The woollen manufactures of the Netherlands had, about the time that

Guicciardini wrote, been rivalled by those of England: yet he says, that,

though their wool was very coarse, above 12,000 pieces of cloth were made

at each of the following places; Amsterdam, Bois-le-duc, Delft, Haarlem,

and Leyden. Woollen manufactures were carried on also at other places,

besides taffeties and tapestries. Lisle is particularised by him as next in

commercial importance to Antwerp and Amsterdam. Bois-le-duc seems to have

been the seat of a great variety of manufactures; for besides woollen

cloth, 20,000 pieces of linen, worth, on an average, ten crowns each, were

annually made; and likewise great quantities of knives, fine pins, mercery,

&c. By the taking of Antwerp, the Spanish or Catholic Netherlands lost

their trade and manufactures, great part of which, as we have already

observed, settled in the United Provinces, while the remainder passed into

England and other foreign countries.

The destruction of the Hanseatic league, which benefited Amsterdam, seems

also to have been of service to the other northern provinces of the

Netherlands: for in 1510, we are informed by Meursius, in his History of

Denmark, there was at one time a fleet of 250 Dutch merchant ships in the

Baltic: if this be correct, the Dutch trade to the countries on this sea

must have been very great. The circumstance of the Dutch, even before their

revolt from Spain, carrying on a great trade, especially to the Baltic, is

confirmed by Guicciardini; according to him, about the year 1559, they

brought annually from Denmark, Eastland, Livonia, and Poland, 60,000 lasts

of grain, chiefly rye, worth 560,000_l_. Flemish. They had above 800

ships from 200 to 700 tons burden: fleets of 300 ships arrived twice a year

from Dantzic and Livonia at Amsterdam, where there were often seeing lying

at the same time 500 vessels, most of them belonging to it. He mentions

Veer in Zealand (Campveer) as at that time being the staple port for all

the Scotch shipping, and owing its principal commerce to that circumstance.

The destruction of Antwerp brought to Amsterdam, along with other branches

of commerce, the valuable trade which the former city had with Portugal for

the produce and manufactures of India; these the Dutch merchants resold to

all the nations of the north. As soon, however, as Philip II. had obtained

possession of the throne of Portugal in 1580, he put a stop to all further

commerce between Lisbon and the Dutch. The latter, having tasted the sweets

of this commerce, resolved to attempt a direct trade to India. We have

already mentioned the voyages of Barentz in search of a north-east passage;

these proving unsuccessful, the Dutch began to despair of reaching India,

except by the Cape of Good Hope; and this voyage they were afraid to

undertake, having, at this time, neither experienced seamen nor persons

acquainted with Indian commerce. A circumstance, however, occurred while

Barentz was in search of a north-west passage, which determined them to

sail to India by the Cape. One Houlman, a Dutchman, who had been in the

Portuguese Indian service, but was then confined in Lisbon for debt,

proposed to the merchants of Rotterdam, if they could liberate him, to put

them in possession of all he knew respecting Indian commerce; his offer was

accepted, and four ships were sent to India in 1594 under his command. The

adventurers met with much opposition from the Portuguese in India, so that

their voyage was not very successful or lucrative: they returned, however,

in twenty-nine months with a small quantity of pepper from Java, where they

had formed a friendly communication with the natives. The arrival of the

Dutch in India,--the subjugation of Portugal by Spain, which circumstance

dispirited and weakened the Portuguese, and the greater attention which the

Spaniards were disposed to pay to their American than their Indian

commerce, seem to have been the causes which produced the ruin of the

Portuguese in India, and the establishment of the Dutch.

The Dutch pushed their new commerce with great vigour and zeal. In the year

1600 eight ships entered their ports laden with cinnamon, pepper, cloves,

nutmegs, and mace: the pepper they obtained at Java, the other spices at

the Moluccas, where they were permitted by the natives, who had driven out

the Portuguese, to establish factories.

In consequence of a wild and ruinous spirit of speculation having seized

the Dutch merchants, the government, in 1602, formed all the separate

companies who traded to India, into one; and granted to this extensive

sovereignty over all the establishments that might be formed in that part

of the world. Their charter was for twenty-one years: their capital was

6,600,000 guilders (or about 600,000_l_.) Amsterdam subscribed one

half of the capital, and selected twenty directors out of sixty, to whom

the whole management of the trade was entrusted.

From this period, the Dutch Indian commerce flourished extremely: and the

company, not content with having drawn away a large portion of the

Portuguese trade, resolved to expel them entirely from this part of the

world. Ships fitted, either to trade or to fight, and having on board a

great number of soldiers, were sent out within a very few years after the

establishment of the company. Amboyna and the Moluccas were first entirely

wrested from the Portuguese: factories and settlements were in process of

time established from Balsora, at the mouth of the Tigris in the Persian

Gulf; along the coasts and islands of India, as far as Japan. Alliances

were formed with many of the Indian princes: and in many parts,

particularly on the coasts of Ceylon, and at Pulicat, Masulipatam,

Negapatam, and other places along the coasts of Coromandel and Malabar,

they were themselves, in fact, the sovereigns. The centre of all their

Indian commerce was fixed at Batavia in Java, the greatest part of this

island belonging to them. From this general sketch of the extent of

country, which was embraced, either by their power or their commerce, it is

evident that the Indian trade was almost monopolized by them; and as they

wisely employed part of the wealth which it produced, to establish and

defend their possessions, they soon became most formidable in this part of

the world, sending out a fleet of 40 or 50 large ships, and an army of

30,000 men.

They were not, however, content, but aimed at wresting from the Portuguese

almost the only trade which remained to them; viz. their trade with China.

In this attempt they did not succeed; but in the year 1624, they

established themselves at Formosa. Soon after this, the conquest of China

by the Tartars, induced or compelled an immense number of Chinese to leave

their native country and settle in Formosa. Here they carried on a very

extensive and lucrative trade; and Formosa became the principal mart of

this part of Asia. Vessels from China, Japan, Siam, Java, and the

Philippines, filled its harbours. Of this commerce the Dutch availed

themselves, and derived great wealth from it, for about forty years, when

they were driven out of the island. In 1601, the Dutch received permission

to trade to Japan, but this privilege was granted under several very strict

conditions, which were, however, relaxed in 1637, when they discovered a

conspiracy of the Spaniards, the object of which was to dethrone the

emperor, and seize the government. The jealousy of the Japanese, however,

soon revived; so that by the end of the seventeenth century, the lucrative

commerce which the Dutch carried on with this island for fine tea,

porcelaine, lacquered or Japan ware, silk, cotton, drugs, coral, ivory,

diamonds, pearls, and other precious stones, gold, silver, fine copper,

iron, lead, and tin; and in exchange for linen, and woollen cloths,

looking-glasses, and other glass ware; and the merchandize of India,

Persia, and Arabia, was almost annihilated.

Before proceeding to narrate the events which arose from the arrival of the

English in the East Indies, and the effects produced on the Dutch power and

commerce there, by their arrival, it will be proper to take a short notice

of the commerce of the Dutch to the other parts of the world. As their

territories in Europe were small and extremely populous, they were in a

great measure dependent on foreign nations for the means of subsistence: in

exchange for these, they had few products of their manufactures to give.

The sources of their wealth, therefore, as well as of the means of their

existence, were derived from the exchange of their India commodities, and

from their acting as the great carriers of Europe. From these two

circumstances, their cities, and especially Amsterdam, became the great

mart of Europe: its merchants had commercial transactions to an immense

amount with all parts of the world. In consequence of the vastness and

extent of their commerce, they found great payments in specie very

inconvenient. Hence arose the bank of Amsterdam. It is foreign to our

purpose, either to describe the nature of this bank, or to give a history

of it; but its establishment, at once a proof, and the result of the

immense commerce of Amsterdam, and the cause of that commerce becoming

still more flourishing, and moreover, as the principal of those

establishments, which have changed the character of the commerce of Europe,

could not be passed over without notice. It was formed in the year 1609.

In this year, the Dutch had extended their trade to the west coast of

Africa so much, that they had about 100 ships employed in the gold coast

trade. About the same time, they formed a colony in North America, in that

province now called New York. In 1611, having formed a truce with Spain,

they resolved to venture into the Mediterranean, and endeavour to partake

in the lucrative trade with the Levant: for this purpose, they sent an

ambassador to Constantinople, where he concluded a favourable treaty of

commerce. But by far the most extensive and lucrative commerce which the

Dutch possessed in Europe, was in the Baltic: there they had gradually

supplanted the Hanseatic League, and by the middle of the seventeenth

century, nearly all the commodities of the countries lying on, or

communicating with this sea, were supplied to the rest of Europe by the

Dutch. In the year 1612, they first engaged in the whale fishery at

Greenland. In 1648, taking advantage of the civil troubles in England, and

having by this time acquired a powerful influence at the Russian court,

they interfered with the trade of the English Russian Company at Archangel;

and this new branch of trade they pushed with their national industry and

perseverance, so that in 1689 they had 200 factors in this place.

In the year 1621 the Dutch formed a West India Company: their first objects

were to reduce Brazil and Peru: in the latter they were utterly

unsuccessful. By the year 1636 they had conquered the greater part of the

coast of Brazil: they lost no time in reaping the fruits of this conquest:

for in the space of thirteen years, they had sent thither 800 ships of war

and commerce, which were valued at 4-1/2 millions sterling; and had in that

time taken from Spain, then sovereign of Portugal, 545 ships. In the year

1640 the Portuguese shook off the Spanish yoke, and from this event may be

dated the decline of the Dutch power in Brazil: in 1654 they were entirely

expelled from this country.

In the year 1651, they colonized the Cape of Good Hope; and in the same

year, began the obstinate and bloody maritime, war between Holland and

England. This arose principally from the navigation act, which was passed

in England in 1650: its object and effect was to curtail the commerce

between England and Holland, which consisted principally of foreign

merchandize imported into, and English merchandize exported from, England

in Dutch vessels. 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? 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."

The first check which the Levant trade received was given by the East India

Company: about the year 1670 the Levant Company complained that their trade

in raw silk was much diminished; they had formerly imported it solely from

Turkey, whereas then it was imported in great quantities direct from India.

