Washington sentinel., 1899-08-12


Hamburg merchants had to
suffer immensely from those noble
thieves and robbers, as had the
rest Of the mercantile population
Of the Continental towns Of that
time; and as common dangers en-
gender common defence, the citi-
zens OF Hamburg in the first half
OF the thirteenth century, together
with the citizens Of Lubeck, Bruns-
wick, Bremen, and practically the
whole of the towns on the sea-
board of the present Germany
together with the towns on the
Rhine as far as the Saxon tongue
reached-formed the league which
later on became known to history
as the famous "Hansabund" whose
power reached far and wide across
the North Sea and Baltic. If the
Holy Wars had stipulated COM
mercial intercourse between Occi-
dent and Orient, the discovery OF
the passage to India did so in tar
greater degree, and Hamburg be-
came an emporium Tor Asiatic and
Northern European goods alike.
When the power ot the "Hansa-
bund" had reached the culminat-
ing point, Hamburg had fast
gained ground on Lubeck, which
had hitherto been the largest Of
the Hansa towns, and the popula-
ton, which in the thirteenth CEN
tury is supposed TO have been Io,-
900, reached about $4,000 in the
latter part of the fourteenth CEN
tury, when Hamburg was made a
free city with its own jurisdiction,
but under the protectOrate of the
German Roman Empire. In 1868
the population had increased to
about SO, 900.
The discovery Of America did
not at first bring Hamburg the
same benefit as it brought the peo-
pie on the Spanish Peninsula; but
this was perhaps more blessing
in disguise than anything else. She
has, however, practically from the
start kept in touch with the West
Indies and South America, and
as TO the trade with that great
Republic which is just now
reVolutionizing the commercial
world, we find, as we 90 along, that
the city OF Hamburg ultimately
outdistanced the bulk other rivals.
II must not, however, be supposed
that Hamburg has had TO fight
against man alone. No; she has
had internal troubles enough, and
the great commercial calamity
which befell her in 1908, was iol-
lowed by another storm a hundred
years ago, when the French Rev
olution and the Napoleonic wars
set all Europe in motion. In the
year of grace 1892. Hamburg had
become the sanctuary of enormous
quantities of goods and bullions,
which nations already at war, or
such as feared that war would soon
reach them, had sent to the Elbe;
and Holland, which for a time had
been the leader OF northern
Europe, lost much Of its trade
during it's war with Great Britain,
especially after the failure Of the
Amsterdam Bank. The Hamburg
exchange on London which in
1897 had risen as high as 38 Sehl.
vim. reached the bottom in Octo-
Der, 1899, when zS Schl. vim, was
quoted, and some years previously
Pitt had stopped the payment OF
gold and silver from the British
banks.
AS in the case with Liverpool
and London, so with Hamburg,
and shipload after shipload OF val |
liable cargoes reached the port,
until at last warehouses were not |
to be had for love or money. In
her inextinPuishable hatred for
Britain and Britishers, France had |
issued that fatal proclamation of |
79th Nivose (I798), which under
cover Of a high sounding name
Legitimate privateering-prac-
tically encou aged a barbar.
Gus piracy, but little think |
ing that she, in so doing, pre-
pared for herself a commercial |
Moscow check which, perhaps, |
in its ultimate results, was as fatal
to French shipping and commerce
as Bonaparte's later escapadeS in
Russia were to the prestige oi the
French army and that Of lie Petit
-aporal himself. There is no
1oubt that Hamburg in the end
benefited largely by this suicidal
policy, which eventually reduced
French shipping to a minimum,
Ind threw the bulk OF the worlds
trade into the lap Of Great
Britain, whose conveys, despite
Napoleon's calculations, we're
strong enough to resist the attacks
Of the licensed pirates. Mean
while, however, the Hamburg
.rade had made such rapid strides
ahead that the inevitable reaction
let in IN the year 1899, when the
unhealthy bill jobbing had reached
IS summit, and the kite flyers were
brought to account for their past
nisdeeds. Discount rates rose by
caps and bounds, and the newt
bic collapse brought ruin to many
t the largest houses.
-a~~~--
The MILLIoN-YEAR-oLD GIANT
LIZARD. In the American Mus