1803. | 
efpect of affairs during a late important 
negociation varied with every mail, and 
f{peculations of all kinds were at a ftand. 
If at fuch a period the Exchange was 
continually crowded, what mutt it have 
been, when Hamburg was the emporium 
of Europe, and enjoyed the almoft ex- 
clufive commerce of the weftern world ! 
To the mutual jealoufies of the neigh- 
bouring princes and the intere more 
dittant nations find in the fecurity of free 
commercial cities, the feeble remains of 
a once formidable contederacy* owe the 
continuation of that political indepen- 
dence of which their lefs fortunate affo- 
ciates have been deprived. Amidf the 
awful convullions of the prefent moment, 
fo dangerous to the liberties of Europe 
from the defirutive conquefts and infati- 
able ambition of hereditary fovereigns or 
of upftart itatefmen, of which Poland, 
Switzerland and Holland afford. the am- 
plett proofs, fhould thefe induftrious ci- 
ties fubmerge under the dominion of a 
crowned delpot, or a military ufurper ; 
their commanding fituations might indeed 
retain a trade beneficial to the interefts 
of the ufurper, but beneficial to him and 
his dominions alone. The active ener- 
gies of commerce would decay in the 
grafp of defpotifm, wealth would fly be- 
fore the arbitrary exactions of the rapa- 
cious invader, and induftry would fink un- 
der the weight of prohibition injurious to 
the profperity of trade. 
The government of Hamburg is ad- 
miniftered by an elective magiftracy, con- 
fitting of four burger-maiters, twenty- 
four {enators, and fome other officers of 
ftate, who poffefs the right of filing-up 
vacancies in their own body, and the ex- 
ercife of the whole legiflative, executive 
and judicial power. 
The religion of the ftate is Lutheran, 
the allied cities having early adopted the 
doctrines of the reformation, more con- 
genial to the principles of freedom, than 
the dogmas of the court of Rome. 
Engroffed almoft folely with commercial 
{peculations, the citizens of Hamburg 
have totally neglected the patronage or 
cultivation of the arts. Among cities of 
equal celebrity {carcely one is fo entirely 
deftitute of {culpture or paintings wor- 
thy of the traveller’s attention, whilft li- 
terature and {cience have been regarded 
by the great mafs of fociety with almof 
equal neglect. A monument has indeed 
been erected to the memory of Bufche, a 
celebrated mathematician and political 
“ * Hamburg, Lubeck, and Bremen, 
Defcription of Hamburg. 
415 
economift, and a pompous cenotaph is an- 
nounced for the tomb of Klopttock, the 
far-famed author of the Mefliah. But 
whilft national vanity is gratified by this ° 
difplay of public honours, decreed to the 
afhes of departed genius, emulation roufes 
not the youth of Hamburg to exertion in 
the paths of fcience. Literature is fill 
the bufinefs of the few, not the chofen 
amufement of the many—the only certain 
harbinger of general improvement, in the 
acquifitions of fcience or in the culture 
of national taffte. The recreations of the 
Hamburgers confift in far more fenfual 
gratifications, in a fplendid equipage, and 
a handfome villa, in the enjoyment of 
fumptuous banquets, and the dangerous 
but too. fafcinating allurements of play. 
The theatre is by far the moft rational 
fource of entertainment to which they 
repeatedly refort: but the drama affords 
varieties fo fuitied to many different 
taftes, is fo univerfal a favourite with the 
public in every civilized community, that 
a recurrence to its amufements in an 
particular fociety can never be confidered 
as a trait of its national character in a 
difcrimmating point of view. 
Hofpitality, elfewhere a general trait in 
the mercantile character, forms no pro. 
minent feature here. The Hamburger 
is alone acceffible in his counting-houfe 
and upon "Change. The door of his 
town-refidence or his villa js rarely opened 
to the ftranger, who approaches him with 
the moft iefpectable introduftions, if he 
is not ftill more ftrongly recommended 
by expected advantages in trade. Cold 
and formal in his evafions on fubjects of 
generally inquiry, which he cannot or he 
will not fatisfy, he 1s active and warm in 
his reiterated offers of fervice in every 
queftion connected with commercial ad- 
vantages, or as promifing a future exten- 
fion of his trade. He is indefatigable in 
all his mercantile concerns ; thefe alone 
employ the whole force of his genius, and 
difplay the energies of each fuperior mind, 
The Hamburgers in general are expert at 
calculation, and acquire with facility the 
principal languages of Europe, the two 
moft important branches of education, 
to which the youth deitined for commer. 
cial occupations can apply. To the mer- 
chant alone Hamburg will be a city of 
frequent or of chofenrefort: the general tra. 
veller will almott conftantly confider it asa 
mere gate to the continent, leading towards 
profpects of fuperior beauty, and opening 
into far more interefling {cenes. 
O08, 7, 1803. © M.Y. 
For 
3H2 
