第37章 LETTER XIII(3)

A few months ago the people of Christiania rose,exasperated by the scarcity and consequent high price of grain.The immediate cause was the shipping of some,said to be for Moss,but which they suspected was only a pretext to send it out of the country,and I am not sure that they were wrong in their conjecture.Such are the tricks of trade.They threw stones at Mr.Anker,the owner of it,as he rode out of town to escape from their fury;they assembled about his house,and the people demanded afterwards,with so much impetuosity,the liberty of those who were taken up in consequence of the tumult,that the Grand Bailiff thought it prudent to release them without further altercation.

You may think me too severe on commerce,but from the manner it is at present carried on little can be advanced in favour of a pursuit that wears out the most sacred principles of humanity and rectitude.

What is speculation but a species of gambling,I might have said fraud,in which address generally gains the prize?I was led into these reflections when I heard of some tricks practised by merchants,miscalled reputable,and certainly men of property,during the present war,in which common honesty was violated:

damaged goods and provision having been shipped for the express purpose of falling into the hands of the English,who had pledged themselves to reimburse neutral nations for the cargoes they seized;cannon also,sent back as unfit for service,have been shipped as a good speculation,the captain receiving orders to cruise about till he fell in with an English frigate.Many individuals I believe have suffered by the seizures of their vessels;still I am persuaded that the English Government has been very much imposed upon in the charges made by merchants who contrived to get their ships taken.

This censure is not confined to the Danes.Adieu,for the present,I must take advantage of a moment of fine weather to walk out and see the town.

At Christiania I met with that polite reception,which rather characterises the progress of manners in the world,than of any particular portion of it.The first evening of my arrival I supped with some of the most fashionable people of the place,and almost imagined myself in a circle of English ladies,so much did they resemble them in manners,dress,and even in beauty;for the fairest of my countrywomen would not have been sorry to rank with the Grand Bailiff's lady.There were several pretty girls present,but she outshone them all,and,what interested me still more,I could not avoid observing that in acquiring the easy politeness which distinguishes people of quality,she had preserved her Norwegian simplicity.There was,in fact,a graceful timidity in her address,inexpressibly charming.This surprised me a little,because her husband was quite a Frenchman of the ancien regime,or rather a courtier,the same kind of animal in every country.

Here I saw the cloven foot of despotism.I boasted to you that they had no viceroy in Norway,but these Grand Bailiffs,particularly the superior one,who resides at Christiania,are political monsters of the same species.Needy sycophants are provided for by their relations and connections at Copenhagen as at other courts.And though the Norwegians are not in the abject state of the Irish,yet this second-hand government is still felt by their being deprived of several natural advantages to benefit the domineering state.