Nevertheless, the before-mentioned Robert Jasper van der Capellan de Marsch insisting, that the voices should be collected upon the proposition and advice in question, and thereupon having deliberated, their noble Mightinesses have thought fit to resolve, that although the motives alledged by this Nobleman in his advice, appear to merit a serious consideration, nevertheless, for the reasons before alleged, they judge, that they ought to suspend the decision of it, until the commercial Provinces have formed their resolutions concerning it: and that, upon the requisition of Robert Jasper van der Capellan de Marsch, there be delivered to him an extract of the present, upon one as well the other.
Signed
Herm. Schomaker.
PETITION OF LEYDEN.
To the noble, great, and venerable Lords of the Grand Council of the city of Leyden.
The undersigned, all manufacturers, merchants, and other traders of this city, most respectfully give to understand, that it is a truth, as melancholy, as it is universally known, that the declension of manufactures, which all the well-disposed citizens have remarked with the most lively grief, from the beginning of this century, has increased more and more for several years; and that this principal branch of the subsistence of the good citizens, has fallen into such a state of languor, that our city, once so flourishing, so populous, so celebrated, on account of its commerce and of its trades, appears to be threatened with total ruin; that the diminution of its merchants houses, on the one hand, and on the other, a total loss, or the sensible decrease of several branches of commerce, furnish an evident proof of it; which the petitioners could demonstrate by several examples, if there were need of them to convince. Your noble and grand Lordships, to whom the increase of the multitude of the poor, the deplorable situation of several families, heretofore in easy circumstances, the depopulation of the city, which one cannot observe without emotion in the ruins of several streets, once neat and well inhabited, are fully known, will recollect no doubt upon this occasion, with grief, that this state of languor must appear so much the more desperate, if your noble and grand lordships will take into consideration, that in this decay of trades and manufactures, we find a new reason of their farther fall, considering, that from the time there is not continual employment, and an uninterrupted sale, the workmen desert in such manner, that when considerable commissions arrive, we cannot find capable hands, and we see ourselves entirely out of a condition to execute these orders.
That the petitioners, with all the true friends of their country, extremely affected with this alarming situation of so rich a source of the public prosperity, have indeed sought the means of a remedy, in amending some defects, from which it seemed to arise, at least in part; but that the measures taken in this view, as is well know to your noble and grand Lordships, have not had the desired effect; at least, that they have not produced a re-establishment so effectual, that we have been able to observe a sensible influence in the increase of the sales of the manufactures of Leyden, as appears most evidently, by a comparison of the pieces fabricated here, which have been heretofore carried to the divers markets of this city, with those which are carried there at this day; a comparison which a true citizen cannot of consider without regret.
That experience has also taught the petitioners, that the principal cause of the decay of the manufactures of Holland, particularly those of Leyden, is not to be found in any internal vice, either in the capacity, or the œconomy of the inhabitants, but in circumstances which have happened abroad; and to which it is, consequently, beyond the power of the petitioners, or of any citizen whatsoever, to provide a remedy. That we might cite, for example, the commerce of our manufactures with Dantzic; and, through that commercial city, with all Poland; a commerce which was carried on with success and advantage heretofore in our city, but is absolutely interrupted at this day, and vanished, by the revolution which has happened in that kingdom, and by the burthensome duties to which the navigation of the Vistula has been subjected. But that, without entering into a detail of similar particular shackles, of which we might reckon a great number; the principal cause of the languishing state of our manufactures consists in the jealous emulation of the neighbouring nations, or rather of all the people of Europe; considering that, in this age, the several princes and governments, enlightened in the real sources of the public prosperity, and the true interests of their subjects, attach themselves with emulation to revive in their kingdoms and states the national industry, commerce, and navigation; to encourage them, and promote them even by exclusive privileges, or by heavy impositions upon foreign merchandizes; privileges and impositions, which tend equally to the prejudice of the commerce and the manufactures of our country, as your noble and grand Lordships will easily recollect the examples in the Austrian states and elsewhere.