FRANCKFORT.

We came hither by means of a passage boat, which we were told would

shew something of the German populace, but which displayed nothing so

much as the unskilfulness of the German sailors. Though they make this

voyage, every day, they went aground in the even stream of the Maine,

and during the calmest weather; fixing the vessel so fast by their

ill-directed struggle to get off, that they were compelled to bring the

towing horses to the side and tug backward with the stream. There

were an hundred people in the boat; but the expedient of desiring them

to remove from the part, which was aground, was never used. We heard,

that they seldom make the voyage, without a similar stoppage, not

against any shifting sand, but upon the permanent shelves of the river.

The distance is about four-and-twenty miles, but we were nine hours in

reaching Franckfort, the environs of which afford some symptoms of a

commercial and opulent city, the banks of the Maine being covered for

nearly the last mile with country seats, separated from each other by

small pleasure grounds.

There are gates and walls to Franckfort, but the magistrates do not

oppress travellers by a military examination at their entrance.

Having seen the worthlessness of many places, which bear ostentatious

characters either for splendour or trade, we were surprised to find

in this as much of both as had been reported. The quays were well

covered with goods and labourers; the streets nearest to the water are

lined with shops, and those in the middle of the city with the houses

of merchants, of which nearly all are spacious, and many magnificent.

Some, indeed, might be called palaces, if they had nobility for their

tenants; but, though the independence, which commerce spreads among

the middle classes, does not entirely deter the German nobility from a

residence here, the finest houses are the property of merchants.

In our way to the _Cigne Blanc_, which is one of the best inns, we

passed many of so good an appearance, that it was difficult to believe

there could be better in a German city. But Franckfort, which is the

pride of Germany, in this respect, has probably a greater number of

large inns than any other place of equal extent in Europe. The fairs

fill these, twice in a year, for three weeks, at each time; and the

order, which is indispensible then, continues at other periods, to the

surprise and comfort of strangers.

This city has been justly described by many travellers; and Doctor

MOORE has treated of its inhabitants with the ease and elegant

animation of his peculiar manner. We shall not assume the disadvantage

of entering upon the same subject after him. The inhabitants of

Franckfort are very distinct, as to manners and information, from the

other Germans; but they are so far like to those of our own commercial

cities, that one able account leaves scarcely any thing new to be seen,

or told, concerning them.

All their blessings of liberty, intelligence, and wealth are observed

with the more attention, because they cannot be approached, except

through countries afflicted by arbitrary power, ignorance and poverty.

The existence of such a city, in such a situation, is little less

than a _phenomenon_; the causes of which are so various and minute

as to make the effect, at first sight, appear almost accidental. The

jealousy of the neighbouring Princes towards each other, is the known,

and, certainly, the chief cause of its exterior protection against

each; the continuance of its interior liberties is probably owing

to the circumstance, which, but for that jealousy, would expose it

to subjection from without,--the smallness of its territory. Where

the departments of government must be very few, very difficult to be

rendered expensive to the public, and very near to their inspection,

the ambition of individuals can be but little tempted to contrive

encroachments upon the community. So complexly are the chief causes of

its exterior and interior independence connected with each other.

As to the first of these, it may, perhaps, be replied, that a

similar jealousy has not always been sufficient to protect similar

cities; and Dantzick is the recent instance of its insufficiency. But

the jealousy, as to Dantzick, though similar, was not equal to this,

and the temptation to oppose it was considerably greater. What would

the most capable of the neighbouring Princes gain by the seizure of

Franckfort? A place of strength? No. A place capable of paying taxes?

