As no navigable river runs past Libau, it is usually entered in winter by the snow road ; and the Lettish and Lithuanian peasants may be seen arriving with long caravans of small sledges, each drawn by still smaller horses, laden with sacks of corn, and with a man to every four sledges. The whole caravan generally travels very fast, for in this country the rapidity of the transport increases with the length of the way. From Lithuania comes chiefly flax, wheat, linseed, and hemp, and from Courland lye, barley, and fine wool.
The merchants at Libau are, without exception, Germans. The English honour no cities with their establishments, except those of the first rank, as Riga and St. Petersburg ; and the Russians have succeeded in establishing a mercantile house of eminence, even in the smallest places. Even those mediators who trade between the great houses and the peasants of the interior, are all Germans here. The three most important mercantile houses of Libau are those of Harmsen, Sorensen and Co., and Hagedorn. These three firms employ a yearly capital of upwards of 2,000,000 of rubles, and have, therefore, more than a third part of the entire trade of the place in their hands.
Not quite unimportant — " oh, most highly important ! " would an indignant patriot of Libau cry, " are the ship-owners and the ship-builduig of Libau." The mercliants of the town have 21 ships of their own — more, therefore, than those of Riga. Many ships are built for foreigners in the Libau wharfs, the builders and materials of which stand in great repute. The ship-builder Mo we built 41 ships in the year 1840, more than a third of which were for foreigners.
The citizens of Libau are as potent and respectable a body as those of most German cities, and their political organization is very similar to that of the old imperial city. They have also armed corporations like our oti republics, and like many other towns of Courland and Livonia. They are divided into the red, green, and blue burgerguards, antique names and institutions which date more than a century back.
Each of these guards has its own laws and its own standards. To the one belong the married merchants and the burghers of the first guild, to the second the merchants' clerks, and to the third the mechanics of the second and third guild. These guards are bound in the first place to defend he town against an attack ; and secondly, entitled to receive their sovereigns in solemn procession on their visits to Libau, and welcome them in the name of the town.
One of these guards (I believe the blue) is an equestrian body. It would be as well if their leaders sat firmer in their saddles than he »ho fell from his horse at the last visit of the Emperor Alexander. The blue guards were stationed on parade before the house of the emperor, Major Friedi'ichs at their head. The emperor, who had just mounted his horse, intending to visit all the lions of the place, wished to have the mayor as his cicerone. He rode towards him, and cried in a somewhat loud and peremptory tone, "Major Friedrichs!" The major, who had never yet stood within reach either of a cannon or an emperor, was so astounded and overwhelmed with the thought of what might follow, that when he again heard his own insignificant name pronounced by so illustrious a mouth, it had as powerful and electrical an effect upon him as if a bomb had been discharged in his ear. He started back as if struck by lightning-, and when the emperor once more turned round and called " Major Friedrichs !'' he saw the gallant officer fall flat on the pavement in the excess of his respect.
The last powder seen — one cannot say smelt — by the red, blue, and green guards, was in the year 1831, when powder and balls were distributed amongst them for the defence of the town against the Poles. For five months all Courland was unanimous and united, like a house next door to a fire. Had the Poles come to Libau, the only cannons directed against them would no doubt have been those commemorated in the songs of our students : — " Lasset die feurigen Bomhen erscliallen^' and the only blood spilt would have been that of the grape, with which the worthy citizens would have regaled and entertained the Poles as willingly and hospitably as any other guests.