In 1681, the complaints of the one company, and the defence of the other,

were heard before the Privy Council. The Levant Company alleged, that for

upwards of one hundred years they had exported to Turkey and other parts of

the Levant, great qualities of woollen manufactures, and other English

wares, and did then, more especially, carry out thither to the value of

500,000_l_; in return for which they imported raw silks, galls, grograms,

drugs, cotton, &c.; whereas the East India Company exported principally

gold and silver bullion, with an inconsiderable quantity of cloth; and

imported calicoes, pepper, wrought silks, and a deceitful sort of raw silk;

if the latter supplants Turkey raw silk, the Turkey demand for English

cloth must fail, as Turkey does not yield a sufficient quantity of other

merchandize to return for one fourth part of our manufactures carried

thither.

The East India Company, on the other hand, alleged that the cloth they

exported was finer and more valuable than that exported by the Turkey

Company, and that, if they were rightly informed, the medium of cloths

exported by that company, for the last three years, was only 19,000 cloths

yearly: it is admitted, however, that before there was any trade to China

and Japan, the Turkey Company's exportation of cloth did much exceed that

of the East India Company. With respect to the charge of exporting bullion,

it was alleged that the Turkey Company also export it to purchase the raw

silk in Turkey. The East India Company further contended, that since their

importation of raw silk, the English silk manufacturers had much encreased,

and that the plain wrought silks from India were the strongest, most

durable, and cheapest of any, and were generally re-exported from England

to foreign parts.

We have been thus particular in detailing this dispute between these

companies, partly because it points out the state of the Levant Company and

their commerce, at the close of the seventeenth century, but principally

because it unfolds one of the principal causes of their decline; for,

though some little notice of it will afterwards occur, yet its efforts were

feeble, and its success diminished, chiefly by the rivalry of the East

India Company.

The Levant trade, as we have seen, was gradually obtained by the English

from the hands of the Venetians and other foreign powers. The trade we are

next to notice was purely of English origin and growth;--we allude to the

trade between England and Russia, which began about the middle of the

sixteenth century. The discovery of Archangel took place, as we have

already related, in 1553. Chanceller, who discovered it, obtained

considerable commercial privileges from the Czar for his countrymen. In

1554, a Russian Company was established; but before their charter, the

British merchants had engaged in the Russian trade. The first efforts of

the company seem to have been confined to attempts to discover a north-east

passage. Finding these unsuccessful, they turned their attention to

commerce: they fortunately possessed a very enterprising man, peculiarly

calculated to foster and strengthen an infant trade, who acted as their

agent. He first set on foot, in 1558, a new channel of trade through Russia

into Persia, for raw silk, &c. In the course of his commercial enquiries

and transactions, he sailed down the Volga to Nisi, Novogorod, Casan, and

Astracan, and thence across the Caspian Sea to Persia. He mentions that, at

Boghar, which he describes as a good city, he found merchants from India,

Persia, Russia, and Cathay,--from which last country it was a nine months

journey to Boghar. He performed his journey seven different times. It

appears, however, that this channel of trade was soon afterwards abandoned,

till 1741, when it was resumed for a very short time, during which

considerable quantities of raw silk were brought to England by the route

followed by the Russian agent in the sixteenth century. The cause of this

abandonment during the sixteenth century seems to have been the length and

danger of the route; for we are informed that one of the adventures would

have proved exceedingly profitable, had not their ships, on their return

across the Caspian, with Persian raw silk, wrought silks of many kinds,

galls, carpets, Indian spices, turquois stones, &c., been plundered by

Corsair pirates, to the value of about 40,000_l_. The final abandonment of

this route, in the eighteenth century, arose partly from the wars in

Persia, but principally from the extension of India commerce, which being

direct and by sea, would, of course supply England much more cheaply with

all eastern goods than any land trade. Beside the delay, difficulty, and

danger of the route from the Volga, already described, the route followed

in the sixteenth century, till the merchants reached the Volga, was

attended with great difficulty. The practice was to transport the English

goods, which were to be exchanged, in canoes, up the Dwina, from Archangel

to Vologda, thence over land, in seven days, to Jeroslau, and thence down

the Volga, in thirty days, to Astracan.

The Russians having conquered Narva, in Livonia in 1558, the first place

they possessed in the Baltic, and having established it as a staple port,

the following year, according to Milton, in his brief history of Muscovia,

the English began to trade to it, "the Lubeckers and Dantzickers having

till then concealed that trade from other nations." The other branches of

the Baltic trade also encreased; for it appears by a charter granted by

Elizabeth, in 1579, to an Eastland Company, that trade was carried on

between England and Norway, Sweden, Poland, Lithuania, Prussia, Pomerania,

Dantzic, Elbing, Konigsberg, Copenhagen, Elsinore, and Finland. This

company was established in opposition to the Hanseatic merchants; and it

seems to have attained its object; for these merchants complained to the

Diet of the Empire against England, alleging, that of the 200,000 cloths

yearly exported thence, three-fourths went into Denmark, Sweden, Poland,

and Germany; the other fourth being sent to the Netherlands and France.

It was not to be supposed that our commerce with Archangel and Narva would

long remain without a rival. The Dutch, aware of its importance, prevented

by their influence or presents, the Czar from renewing the Russian

Company's privileges. As this trade was become more extensive, and carried

off, besides woollen goods, silks, velvets, coarse linen cloth, old silver

plate, all kinds of mercery wares, serving for the apparel of both sexes,

purses, knives, &c. Elizabeth used her efforts to re-establish the company

on its former footing; and a new Czar mounting the throne, she was

successful.

The frequent voyages of the English to the White Sea made them acquainted

with Cherry Island, of which they took possession, and where they carried

on for a short time the capture of morses: the teeth of these were regarded

as nearly equal in quality and value to ivory, and consequently afforded a

lucrative trade; oil was also obtained from these animals. Lead ore is said

to have been discovered in this island, of which thirty tons were brought

to England in 1606. The Russian Company, however, soon gave up the morse

fishery for that of whales. They also carried on a considerable trade with

Kola, a town in Russian Lapland, for fish oil and salmon: of the latter

they sometimes brought to England 10,000 at one time. But in this trade the

Dutch likewise interfered.

The fishery for whales near Spitzbergen was first undertaken by the company

in 1597. In 1613, they obtained from King James an exclusive charter for

this fishery; and under this, fitting out armed ships, they expelled

fifteen sail of French, Dutch, and Biscayners, besides some private English

ships. But the Dutch persevered, so that next year, while the Russian

Company had only thirteen ships at the whale fishery, the former had

eighteen. The success of their whale fishery seems to have led to the

neglect of their Russian trade, for, in 1615, only two vessels were

employed in it, instead of seventeen great ships formerly employed. From

this period, the commerce carried on between Russia and England, by the

Russian Company, seems gradually to have declined.

The commerce between England and the other parts of Europe, during the

sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, presents little that calls for notice;

as the manufactures and capital of England encreased, it gradually

encreased, and was transferred from foreign to English vessels. The exports

consisted principally of woollen goods, prepared skins, earthen-ware, and

metals. The imports of linens, silks, paper, wines, brandy, fruits,

dye-stuffs, and drugs. The woollen cloths of England were indeed the staple

export to all parts of England during the whole of the sixteenth and

seventeenth centuries: as our cotton, earthen-ware, and iron manufactures

sprung up and encreased, they supplied other articles of export;--our

imports, at first confined to a few articles, afterwards encreased in

number and value, in proportion as our encreased industry, capital, and

skill, enlarged our produce and manufactures, and thus enabled us to

purchase and consume more. A very remarkable instance of the effect of

skill, capital, and industry, is mentioned by Mr. Lewis, a merchant, who

published a work entitled, _The Merchant's Map of Commerce_, in 1641. "The

town of Manchester," he says, "buys the linen yarn of the Irish in great

quantity, and, weaving it, returns the same again, in linen, into Ireland

to sell. Neither doth her industry rest here, for they buy cotton wool in

London, that comes first from Cyprus and Smyrna, and work the same into

fustians, vermilions, dimities, &c., which they return to London, where

they are sold, and from thence not seldom are sent into such foreign parts

where the first materials may be more easily had for that manufacture." How

similar are these two instances to that which has occurred in our own days,

when the cotton-wool, brought from the East Indies, has been returned

thither after having been manufactured, and sold there cheaper than the

native manufactures.

But though there are no particulars relative to the commerce between

England and Europe, which call for our notice, as exhibiting any thing

beyond the gradual extension of commercial intercourse already established;

yet in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, there were other commercial

intercourses into which England entered, that deserve attention. These may

be classed under three heads: the trade to Africa, to America, and India.

I. The trade to Africa.--The first notice of any trade between England and

Africa occurs in the year 1526, when some merchants of Bristol, which, at

this period, was undoubtedly one of our most enterprising cities, traded by

means of Spanish ships to the Canaries. Their exports were cloth, soap, for

the manufacture of which, even at this early period, Bristol was

celebrated, and some other articles. They imported drugs for dyeing, sugar,

and kid skins. This branch of commerce answering, the Bristol merchants

sent their factors thither from Spain. The coast of Africa was, at this

period, monopolized by the Portuguese. In 1530, however, an English ship

made a voyage to Guinea for elephants' teeth: the voyage was repeated; and

in 1536, above one hundred pounds weight of gold dust, besides elephants'

teeth, was imported in one ship. A few years afterwards, a trade was opened

with the Mediterranean coast of Africa, three ships sailing from Bristol to

Barbary with linens, woollen cloth, coral, amber, and jet; and bringing

back sugar, dates, almonds, and molasses. The voyages to Guinea from the

ports of the south and southwest of England, particularly Portsmouth,

Plymouth, and Bristol, were frequently repeated: the returns were uniformly

gold dust and elephants' teeth. But it does not appear that other ports

followed the example of these, that these sent many ships, or that the

commerce became very regular and lucrative, till the west coast of Africa

was resorted to for slaves.

This infamous trade was first entered upon by the English in the year 1562.

Mr. John Hawkins, with several other merchants, having learnt that negroes

were a good commodity in Hispaniola, fitted out three ships, the largest

120, the smallest forty tons, for the coast of Guinea. Here they bought

slaves, which they sold in Hispaniola for hides, sugar, ginger, and pearls.