Yes; but taxes, which would be re-imposed upon commodities, consumed

partly by his own subjects, whose property is his own already, and

partly by those of his neighbours, to whose jealousy they would afford

an additional and an unappeasable provocation. Dantzick, on the

contrary, being a seaport, was, if not strong, capable of supplying

strength, and might pay taxes, which should not fall entirely upon its

neighbours, but upon the distant countries, that traffick with it. And

even to these considerations it is unnecessary to resort, unless

we can suppose, that despotism would have no effect upon commerce; a

supposition which does not require to be refuted. If a severe taxation

was introduced here, and, in so small a district, taxation must be

severe to be productive; if such a taxation was to be introduced,

and if the other advantage of conquest, that of a forcible levy of

soldiers, was attempted, commerce would vanish in silence before

the oppressor, and the Prince, that should seize the liberties of

Franckfort, would find nothing but those liberties in his grasp.

On the other hand, what are the advantages of permitting the

independence of such a city to the sovereigns, who have the power of

violating it? Those of a neutral barrier are well known, but apply only

to military, or political circumstances. The others are the market,

which Franckfort affords, for the produce and manufactures of all the

neighbouring states; its value as a banking _depôt_ and _emporium_,

in which Princes may place their money, without rendering it liable

to the orders of each other, or from which they may derive loans,

by negotiating solely and directly with the lenders; its incapacity

for offensive measures; and its usefulness as a place of meeting to

themselves, or their ministers, when political connections are to be

discussed.

That the inhabitants do enjoy this independence without and freedom

within, we believe, not because they are asserted by treaties, or

political forms; of which the former might not have survived the

temporary interests, that concluded them, and the latter might be

subdued by corruption, if there were the means of it; but because they

were acknowledged to us by many temperate and discerning persons,

as much aloof from faction, as they were from the affectation, or

servility, that sometimes makes men boast themselves free, only because

they have, or would be thought to have, a little share in oppressing

others. Many such persons declared to us, that they had a substantial,

practical freedom; and we thought a testimony to their actual

enjoyments more valuable than any formal acknowledgments of their

rights. As to these latter securities, indeed, Franckfort is no better

provided than other imperial cities, which have proved their inutility.

It stands in the same list with Cologne, but is as superior to it in

government as in wealth.

The inhabitants having had the good sense to foresee, that

fortifications might render them a more desirable prize to their

neighbours, at the same time that their real protection must depend

upon other means, have done little more than sustain their antient

walls, which are sufficient to defend them against a surprise by

small parties. They maintain no troops, except a few companies of

city-guards, and make their contributions to the army of the Empire in

specie. These companies are filled chiefly with middle-aged men, whose

appearance bespeaks the plenty and peacefulness of the city. Their

uniforms, blue and white, are of the cut of those in the prints of

MARLBOROUGH'S days; and their grenadiers' caps are of the same peaked

sort, with tin facings, impressed with the city arms.

In wars with France, the fate of Franckfort has usually depended upon

that of Mentz, which is properly called the key of Germany, on the

western frontier. In the campaign of 1792, Custine detached 3000 troops

of the 11,000, with which he had besieged Mentz, and these reached

Franckfort, early in the morning of the 22d of October. NEUWINGER,

their commander, sent a letter to the magistrates from Custine,

demanding a contribution of two millions of florins, which, by a

negotiation at Mentz, was reduced to a million and a half, for the

present. Notice was accordingly given in the city, that the magistrates

would receive money at four per cent. interest, and, on the 23d,

at break of day, it began to flow in to the Council-house from all

quarters. Part was immediately given to NEUWINGER, but payment of the

rest was delayed; so that Custine came himself on the 27th, and, by

throwing the hostages into prison, obtained, on the 31st of October,

the remainder of the first million. For the second, the magistrates

gave security to NEUWINGER, but it was never paid; the Convention

disavowed great part of the proceedings of Custine, and the money was

not again demanded.

The French, during the whole of their stay, were very eager to spread

exaggerated accounts of their numbers. Troops were accordingly marched

out at one gate of the city, with very little parade, that they

might enter with much pomp and in a longer column, at the other.

The inhabitants, who were not expert at military numeration, easily

believed, that the first party had joined other troops, and that the

whole amounted to treble their real number. After the entry of the

Prussians, this contrivance was related by prisoners.

