Benefit of the weftern Part of the World, if they had. no Enemies of their Country, and cannot get a fingle Shil- 
Commerce at all with the Bait ; and that it would be an ling, without robbing the Nation of five. 
Advantage to Europe in general, if the Commerce to the Thus I have entirely finifhed what I propofed with re- 
Indies were totally abolifhed. . . fpeCt to our Commerce, with this Part of the World. I 
Admitting this to be true, what is it to us ? We are have fhewn, that it is the great Wheel which moves all 
not yet the Legifiators of Europe ; we cannot bid the the reft ; that- we have no reafon to be diffatisfied at feeing 
Dutch A iffolve their Company, and recall their Subje&s it managed by an exclufive Company; that by Degrees, 
from the Indies ; we cannot forbid the French to trade and by a Variety of Accidents, this Company is now 
thither ; and if our Minifters at Stockholm , and Copenha- placed on the belt Balls that can be for the Nation ; that 
gen* Ihould perfuade thofe Courts not to fend any more there is no doubt, their Trade is extremely beneficial ; 
Ships to China, it is not at all probable, that they would that the Objections againft it, are very far from being well 
take our Advice. We mufc be content then, to take the founded, and that at this Juncture, it imports us^more 
World as it lies before us, and fince the Humour of trad- than ever to be well informed, and clearly convinced as to 
Ing to India cannot be extinguilhed, we, as a trading Na- thefe Things, becaufe there never was a Conjuncture when 
tion, mult endeavour fo to manage that Humour, and the thorough underltanding of them was of fo great Con- 
our Commerce, as that both may turn to our Advantage. fequence to the Publick. If in the managing fo exten- 
We mull contrive to maintain and fupport the Acquifi- five, fo intricate, and in Lome Cafes, fo inviduous a Sub- 
tions made by our Company in that Part of the World ; jeCt, I ihall be thought to have performed well, it is the 
we mull engage them to take off as great a Quantity of Height of my Ambition ; but if I have failed therein, it 
our Manufactures as is poffible *, we mult encourage to will be ftill my Comfort, that it Was my Endeavour. I 
the utmoft the Exportation of fuch Goods and Manufac- might with much greater eafe to myfelf have contracted 
tures as the Company brings home, and which is of the this SeCtion into a narrower Compafs, but I have fincerely 
greateft Confequence to this Nation •, we muft, at all ftudied the Benefit of the Reader, and how to render die 
Events, and by whatever Means it can be done, prevent Time he bellows in the Perufal of this Work beneficial to 
the fmuggling Indian Commodities into thefe Kingdoms; himfelf, by infpiring him with fuch Sentiments as may 
for fuch as promote that Practice, are the molt notorious render him ufeful to his Country. 
SECTION XXXIV. 
A fuccinEl Hifiory of the Rife , Progrefs. and EJlablifhment of the Dutch Eaft-India Com- 
pany^ with a View of the immenfe Profits arifing from that Commerce^ and a ProfpeEl 
of their Affairs , and the Manner in which they are conduced \ as well at Ho?ne as in 
their extenfve Settlements Abroad . 
Collected chiefly from their own Writers. 
i. An introductory Account of the Situation of Affairs in Holland, at the Time their Commerce to the Eafl:- 
Indies was firft undertaken. 2. HoutmanC Imprifonment in Portugal, proves the Means of their learn- 
ing the true Rout to the Eait-Indies. 3. The firfi Voyages made under the Direction of Houtman, at the 
Clofe of the fxteenth Century. 4. A new Company of Merchants engage in this Trade with great Succefs. 
5. The States-General and Prince Maurice interpofe in Order to put this Company on a proper Ejiabiijh- 
raent. 6. The Dutch Eaft-India Company formed , and Letters Patent dated March the 20th 1602, for 
twenty-one Tears, 7. A great Struggle between the Dutch and Spaniards about the Moluccas, in which 
the former at lap prevailed. 8. An Account of the fur prizing Succefs of the Dutch Company , and of the 
prodigious Dividends made by them to their Proprietors in a few Tears. 9. The Rife of the Company's 
great Power in the Indies, and the Caufes thereof truly ajjigned. 10. Their Charter renewed and enlarg- 
ed , with the Conferences arifing from thence. 1 1 . The Progrefs of their Trade in the Indies, and other 
remarkable Occurrences. 1 2 The Hifiory of this Company continued till the Expiration of their fecond Charter. 
13. An Account of their Affairs to the Tear j66o. 14. The Continuation of this Hifiory to the Clofe of 
the lad Century. 15. A concife Deduction of this Hifiory to the prefent Times. 16. A fiori Account of 
their prefent Settlements in the Indies. 17. A curious and particular Relation of the Manner in which 
they manage their Affairs. 18. Of their Councils and Goverment in the Indies. 19. The Oeconomy of 
their Fleets , Squadrons , and fingle Ships , with other Particulars relating to their naval Concerns. 20. A 
View cp their Management of Orphans Effects, and of the Care taken by them of their Poor. 21. Of the 
Management of the Company' s Affairs in Holland, with a Table of their Dividends, from 1610 to ijiy. 
1. rT^HfiRE could not certainly be any nobler 
Subject chofen by an Author inclined at once 
JL to entertain and inftruCt his Readers, than 'an 
Enquiry how far the Spirit of Liberty and Trade may be 
able to advance a People, notwithftanding any Diffi- 
culties they may labour under from the Situation of their 
Country, the Poverty of its Soil, and the Oppofition of 
their Neighbours, Such a Plan as this, might enable a Man 
of folid Underltanding, quick Wit, and competent Learn- 
ing, to frame a political Svftem as ufeful, and at the fame 
.1 ime, no lei's pieafant and agreeable, than the famous 
Poems of Homer, which have hitherto been efteemed in- 
imitable, and which are allowed to contain the Principles of 
airnoft all Sciences,* though delivered under the fpecious 
Veil of Fictions. But if the'Compofition of fuch a Work 
be a Talk fo hard as fcarce to be expeCted, an Author of a 
cooler Genius than is requifite for fuch a Performance, might 
perform fomething very laudable in this kind, by writing 
a copious Pliftory of the Eftablifhment of the Dutch Re- 
publick, which would fufficiently ffiew, that the Delire of 
preferving religious and civil Liberty, maintaining the na- 
tural Rights of Mankind with refpeCt to Trade, and 
tranffnitting the Bleffings of an equal and mild Admini- 
ftration to Pofterity, are Principles capable of raffing fuch 
an heroick Spirit in any People, as will enable them to 
overcome all Difficulties of what kind foever, and that to 
fuch a Degree, as to give them a Capacity of changing, 
at leaft in Appearance, the very Laws of Nature, fo as 
to 
