilst narrowing the minds of the
rich; the character of the man is lost in the Hamburger. Always afraid
of the encroachments of their Danish neighbours, that is, anxiously
apprehensive of their sharing the golden harvest of commerce with them,
or taking a little of the trade off their hands--though they have more
than they know what to do with--they are ever on the watch, till their
very eyes lose all expression, excepting the prying glance of suspicion.
The gates of Hamburg are shut at seven in the winter and nine in the
summer, lest some strangers, who come to traffic in Hamburg, should
prefer living, and consequently--so exactly do they calculate--spend
their money out of the walls of the Hamburger's world. Immense fortunes
have been acquired by the per-cents. arising from commissions nominally
only two and a half, but mounted to eight or ten at least by the secret
manoeuvres of trade, not to include the advantage of purchasing goods
wholesale in common with contractors, and that of having so much money
left in their hands, not to play with, I can assure you. Mushroom
fortunes have started up during the war; the men, indeed, seem of the
species of the fungus, and the insolent vulgarity which a sudden influx
of wealth usually produces in common minds is here very conspicuous,
which contrasts with the distresses of many of the emigrants, "fallen,
fallen from their high estate," such are the ups and downs of fortune's
wheel. Many emigrants have met, with fortitude, such a total change of
circumstances as scarcely can be paralleled, retiring from a palace to
an obscure lodging with dignity; but the greater number glide about, the
ghosts of greatness, with the _Croix de St. Louis_ ostentatiously
displayed, determined to hope, "though heaven and earth their wishes
crossed." Still good breeding points out the gentleman, and sentiments
of honour and delicacy appear the offspring of greatness of soul when
compared with the grovelling views of the sordid accumulators of cent.
per cent.
Situation seems to be the mould in which men's characters are formed: so
much so, inferring from what I have lately seen, that I mean not to be
severe when I add--previously asking why priests are in general cunning
and statesmen false?--that men entirely devoted to commerce never
acquire or lose all taste and greatness of mind. An ostentatious display
of wealth without elegance, and a greedy enjoyment of pleasure without
sentiment, embrutes them till they term all virtue of an heroic cast,
romantic attempts at something above our nature, and anxiety about the
welfare of others, a search after misery in which we have no concern.
But you will say that I am growing bitter, perhaps personal. Ah! shall I
whisper to you, that you yourself are strangely altered since you have
entered deeply into commerce--more than you are aware of; never allowing
yourself to reflect, and keeping your mind, or rather passions, in a
continual state of agitation? Nature has given you talents which lie
dormant, or are wasted in ignoble pursuits. You will rouse yourself and
shake off the vile dust that obscures you, or my understanding, as well
as my heart, deceives me egregiously--only tell me when. But to go
farther afield.
Madame la Fayette left Altona the day I arrived, to endeavour, at
Vienna, to obtain the enlargement of her husband, or permission to share
his prison. She lived in a lodging up two pairs of stairs, without a
servant, her two daughters cheerfully assisting; choosing, as well as
herself, to descend to anything before unnecessary obligations. During
her prosperity, and consequent idleness, she did not, I am told, enjoy a
good state of health, having a train of nervous complaints, which,
though they have not a name, unless the significant word _ennui_ be
borrowed, had an existence in the higher French circles; but adversity
and virtuous exertions put these ills to flight, and dispossessed her of
a devil who deserves the appellation of legion.
Madame Genus also resided at Altona some time, under an assumed name,
with many other sufferers of less note though higher rank. It is, in
fact, scarcely possible to stir out without meeting interesting
countenances, every lineament of which tells you that they have seen
better days.
At Hamburg, I was informed, a duke had entered into partnership with his
cook, who becoming a _traiteur_, they were both comfortably supported by
the profit arising from his industry. Many noble instances of the
attachment of servants to their unfortunate masters have come to my
knowledge, both here and in France, and touched my heart, the greatest
delight of which is to discover human virtue.
At Altona, a president of one of the _ci-devant_ parliaments keeps an
ordinary, in the French style; and his wife with cheerful dignity
submits to her fate, though she is arrived at an age when people seldom
relinquish their prejudices. A girl who waits there brought a dozen
_double louis d'or_ concealed in her clothes, at the risk of her life,
from France, which she preserves lest sickness or any other distress
should overtake her mistress, "who," she observed, "was not accustomed
to hardships." This house was particularly recommended to me by an
acquaintance of yours, the author of the "American Farmer's Letters." I
generally dine in company with him: and the gentleman whom I have
already mentioned is often diverted by our declamations against
commerce, when we compare notes respecting the characteristics of the
Hamburgers. "Why, madam," said he to me one day, "you will not meet with
a man who has any calf to his leg; body and soul, muscles and heart, are
equally shrivelled up by a thirst of gain. There is nothing generous
even in their youthful passions; profit is their only stimulus, and
calculations the sole employment of their faculties, unless we except
some gross animal gratifications which, snatched at spare moments, tend
still more to debase the character, because, though touched by his
tricking wand, they have all the arts, without the wit, of the
wing-footed god."
Perhaps you may also think us too severe; but I must add that the more I
saw of the manners of Hamburg, the more was I confirmed in my opinion
relative to the baleful effect of extensive speculations on the moral
character. Men are strange machines; and their whole system of morality
is in general held together by one grand principle which loses its force
the moment they allow themselves to break with impunity over the bounds
which secured their self-respect. A man ceases to love humanity, and
then individuals, as he advances in the chase after wealth; as one
clashes with his interest, the other with his pleasures: to business, as
it is termed, everything must give way; nay, is sacrificed, and all the
endearing charities of citizen, husband, father, brother, become empty
names. But--but what? Why, to snap the chain of thought, I must say
farewell. Cassandra was not the only prophetess whose warning voice has
been disregarded. How much easier it is to meet with love in the world
than affection!
Yours sincerely.