to the pinnacle of glory.And, if we turn

our

dominion of the feas: infomuch, that, if the fortune of war fhould favour their firft enterprizes, I do not ⚫ think they have any defign to make a peace with a nation they have a mind utterly to deftroy, and to whom they will propofe fuch hard terms, that, upon the refufal of them, you will, at laft, find them prepared to make terrible descents in divers parts of Zealand, and North Holland, to break the banks, and the other dykes, that keep the flat country from being • drowned. There needs no more than this fort of ⚫ blood letting to make Amfterdam, and all the other cities, defolate. For, it would fignify little to them to feize the Brill, or fome other place, feeing their defign is to deftroy the trade of Holland, and to tranffer it into their own country; and it would be of little importance to them, that the King of Spain fhould, in the mean time, recover the feven provinces; that the merchants of Amsterdam fhould remove to Antwerp, and the manufactures of Leyden and Harlem to Ghent and Bruges: for it would require many years to fettle things there, and the Englib would have opportunity enough to hinder them from having any neceffary materials, but fuch as paffed through their own hands, and their manufactures to be transported any where but in English bottoms: for it would be very eafy for them to ftop up the mouths of the ports, and to go up the Schelde, even in fight of Antwerp, from whence nothing must come out but will be taken by their fhips. By this means, and the notion I have of their defigns, no nation in the world, in a few years time, would have any feamen, fhips, or skill in maritime affairs, befides themfelves: for Holland being entirely ruined, the Dutch muft ferve on board their fleets, and all the hipwrights, fail-makers and rope-makers, would be obliged to go and earn their living in the fea-port • towns of England; and this they would be the more T • in

274

our eyes to their conduct at home, we shall

find

inclined to do, because there is more wages given there, and people live better. When this noble and rich province, which, within the extent of less than ⚫ five and twenty leagues, contains eighteen large towns, • and four hundred villages, of which the Hague is the finest in the world, fhall be reduced to this fad plight; its then likely the English will turn their arms against • Denmark, in order to feize the Sundt, either by main force, or rather fome treaty, by which they will be willing to give the King more than the profit it brought him, but, at the fame time, will oblige Norway to fell their wood to no other nation but the English. The cities of Embden, Bremen, Hamburg, Lubec, all the coaft of the Baltic, and the whole kingdom of Sweden, durft appear no longer at fea, but under English colours; and, perhaps, the formidable republic will be content, in confideration of •her commiffions granted to them, to receive certain duties from the goods fhe allows them in her name to transport, only along these northern parts. They will in time fend a more powerful fleet to block up the river of Lisbon, while another fails to Brafil, • Guinea, and the Eaft-Indies, with a defign to spare the Portugueze merchants, and the East-India companies, the labour of tranfporting the fugars, filks, fpices, and other commodities, they come thither for, into Europe: and if Spain pretends to fay any thing against them, they will, without any more ado, seize the Streights mouth, and fend an hundred and fifty fhips of war into the Mediterranean, out of which they can very eafily drive the naval force of the other potentates of Europe, were they all joined together against them. The English having in this manner ufurped the dominion of the feas, the trade of all the European nations, and part of the reft of the world: all the earth muft fubmit to them, work for no body but them, and they'll, from time to time, come into their ports, and fweep away all ⚫ their

.

2

find it equally admirable. By deeds of

peace they

'their treasure: every thing that is rare, and all the conveniences of life, produced either by art or nature, ⚫ will be reserved for England, which will be the only 'country that can purchase them, or poffefs them of 'their own. For, as we fee, that fince the fettling of 'trade in Holland, that province is become the ftorehoufe for linnen, woollen, and all forts of manufactures; though there is neither flax, wool, nor, in a " manner, any other commodities which they work up, grows there, but they muft fetch them from other 'countries; fo every thing that England wants at this time will abound there, and the best artificers will flock thither; in fo much, that, if they would have any fine linnen, or good cloth for wear, in another country, the flax and wool was to be fent to be manufactured in England. Pray, confider then, what, vaft wealth this country muft acquire in lefs than fifty years and how miferable muft the rest of Europe be, fince they can tranfport nothing by fea, from one nation to another, but in English fhip? They will al'ways have money to receive in all the ports they come, at, and never leave any of their own there: what the English want they'll make compenfation for, by way. of exchange, or readily fend over into England upon the fcore of the manufactures there they have occafion for; as we have seen the Dutch East-India company. have pearl and precious ftones, in return for fome wares fent into thofe countries, which they got fitted up at Amfterdam, and then fold them at a very dear rate in thofe places whence they were first brought, and where there is not that perfection of workmanfhip as there is with us. Hundreds of fhips richly laden will daily put into the Thames, and other ports, of this fortunate ifland; and the general can scarce ever lofe the fight of his forces, which, I may fay,, return every evening to lie at home; for they stay no longer in foreign parts than to refresh themselves, to vend their goods, and to take in new cargoes. They

