1036 A fuccinSi 
Pafifage to Rujfta till now, we have dealt with: its Inhabi- 
tants On the Foot of perfect Amity, except during 
the Ufurpation that followed after the Murder of King 
Charles 1. when out of their Abhorrence of that Fa6t, all 
Intercourfe with this Empire, was fufpended. But after 
the Reftoration, our Commerce with that Country again 
revived, and has continued ever fince with little or no 
Interruption. It was here that the great Czar Peter ac- 
quired the Rudiments of Ship-building, and from hence 
he drew mofl; of thofe Artificers which he employed in 
that and other Arts ; not to mention the high Refpedt 
paid him by King IVilliam^ and the many good Offices 
done to himfelf and his Family, by the Poffeffors of this 
Throne ever fince. 
We may indeed, with great Juftice, mention our 
Naval Power as a third Argument in Favour of what 
has been aflertecj ; for, without all Queftion, this muft 
ever intitle us to be very highly confider’d by fuch as ad- 
minifter the Affairs of that Empire, in as much as Ex- 
perience has fliewn what great Effcdls the Appearance of 
Britijb Fleets have had in the Baltick, and how fure 
that Caufe is to triumph which they efpoufe. As there is 
nothing clearer, than that the mofl certain Method of 
obtaining the conftant Affiftance of Great Britain, is to 
favour her Commerce, which Sweden heretofore, and 
Portugal has lately felt, fo we may reafonably prefume, 
that a Thing of fuch Notoriety muft be well known to 
the Politicians of Rujfia, and cannot but have a proper 
Influence on their Councils, more efpecially if we re- 
member, that as Rujfia has all things to hope from our 
Friendftlip, fo- fhe has nothing to fear from the aggran- 
dizing our Power. 
This will be another Motive to increafe her Readi- 
nefs to fhare her prefent and future Advantages with us, 
becaufe it is impoffible, from any Alteration of Circum- 
ftances, or as far as can be forefeen from any Viciffitude 
to which all fublunary Things are liable, that ever our 
Intereft ffiould come to clafh with theirs ; which is 
more than can be faid for almoft any other Power in 
Europe. For this is one of the many Benefits that we draw 
from our being an Ifland, viz. that our Interefts, as a 
great Power, muft always be the fame with our Interefts 
as a trading Nation. It is indeed very pofTible, that 
ambitious enterprifing Statefmen may fometimes pretend 
to divide thefe, and may perhaps find their Account in 
it ; but as it is impoffible the Nation ffiould, fo it is at 
leaft highly improbable that fuch unnatural Notions 
ffiould long prevail. The Ruffians, who have Senfe 
enough to know, and who have hitherto ffiewn Spirit 
enough to adhere to their true Interefts, cannot fail of 
being fenfible of this, and of affording due Weight to 
a Circumftance of fo great Importance which concerns 
them fo nearly, and is of fo permanent a Nature. 
As Reafon teaches this, lb it has been hitherto jufti- 
fied by Experience, fince in the feveral Revolutions that 
have happened there in our Times, every Government 
and every Adminiftration have made it their firft Care 
to renew their Engagements with Great Britain j and 
as they have always hitherto found their Account in fo 
doing, we may from hence infer, that it will become a 
fettled and unvariable Maxim in their Syftem of Politicks. 
Lastly-) in Conjunction with thefe there is another, 
and that no inconfiderable Argument, to induce the 
Ruffians to grant us, rather than any other trading Peo- 
ple, a Participation in whatever Advantages may accrue 
to them from the future Advancement of their Trade, 
or Improvement of their Dominions ; and it is this, that 
we are moft likely to take all their Commodities off their 
Hands, at the lame time that we are able to fupply 
them with whatever they can want or wiffi in Return, 
This is the natural Confequence of that extenfive Com- 
merce which we already poffefs, and which puts it fully 
in our Power to accommodate them with all thofe Things 
which either Necellidy requires. Convenience renders 
valuable, or Luxury defireable ; and all thefe too, fup- 
pofing them enriched by a Correfpondence with the 
Eafi Indies, in Exchange for other Commodities and 
ManufaClures, without draining them of their Specie, 
aad confequently to the reciprocal Benefit of each Na- 
tion, Any one of thefe Arguments taken fingly, might 
Account of Book Ilf 
afford us very rational Hopes of attaining all that is 
propofed ; but if we take them all together, I think it 
will be very difficult for any one who is well acquaint- 
ed with the true State of Commerce in general, and of 
thefe two Nations in particular, to avoid yielding to the 
Force of this Reafoning, or not to confels that we have 
much to expect, and very little to apprehend from any 
Progrefs that the Ruffians may make in the enlarging 
and Improvement of what Intercourfe they have at pre- 
fent with the Eaftern Nations. 
