Another place, destroyed by Louis the Fourteenth, but restored upon a
plan so uniform and convenient, that nothing but a fuller population
is necessary to confirm its title of a flourishing city. The streets,
which intersect each other at right angles, are wide and exactly
straight; the houses are handsomely built, but the poverty or indolence
of the owners suffers them to partake of the air of neglect, which is
general in German habitations; and the streets, though spacious and
not ill-paved, had so few passengers, that the depopulation of the
place seemed to be rendered the more observable by its grandeur.
Yet it would be unfair to estimate the general prosperity of
Franckenthal by its present circumstances, even had we stayed long
enough to know them more accurately. This place had been occupied but
a few weeks before by the French army, who had plundered it, as well
as several other towns of the Palatinate, after the retreat of the
allies from Alsace, at the latter end of 1793. The inhabitants had, for
the most part, returned to their houses; but their commerce, which is
said to have been not contemptible, could not be so easily restored.
The manufactures of porcelain, cloths, silks, spangles, vinegar and
soap, of which some were established and all are protected by the
wise liberality of the Elector, though far from being answerable,
either in their capitals, or produce, to the English idea of similar
enterprises, command some share with England and France in supplying
the rest of Germany. One method of facilitating the operations of
trade the Elector has advantageously adopted here; that of instituting
a court upon the spot for the decision of all causes, in which the
traders are interested; and at his expence a navigable canal has been
formed from the town to the Rhine. Artists and merchants have also some
privileges, at Franckenthal, of which that of being exempt from the
military press is not the least.
This press, or levy, is the method, by which all the German Princes
return their contingents to the army of the Empire. The population of
every town and district in their dominions is known with sufficient
accuracy, and a settled number of recruits is supplied by each. When
these are wanted, notice is given, that the men of a certain age
must assemble and cast lots for the service. Those, who are drawn, may
find substitutes, but with this condition, that the deputy must be at
least as tall as his principal; a regulation, which makes the price
of substitutes depend upon their height, and frequently renders it
impossible for the principals to avail themselves of the permission. A
farmer in this neighbourhood, who was considerably above six feet in
height, could not obtain a substitute for less than a hundred louis
d'ors.
Another unpleasant condition is attached to this exchange: if the
substitute is disabled, or deserts, another must be supplied; and, if
he carries his arm or accoutrements away, these must be paid for by the
person, who sent him.