T 2

• will

they attempted to fettle and perpetuate the fe

will be no way follicitous of making conquefts by land, that they may fave the charge of maintaining them, feeing they are fure of reaping the profits of them; neither will they plant any colonies, and ease their country, as populous as 'tis grown, of the vaft multitudes that are in it, because the produce of all Eu• rope is confumed there, and their great naval trade • renders their ftores inexhaustible. In the mean time, all the neighbouring kingdoms will, in a manner, become like the fea coafts of America, where our Europeans trade: there will be only tillage and fome coarfe manufactures for plain wear, and to ferve people's neceffities only in the heart of the country, and the maritime towns will be no other than the granaries and magazines of England. Thefe are my fentiments about this war, which, in the opinion of fome, may feem romantic, and of kin to Utopia, or the Republic of Platos especially of those who do not ⚫ confider that the wars that have been waged for twenty years paft, I know not under what pretences or defigns, had nothing fo great or fublime in them as that which Cromwell propofes: for, in reality, there is nothing can come up to the thoughts of subjecting all the earth to his country, and rendering it the moft haughty and flourishing ftate in the world. It appears to me fo vaft and magnificent a thought, that there is nothing in all the conquefts of Alexander, and the pomp of all the Roman empire, that comes near this maritime dominion, which I have reprefented to you. And it seems to me fo very feasible, that, if Holland be once ruined, I am afraid it will be too late to prevent it: and, therefore, I would have all the potentates of Europe take it to heart in time; for, if they do not quickly put an end to the war they are engaged in on the continent, we fhall run the risk, in a few ages, of becoming perfect barbarians. For the • English, by means of their navigation, will transfer

⚫ all

felicity and grandeur of the ftate. After

the

184-189.

all the politenefs of Europe, together with its plenty, (*) Sorpower, and conveniences of life, into their own biere's voycountry (k).'—I have chofe to give Sorbiere's opi- age into nion at length, not only as it fhews us the fenfe men England, p. then had of the defigns, skill, and management of this 8vo. Lond. new republic, but as it likewife inftructs us in the vast 1709. advantages of navigation and commerce to a ftate. For nothing is more certain, than that they, who can acquire the trade of the world, will foon poffefs its power, riches commanding every thing requifite thereunto, if in the hands of the wife, brave and induftrious." Such being the figure of the English commonwealth in the eyes of its neighbours, we are not to wonder that her friendship was courted by fome of the most mighty monarchs, and that they treated her with honour and refpect. Spain, France, Portugal addreffed themfelves to her by their agents and ambassadors, as did Denmark, Sweden, the free cities of Germany, and Holland, particularly, in a moft fuppliant manner. For reputation is power, and power is ever attended with deference and regard. I will close this note with the following extract from another foreign writer: The new republic, actuated by Cromwell's extensive and fublime genius, procured England a tranquillity which it no longer hoped for, and gave it a luftre which it had not had for feveral centuries. It had just been agitated by a ' most violent tempeft, and now all was calm; it had thought itfelf on the brink of ruin, and was now in "condition to give law. It is melancholy, for the honour of virtue, that one of the best and greateft fpectacles, which the annals of nations prefent, fhould be the work of rebellion. Every thing appeared wonderful in this revolution. The royalilts conformed to a kind of government ill adapted to their tempers, ⚫ and difapproved by their confciences. The grandees, accustomed to the part of legiflators, remained quietly in the rank of private fubjects. The Irish and Scots,