oe 2 
: f 
land, one hundred and ten vessels were 
fitted out tor Greenland, and forty for 
Davis’s Streights: in 1785 there were no 
‘more than sixty-eight: and the fishery 
continued on the decline till 1799, when 
the English intercepted the convoy on its 
return from Greenland, and completed 
its destruction. Amsterdam and Rot- 
‘terdam enjoyed the greatest share of the 
~whale-fisheries. The wealth of this 
commerce is now chiefly enjoyed by the 
English and Americans: some few other 
powers have a small part; of this number 
are the Danes, and the Portuguese and 
Spaniards in their culunies in the New 
World. 
The produce of the fisheries was Im- 
portant to Holland; it is ascertained, that 
it supported: at least twenty thousand 
Families; the number of vessels which 
sailed annually from the several ports 
‘employed in the fisheries, was estimated 
at five or six hundred. 
The Fast and West India trade, was 
also a mine of wealth tv Holland ; they had 
2 considerable share of it. The Mast and 
West India Companies still exist; but 
deprived of her catonies by the snatish, 
Holland derives uo benefit from tle New 
World, 
The principal interior trade of IIol- 
laud, is certainly that with Germany. 
be navigation of the Rhine, luckily, 
gives the Dutch an opportunity of en- 
grossing the trade with the different 
countries that river passes, and also of 
the other rivers in Germany, which 
empty their waters into the Rhine. It 
opens to them an easy communication 
with the departments of the Saarre, the 
Rhine and Moselle, Mount TYonnerre, 
aud Fraucfort, which, before the war, 
they supplied with the productions of the 
northand south, At that pericd, Cologne 
engrossed the principal tratiic of the 
fihine from that river; the Dutch re- 
velved their timber for building; which 
come down in’ immense Aoats every 
year from Andeimach,-to Dort. The 
consuinption of this -article in Holland, 
may easily be guessed at, by giving a 
elance at its shipping, at the buildings 
whieh stand AF ete piles, at the dykes, 
and the multitude of mills wlich serve 
for so-many diiferent purposes. 
Tobaccu is an article of some conse- 
_quence, even now; that of Amersfort, 
and its vicipity, in the department of 
Utrecht, is of a superior quality, and 
holds the first place in trade after that 
of Virginia. ‘Lhe leaf is large, soft, unc- 
Sketches of Holland in 1806. 
[April J, 
tuous, and of a good colour. Jt has the 
rare advantage of communicating its 
flavour to tobaceos of an inferior qua- 
lity; there is a great deal of this Jatter 
sort in Holland, but that which grows in 
the department of Guelderland passes 
for the worst. 
The Dutch are not, however, confined 
to the tobacco which their own soil pro- 
duces; they consume a great quantity 
beside, which they get from North Ame- 
rica, principally from Maryland ;- and 
some froni the Carraccas. The tobacco, 
both in leaf and manufactured, is ex- 
ported in considerable quantities to Ger- 
many, and the north of Europe. The 
manufactory of it was for a long time an 
object of great importance to Holland ; 
the city of Amsterdam alone, at one pe- 
riod, employed no less than three thou- 
sand hauds ; but this branch of trade has 
also much decayed from what it origi- 
nally was. 
Pipes, pens, tiles, bricks, and earthen- 
ware, are the chief articles now manu- 
tactured in Holland; the pottery of Ber- 
gen op Zoom, is in great estimation; 
and that of Delft hkewise, which gives its 
name to the yellow ware. 
If. we attentively examine what ‘were 
the sources trom which Holland derived 
her riches, it is easy to.observe, that, be- 
sides the principal causes: which have 
contributed to paralyse the commerce of 
the country, there are others which are 
independ ant even of these circumstances. 
The great increase of money, augmenting 
the price of labour, could not fail to affect 
those manufactories which were already 
lessened by the erection of similar ones 
in the neighbouring states, during the 
last century. It is weil known, that in 
Denmark, Sweden, and Russias certain 
branches of industry were unknown, even 
at the conclusion of the 17th century. 
The East India ee chiefly felt the 
effects of this decrease. The progress 
which the Engli-h made in India, and 
that of the French, Danish, and Swedish 
Companies, Lougeden, its trafic, and cons 
sequently the returns and profits. 
That which supported the trade of 
Holland, dawn to the period of the 
French revolution, was the immense 
capital to be found in that country. Am~ 
sterdam became the general bank, and 
prescribed the course of exchange to 
Europe; the facility with which the 
merchants cotsd draw upon’their corre- 
spondents in that city, for the amount of 
the goods they sold, has preserved in 
Holland 
we 
