What then were the causes which, in spite of these disadvantages, rendered Holland so commercial? In the first place, great multitudes in small compass, who were forced to industry and labour, or else to want. In the second place, the emigration of men of industry, skill, and capital, driven into Holland from Germany, France, and England, by persecution and civil wars. In the third place, the security to property established by the government of the United States; and akin to this, general liberty of conscience in religious matters. The great fairs in the Netherlands may be regarded as another cause. These Sir W. Temple regards as the principal causes of the foundation of their trade. He next enquires into the chief advancers and encouragers of trade in that country.
These he considers to have been low interest, which caused money to be easily obtained, not only for the purposes of commerce, but also to make canals, bridges, &c. and to drain marshes. The use of their banks, which secures money, and makes all payments easy and trade quick,--the sale by registry, which makes all purchases safe,--the severity of justice, especially with regard to forging bills,--the convoys of merchant ships, which gives trade security, the nation credit abroad, and breeds up seamen,--the lowness of their custom duties and freedom of their ports, which rendered their cities magazines as well as markets,--order and exactness in managing their trade,--each town affecting some particular commerce or staple, and so improving it to the greatest height; as Flushing, the West India trade; Middleburgh, French wines; Terveer, the Scotch staple; Dort, the English staple and Rhenish wines; Rotterdam, the English and Scotch trade at large, and French wines; Leyden, the manufacture of all sorts of stuffs, silk, hair, gold, and silver; Haerlem, linen, mixed stuffs, and flowers; Delft, beer and earthen ware; Swaardam, ship building; Sluys, herring fishery; Friezeland, the Greenland trade; and Amsterdam, the East India, Spanish, and Mediterranean trade. Sir W. Temple mentions other two causes, the great application of the whole province to the fishing trade, and the mighty advance the Dutch made towards engrossing the whole commerce of the East Indies. "The stock of this trade," he observes, "besides what it turns to in France, Spain, Italy, the Straits, and Germany, makes them so great masters in the trade of the northern parts of Europe, as Muscovy, Poland, Pomerania, and all the Baltic, where the spices, that are an Indian drug and European luxury, command all the commodities of those countries which are so necessary to life, as their corn; and to navigation, as hemp, pitch, masts, planks, and iron."
The next question that Sir William Temple discusses is, what are the causes which made the trade of Holland enrich it? for, as he remarks, "it is no constant rule that trade makes riches. The only and certain scale of riches arising from trade in a nation is, the proportion of what is exported for the consumption of others, to what is imported for their own. The true ground of this proportion lies in the general industry and parsimony of a people, or in the contrary of both." But the Dutch being industrious, and consequently producing much,--and parsimonious, and consequently consuming little, have much left for exportation. Hence, never any country traded so much and consumed so little. "They buy infinitely, but it is to sell again. They are the great masters of the Indian spices, and of the Persian silks, but wear plain woollen, and feed upon their own fish and roots. Nay, they sell the finest of their own cloth to France, and buy coarse out of England for their own wear. They send abroad the best of their own butter into all parts, and buy the cheapest out of Ireland or the north of England for their own use. In short, they furnish infinite luxury which they never practise, and traffic in pleasures which they never taste." "The whole body of the civil magistrates, the merchants, the rich traders, citizens, seamen and boors in general, never change the fashion of their cloaths; so that men leave off their cloaths only because they are worn out, and not because they are out of fashion. Their great consumption is French wine and brandy; but what they spend in wine they save in corn, to make other drinks, which is brought from foreign parts. Thus it happens, that much going constantly out, either in commodity or in the labour of seafaring men, and little coming in to be consumed at home, the rest returns in coin, and fills the country to that degree, that more silver is seen in Holland, among the common hands and purses, than brass either in Spain or in France; though one be so rich in the best native commodities, and the other drain all the treasures of the West Indies." (Sir W. Temple's Observations on the Netherlands, Chapter VI.)
Having thus sketched the progress and nature of Dutch commerce, during that period when it was at its greatest height, and brought our account of it down to the commencement of the eighteenth century, we shall next proceed to consider the English commerce from the time of the discovery of the Cape and America, till the beginning of the same century.
From the sketch we have already given of English commerce prior to the end of the fifteenth century, it is evident that it was of very trifling extent and amount, being confined chiefly to a few articles of raw produce, and to some woollen goods. The improvement of the woollen manufacture, the establishment of corporations, and the settlement of foreign merchants, as well as the gradual advancement of the English in the civilization, skill, and industry of the age,--in the wants which the first occasions, and in the means to supply those wants afforded by the two latter,--these are the obvious and natural causes which tended to improve English commerce. But its progress was slow and gradual, and confined for a long time to countries near at hand; it afterwards ventured to a greater distance. Companies of merchant adventurers were formed, who could command a greater capital than any individual merchant. Of the nature and extent of their foreign commerce at the close of the fifteenth century we are informed by an act of parliament, passed in the 12 Hen. VII. (1497.)