The other branches of the African trade continued to flourish. In 1577,

English merchants were settled in Morocco; Spanish, Portuguese, and French

merchants had been settled there before. In this year, Elizabeth, always

attentive to whatever would benefit commerce, sent an ambassador to the

Emperor of Morocco, who obtained some commercial privileges for the

English. In 1588, the first voyage to Benin was made from London, by a ship

and a pinnace: in 1590, a second voyage was made from the same port with

the same vessels. Their exports were linen, woollen cloths, iron

manufactures, bracelets of copper, glass beads, coral, hawks' bells,

horses' tails, hats, &c. They imported Guinea pepper, elephants' teeth,

palm oil, cotton cloth, and cloth made of the bark of trees.

An African Company had been formed in Elizabeth's reign; but neither this,

nor two others succeeded; their ruin was occasioned by war, misconduct, and

the interference of what were called interlopers. In 1672, a fourth company

was established, whose efforts at first seem to have been great and

successful. They bought the forts the former companies had erected on the

west coast: instead of making up their assortments of goods for export in

Holland, as the former companies had been obliged to do, they introduced

into England the making of sundry kinds of woollen goods not previously

manufactured. They imported large quantities of gold dust, out of which

50,000 guineas were first coined in one year, 1673. Their other imports

were red wood for dyes, elephants' teeth, wax, honey, &c. The value of the

English goods exported to them averaged annually 70,000_l_. This

company was broken up at the Revolution.

II. Though the Portuguese and Spaniards were very jealous of the

interference of any nation with their East India commerce; yet they were

comparatively easy and relaxed with regard to their American possessions.

Accordingly, we find that, in 1530, there was some little trade between

England and Brazil: this is the first notice we can trace of any commercial

intercourse between this country and the New World. The first voyage was

from Plymouth: in 1540 and 1542 the merchants of Southampton and London

also traded to Brazil. We are not informed what were the goods imported;

but most probably they were Brazil wood, sugar, and cotton. The trade

continued till 1580, when Spain, getting possession of Portugal, put a stop

to it.

The next notice of any trading voyage to America occurs in 1593, when some

English ships sailed to the entrance of the St. Lawrence for morse and

whale fishing. This is the first mention of the latter fishery, or of whale

fins, or whale bones by the English. They could not find any whales; but on

an island they met with 800 whale fins, the remains of a cargo of a Biscay

ship which had been wrecked here.

In 1602, the English had suspended all intercourse with America for sixteen

years, in consequence of the unsuccessful attempts of Raleigh. But, at this

time, the intercourse was renewed: a ship sailed to Virginia, the name then

given to the greater part of the east coast of North America; and a traffic

was carried on with the Indians for peltry, sassafras, cedar wood, &c.

Captain Gosnol, who commanded this vessel, was a man of considerable skill

in his profession, and he is said to have been the first Englishman who

sailed directly to North America, and not, as before, by the circuitous

course of the West Indies and the Gulf of Florida. In the subsequent year

there was some traffic carried on with the Indians of the continent, and

some of the uncolonized West India islands.

Prior to the year 1606 several attempts had been made to colonize different

parts of the new world by the English, but they all proved abortive. In

this year, however, a permanent settlement was established near James

River, within the Chesapeake. It is not our plan to detail all the

particular settlements, or their progress to maturity; but merely to point

out the beginnings of them, as evidence of our extending commerce, and to

state such proofs as most strikingly display their improvement and the

advantages the mother country derived from them. In conformity with this

plan, we may mention that sugar plantations were first formed in Barbadoes

in 1641: this, as Mr. Anderson, in his History of Commerce, justly

observes, "greatly hastened the improvement of our other islands, which

soon afterwards followed it in planting sugar to very great advantage. And,

as it was impossible to manage the planting of that commodity by white

people in so hot a climate, so neither could sufficient numbers of such be

had at any rate. Necessity, therefore, and the example of Portugal gave

birth to the negro slave trade to the coast of Guinea and it is almost

needless to add, that such great numbers of slaves, and also the increase

of white people in those islands, soon created a vast demand for all

necessaries from England, and also a new and considerable trade to Madeira

for wines to supply those islands." The immediate consequence of the spread

of the sugar culture in our West India islands was, that the ports of

London and Bristol became the great magazines for this commodity, and

supplied all the north and middle parts of Europe; and the price of the

Portuguese-Brazil sugars was reduced from 8_l_. to 2_l_. 10_s_. per cwt.

The rapid growth of the English colonies on the continent and in the

islands of America, during the seventeenth century, is justly ascribed by

Sir Josiah Child, to the emigration thither, occasioned by the persecution

of the Puritans by James I. and Charles I.; to the defeat of the Royalists

and Scotch by Cromwell; and, lastly, to the Restoration, and the consequent

disbanding of the army, and fears of the partizans of Cromwell. It may be

added, that most of the men who were driven to America from these causes,

were admirably fitted to form new settlements, being of industrious habits,

and accustomed to plain fare and hard work.

The American plantations, as they were called, increased so rapidly in

commerce that, according to the last author referred to, they did, even in

the year 1670, employ nearly two-thirds of all our English shipping, "and

therefore gave constant sustenance, it may be, to 200,000 persons here at

home." At this period New England seems to have directed its chief

attention and industry to the cod and mackerel fisheries, which had

increased their ships and seamen so much as to excite the jealousy of Sir

Josiah Child, who, however, admits that what that colony took from England

amounted to ten times more than what England took from it. The Newfoundland

fishery, he says, had declined from 250 ships in 1605, to eighty in 1670:

this he ascribes to the practice of eating fish alone on fast days, not

being so strictly kept by the Catholics as formerly. From Carolina, during

the seventeenth century, England obtained vast quantities of naval stores,

staves, lumber, hemp, flax, and Indian corn. About the end of this century,

or at the very commencement of the next, the culture of rice was introduced

by the accident of a vessel from Madagascar happening to put into Carolina,

which had a little rice left; this the captain gave to a gentleman, who

sowed it.

The colony of Virginia seems to have flourished at an earlier period than

any of the other English colonies. In the year 1618, considerable

quantities of tobacco were raised there; and it appears, by proclamations

of James I. and Charles I., that no tobacco was allowed to be imported into

England, but what came from Virginia or the Bermudas.

The colony of Pennsylvania was not settled by Pen till the year 1680: he

found there, however, many English families, and a considerable number of

Dutch and Swedes. The wise regulations of Pen soon drew to him industrious

settlers; but the commerce in which they engaged did not become so

considerable as to demand our notice.

III. The commercial intercourse of England with India, which has now grown

to such extent and importance, and from which has sprung the anomaly of

merchant-sovereigns over one of the richest and most populous districts of

the globe, began in the reign of Elizabeth. The English Levant Company, in

their attempts to extend their trade with the East, seem first to have

reached Hindostan, in 1584, with English merchandize. About the same time

the queen granted introductory letters to some adventurers to the king of

Cambaya; these men travelled through Bengal to Pegu and Malacca, but do not

seem to have reached China. They, however, obtained much useful information

respecting the best mode of conducting the trade to the East.

The first English ship sailed to the East Indies in the year 1591; but the

voyage was rather a warlike than a commercial one, the object being to

attack the Portuguese; and even in this respect it was very unfortunate. A

similar enterprize, undertaken in 1593, seems, by its success, to have

contributed very materially to the commercial intercourse between England

and India; for a fleet of the queen's ships and some merchant ships having

captured a very large East India carrack belonging to the Spaniards or

Portuguese, brought her into Dartmouth: if she excited astonishment at her

size, being of the burthen of 1600 tons, with 700 men, and 36 brass cannon,

she in an equal degree stimulated and enlarged the commercial desires and

hopes of the English by her cargo. This consisted of the richest spices,

calicoes, silks, gold, pearls, drugs, China ware, ebony wood, &c., and was

valued at 150,000_l_.

The increasing commercial spirit of the nation, which led it to look

forward to a regular intercourse with India, was gratified in the first

year of the seventeenth century, when the queen granted the first charter

to an East India Company. She seems to have been directly led to grant this

in consequence of the complaints among her subjects of the scarcity and

high price of pepper; this was occasioned by the monopoly of it being in

the power of the Turkey merchants and the Dutch, and from the circumstance

that by our war with Portugal, we could not procure any from Lisbon. The

immediate and principal object of this Company, therefore, was to obtain

pepper and other spices; accordingly their ships, on their first voyage,

sailed to Bantam, where they took in pepper, to the Banda isles; where they

took in nutmeg and mace, and to Amboyna, where they took in cloves. On this

expedition the English established a factory at Bantam. In 1610, this

Company having obtained a new charter from James I., built the largest

merchant ship that had ever been built in England, of the burthen of 1100

tons, which with three others they sent to India. In 1612 the English

factory of Surat was established with the permission of the Great Mogul;

this was soon regarded as their chief station on the west coast of India.

Their first factory on the coast of Coromandel, which they formed a few

years afterwards, was at Masulipatam: their great object in establishing

this was to obtain more readily the cloths of Coromandel, which they found

to be the most advantageous article to exchange for pepper and other

spices. For at this time their trade with the East seems to have been

almost entirely confined to these latter commodities. In 1613, the first

English ship reached a part of the Japan territories, and a factory was

established, through which trade was carried on with the Japanese, till the

Dutch persuaded the emperor to expel all Europeans but themselves.

The year 1614 forms an important era in the history of our commercial

intercourse with India; for Sir Thomas Roe, whom James sent ambassador to

the Mogul, and who remained several years at his court, obtained from him

important privileges for the East India Company. At this time, the

following European commodities were chiefly in repute in India; knives of

all kinds, toys, especially those of the figures of beasts, rich velvets

and satins, fowling pieces, polished ambers and beads, saddles with rich

furniture, swords with fine hilts inlaid, hats, pictures, Spanish wines,

cloth of gold and silver, French shaggs, fine Norwich stuffs, light armour,

emeralds, and other precious stones set in enamel, fine arras hangings,

large looking glasses, bows and arrows, figures in brass and stone, fine

cabinets, embroidered purses, needlework, French tweezer cases, perfumed

gloves, belts, girdles, bone lace, dogs, plumes of feathers, comb cases

richly set, prints of kings, cases of strong waters, drinking and

perspective glasses, fine basons and ewers, &c. &c. In consequence of the

privileges granted the East India Company by the Mogul, and by the Zamorine

of Calicut, their factories were now numerous, and spread over a large

extent of coast.