Yet I do not deny that fome plaufible Objections may 
be made to this Syitem ; and to ffiew that 1 have tho- 
roughly confidered, it, and to prevent the Reader’s being 
much moved when-ever he ffiall hear them mentioned, 
I will briefly ftate and remove them j yet I do not appre- 
hend that any Syftem, well fupported by affirmative 
Arguments, ought to be rejected and treated as chime- 
rical, even if there ffiould be fome Difficulties incapable 
of a conclufive Anfwer ; which however, in the prefent 
Cafe, I will be bold to fay there are not. For it muft 
be granted me, that all the Objections that can be made 
to this will either arife on their Side or on ours. I will 
begin therefore with fuch as may be taken, or rather 
fuch as may be fufpeCted, from the Syftem of Power 
in Ruffia, or from the natural Difpofition of the Nation- 
In the firft Place it may be laid, that if ever this 
comes to pafs, it will be a vain Thing to expeCl that the 
Ruffians will take the Pains, which from what is laid 
down in this SeClion, it is apparent they muft take, in 
order to obtain the Commerce of the Indies j and then 
from a Notion of Friendffiip and Alliances, transfer the 
Benefit of this hardly acquired Traffick to another Na- 
tion, which by exporting they might keep to themfelves. 
Now in Anfwer to this it may very well be obferved, 
that as it muft be a Work of Time, Application and 
Labour, for the Ruffians to obtain this Trade, fo the 
obtaining it will very fully employ their Endeavours, 
and leave them without either Leifure or Abilities to 
attempt another and yet a harder Scheme to accompliffi, 
of opening a Trade to the other Countries qI E urope at 
the lame Time. Befides, the one is very natural and 
agreeable to the People, who without ftirring beyond 
the Limits of their own Territories, may convey all 
that is brought to them by their Subjects or their 
Neighbours to Mofeow, Archangel-, P etersbourg, or fom® 
other Mart \ where, no doubt, they will be glad to re- 
ceive from another Nation fuch Commodities and Ma- 
nufactures as they really want or very much efteem, in 
Exchange for the Superfluities of the Eaftern Commerce, 
which would otherwife lie heavy upon their Hands. We 
ought likewife to refleCt, that tho* the Multitudes of 
barbarous Subjects they have, may be eafily led, or if 
that ffiould be requifite, without much Difficulty, be 
compelled to affift in promoting fuch an inland Traf- 
fick, yet it will be a Thing morally impoffible to make 
Seamen of thefe Savages, or to think of dragging them 
out of their Deferts, which however horrible to others, 
are moft defireable to themfelves, in which, as a Matter 
of FaCt, all Travellers agree. 
In the next Place it may be fuggefted, that there is 
no Quality for which the Ruffians are more remarkable, 
than their Jealoufy and Sufpicion of Strangers j and 
that therefore it is highly improbable they ffiould make 
it their Choice to deal exclufively with any one Natioa, 
which I muft confefs feems to have much greater Weight 
than the former Difficulty. However, when it is ma- 
turely confidered, it will be found to open a fair Anfwer 
to it felf. For, let the Jealoufy and Sufpicion of 
the Ruffians be ever fo great, it can only determine 
them not to deal with Nations that may be capable of 
turning what they acquire by their Trade to the Preju- 
dice of their Interefts, and to encourage the Commerce 
of any Nation that is in a Capacity to affift, and ne- 
ver can be under a Temptation to diftrefs them, which 
we have already ffiewn to be precifely the Cafe of the 
Britijh Nation. This therefore, whatever it may be in 
Appearance, is in Reality and at the Bottom fo far 
from being a conclufive Objeiftion againft my Syftem, 
that in Fad: it is a good Argument in its Favour j fo 
that the better founded it is, the more Reafon we have 
tQ 