From this act it appears, that England traded at this time with Spain, Portugal, Bretagne, Ireland, Normandy, France, Seville, Venice, Dantzic, Eastland, Friesland, and many other parts. The woollen cloth of England is particularly specified as one of the greatest articles of commerce. In a licence granted by Henry VII. to the Venetians, to buy and sell at London, and elsewhere in England, Ireland, and Calais, woollen cloth, lead, tin, and leather, are enumerated as the chief exports. From this document it also appears, that there resided in or traded to England, the following foreign merchants: Genoese, Florentines, Luccans, Spaniards, Portuguese, Flemings, Hollanders, Brabanters, Burgundians, German, Hanseatic, Lombards, and Easterlings.
From these two documents, the nature and extent of English commerce at this period may be inferred: its exports were sent as far north as the southern countries of the Baltic, and to all the rest of Europe, as far south and east as Venice; but this export trade, as well as the import, seems to have been almost entirely carried on by foreign capital and ships; the merchant adventurers having yet ventured very little from home.
In 1511, English commerce, in English ships, extended into the Levant, chiefly from London, Bristol, and Southampton. Chios, which was still in the possession of the Genoese, was the port to which they traded. This branch of trade flourished so much in a few years, that in 1513 a consul, or protector of all the merchants and other English subjects in Chios, was appointed. The voyages were gradually lengthened, and reached Cyprus, and Tripoli, in Syria. The exports were woollen goods, calf-skins, &c.; and the imports were silks, camblets, rhubarb, malmsey, muscadel, and other wines: oils, cotton wool, Turkey carpets, galls, and Indian spices. The commerce was in a small degree carried on by English ships, but chiefly by those of Candia, Ragusa, Sicily, Genoa, Venice, Spain, and Portugal. The voyages to and from England occupied a year, and were deemed very difficult and dangerous. So long as Chios remained in the possession of the Genoese, and Candia in that of the Venetians, England traded with these islands; but ceased to trade when the Turks conquered them. From 1553, to 1575, the Levant commerce was quite discontinued by England, though during that period, the French, Genoese, Venetians, and Florentines, continued it, and had consuls at Constantinople.
The small and temporary trade with the Genoese and Venetian possessions in the Levant, seems to have been attended with such profit, and to have opened up such further prospects of advantage, as to have given rise to a direct trade with Turkey, and the formation of the Turkey Company. The enlightened ministers of Elizabeth effected these objects: they first sent out an English merchant to the Sultan, who obtained for his countrymen all the commercial advantages enjoyed by the Venetians, French, Germans, and Poles. Two years afterwards, in 1581, the Turkey Company was established. Sir William Monson, in his Naval Tracts, assigns the following as the causes and reasons why England did not sooner embark in the Turkey trade for Persian and Indian merchandize: 1. That there was not sufficient shipping; 2. the hostility of the Turks; and, lastly, England was supplied with Levant goods by the Venetian ships, which came annually to Southampton. He adds, "the last argosser that came thus from Venice was unfortunately lost near the isle of Wight, with a rich cargo, and many passengers, in the year 1587." The Turkey Company carried on their concern with so much spirit, that the queen publicly thanked them, with many encouragements to go forward for the kingdom's sake: she particularly commended them for the ships they then built of so great burden. The commodities of Greece, Syria, Egypt, Persia, and India, were now brought into England in greater abundance, and sold much cheaper than formerly, and yet the returns of this trade are said to have been, at its commencement, three to one.
It is not our object, nor would it be compatible with our limits, to trace the progress of commerce minutely, in any of its branches, but rather to point out, as it were, its shootings in various directions; and any special causes which may have given vigour to its growth, or have retarded it. In conformity with this plan, we shall only notice some of the more marked and important eras of our Levant trade, prior to the commencement of the eighteenth century. The trade to the Levant, in its infancy, like all other trades, at a time when there was little capital and commercial knowledge, required the formation of a company which should possess exclusive privileges. Charters were granted to such a company for a term of years, and renewed by Elizabeth. In 1605 king James gave a perpetual charter to the Levant Company: the trade was carried on with encreasing vigour and success: our woollen manufactures found a more extensive market: the Venetians, who had for many years supplied Constantinople and other ports of the Levant, were driven from their markets by the English, who could afford to sell them cloths cheaper; and English ships began to be preferred to those of Venice and other nations, for the carrying trade in the Mediterranean. According to Sir W. Monson, England exported broad cloth, tin, &c. enough to purchase all the wares we wanted in Turkey; and, in particular, 300 great bales of Persian raw silk yearly: "whereas a balance of money is paid by the other nations trading thither. Marseilles sends yearly to Aleppo and Alexandria at least 500,000 l. sterling, and little or no wares. Venice sends about 400,000 l. in money, and a great value in wares besides: the Low Countries send about 50,000 l., and but little wares; and Messina 25,000 l. in ready money: besides great quantities of gold and dollars from Germany, Poland, Hungary, &c.; and all these nations take of the Turks in return great quantities of camblets, grograms, raw silk, cotton wool and yarn, galls, flax, hemp, rice, hides, sheep's wool, wax, corn, &c."