Chap. II. The Hiftory y See . of the Imperial-Company at 'Oftend. 975 
Netherlands, and made the little Port of Oft end of more Queftion that will naturally arife in the Mind of an inqui- 
ufe to his Dominions than hitherto France has been able to fitive Perfon upon this Oecafion, and it is this : How it 
make the many Parts in her Dominions, which is a Point fhould come to pafs that the Emperor, or rather the Sub- 
worthy of our Confideration, and indeed, of that of all jefts of the Emperor in the Low-Countries , fhould, in fo 
Europe, to whom the raffing a new Maritime Power would fhort a Space of Time, and having no better a Port than 
be found a thing of great and dangerous Confequence, Oft end, be able to ereft and eftablifh a Company capable 
more efpecially in the Hands of a Prince otherwife power- ot carrying on immediately fuch a Commerce in the Indies 
ful on the Continent. as alarmed and aftonifhed the Maritime Powers beyond 
But before we quit this Subjeft, it will be requifite to 
take Notice of fome few Points, which rendered it fo ab- 
folutely neceffary to confider this Matter, and to confider 
itfo largely as we have done in this Seftion. In the firft 
Place let it be obferved, that a ftronger Proof there cannot 
be of the Importance of the Eaft-India Commerce, than 
that all Europe fhould be thus as it were in Arms upon 
that Subjeft, and having felt fo lately the Mifchiefs of a 
general War, fhould notwithftanding hazard the breaking 
out of another about the fettling the Right of this Com- 
merce. It is impoffible to conceive how this fhould have 
been reconcileahle to the Wifdom of their Councils any 
other way than by fuppofing it was a Thing felf-evident to 
them, that the Trade of the Indies was the great Wheel 
which moved the whole commercial Syftem in Europe. It 
was in this Light, and in this Light only, that the pulling 
down the Oft end Company could be looked upon as an 
Enterprize equally great and glorious, as the pulling down 
univerfal Monarchy. To fay the Truth, when clofely 
confidered, they came to be the fame thing ; for the foie 
Reafon which induced Spain to depart from her own Inte- 
refl, fo far as to countenance this Company, was the Hopes 
Hie entertained of feeing a Prince of her Blood Heir of 
the German Branch of the Houfe of Auftria , to whom file 
could not grudge’ a Share in the Commerce of the 
Indies . 
But tho’ her Hopes were vain, becaufe very probably 
the late Emperor never intended any fuch thing •, yet that 
would not have Ieffened the Value of the Prefent fire made 
him ; for if the Oftend Company had been once effectually 
eflabliflied, the whole Eaft- India Trade, in lefs than a 
Century, would have been confined to the Auftrian Ne- 
therlands, and perhaps, the greateft Part of the Trade in 
Europe muff have followed it. In order to explain this, 
we muff remember, that the Auftrian Low-Countries are 
in themfelves much finer than the Provinces which com- 
pofe the Dutch Republick, and much better fituated for 
Trade. Their Sales of Eaft-India Commodities would 
have brought prodigious Sums of ready Money into thofe 
Provinces, and this muff have revived and reftored thofe 
Manufaftures, which formerly fiouriffied here more than 
in any Part of Europe , which would have immediately fe- 
cured to them all the Commerce of Germany, and by De- 
grees that of the North. In fuch Circumftances, what 
fhould have hindered their attempting and acquiring the 
Fifheries, and by opening the Ports of Lriefte and Fiume 
on the Adriatic k, what could have prevented their engrof- 
fing the Italian Trade? It n*.ay be faid, that all thefe are 
Suppofitions ; but what then, they are reafon able Suppofi- 
tions, and which is much more to my Purpofe, they were 
fuch Suppofitions as induced the late Emperor to eftablifh 
this Company, and to ftruggle fo hard as he did for the 
Maintainance of it, nay, what is ftill more, the Dutch , 
who beyond a Queftion, were the beft Judges in the World 
of what might be done, and what could be done, thought 
ail thefe Suppofitions both poffible and practicable, which 
induced them to aft in the Manner they did. Take then 
all this together, and it will appear a very ftrong, and not 
to be refuted Argument, that the Trade of the Eaft Andies 
is in itfelf the Foundation of Commerce, and Maritime 
Power, at leaft in the Hands of fuch as know how to 
manage it, and have it in their Power to manage it as 
they would do ; which, I think, fully juftifies the Pains I 
have taken upon this Subjeft, and all that I have advanced 
In this Seftion. 