If we may trust the controversial pamphlets on the East India Company which

were published in 1615, it appears that up to this year they had employed

only twenty-four ships; four of which had been lost; the largest was 1293

tons, and the smallest 150. Their principal imports were still pepper,

cloves, mace, and nutmegs, of which 615,000 lbs. were consumed in England,

and the value of 218,000_l_. exported: the saving in the home consumption

of these articles was estimated at 70,000_l_. The other imports were

indigo, calicoes, China silks, benzoin, aloes, &c. Porcelain was first

imported this year from Bantam. The exports consisted of bays, kersies, and

broad cloths, dyed and dressed, to the value of 14,000_l_.; lead, iron, and

foreign merchandize, to the value of 10,000_l_.; and coin and bullion, to

the value of 12,000_l_.; the outfit, provisions, &c. of their ships cost

64,000_l_.

The Dutch, who were very jealous of the successful interference of the

English in their eastern trade, attacked them in every part of India; and

though a treaty was concluded between the English and the Dutch East India

Company, yet the treachery and cruelty of the Dutch, especially at Amboyna,

and the civil wars into which England was plunged, so injured the affairs

of the English East India Company, that at the death of Charles I. its

trade was almost annihilated. One beneficial consequence, however, resulted

from the hostility of the Dutch; the English, driven from their old

factories, established new ones at Madras and in Bengal.

Before, however, this decline of the English trade to India, we have some

curious and interesting documents relating to it particularly, and to the

effects produced on the cost of East Indian commodities in Europe

generally, by the discovery of the Cape of Good Hope. These are supplied by

Mr. Munn, in a treatise he published in 1621; in favour of the East India

trade. We have already given the substance of his remarks so far as they

relate to the lowering the price of Indian commodities, but as his work is

more particularly applicable to, and illustrative of the state of English

commerce with India, at this time, we shall here enter into some of his

details.

According to them, there were six million pounds of pepper annually

consumed in Europe, which used to cost, when purchased at Aleppo, brought

over land thither from India, at the rate of two shillings per lb.; whereas

it now cost, purchased in India, only two-pence halfpenny per lb.: the

consumption of cloves was 450,000 lbs.; cost at Aleppo four shillings and

nine-pence per lb., in India nine-pence: the consumption of mace was

150,000 lbs.; cost at Aleppo the same per lb. as the cloves; in India it

was bought at eight-pence per lb.: the consumption of nutmegs was 400,000

lbs.; the price at Aleppo, two shillings and four-pence per lb.; in India

only four-pence; the consumption of indigo was 350,000 lbs.; the price at

Aleppo four shillings and four-pence per lb.; in India one and two-pence,

and the consumption of raw silk was one million lbs., the price of which at

Aleppo was twelve shillings per lb., and in India eight shillings. It will

be remarked that this last article was purchased in India, at a rate not

nearly so much below its Aleppo price as any of the other articles; pepper,

on the other hand, was more reduced in price than any of the other

articles. The total cost of all the articles, when purchased at Aleppo, was

1,465,000 _l._; when purchased in India, 511,458 _l._; the price in the

latter market, therefore, was little more than one-third of their Aleppo

price. As, however, the voyage from India is longer than that from Aleppo,

it added, according to Mr. Munn's calculation, one-sixth to the cost of the

articles beyond that of the Turkey voyage. Even after making this addition,

Mr. Munn comes to the conclusion we have formerly stated, "that the said

wares by the Cape of Good Hope cost us but about half the price which they

will cost from Turkey."

Mr. Munn also gives the annual importation of the principal Indian goods

into England, by the East India Company, and the price each article sold

for in England; according to this table, the quantity of pepper was

250,000 lbs., which, bought in India for twopence halfpenny, sold in

England for one shilling and eightpence:--150,000 lbs. of cloves, which

bought in India for ninepence, sold in England for six shillings:--150,000

lbs. of nutmegs, bought for four-pence, sold for two shillings and

sixpence:--50,000 lbs. of mace, bought for eightpence, sold for six

shillings:--200,000 lbs. of indigo, bought for one shilling and twopence,

sold for five shillings:--107,140 lbs. of China raw silk, bought for seven

shillings, sold for twenty shillings:--and 50,000 pieces of calico, bought

for seven shillings a piece, sold for twenty-six shillings.

In a third table he gives the annual consumption of the following India

goods, and the lowest prices at which they used to be sold, when procured

from Turkey or Lisbon, before England traded directly to India. There was

consumed of pepper, 400,000 lbs., which used to be sold at three shillings

and sixpence per lb.; of cloves, 40,000, at eight shillings; of mace,

20,000, at nine shillings; of nutmegs, 160,000, at four shillings and

sixpence; and of indigo, 150,000, at seven shillings. The result is, that

when England paid the lowest ancient prices, it cost her 183,500_l_. for

these commodities; whereas, at the common modern prices, it costs her only

108,333_l_. The actual saving therefore to the people of England, was not

near so great as might have been expected, or as it ought to have been,

from a comparison of the prices at Aleppo and in India.

There are some other particulars in Mr. Munn's Treatise relating to the

European Trade to the East at this period, which we shall select. Speaking

of the exportation of bullion to India, he says that the Turks sent

annually 500,000_l_. merely for Persian raw silk; and 600,000_l_. more for

calicoes, drugs, sugar, rice, &c.: their maritime commerce was carried on

from Mocha; their inland trade from Aleppo and Constantinople. They

exported very little merchandize to Persia or India. Marseilles supplied

Turkey with a considerable part of the bullion and money which the latter

used in her trade with the East,--sending annually to Aleppo and

Alexandria, at least 500,000_l_. and little or no merchandize. Venice sent

about 400,000_l_. and a great value in wares besides. Messina about

25,000_l_., and the low countries about 50,000_l_., besides great

quantities of gold and dollars from Germany, Poland, Hungary, &c. With

these sums were purchased either native Turkish produce and manufactures,

or such goods as Turkey obtained from Persia and other parts of the East:

the principal were camblets, grograms, raw silk, cotton wool and yarn,

galls, flax, hemp, rice, hides, sheeps' wool, wax, corn, &c. England,

according to Mr. Munn, did not employ much bullion, either in her Turkey or

her India trade; in the former she exported vast quantities of broad cloth,

tin, &c. enough to purchase nearly all the wares she wanted in Turkey,

besides three hundred great bales of Persian raw silk annually. In the

course of nineteen years, viz. from their establishment in 1601 to 1620,

the East India Company had exported, in woollen cloths, tin, lead, and

other English and foreign wares, at an average of 15,383_l_. per annum, and

in the whole, 292,286_l_. During the same period they had exported

548,090_l_. in Spanish silver. The East India Company employed in 1621,

according to this author, 10,000 tons of shipping, 2500 mariners, 500 ship

carpenters, and 120 factors. The principal places to which, at this period,

we re-exported Indian goods, were Turkey, Genoa, Marseilles, the

Netherlands, &c.; the re-exportations were calculated to employ 2000 more

tons of shipping, and 500 more mariners.

From a proclamation issued in 1631, against clandestine trade to and from

India, we learn the different articles which might be legally exported and

imported: the first were the following: perpalicanos and drapery, pewter,

saffron, woollen stockings, silk stockings and garters, ribband, roses

edged with silver lace, beaver hats with gold and silver bands, felt hats,

strong waters, knives, Spanish leather shoes, iron, and looking glasses.

There might be imported, long pepper, white pepper, white powder sugar,

preserved nutmegs and ginger preserved, merabolans, bezoar stones, drugs of

all sorts, agate heads, blood stones, musk, aloes socratrina, ambergris,

rich carpets of Persia and of Cambaya, quilts of satin taffety, painted

calicoes, Benjamin, damasks, satins and taffeties of China, quilts of China

embroidered with silk, galls, sugar candy, China dishes, and porcelain of

all sorts.

Though several articles of Chinese manufacture are specified in the

proclamation, yet we have no notice of any direct trade to China till

nearly fifty years after this time, viz. in the year 1680. In this year the

East India Company sent out eleven ships, including two to China and the

Moluccas; their general burden was between 500 and 600 tons: in these ships

there was a stock of nearly 500,000_l_. Besides the articles imported

from India enumerated in the proclamation of 1631, there now appear

cowries, saltpetre, muslins, diamonds, &c.

In 1689 the East India Company published a state of their trade, from which

it appeared that in the last seven years they had built sixteen ships from

900 to 1300 tons each,--that they had coming from India eleven ships and

four permission ships, the value of their cargoes being above 360,000_l_.:

that they had on their outward voyage to Coast and Bay, seven ships and six

permission ships, their cargoes valued at 570,000_l_.: that they had seven

ships for China and the South Seas, whose cargoes amounted to 100,000_l_.

That they had goods in India unsold, to the amount of 700,000_l_. About

this period, Sir John Child, being what would now be called governor

general of India, and his brother, Sir Jonah, leading member of the Court

of Committees, the policy was introduced through their means, on which the

sovereign power, as well as the immense empire of the East India Company

was founded; this policy consisted of the enlargement of the authority of

the Company over British subjects in India, and in attaining political

strength and dominion, by retaliating by force of arms, on those Indian

princes who oppressed their settlements.

In the year 1698, in consequence of complaints against the East India

Company, and their inability to make any dividend, they thought it

necessary to give in a statement of their property in India. In this they

asserted that they had acquired, solely at their own expence, revenues at

Fort St. George, Fort St. David, and Bombay, as well as in Persia, and

elsewhere, to the amount of 44,000_l_. per annum, arising from customs

and licenses, besides a large extent of land in these places; they had also

erected forts and settlements in Sumatra, and on the coast of Malabar,

which were absolutely necessary to carry on the pepper trade; they had a

strongfort in Bengal, and many factories, settlements, &c. in other places.

