Washington sentinel., 1899-08-12
TTYHEs I'D SENTINEL
The Beginning OF Hamburg.

tney COulO De masters, WneTe game
was pleatiiul and corn would grow
the sturdy race OF people who
afterwards became known to his.
tory as Saxons, pressed on and on,
leaving the Oriental sun behind,
until the banks OF the River Elbe
stopped their progress and made
them turn to the north, through
the land where Herodotus, the
father OF ancient history, tells us
that ice and snow make it uninhab-
liable to man and beast alike. On
RATS and floats made OF trunks OF
storm-felled trees, the clan pressed
on from the cradle Of the river to
where it expanded widely and
where they saw the sun set in a
mighty expanse of blue. They
had reached what to them was the
end Of all things, their ultima
Thule" and found that the land
was thicklY covered with FIR and
oak, elm and birch; the river had
fish; the lakes had fowl; ths woods
had bears and stags; and where
they sowed they reaped tensold.
And while they priced the glorious
freedom and thought they had
found it here, they built huts Of
boulders, covered them with fells
and branches, thatched them with
moss and clay, and became san
saessig"--i. e. domiciled, settler
hence Sassens-Sachsen-Saxons.
According to Caesar, Tacitus,
and other Roman writers before
the great migration Of the German
people, the origin Of the name
"Sachsen" is to be sought in the
broad, short sword called "sahs,"
usually carried by the Saxons,
which sword differed materially
from those of the LonPobarden,
Alamannen, Franken, Sueven, &c.
If the prehistoric story Of Ham
burg had been chronicled il would
most likely have told US that such
a hut, placed between the Alster
and the River Elbe, was the origin
Of the mightiest seaport on the
continent; CITY which has kept
its freedom through the storm Of
ages, and seen the power OF the
great wane into nothingness; the
worldly power of the Church re-
duced to its proper level; a city
which today stands as free and
independent republic within the
German Empire. When we look
back on the centuries that have
passed, and remember the hard.
ships endured by those truly dem.
ocratic citizens in order that their
beloved integrity might go as a
heritage to those who came after,
and when we take into considera-
ton the spl shdid position near the
sea, with a river Flowing bv ever
ready 70 bring merchandise from
the interior to the seaboard, we are
not surprised to find that Hamburg
as a port has played such an inn
portant part in the commercial
history OF northern Europe, and
as such has attained the first rank,
from east to west, from north to
south, on the continent.
The earliest authentic information
that reaches us regarding the his
tory OF Hamburg is in the manu.
scripts OF those monks who went
to the north to convert the heather
SaXons, and bY the power oil sword
and FIRE, change their belief from
Wooden to that of White Christ.
About the year 768 after Christ, the
Saxons were the only clan Of the
Teuton race who still held their free
dom, but this was soon to change,
and the thirty-three years war
waged by Charlemagne ended with
the defeat Of Wittekind, the Saxon
chief, in 799. Though seemingly
defeated, the SaXons gave Charles
much to do, and consequently the
conqueror was compelled to erect
fortified strongholds in Saxonland
in order TO hold the fury of the
heathens at bay and as a defence |
against the neighborIng Danes and
Slavs. Thus it happened that in
So4 three fortresses were buIlt in
the vicinity of the Hamburg OF to-
day, one OF which, the Wiedeburg,
or Burg with the wide view, was
situated within the envirous OF
modern Hamburg. AS with all
such "burghs" so here; and those
members OF the fraternity who felt
themselves. too weak against the
attack Of their fellow men sought
the shelter which those strong
holds afforded, and built their huts
and wooden houses within easy
reach-one family settling after
another and enlarging the settle
ment with an ever increasing pop
ulation. In S5I the place was con-
sideTed large enough to be the seat
OF an archbishop, and Ansgar,
"the apostle Of the NORTH" same |
to preach the superiority OF the
new church.
In 84s, the township was be-
sieged by the Danes under Erik
den Gamle and ultimately taken
by assault, sacked and fred from
all quarters. The second time the
town was destroyed was in 88o,and
in 9IS it was practically erased
from the surface OF the earth by /
the SlaVs. AS if this was not
enough to kill the budding town |
the citizens rebuilt their settlement
like ants rebuild their molested
hills, to find the town taken by
assault again, and laid in ashes
from 1919 to 1925. For the flith
time, Hamburg in 1919 was cap
tured and reduced to a heap OF
stones and smouldenng embers.
from that time onward.