The practice of modifying the names of towns so as to incorporate them separately with every language, is no where more remarkable than with respect to those of Germany, where a stranger, unless he is aware of them, might find the variations very inconvenient. The German name for what we call Mentz, is Maynz; the French, which is most used, Mayence; and the Italian Magontio, by descent from the Roman Magontiacum. The German synonym for Liege is Luttich; for Aix la Chapelle, Achen; for Bois le Duc, Herzogenbusch; and for Cologne, Cöln, which is pronounced Keln. The name borne by every town in the nation to which it belongs, should surely be its name, wherever it is mentioned; for the same reason, that words, derived into one language from another, are pronounced according to the authority of their roots, because the use of the primary term is already established, and there can never be a decision between subsequent varieties, which are cotemporary among themselves, and are each produced by the same arrogance of invention.
[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.