The result of the complaints against the Company was, that a new company

was established this year; the two companies, however, united in the

beginning of the eighteenth century.

We shall conclude our account of the state of English commerce during the

sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, with some more general and

miscellaneous topics.

I. Exports. In the year 1534, the total value of our exports did not exceed

900,000_l_. of the present value of our money: the balance of trade was

estimated at 700,000_l_.: this arose principally from the very great

exportation of woollen goods, tin, leather, &c., on which an export duty

was laid, bringing in 246,000_l_.; whereas, the duty on imports did not

produce more than 1700_l_. In the year 1612, according to Missenden, in his

Circle of Commerce, the exports to all the world amounted to 2,090,640_l_.,

and the imports to 2,141,151_l_.; on the latter, however, the custom duties

are charged; the custom duties on the exports were 86,794_l_.; the impost

paid outwards on woollen goods, tin, lead, pewter, &c. 10,000_l_.; and the

merchants' gains, freight, and other charges, to 300,000_l_.:--if these be

added to the value of the exports, the total amount will be 2,487,435_l_,--

from which the imports, including custom duty on them, being deducted,

leaves 346,283_l_.,--which Missenden regards as the balance gained that

year by the nation. The principal articles of export have been enumerated:

the principal articles of import were silks, Venice gold and silver stuffs,

Spanish wines, linen, &c. At this time, London paid nearly three times as

much for custom duties as all the rest of England together. In the year

1662, according to D'Avenant, the inspector general of the customs, our

imports amounted to 4,016,019_l_., and our exports only to 2,022,812_l_.;

the balance against the nation being nearly two millions. In the last year

of the seventeenth century, according to the same official authority, there

was exported to England from all parts, 6,788,166_l_.: of this sum, our

woollen manufactures were to the value of 2,932,292_l_.; so that there was

an increase of our exports since 1662, of 4,765,534_l_. The yearly average

of all the merchandize imported from, and exported to the north of Europe,

from Michaelmas, 1697, to Christmas, 1701, is exhibited in the following

table:

Annual Countries. Imported from. Exported to. Loss

Denmark and Sweden 76,215_l_ 39,543_l. 36,672_l_.

East Country 181,296 149,893 31,403

Russia 112,252 58,884 53,568

Sweden 212,094 57,555 154,539

---------

Total annual average loss 275,982_l_.

II. Ships. In the year 1530, the ship which first sailed on a trading

voyage to Guinea, and thence to the Brazils, was regarded as remarkably

large; her burden amounted to 250 tons. And in Wheeler's Treatise of

Commerce, published in 1601, we are informed, that about 60 years before he

wrote (which would be about 1541), there were not above four ships (besides

those of the royal navy) that were above 120 tons each, in the river

Thames; and we learn from Monson, in his Naval Tracts, that about 20 years

later, most of our ships of burden were purchased from the east countrymen,

or inhabitants of the south shores of the Baltic, who likewise carried on

the greatest trade of our merchants in their own vessels. He adds, to bid

adieu to that trade and those ships, the Jesus of Lubec. a vessel then

esteemed of great burden and strength, was the last ship bought by the

queen. In 1582, there were 135 merchant vessels in England, many of them of

500 tons each: and in the beginning of King James's reign, there were 400,

but these were not so large, not above four of these being of 400 tons. In

1615, it appears, that the East India Company, from the beginning of their

charter, had employed only 24 ships, four of which had been lost. The

largest was 1293 tons; one 1100, one 1060, one 900, one 800, and the

remainder from 600 to 150. In the same year, 20 ships sailed to Naples,

Genoa, Leghorn, and other parts of the Mediterranean, chiefly laden with

herrings; and 30 from Ireland, to the same ports, laden with pipe staves:

to Portugal and Amsterdam, 20 ships for wines, sugar, fruit, and West India

drugs: to Bourdeaux, 60 ships for wines: to Hamburgh and Middleburgh, 35

ships: to Dantzic, Koningsberg, 30 ships: to Norway 5;--while the Dutch

sent above 40 large ships. The Newcastle coal trade employed 400 sail;--200

for London, and 200 for the rest of England. It appears, that at this time

many foreign ships resorted to Newcastle for coals: whole fleets of 50 sail

together from France, besides many from Bremen, Holland, &c. The Greenland

fishery employed 14 ships.

The following calculation of the shipping of Europe in 1690, is given by

Sir William Petty. England, 500,000 tons; the United Provinces, 900,000;

France, 100,000; Hamburgh, Denmark, Sweden, Dantzic, 250,000; Spain,

Portugal, Italy, 250,000: total 2,000,000. But that this calculation is

exceeding loose, so far as regards England at least, is evident from the

returns made to circular letters of the commissioners of customs: according

to these returns, there belonged to all the ports of England, in January

1701-2., 3281 vessels, measuring 261,222 tons, and carrying 27,196 men, and

5660 guns. As we wish to be minute and enter into detail, while our

commerce and shipping were yet in their infancy, in order to mark more

decidedly its progress, we shall subjoin the particulars of this return.

Ports. Vessels. Tons. Men.

London 560 84,882 10,065

Bristol 165 17,338 2,359

Yarmouth 143 9,914 668

Exeter 121 7,107 978

Hull 115 7,564 187

Whitby 110 8,292 571

Liverpool 102 8,619 1,101

Scarborough 100 6,860 606

None of the other ports had 100 vessels: Newcastle had sixty-three,

measuring 11,000 tons; and Ipswich thirty-nine, measuring 11,170; but there

certainly is some mistake in these two instances, either in the number of

the ships, or the tonnage. The small number of men employed at Hull arose

from eighty of their ships being at that time laid up.

III. During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the great rivals of

the English in their commerce were the Dutch: they had preceded the English

to most countries; and, even where the latter had preceded them, they soon

insinuated themselves and became formidable rivals: this was the case

particularly with respect to the trade to Archangel. Some curious and

interesting particulars of this rivalry are given by Sir Walter Raleigh, in

his Observations concerning the Trade and Commerce of England with the

Dutch and other foreign Nations, which he had laid before King James. In

this work he maintains that the Dutch have the advantage over the English

by reason of the privileges they gave to foreigners, by making their

country the storehouse of all foreign commodities; by the lowness of their

customs; by the structure of their ships, which hold more, and require

fewer hands than the English; and by their fishery. He contends that

England is better situated for a general storehouse for the rest of Europe

than Holland: yet no sooner does a dearth of corn, wine, fish, &c. happen

in England, than forthwith the Hollanders, Embedners, or Humburghers, load

50 or 100 ships, and bring their articles to England. Amsterdam, he

observes, is never without 700,000 quarters of corn, none of it the growth

of Holland; and a dearth of only one year in any other part of Europe

enriches Holland for seven years. In the course of a year and a half,

during a scarcity in England, there was carried away from the ports of

Southampton, Bristol, and Exeter alone, nearly 200,000_l_.: and if London

and the rest of England were included, there must have been 2,000,000 more.

The Dutch, he adds, have a regular trade to England with 500 or 600 vessels

annually, whereas we trade, not with fifty to their country. After entering

into details respecting the Dutch fishery, by means of which, he says, they

sell herrings annually to the value of upwards of one million and a half

sterling, whereas England scarcely any, he reverts to the other branches of

Dutch commerce, as compared with ours. The great stores of wines and salt,

brought from France and Spain, are in the Low Countries: they send nearly

1,000 ships yearly with these commodities into the east countries alone;

whereas we send not one ship. The native country of timber for ships, &c.

is within the Baltic; but the storehouse for it is in Holland; they have

500 or 600 large ships employed in exporting it to England and other parts:

we not one. The Dutch even interfere with our own commodities; for our wool

and woollen cloth, which goes out rough, undressed, and undyed, they

manufacture and serve themselves and other nations with it. We send into

the east countries yearly but 100 ships, and our trade chiefly depends upon

three towns, Elbing, Koningsberg, and Dantzic; but the Low Countries send

thither about 3,000 ships: they send into France, Spain, Portugal, and

Italy, about 2,000 ships yearly with those east country commodities, and

we, none in that course. They trade into all cities and port towns of

France, and we chiefly to five or six.

The Low Countries have as many ships and vessels as eleven kingdoms of

Christendom have; let England be one. For seventy years together, we had a

great trade to Russia (Narva), and even about fourteen years ago, we sent

stores of goodly ships thither; but three years past we sent out four

thither, and last year but two or three ships; whereas the Hollanders are

now increased to about thirty or forty ships, each as large as two of ours,

chiefly laden with English cloth, herrings, taken in our seas, English

lead, and pewter made of our tin. He adds, that a great loss is suffered by

the kingdom from the undressed and undyed cloths being sent out of the

kingdom, to the amount of 80,000 pieces annually; and that there had been

annually exported, during the last fifty-three years, in baizes, northern

and Devonshire kersies, all white, about 50,000 cloths, counting three

kersies to one cloth.

Although there is undoubtedly much exaggeration in the comparative

statement of the Dutch and English commerce and shipping in the details,

yet it is a curious and interesting document, as exhibiting a general view

of them. Indeed, through the whole of the seventeenth century, the most

celebrated and best informed writers on the commerce of England dwell

strongly on the superior trade of the Dutch, and on their being able, by

the superior advantages they enjoyed from greater capital, industry, and

perseverance, aided by the greater encouragement they gave to foreigners as

well as their own people, to supply the greatest part of Europe with all

their wants, though their own country was small and unfertile. A similar

comparative statement to that of Raleigh is given by Child in 1655; he

asserts that in the preceding year the Dutch had twenty-two sail of great

ships in the Russia trade,--England but one: that in the Greenland whale

fishery, Holland and Hamburgh had annually 400 or 500 sail,--and England

but one last year: that the Dutch have a great trade for salt to France and

Portugal, with which they salt fish caught on our coasts; that in the

Baltic trade, the English have fallen off, and the Dutch increased tenfold.

