A. D.I 670. ^^^ 



■' he alfo thinks, that their fifliins:, navigation, and traffic by fea with 

 ' their dependencies llnce Raleigh's time to the year 1667,' (when he 

 •was revifing his work for its new and complete pubUcation) ' is increafed 



* to one third more, we may then eafily conclude, that the fea is a fpe- 

 ' cial means of Holland's fubfiftence, feeing Holiand, by this means 

 ' alone, yields, through its own induftry, above 300, oco lafts of fait 

 ^ fifli. And if to this we add the whale fins and whale oil, and our 

 ' Holland manufadures, with that which our own rivers afford us, it 

 ' mufl be confefled, that no country in the world can make fo many 

 ' fhips lading of merchandize by their own induftry, as the province of 

 ' Holland alone can do.' 



Under the year 1642, we have given Sir Jofiah Shild's reafons why 

 the Dutch have never been very fuccefsful in planting and cultivating 

 foreign colonies. What he fays of the French he was certainly mif- 

 taken in, viz. ' that they are not much to be feared on the account of 

 ' planting :' for, fince his time, what fine improvements have they not 

 made on the iflands of Martinico and Guadaloupe, and their other Ca- 

 ribbee iflands, as well as on the weft end of the great ifland of Hifpa- 

 niola, whereby, in our own days, they have been able to underfell and 

 fupplant us in the fugar trade, and have thereby reduced our exports of 

 that commodity to a very low ebb ; befides the quantities of indigo, 

 cotton, ginger, and coffee, raifed by them in thole iflands, and their 

 great improvements in the ifle of Bourbon near Madagafcar, and in 

 Cayenne on the coaft of Guiana, as well as on the continent of North- 

 America, to our great lofs and coft. It is indeed allowed, that thofe 

 improvements were little thought of by the French till the time of Col- 

 bert's miniftry, but they have ever fince been fteadily prolecuted. 



What Sir Jofiah Child fays in relation to Spain, has hitherto proved 

 true, viz. that Ihe can never equal England in the improvement of her 

 American plantations ; by reafon of their high freight for their fliip- 

 ping, which he fays is four times that of ours, occafioned chiefly by 

 their high intereft of 1 2 per cent in Spain, and alfo by their applica- 

 tion principally to their mines of gold and filver, whereby they loie in- 

 finite numbers of people, efpeclally of flaves, negleding the cultiva- 

 tion of the earth, and the produ6lion of commodities which might em- 

 ploy many fhips and people * ; and laftly, by the multitude of friars and 

 nuns prohibited fcom marriage ; and the hke bad government in Ame- 

 rica which they have in Europe. 



Laftly, with regard to the Portuguefe, although he allows that they 

 have been great planters in the Brafils and other parts, yet he adds, 

 ' that if they do not alter their politics, (which he thinks impoflible 



* Is it not at kaft doubtful, whether, if England had fuch prctious mints, flic might not fall too 

 much into the like net;lect of au;riciilture at home ? — yf. 



Then let Britons be thankful to God, who has withheld from them thofe mines of indolence and 

 ruin, and has bellowed upon tiwm ample mines of indullrv and opnkr.ce. M. 



Vol. II. 4 A 