The number of troops, left in the city by Custine, on his retirement

from the neighbouring posts, in the latter end of November, was

1800 men, with two pieces of cannon. On the 28th, when the Prussian

Lieutenant Pellet brought a summons to surrender, Helden, the

commander, having sent to Custine for reinforcements and cannon, was

answered, that no men could be spared; and that, as to cannon, he

might use the city artillery. Helden endeavoured to remove this from

the arsenal; but the populace, encouraged by the neighbourhood

of the Prussians, rose to prevent him; and there might have been a

considerable tumult, if Custine had not arrived, on the 29th, and

assured the magistrates, that the garrison should retire, rather

than expose the place to a siege. The city then became tranquil, and

remained so till the 2d of December, when the inhabitants, being in

church, first knew by the noise of cannon, that the place was attacked.

General Helden would then have taken his two cannon to the gate, which

was contended for, but the inhabitants, remembering Custine's promise,

would permit no resistance; they cut the harness of the horses, broke

the cannon wheels, and themselves opened the gates to the Prussians, or

rather to the Hessians, for the advanced corps of the assailants was

chiefly formed of them. About 100 fell in this attack. Of the French

41 were killed; 139 wounded; and 800 taken prisoners. The remainder

of the 1800 reached Custine's army. A monument, erected without the

northern gate of the city, commemorates the loss of the 100 assailants,

on the spot, on which they fell.

Thus Franckfort, having happily but few fortifications, was lost and

regained, without a siege; while Mentz, in a period of six more months,

had nearly all its best buildings destroyed, by a similar change of

masters.

We stayed here almost a week, which was well occupied by visits, but

shewed nothing in addition to what is already known of the society

of the place. Manners, customs, the topics of conversation and even

dress, differ very slightly from those of London, in similar ranks; the

merchants of Franckfort have more generally the advantages of travel,

than those of England, but they have not that minute knowledge of

modern events and characters, which an attention to public transactions

renders common in our island. Those, who have been in England, or

who speak English, seem desirous to discuss the state of parliamentary

transactions and interests, and to remedy the thinness of their own

public topics, by introducing ours. In such discussions one error is

very general from their want of experience. The faculty of making a

speech is taken for the standard of intellectual power in every sort

of exertion; though there is nothing better known in countries, where

public speakers are numerous enough to be often observed, than that

persons may be educated to oratory, so as to have a facility, elegance

and force in it, distinct from the endowments of deliberative wisdom;

may be taught to speak in terms remote from common use, to combine

them with an unfailing dexterity of arrangement, and to invest every

thought with its portion of artificial dignity, who, through the

chaos of benefits and evils, which the agitation of difficult times

throws up before the eye of the politician, shall be able to see no

gleam of light, to describe no direct path, to discern no difference

between greater and lesser evils, nor to think one wholesome truth for

a confiding and an honest country. To estimate the general intellectual

powers of men, tutored to oratory, from their success in the practice

of it, is as absurd as to judge of corporeal strength from that of one

arm, which may have been rendered unusually strong by exercise and art.

Of the society at Franckfort, Messrs. Bethman, the chief bankers, seem

able to collect a valuable part; and their politeness to strangers

induces them to do it often. A traveller, who misses their table,

loses, both as to conversation and elegant hospitality, a welcome proof

of what freedom and commerce can do against the mental and physical

desolation otherwise spread over the country.

The assistance, which the mutual use of languages gives to a connection

between distant places, we were happy to see existing and increasing,

to the advantage of England, at Franckfort. At the Messrs. Bethmans',

one day, French was nearly excluded, the majority being able to

converse with nine or ten English, who were there, in their own

language. Of the merchants, who have not been in England, several speak

English, without difficulty, and the rising generation, it is said,

will be generally accomplished in it.