England has no share in the trade to China and Japan: the Dutch a great

trade to both countries. A great part of the plate trade from Cadiz has

passed from England to Holland. They have even bereaved us of the trade to

Scotland and Ireland. He concludes with pointing out some advantages

England possesses over Holland: In the Turkey, Italian, Spanish, and

Portuguese trades, we have the natural advantage of our wool:--our

provisions and fuel, in country places, are cheaper than with the

Dutch;--our native commodities of lead and tin are great advantages:--of

these, he says, as well as of our manufactures, we ship off one-third more

than we did twenty years ago; and he adds, that we have now more than

double the number of merchants and shipping that we had twenty years ago.

He mentions a circumstance, which seems to indicate a retrograde motion of

commerce, viz., that when he wrote most payments were in ready money;

whereas, formerly, there were credit payments at three, six, nine, twelve,

and even eighteen months. From another part of his work, it appears that

the tax-money was brought up in waggons from the country.

The gradual advancement of a nation in knowledge and civilization, which is

in part the result of commerce, is also in part the cause of it. But

besides this advancement, in which England participated with the rest of

Europe, during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, there were other

circumstances peculiar to this country, some of which were favourable, and

others unfavourable to the increase of its commerce.

Among the favourable circumstances may be reckoned the taking away of the

exclusive privileges of the steelyard merchants by Edward VI., by which

native merchants were encouraged, private companies of them formed, and the

benefits of commerce more extensively diffused:--the encouragement given by

Elizabeth, particularly by her minister Cecil, to commerce; this was so

great and well directed, that the customs which had been farmed, at the

beginning of the reign, for 14,000_l_. a year, towards its close were

fanned for 50,000_l_.;--the pacific character of James I., and the

consequent tranquillity enjoyed by England during his reign;--the strong

and general stimulus which was given to individual industry, by the feeling

of their own importance, which the struggle between Charles I. and the

Parliament naturally infused into the great mass of the people;--the

increased skill in maritime affairs, which was produced by our naval

victories under Cromwell;--the great vigour of his government in his

relations with foreign powers; and the passing of the navigation act. The

Restoration, bringing a great fondness for luxury and expence, naturally

produced also exertions to gratify that fondness. If to these and other

causes of a similar nature, we add the introduction of East India

commodities direct to England, and the import trade to the West Indies and

America, the emigration of the industrious Flemings during the Spanish wars

in the Low Countries, and of the French after the revocation of the edict

of Nantz, we shall have specified most of the efficient circumstances,

which, in conjunction with the progress of mankind in industry and

civilization, were beneficial to our commerce.

The causes and circumstances which were unfavourable to it during the same

period are much fewer in number; and though some of them were powerful,

yet, even these, for the most part, when they ceased to operate, gave birth

to a reaction favourable to commerce. The more general causes may be sought

for in the erroneous notions entertained respecting commerce, in

consequence of which monopolies were granted, especially in the reign of

James I.; and laws were made to regulate what would have gone on best, if

it had been left to itself. The civil wars, and the emigration occasioned

by them, and the religious persecutions in the time of Mary, Elizabeth, and

Charles, may be regarded as the most remarkable particular causes and

circumstances, which were injurious to commerce.

We must again lay down the position, that in what respects the improvement

of a country in industry and wealth, whether agricultural manufacturing, or

commercial, the same circumstances may often be viewed in the light both of

effect and cause. This position will be clearly illustrated by a very

common and plain case. The trade in a certain district improves, and of

course requires more easy and expeditious communication among different

parts of this district: the roads are consequently made better, and the

waggons, &c. are built on a better construction; these are the effects of

an improved trade: but it is plain that as by the communication being thus

rendered quicker, the commodities interchanged can be sold cheaper, a

greater quantity of them will be sold; and thus better roads, which in the

first instance proceeded from an improvement in trade, will, when made,

improve the trade still more.

We have introduced these observations as preparatory to our notice of the

establishment of the Bank of England. This undoubtedly was the effect of

our increased commercial habits, but it was as undoubtedly the cause of

those habits becoming stronger and more general: it supposed the

pre-existence of a certain degree of commercial confidence and credit, but

it increased these in a much greater ratio than they existed before: and if

England owes its very superior wealth to any other causes besides its free

government, its superior industry, and improvements in machinery, those

causes must be sought for in the very extensive diffusion of commercial

confidence and credit. The funding system, which took place about the same,

time that the Bank of England was established, may be regarded as another

powerful cause of the increase of our commerce: we do not mean to contend

that the national debt is a national blessing, but it is certain that the

necessity of paying the interest of that debt produced exertions of

industry, and improvements in manufactures, which would not otherwise, have

been called forth; while, on the other hand, the funds absorbed all the

superfluous capital, which, otherwise, as in Holland, must have had a bad

effect on commerce, either by reducing its profits very low, or by being

transferred to other countries; and the interest, which so many individuals

felt in the stability of the funds, induced them most steadily and strongly

to support government.

The commerce of Scotland and Ireland during the sixteenth and seventeenth

centuries, supplies us with very few materials. In the year 1544, Scotland

must have had no inconsiderable foreign trade, as in the war which took

place at this time between that country and England, twenty-eight of the

principal ships of Scotland, laden with all kinds of rich merchandize, were

captured by the English, on their voyage from France, Flanders, Denmark,

&c.; and in the same year, when the English took Leith, they found more

riches in it than they had reason to expect. While Scotland and England

were at peace, however, the former was principally supplied through the

latter with the commodities which Antwerp, during the sixteenth century,

dispersed over all Europe. The exports of Scotland to Antwerp, &c. were

indeed direct, and consisted principally, as we have already remarked from

Guicciardini, of peltry, leather, wool, indifferent cloth, and pearls.

The earliest account which occurs of the Scotch carrying on commerce to any

port out of Europe, is in the year 1589, when three or four Scotch ships

were found at the Azores by the earl of Cumberland. In the year 1598, it

appears, from a letter of king James to Queen Elizabeth, that some Scotch

merchants traded to the Canaries. There is evidence that the Scotch had

some commerce in the Mediterranean in the beginning of the seventeenth

century; for in the "Cabala," under the year 1624, the confiscation of

three Scotch ships at Malaga is noticed, for importing Dutch commodities.

The principal articles of export from Scotland to foreign countries

consisted of coarse woollen stuffs and stockings, linen goods, peltry,

leather, wool, pearls, &c. The principal imports were wine and fruits from

France, wine from Spain and Portugal, the finer woollen goods from England,

timber, iron, &c. from the Baltic, and sugars, spices, silks, &c. from

Antwerp, Portugal, &c.

The following statement, with which we shall conclude our account of Scotch

commerce, is interesting, as exhibiting a view of the commercial

intercourse by sea between England and Scotland, from the commencement of

the inspector general's accounts in 1697, to the Union in 1707.

England received from Scotland Scotland received from England

Merchandize to the value of merchandize to the value of

1697. £91,302 £73,203

1698. 124,835 58,043

1699. 86,309 66,303

1700. 130,087 85,194

1701. 73,988 56,802

1702. 71,428 58,688

1703. 76,448 57,338

1704. 54,379 87,536

1705. 57,902 50,035

1706. 50,309 60,313

1707. 6,733 17,779

The earliest notices of Irish trade, to which we have already adverted,

particularly mention linen and woollen cloth, as two of the most

considerable articles of export from that country. Hides, wool, fish of

different kinds, particularly salmon, and the skins of martins, otters,

rabbits, sheep, kids, &c. are also specified, as forming part of her early

export. From Antwerp in the middle of the sixteenth century she received

spices, sugar, silks, madder, camblets, &c. Pipe staves were a considerable

article of export in the beginning of the seventeenth century; they were

principally sent to the Mediterranean. In 1627 Charles issued a

proclamation respecting Ireland, from which we learn that the principal

foreign trade of Ireland was to Spain and Portugal, and consisted in fish,

butter, skins, wool, rugs, blankets, wax, cattle, and horses; pipe staves,

and corn; timber fit for ship-building, as well as pipe staves, seem at

this period to have formed most extensive and valuable articles of export

from Ireland. In the middle of this century, Irish linen yarn was used in

considerable quantities in the Manchester manufactures, as we have already

noticed. The importation into England of fat cattle from Ireland seems to

have been considerable, and to have been regarded as so prejudicial to the

pasture farmers of the former country, that in 1666 a law was passed laying

a heavy duty on their importation. This statute proving ineffectual,

another was passed in 1663, enacting the forfeiture of all great cattle,

sheep, swine, and also beef, pork, or bacon, imported from Ireland. Sir W.

Petty remarks, that before this law was passed, three-fourths of the trade

of Ireland was with England, but not one-fourth of it since that time. Sir

Jonah Child, in his Discourse on Trade, describes the state of Ireland as

having been much improved by the soldiers of the Commonwealth settling

there; through their own industry, and that which they infused into the

natives, he adds, that Ireland was able to supply foreign markets, as well

as our plantations in America, with beef, pork, hides, tallow, bread, beer,

wood, and corn, at a cheaper rate than England could afford to do. Though

this country, as we have seen, exported linen goods at a very early period,

yet this manufacture cannot be regarded as the staple one of Ireland, or as

having contributed very much to her foreign commerce, till it flourished

among the Scotch colonists in Ulster towards the middle of the seventeenth

century. As soon as they entered on it with spirit, linen yarn was no

longer exported to Manchester and other parts of England, but manufactured

into cloth in Ireland, and in that state it formed the chief article of its

commerce. The woollen manufactures of Ireland, which were always viewed

with jealousy by England, and were checked in every possible manner,

gradually gave way to the restraints laid on them, and to the rising and

unchecked linen manufacture, and of course ceased to enter into the

exports.

The commerce of Scotland during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries was

kept low, by ignorance and want of industry, by the disturbed state of the

country, by disputes between the king and nobility, and, till the union of

the crowns, by wars with England. The commerce of Ireland had still greater

difficulties to struggle with; among which may be mentioned the ignorant

oppression of the English government in every thing that related to its

manufactures or trade.

The commerce of France, during the sixteenth century, presents few

particulars worthy of notice; that, which was carried on between it and

England, was principally confined to the exportation of wines, fruit, silk

and linen, from France; and woollen goods, and tin and lead, from England.

