Of The Former, Butter, Cheese, Madder, Clover-Seed, Toys, &C.
Constitute The Most Important; From Germany, By Means Of The Rhine, Vast
Floats Of Timber Are Brought.
The principal imports of the Netherlands,
both for her own use and for the supply of Germany, consist of Baltic
produce, English goods, colonial produce, wines, fruits, oil, &c.
There is perhaps no country in Europe which possesses greater advantages
for commerce than France: a large extent of sea coast, both on the Atlantic
and the Mediterranean; excellent harbours; a rich soil and genial climate,
adapted to a great variety of valuable productions; and some manufactures
very superior in their workmanship, - all these present advantages seldom
found united. Add to these her colonial possessions, and we shall certainly
be surprized that her commerce should ever have been second, to that of any
other country in Europe. Prior to the revolution it was certainly great;
but during and since that period it was and is vastly inferior to the
commerce of Great Britain, and even to that of the United States.
The extent of sea coast on the Atlantic is 283 leagues, and on the
Mediterranean eighty leagues: the rivers are numerous, but none of the
first class. The canal of Languedoc, though from its connecting the
Atlantic and the Mediterranean it would naturally be supposed highly
advantageous to commerce, is not so; or rather, it is not turned to the
advantage to which it might be applied. In England such a canal would be
constantly filled with vessels transporting the produce of one part to
another. It is not, however, so; and this points to a feature in the French
character which, in all probability, will always render them indisposed, as
well as unable, to rival Britain, either in manufactures or commerce.
Besides the want of capital, which might be supplied, and would indeed be
actually supplied by industry and invention, the French are destitute of
the stimulus to industry and invention. As a nation, they are much more
disposed to be content with a little, and to enjoy what they possess
without risk, anxiety, or further labour, than to increase their wealth at
such a price.
The principal commercial ports of France on the Atlantic are Havre, St.
Maloes, Nantes, Bourdeaux, and Bayonne: Marseilles is the only commercial
port of consequence in the Mediterranean. The principal exports of France
are wines, brandy, vinegar, fruit, oil, woollen cloth of a very fine
quality, silk, perfumery, &c.: the imports are Baltic produce, the
manufactures of England; fruits, drugs, raw wool, leather, &c. from Spain,
Italy, and the Mediterranean states.
3. The next division of Europe comprehends Spain, Portugal, Italy, and
Greece.
Spain, a country highly favoured by nature, and at one period surpassed by
no other kingdom in Europe in civilization, knowledge, industry, and power,
exhibits an instructive and striking instance of the melancholy effects of
political degradation. Under the power of the Arabians, she flourished
exceedingly; and even for a short period after their expulsion, she
retained a high rank in the scale of European kingdoms. The acquisition of
her East Indian and American territories, and the high eminence to which
she was raised during the dominion of Charles V. and his immediate
successors, - events that to a superficial view of things would have
appeared of the greatest advantage to her, - proved, in fact, in their real
and permanent operation, prejudicial to her industry, knowledge, and power.
It would seem that the acquisition of the more precious metals, which may
be likened to the power of converting every thing that is touched into
gold, is to nations what it was to Midas, - a source of evil instead of
good. Spain, having substituted the artificial stimulus of her American
mines in the place of the natural and nutritive food of real industry, on
which she fed during the dominion of the Moors, gradually fell off in
commercial importance, as well as in political consequence and power. The
decline in her commerce, and in her home industry, was further accelerated
and increased by the absurd restrictions which she imposed on the
intercourse with her colonies. All these circumstances concurring, about
the period when she fell into the power of the house of Bourbon, - that is,
about the beginning of the eighteenth century, - she sunk very low in
industry and commerce, and she has, since that period, continued to fall.
And yet, as we have observed, she possesses great natural advantages: a sea
coast on the Atlantic and Mediterranean of considerable extent; a great
variety of climate and soil, and consequently of productions, - she might
become, under a wise and free government, distinguished for her political
power and her commerce.
On the Atlantic, the first port towards the north is Saint Sebastian; then
succeeds Bilboa, St. Andero, Gijon, Ferrol, and Corunna; but though some of
these, especially Ferrol and Corunna, possess excellent harbours, yet the
poverty of the adjacent country prevents them from having much trade. To
the south of Portugal is Seville, on the Guadalquiver, sixteen leagues from
the sea; large vessels can ascend to this city, but its commerce was nearly
destroyed by the transfer of the colonial trade to Cadiz. This last town,
one of the most ancient commercial places in the world, is highly favoured
both by nature and art as a port; and before the French revolutionary war,
and the separation of the American colonies from the mother state, was
undoubtedly the first commercial city in Spain. The exports of the northern
provinces consist principally in iron, wool, chesnuts and filberts, &c.;
the imports, which chiefly come from England, Holland, and France, are
woollen, linen, and cotton goods, hardware, and salted fish.
On the Mediterranean, Malaga may be regarded as the third commercial city
in Spain, though its harbour is not good; the other ports in this sea, at
which trade is carried on to any considerable extent, are Carthagena,
Alicant, and Barcelona, which ranks after Cadiz in commercial importance,
and now that the colonial trade is destroyed, may be placed above it.
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