For they are cities free. Where Bismarck has no right to be

As late as the 1880s, even though the Hansa was long gone, it is said that children would chant: 'Hamburg, Lubeck and Bremen. No one can shame 'em. For they are cities free. Where Bismarck has no right to be.'

N. MacGregor, Germany: memories of a nation (2014), 244