There seems to have been a great exchange between the woollens of England

and the linens of Bretagne. The French, however, like all the other nations

of Europe at this period, were ignorant of the principles, as well as

destitute of the enterprize and capital essential to steady and lucrative

commerce; and amply deserve the character given of them by Voltaire, that

in the reign of Francis I., though possessed of harbours both on the ocean

and Mediterranean, they were yet without a navy; and though immersed in

luxury, they had only a few coarse manufactures. The Jews, Genoese,

Venetians, Portuguese, Flemings, Dutch, and English, traded successively

for them. At the very close of this century we have a very summary account

of the commerce of France by Giovani Bolero. France, says he, possesses

four magnets, which attract the wealth of other countries;--corn, which is

exported to Spain and Portugal;--wine, which is sent to Flanders, England,

and the Baltic;--salt, made by the heat of the sun on the Mediterranean

coast, and also on that of the ocean, as far north as Saintoigne; and hemp

and cloth, of which and of cordage great quantities are exported to Lisbon

and Seville:--the exportation of the articles of this fourth class, he

adds, is incredibly great.

In the middle of the seventeenth century, the finer manufactures of woollen

and silken goods having been carried to great perfection in France, her

exports in these articles were greatly increased. In the political

testament of Richelieu, we are informed that a considerable and lucrative

trade in these articles was carried on with Turkey, Spain, Italy, &c., and

that France had driven, in a great measure, out of those markets the serges

of Milan, the velvets of Genoa, and the cloth of gold of Italy.

Early in the reign of Louis XIV., Colbert directed his attention to the

improvement of manufactures and commerce; and though many of his plans were

frustrated from the operation of causes over which he had no control, and

principally because he went before the age in which he lived, yet there can

be no doubt that to him France was indebted for the consolidation,

extension, and firm footing of her commerce. Immediately before the

revocation of the edict of Nantes, her commerce was at its greatest

heighth, as the following estimates of that she carried on with England and

Holland will prove. To the former country the exportation of manufactured

silks of all sorts is said to have been to the value of 600,000_l_.;--of

linen, sail-cloth, and canvass, about 700,000_l_.;--in beaver hats,

watches, clocks, and glass, about 220,000_l_.;--in paper, about

90,000_l_.;--in iron ware, the manufacture of Auvergne, chiefly, about

40,000_l_.;--in shalloons, tammies, &c. from Picardy and Champagne, about

150,000_l_.;--in wines, about 200,000_l_.; and brandies, about 80,000_l_.

The exports to Holland, shortly before the revocation of the edict of

Nantes, in silks, velvets, linen, and paper, are estimated at 600,000_l_.;

--in hats, about 200,000_l_.;--in glass, clocks, watches, and household

furniture, about 160,000_l_.;--in small articles, such as fringes, gloves,

&c., about 200,000_l_.;--in linen, canvass, and sail cloth, about

160,000_l_.; and in saffron, dye-wood, woollen yarn, &c., about 300,000_l_.

In the year 1700 a council of commerce was constituted in France,

consisting of the principal ministers of state and finance, and of twelve

of the principal merchants of the kingdom, chosen annually from Paris,

Rouen, Bourdeaux, Lyons, Marseilles, Rochelle, Nantes, St. Maloe, Lisle,

Bayonne, and Dunkirk.

From the first report of this board, we gain some information of the state

of French commerce at this time; according to it, the French employed in

their West India and Guinea trade only 100 vessels, whereas the English

employed 500. The principal articles they drew from these islands were

sugar, indigo, cotton, cocoa, ginger, &c. The exclusive trades formed in

1661, when France was little versed in commerce and navigation, are

deprecated: the chief of them were, that granted to Marseilles for the sole

trade to the Levant;--the East India Company;--the prohibiting foreign raw

silk to be carried to Paris, Nismes, Tours, &c., till it had passed through

Lyons;--the Canada and Guinea Companies, besides various farms or

monopolies of certain merchandize in trade: the principal of these last was

lead from England, with which, made into shot, the persons who had the

monopoly supplied not only France, but, through France, Spain, Portugal,

Switzerland, the Levant, and the French West Indies.

The report contains some information respecting the comparative commerce of

France, and the other nations of Europe. The Spaniards, it is observed,

though they possess within their own country wool, silk, oil, wine, &c.,

and are in no want of good ports, both on the ocean and Mediterranean,

nevertheless neglect all these advantages. Hence it happens that the raw

silk of Valencia, Murcia, and Grenada, is exported to France: the wool of

Castile, Arragon, Navarre, and Leon, to England, Holland, France, and

Italy; and these raw articles, when manufactured, are sent back to Spain,

and exchanged for the gold and silver of the American mines. France also

supplies Peru and Mexico, through Spain, receiving in return, cochineal,

indigo, hides, &c., besides a balance of eighteen or twenty million of

livres, and by the flotas, seven or eight million more. The report adds, on

this head, that latterly the English and Dutch have interfered with some

branches of this trade with Spain; and it also complains that the former

nation carry on the Levant trade to much more advantage than the French,

their woollen cloths being better and cheaper. The English also carry to

the Levant, lead, pewter, copperas, and logwood, together with a great deal

of pepper;--with these, and the money received on the coasts of Portugal,

Spain and Italy, for the dry fish and sugar they sell there on their

outward voyage, they purchase their homeward cargoes. This superiority of

England over France in the Levant trade, is ascribed in the report to the

monopoly enjoyed by Marseilles.

The report, in relation to the commerce of France with the northern nations

of Europe, observes, that it appears from the custom books, that the Dutch

had possession of almost the whole of it. The Dutch also are accused of

having, in a great measure, made themselves masters of the inland trade of

France. In order to secure to this latter country the direct trade with the

north of Europe, certain plans are suggested in the report; all of which

were objected to by the deputies from Nantes, principally, it would seem,

on the ground, that the Dutch trade to the Baltic was so well settled, that

it governed the prices of all the exports and imports there, and that the

Dutch gave higher prices for French goods than could be obtained in the

Baltic for them, while, on the other hand, they sold at Amsterdam Baltic

produce cheaper than it could be bought in the Baltic. One objection to a

direct trade between France and the Baltic affords a curious and

instructive proof of the imperfect state of navigation at this time, that

is, at the beginning of the eighteenth century. The deputy from Marseilles

urged that the voyage from Dantzic, or even from Copenhagen to Marseilles,

was too long for a ship to go and come with certainty in one season,

considering the ice and the long nights; and that therefore, there is no

avoiding the use of entrepots for the trade of Marseilles. Mr. Anderson, in

his History of Commerce, very justly observes, "that the dread of a long

voyage from the north to the south parts of Europe, contributed, in a great

measure, to make Antwerp, in former times, the general magazine of Europe."

The decline of the commerce of the Italian states, in consequence of the

discovery of the Cape of Good Hope, has been already mentioned; their

efforts however to preserve it were vigorous, and we can trace, even in the

middle of the sixteenth century, some Indian commerce passing through

Venice. Indeed in the year 1518, Guicciardini informs us that there arrived

at Antwerp, five Venetian ships laden with the spices and drugs of the

East: and 1565, when the English Russia Company sent their agents into

Persia, they found that the Venetians carried on a considerable trade

there; they seem to have travelled from Aleppo, and to have brought with

them woollen cloths, &c. which they exchanged for raw silks, spices, drugs,

&c. The agents remarked, that much Venetian cloth was worn in Persia: in

1581, Sir William Monson complains that the Venetians engrossed the trade

between Turkey and Persia, for Persian and Indian merchandize. In 1591,

when the English Levant Company endeavoured to establish a trade over land

to India, and for that purpose carried some of their goods from Aleppo to

Bagdat, and thence down the Tigris to Ormus and to Goa, they found that the

Venetians had factories in all these places, and carried on an extensive

and lucrative trade. It is difficult to perceive how Indian commodities

brought by land to Europe, could compete with those which the Portuguese

brought by sea. The larger capital, more numerous connexions, greater

credit, and skill of the Venetians, must however have been much in their

favour in this competition.

We have noticed that, even so late as the beginning of the eighteenth

century, a voyage from Marseilles to the Baltic and back again, was thought

by French navigators an impracticable undertaking in the course of one

year; and yet a century earlier, viz. in 1699, Venice sent at least one

ship annually for Archangel: the first instance we believe of a direct

commercial intercourse between the northern and southern extreme seas of

Europe.

We must turn to the northern nations of Europe, Sweden, Denmark and Russia,

and glean what few important materials we can respecting their commerce

during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. We have already seen that

the commerce of the Scandinavian nations of the middle ages was by no means

despicable, though it was chiefly confined to Britain and Iceland, and

among themselves: the establishment of the Hanseatic League, some of the

cities composing which lay in the Baltic, gradually made the Scandinavian

nations better known, and by creating a demand for their produce,

stimulated them to industry and commerce. In a poor country, however, with

a sterile soil and ungenial climate; where winter prevented intercourse by

sea, for several months every year, capital must increase very slowly, and

commerce, reciprocally the cause and effect of capital, equally slow.

Besides the piratical habits of the early Scandinavians, were adverse to

trade; and these habits shed their influence even after they were

discontinued. But though the Scandinavian nations were long in entering

into any commercial transactions of importance, yet they contributed

indirectly to its advancement by the improvements they made in

ship-building, as well as by the ample materials for this purpose which

their country supplied. Their ships indeed were constructed for warfare,

but improvements in this description of ships naturally, and almost

unavoidably, led to improvements in vessels designed for trade. In 1449, a

considerable commerce was carried on between Bristol, and Iceland, and

Finmark, in vessels of 400, 500, and even 900 tons burden, all of which,

there is reason to believe, were built in the Baltic; and, about six years

afterwards, the king of Sweden was the owner of a ship of nearly 1000 tons

burden, which he sent to England, with a request that she might be

permitted to trade.