One of the luxuries of Franckfort is a _Cabinet Literaire_, which

is open to strangers by the introduction of members. There the best

periodical publications of the Continent are received, and their titles

immediately entered in a book, so that the reading is not disturbed

by conversation with the librarian. It excited our shame to hear, that

some contrivance had, for several months, prevented the society from

receiving a very valuable English publication.

After this, the Theatre may seem to require some notice. It is a

modern, but not an elegant building, standing in an area, that renders

it convenient of access, and nearly in the middle of the city. The

interior, which has been gaudily decorated, contains a pit, three rows

of boxes, that surround the audience part, and a gallery over them in

the centre. It is larger than the Little Theatre in the Haymarket, and,

in form, resembles that of Covent Garden, except that six or seven of

the central boxes, in each tier, encroach upon the oval figure by a

projection over the pit. The boxes are let by the year; the price of

admission for non-subscribers, is a florin, for which they may find

places in the box, engaged by their friends, or in the pit, which is

in the same proportion of esteem as that at an Opera-house.

The performances are plays and operas alternately; both in German;

and the music of the latter chiefly by German composers. The players

are very far beneath mediocrity; but the orchestra, when we heard it,

accorded with the fame of German musicians, for spirit and precision.

In these qualities even the wandering parties, that play at inns, are

very seldom deficient.

The stage was well lighted, but the other parts of the theatre were

left in duskiness, which scarcely permitted us to see the diamonds,

profusely worn by several ladies. Six o'clock is the hour of beginning,

and the performances conclude soon after nine.

The Cabinet Literaire and the Theatre are the only permanent places

of public amusement at Franckfort, which is, however, in want of no

more, the inhabitants being accustomed to pass much of their time

in friendly parties, at their houses. Though wealth is, of course,

earnestly and universally sought for in a place purely mercantile, we

were assured, that the richest persons, and there are some, who have

above half a million sterling, find no more attention in these parties

than others. This was acknowledged and separately boasted of by some

of the very rich, and by those who were comparatively poor. We are so

far able to report it for true, as that we could never discern the

least traces of the officiousness, or subserviency that, in a corrupt

and debased state of society, frequently point to the wealthiest

individuals in every private party.

These and many other circumstances would probably render Franckfort a

place of residence for foreigners, if the magistrates, either dreading

the increase of luxury, or the interference of strangers with their

commerce, did not prevent this by prohibiting them from being lodged

otherwise than at inns. It was with difficulty, that an English

officer, acting as Commissary to some of the German regiments, lately

raised upon our pay, could obtain an exemption from this rule, at the

request of the Hanoverian Minister.

Round the city, are several well-disposed walks, as pleasant as the

flatness of the nearer country will permit; and, at intervals, along

these, are the country houses of the merchants, who do not choose

to go beyond the city territories, for a residence. Saxenhausen, a

small town, on the other side of the Maine, though incorporated with

Franckfort, as to jurisdiction, and connected with it by a bridge, is

chiefly inhabited by watermen and other labourers.

We left Franckfort, after a stay of six days, fortified by a German

passport from M. de Swartzhoff, the Hanoverian Minister, who

obligingly advised us to be prepared with one in the native language

of the Austrian officers. At Mentz, the ceremonies of examination were

rendered much more troublesome than before, the Governor, General

Kalkreuth, happening to be in the great square, who chose to make

several travellers wait as if for a sort of review before him, though,

after all, nothing was to be said but "Go to the Commandant, who will

look at your passports." This Commandant was M. de Lucadou, a gentleman

of considerate and polite manners, who, knowing our friends in Mentz,

added to his confirmation of M. de Swartzhoff's passport an address to

M. de Wilde, the Intendant of some salt mines in Switzerland, which

he recommended to us to see. These circumstances are necessary to

be mentioned here, because they soon led to a disagreeable and very

contradictory event in our journey.

The next morning, we set out from Mentz, and were conducted by our

voiturier over a summer road, on the left bank of the Rhine, then

flowing with the melted snows of Switzerland.