Sir W. Temple
Mentions Other Two Causes, The Great Application Of The Whole Province To
The Fishing Trade, And The Mighty Advance The Dutch Made Towards Engrossing
The Whole Commerce Of The East Indies.
"The stock of this trade," he
observes, "besides what it turns to in France, Spain, Italy, the Straits,
and
Germany, makes them so great masters in the trade of the northern parts
of Europe, as Muscovy, Poland, Pomerania, and all the Baltic, where the
spices, that are an Indian drug and European luxury, command all the
commodities of those countries which are so necessary to life, as their
corn; and to navigation, as hemp, pitch, masts, planks, and iron."
The next question that Sir William Temple discusses is, what are the causes
which made the trade of Holland enrich it? for, as he remarks, "it is no
constant rule that trade makes riches. The only and certain scale of riches
arising from trade in a nation is, the proportion of what is exported for
the consumption of others, to what is imported for their own. The true
ground of this proportion lies in the general industry and parsimony of a
people, or in the contrary of both." But the Dutch being industrious, and
consequently producing much, - and parsimonious, and consequently consuming
little, have much left for exportation. Hence, never any country traded so
much and consumed so little. "They buy infinitely, but it is to sell again.
They are the great masters of the Indian spices, and of the Persian silks,
but wear plain woollen, and feed upon their own fish and roots.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 606 of 1007
Words from 165536 to 165802
of 273188
