The Principal Articles They Drew From These Islands Were
Sugar, Indigo, Cotton, Cocoa, Ginger, &C. The Exclusive Trades Formed In
1661, When France Was Little Versed In Commerce And Navigation, Are
Deprecated:
The chief of them were, that granted to Marseilles for the sole
trade to the Levant; - the East India
Company; - the prohibiting foreign raw
silk to be carried to Paris, Nismes, Tours, &c., till it had passed through
Lyons; - the Canada and Guinea Companies, besides various farms or
monopolies of certain merchandize in trade: the principal of these last was
lead from England, with which, made into shot, the persons who had the
monopoly supplied not only France, but, through France, Spain, Portugal,
Switzerland, the Levant, and the French West Indies.
The report contains some information respecting the comparative commerce of
France, and the other nations of Europe. The Spaniards, it is observed,
though they possess within their own country wool, silk, oil, wine, &c.,
and are in no want of good ports, both on the ocean and Mediterranean,
nevertheless neglect all these advantages. Hence it happens that the raw
silk of Valencia, Murcia, and Grenada, is exported to France: the wool of
Castile, Arragon, Navarre, and Leon, to England, Holland, France, and
Italy; and these raw articles, when manufactured, are sent back to Spain,
and exchanged for the gold and silver of the American mines. France also
supplies Peru and Mexico, through Spain, receiving in return, cochineal,
indigo, hides, &c., besides a balance of eighteen or twenty million of
livres, and by the flotas, seven or eight million more.
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