xvi The IN TRODUCTIO N. 
Bat Examples are better underftood, and move more than Precepts. Let us look Abroad then for 
cue, fince it might be inconvenient to look at Home. The State of Genoa was once a moft: rich and 
powerful Republick, pofteffing large fo.eign Dominions, and prodigious Wealth in her own Coffers; 
it was this, that enabled her Subjects to build and plant, fo as to eftablifh, in the moft barren Part of 
Italy , a City, which is ftill defervedly filled Genoa the Proud. . But how did fhe acquire her Fleets, 
her Dominions, and her Riches ? If we look into her Hiftory, we fhali find, by the very fame Me- 
thod, that thefe Bleffings were acquired, and may be acquired in other Countries, that is to fay, by 
Induftry and Trade. But is fhe now pofleffed of them? Alas! No; from being the greateft, fhe is 
of late become the moft contemptible State in Europe. And how has this Change been wrought ? By 
forgetting her true.Intereft, by fuffering the Wealth her Trade had produced, to corrupt the Manners 
of her People, by running into Luxury and Idlenefs, by entering into endlefs Negotiations, and 
fruitlefs Alliances; and finally, by thefe two fatal Steps, dealing in Money inftead of Goods, her Mer- 
chants ; becoming Bankers, and preferring Funds and negotiable Debts to Manufactures and ftaple 
Commodities ; by negleCting her natural naval Strength, and depending upon her Allies ; by engaging 
in other Peoples Quarrels, and thereby wafting her own Strength, and by preferring the pernicious 
Arts of Politicks to the noble and generous Arts of Commerce : Such have been the Caufes of her 
Fall; and may her Fall prove a Warning, not a Precedent! 
I call the Arts of Commerce noble and generous, becaufe they extend to all Mankind. If we draw 
Gold and Spices from warmer Climates, we carry them Things more valuable, becaufe more ufefuk 
What is it that conftitutes the Splendor and Luxury of Mexico and Lima , but the rieheft Commodi- 
ties, and the fineft Manufactures of Europe ; and what renders opulent thofe Countries which furnifh thefe 
Commodities and Manufactures, but the Silver of Mexico , and the Gold of Peru ? Does not that 
Change in Point of Cultivation, Magnificence in Building, and great Increafe in Shipping, which, 
within thefe two laft Ages, has happened in the old World, arife from the Difcovery of the new? Why 
then do we not purfue this Track ? Why not profecute new Difcoveries, at leaft, why not enlarge our 
Commerce by the Invention of new Branches ? The common Anfwer is, becaufe the Thing is im- 
poflible. Idle, ridiculous, and impious Aftertion ! Have we not Wool ; have we not Cloth ; are there 
not naked Nations enough in the World, who would gladly be covered ; and was there ever a Nation 
yet found, that wanted Cloaths, and at the fame Time wanted wherewithal to pay for them. 
The Negroes on the burning Coaft of Jfrica , have Ivory and Gold; the Inhabitants of the frozen 
Coafts of Hudfons Bay, fend us Furs and Skins. The very Laplanders pay for what they want, and 
confequently, the more Wants any People have, the more it concerns us to find them out ; befides, is 
not this falling back to the Errors of the Antients ? Did not they fancy the fame Thing, and were 
not they miftaken ? Should not this put us upon a different ConduCt, furely it ought. We have Com- 
modities, we have Manufactures, we have Shipping, we have Seamen, we have Merchants, what can 
we poflibly want, if we have the Will to employ thofe as we ought ? Methinks I hear feme modern 
Sceptick cry. This is very fine, indeed ; but where, which Way fhali we fearch ; would you have us 
Freight and Man our Ships, and then turn then a-drift, in Hopes that Chance may bring them to 
feme new World ? No, the following Sheets will fhew, that the Means of Finding are very well 
known ; that the Methods of extending Commerce- are natural and eafy, and which is more, in a 
Manner certain ; fo that there is no need of employing Chance, the very Skill we have, will do the Bufi- 
nefs. It may, indeed, be requifite to remove ill-judged Prohibitions, and to break down illegal Ex- 
elufions, illegal, becaufe the Terms upon which they were granted, have not been complied with j 
thefe may be, and indeed will be requifite, and therefore they ought to be done. 
We fee in a Time of War, what Encouragement for Privateering has produced, and can any rea~ 
fenabie Man doubt, that in Time of Peace, like Encouragements would not produce as ftrong a Spirit 
of Difcovery; moft certainly they would. Let us maintain Trade, and there is, no doubt, that Trade 
will maintain us. Let our paft Miftakes teach us to be wife, let our prefent Wants and Difficulties 
revive our antient Induftry. Let the Perufal of this Collection excite our Hopes, and difpel our Fears, 
and then the prefent Age may become as much the Admiration, as it is now in Danger of becoming 
the Scorn of Pofterity. We want not Capacity, we want not Power; but we want Will, and there- 
fore we want Vigour ; let us fupply this Deficiency, and all will be well. In fine, let us deferve, and 
we fhali certainly fucceed ; for that divine Maxim will be found true in worldly as well as fpiritual Af- 
fairs, If we fearch , we fhali find % if we knocks it will be opened [ 3 
TABLE 
