In This War, The Dutch Lost 700 Merchant Ships In The
Years 1652 And 1653.
In 1654, peace was made.
The object of the navigation
act, at least so far as regarded the Dutch acting as the carriers of the
English trade, seems to have been completely answered, for in 1674, after a
great frost, when the ports were open, there sailed out of the harbour of
Rotterdam above 300 sail of English, Scotch, and Irish ships at one time.
The example of the English being followed by the nations of the north, the
Dutch carrying trade was very much reduced. Between the years 1651 and
1672, when Holland was overrun by the French, their commerce seems to have
reached the greatest extent, which it attained in the seventeenth century;
and perhaps, at no subsequent period, did it flourish so much. De Witt
estimates the increase of their commerce and navigation from the peace with
Spain in 1648 to the year 1669, to be fully one-half. He adds, that during
the war with Holland, Spain lost the greater part of her naval power: that
since the peace with Spain, the Dutch had obtained most of the trade to
that country, which had been previously carried on by the Easterlings and
the English; - that all the coasts of Spain were chiefly navigated by Dutch
shipping: that Spain had even been forced to hire Dutch ships to sail to
her American possessions; and that so great was the exportation of goods
from Holland to Spain, that all the merchandize brought from the Spanish
West Indies, was not sufficient to make returns for them.
The same author informs us, that in the province of Holland alone, in 1669,
the herring and cod fisheries employed above one thousand busses, from
twenty-four to thirty lasts each; and above 170 smaller ones: that the
whale fishery was increased from one to ten; that the cod and herring, when
caught, were transported by the Hollanders in their own vessels throughout
the world; thus obtaining, by means of the sea alone, through their own
industry, above 300,000 lasts of salt fish.
As the Dutch commerce was decidedly and undoubtedly more extensive than
that of all the rest of Europe, about the middle of the seventeenth
century, it may be proper, before we conclude our notice of it at this
time, to consider briefly the causes which cherished it into such full
growth and vigour. These causes are explained in a very judicious and
satisfactory manner by Sir William Temple, in his observations on the
Netherlands. He remarks, that though the territory of the Dutch was very
small, and though they laboured under many natural disadvantages, yet their
commerce was immense; and it was generally esteemed that they had more
shipping belonging to them than there did to all the rest of Europe.
They had no native commodities towards the building or equipping their
ships; their flax, hemp, pitch, wood, and iron, coming all from abroad, as
wool does for clothing their men, and corn for feeding them. The only
productions or manufactures of their own, which they exported, were butter,
cheese, and earthern wares. They have no good harbours in all their coast;
even Amsterdam is difficult of approach, from the dangerous entrance of the
Texel, and the shallowness of the Zuider Zee.
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?
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