The Defire I have of making every thing as clear and 
plain as it is poffible, induces me to think of refolving a 
any thing that France had been able to do in a much lon- 
ger Space of Time, with the utmoft Affiftance the Court 
could give, and that Affiftance too under the Direftion of 
her ableft and greateft Mmifters, who fcarce ever failed in 
any thing elfe. This, without queftion, is a very difficult 
Point for common People to get over •, but to fuch as are 
well acquainted with the Situation of the feverai Countries, 
the Genius and Difpofition of their Inhabitants, and the 
Nature of the Governments under which they live, it 
carries in it little or no Difficulty at all. 
For, in the firft Place, the Auftrian Low-Countries are 
better feated for Trade, the People, generally fpeaking, 
are not only more inclined thereto, but are alfo better qua- 
lified for it, fince they are not only fober and frugal, but 
diligent alfo and induftrious. Their Country is rich and 
fruitful, their Towns large and populous ; many of them 
ftill have, and all of them once had noble and fiouriiliing 
Manufactories. Add to all this, that though the Flemings 
have loft much of their ancient Freedom, yet they ftill 
retain mon| of it than the French, and it will be no diffi- 
cult Matter to conceive how this Affair happened. In few 
V/ ords, the Cafe was this : Flanders was, for feverai 
Ages, the Center of the Commerce of Europe ; among fuch 
a People therefore Trade might be eafily revived. In re- 
gard to France , the Cafe was quite otherwife ; they never 
knew the Bleffing of a fiourifhing Trade, or that kind of 
Government, under which extend ve Traffick can only 
rife and fpread. But, to return to what is more immedi- 
ately our Province, and to inform the Reader of the Con- 
fequences that attended the eftablilhing this new Company, 
notwithftanding its Sufpenfion ; and in confequence of that 
Sufpenfion, its Diffolution. 
The great Struggle which this Company occafioned di- 
vulged the Advantages of the Eaft-India Trade through- 
out all Europe ; and in every Nation inquifitive and pub- 
lick fpirited People began to look ferioufiy after this politi- 
cal Philofopher’s Stone, which they heard was univerfally 
confeffed to be the grand Source of Riches, Commerce, 
and naval Power. One would have thought that the 
Ruin of this Company would have damped at leaft, if not 
deftroyed this Defire of eftablifhing a Trade to the Indies. 
So far from it however that the Fall of the Oftend Com- 
pany aftually encreafed it, and that for thefe three Reafons ; 
Firft, it fent abroad abundance of aftive and intelligent 
Perfons who had been employed by this Company, and 
were, of all others, the moft likely and' the moft capable 
of fetting c*' Foot, and of conducting Projects of this 
Nature in other Places. Secondly, the great Succefs this 
Company had, during the fhort time it continued, was a 
very ftrong and prevailing Argument to perfuade the fet- 
ting up a Company in any other Place, and an Argument 
which the Perfons I have juft mentioned, knew how to re- 
prefent in the faireft Colours poffible. Thirdly, as the 
Fall and Ruin of this Company was owing entirely to the 
Treaties fubfifting between their Imperial and Catho- 
lick Majefties and the Maritime Powers, which, not ex- 
tending toother Princes and States, it might well encourage 
them to hope for equal good Fortune, and to apprehend 
fewer Inconveniencies. Sqch were the Motives that de- 
termined the Danes and the Sweeds, one to revive, and the 
other to ereft Companies of this kind, of which, as they 
are ftill fubfifting, we are bound, from the Nature of the 
Subjeft, as well as by the exprefs Terms of our Plan, to 
give the Reader a fatisfaftory Account, which is all that 
remains for Cis to do in reference to this Compleat Hiftory 
of the Commerce of Europe with the Indies , 
5 E C T. 