Gustavus I. who reigned about the beginning of the sixteenth century, seems

to have been the first Swedish king who directed the attention and industry

of his subjects to manufactures and commerce; but, in the early part of his

reign, the inhabitants of Lubec had the monopoly of the foreign trade of

Stockholm. This sovereign, in 1540, entered into a commercial treaty with

Francis I., King of France; the principal article of which was, that the

Swedes should import their wine, salt, &c. directly from France, instead of

obtaining them indirectly from the Dutch. The conquest of Revel by Sweden,

and the consequent footing obtained in Livonia, in 1560, greatly increased

its commerce and wealth; while important improvements were introduced into

its manufactures of iron a few years afterwards by the Flemings, who fled

there on the destruction of Antwerp. Prior to their arrival, most of the

Swedish iron was forged in Dantzic and Prussia; but they not only taught

the Swedes how to forge it, but also how to make iron cannon, and other

iron, copper, and brass articles. The Swedes had from an early period, been

sensible of the real riches of their territory, and how much their timber,

iron, pitch, and tar, were converted for maritime and other purposes. The

pitch and tar manufacture especially had long constituted a very

considerable part of their commerce. In 1647, Queen Christiana very

unwisely granted a monopoly of these articles, which was productive of the

usual effects, injury to commerce, without a correspondent benefit to those

who held it. In the beginning of the eighteenth century, the tar company in

Sweden not only put a very high price on their goods, but refused to sell

them, even for ready money, unless they were exported in Swedish vessels.

In consequence of this, England began at this period to encourage the

importation of tar, pitch, hemp, and naval timber, from her American

colonies.

The commerce of Denmark, besides its common origin with that of the rest of

Scandinavia, seems, in the middle ages, to have been chiefly nourished by

two circumstances:--The trade which Iceland carried on, and the

establishment of Bergen, first as the staple of the German merchants, and

afterwards as the chief factory of the Hanse merchants. In 1429, it was

also established by the king of Denmark, as the sole staple for the fish

trade. In 1553, its trade began to decline, in consequence, it is said, of

its being deserted by the Hanseatics. The historian of the Hanseatic League

adds, that "whereas the ancient toll of the Sound had been only a golden

rose-noble on every sail, which was always understood to be meant on every

ship; the court of Denmark had for some time past put a new and arbitrary

construction on the word sail, by obliging all ships to pay a rose-noble

for every sail on, or belonging to each ship". In consequence of this, the

Vandalic-Hanse Towns, or those on the south shores of the Baltic, deserted

the Bergen trade.

The same sovereign, however, who increased the tolls of the Sound,

counterpoised the bad effects of this measure, by the encouragement he gave

to manufactures and commerce; in this he was seconded by the Danish gentry,

who began to carry on merchandize and factorage themselves, and also

established manufactories. Copenhagen at this time was the staple for all

Danish merchandize, especially corn, butter, fish, &c.

The commercial history of this country, towards the close of the sixteenth

century, is remarkable for having given rise to the earliest dispute, of

which we have any notice, respecting, the carrying of naval stores, of

contraband of war, in neutral bottoms, to any enemy. It seems that the

English merchants endeavoured to evade the custom duties in the Danish

ports, particularly on their skins, woollen goods, and tin; on which they

were siezed. On a remonstrance however from Elizabeth, they were restored,

when the king of Denmark, on his part, complained that the English

committed piracies on his subjects; for now, says Camden, there began to

grow controversies about such matters, that is, the carrying naval stores,

&c. to the Spaniards.

The commercial history of Denmark, during the period to which we are at

present confined, presents no other circumstance sufficiently striking or

interesting to detain us; for the establishments of this country in the

East Indies are too trifling to deserve or require notice in a work whose

limits and objects equally confine it to those points which are of primary

importance.

The locality of Russia, cut off from the sea till a comparatively late

period, except the almost inaccessible sea on which Archangel stands; the

ignorance and barbarism of its inhabitants, and its wars with the Tartars,

necessarily prevented and incapacitated this immense empire from engaging

in any commercial intercourse with the rest of Europe till the beginning of

the sixteenth century, when it became independent, and began to be

powerful. Novogorod, indeed, which was in fact a republic under the

jurisdiction of a nominal sovereign, enjoyed in the fifteenth century, a

great trade, being then the mart between Russia and the Hanseatic cities.

On its conquest by the Russians in the beginning of the next century, the

Hanseatic merchants deserted it, though it continued for a considerable

period afterward the largest and most commercial city in Russia. In 1509,

Basilicus IV. conquered the city and territory of Pleskow and Smolensko,

and consolidated the Russian empire, by reducing all the petty

principalities into which it had been previously divided. Pleskow, situated

near the head of the lake Czudskoc, soon became a celebrated emporium, and

before the end of this century was frequented by merchants from Persia,

Tartary, Sarmatia, Livonia, Germany, Britain, and other countries.

The accidental discovery of the White Sea by the English, in 1553, has been

already narrated: this led to the first intercourse by sea between Russia

and the rest of Europe, for previously, whatever of their produce was

exported, was carried in Livonian ships. In the following year, the

facilities of Russia with Asia were encreased by the conquest of the city

and kingdom of Astracan: by this conquest the entire navigation of the

Wolga became theirs, and by crossing the Caspian, they carried their

commercial transactions into Persia. The spirit of conquest was now alive

among them, and exerting itself both to the east and west; for in 1558 they

conquered Narva, in Livonia, and by means of it formed a communication with

the rest of Europe by the Baltic sea. To this city the Hanseatic merchants

removed their mart from Revel. The conquest of Samoieda and Siberia near

the close of the sixteenth century, contributed to encrease the exportable

commodities of Russia by their furs, salmon, sturgeon, &c.

In the mean time the Russian commerce in the Caspian was increasing: the

Persian vessels brought into Astracan dyed silks, calicoes, and Persian

stuffs, and returned with cloth, sables, martens, red leather, and old

Russia money. The trade from Archangel also increased in a still more rapid

manner, principally, as we have already seen, with the English and Dutch.

In the year 1655, the exports were valued at the 660,000 rubles, two rubles

at that period being equal to one pound sterling. The principal articles

were potash, caviare, tallow, hides, sables, and cable yarn; the other

articles of less importance, and in smaller quantities, were coarse linen,

feathers for beds, tar, linen yarn, beet, rhubarb, Persian silk, cork,

bacon, cordage, skins of squirrels, and cats; bees' wax, hogs' birstles,

mice and goats' skins, swan and geese down, candles, &c.

Peter the Great became emperor in 1689; he soon unfolded and began to

execute his vast plans of conquest, naval power, and commerce. He gained

for his country a passage into the Black Sea, by reducing Asoph, at the

mouth of the Don, and he soon established a navy on this sea. His personal

exertions in Holland and England, to make himself acquainted with

ship-building, are well known. The event of his reign, however, which most

completely changed the relative situation of Russia, and established her as

a commercial nation, was the conquest from Sweden of Livonia, Ingria, and

Carelia. Scarcely were these provinces secured to him, when he built, first

Cronstadt, and then St. Petersburgh. The erection of this city, and the

canals he constructed in the interior for the purpose of facilitating the

transportation of merchandize from the more southerly and fertile districts

of his empire to the new capital, soon drew to it the greater portion of

Russian commerce. Archangel, to which there had previously resorted

annually upwards of one hundred ships from England, Holland, Hamburgh, &c.

declined; and early in the eighteenth century Petersburgh, then scarcely

ten years old, beheld itself a commercial city of great importance.

Having now brought the historical sketch of the progress of discovery and

of commercial enterprise down to the commencement of the eighteenth

century, it will be necessary, as well as proper, to contract the scale on

which the remainder of this volume is to be constructed. For, during nearly

the whole of the period which intervenes between the commencement of the

eighteenth century and the present time, the materials are either so

abundant or so minute, that to insert them all without discrimination and

selection, would be to give bulk, without corresponding interest and value,

to the work.

So far as discovery is concerned, it is evident, from the sketch of it

already given, that nearly the entire outline of the globe had been traced

before the period at which we are arrived: what remained was to fill up

this outline. In Asia, to gain a more complete knowledge of Hither and

Farther India, of China, of the countries to the north of Hindostan, of the

north and north-east of Asia, and of some of the Asiatic islands. In

Africa, little besides the shores were known; but the nature of the

interior, with its burning sands and climate, uninhabitable, or inhabited

by inhospitable and barbarous tribes, held out little expectation that

another century would add much to our knowledge of that quarter of the

world; and though the perseverance and enterprise of the eighteenth

century, and what has passed of the nineteenth, have done more than might

reasonably have been anticipated, yet, comparatively speaking, how little

do we yet know of Africa! America held out the most promising as well as

extensive views to future discovery; the form and direction of her

north-west coast was to be traced. In South America, the Spaniards had

already gained a considerable knowledge of the countries lying between the

Atlantic and the Pacific, but in North America, the British colonists had

penetrated to a very short distance from the shores on which they were

first settled; and from their most western habitations to the Pacific, the

country was almost entirely unknown.

The immense extent of the Pacific Ocean, which presented to navigators at

the beginning of the eighteenth century but few islands, seemed to promise

a more abundant harvest to repeated and more minute examination, and this

promise has been fulfilled. New Holland, however, was the only portion of

the world of great extent which could be said to be almost entirely unknown

at the beginning of the eighteenth century; and the completion of our

knowledge of its form and extent may justly be regarded as one of the

greatest and most important occurrences to geography contributed by the

eighteenth century.

The truth and justice of these observations will, we trust, convince our

readers, that, in determining to be more general and concise in what

remains of the geographical portion of our works, we shall not be

destroying its consistency or altering the nature of its plan, but in fact

preserving both; for its great object and design was to trace geographical

knowledge from its infancy till it had reached that maturity and vigour, by

which, in connection with the corresponding increased civilization, general

information and commerce of the world, it was able to advance with rapid

strides, and no longer confining itself to geography, strictly so called,

to embrace the natural history of those countries, the existence, extent,

and form of which it had first ascertained.

The great object and design of the commercial part of this work was

similar; to trace the progress of commercial enterprises from the rudest

ages of mankind, the changes and transfers it had undergone from one

country to another, the causes and effects of these, as well as of its

general gradual increase, till, having the whole of Europe under its

influence, and aided by that knowledge and civilization with which it had

mainly contributed to bless Europe, it had gained its maturity and vigour,

and by its own expansive force pushed itself into every part of the globe,

in which there existed any thing to attract it.

At the beginning of the eighteenth century, commerce had not indeed assumed

those features, or reached that form and dimensions by which it was

distinguished at the end of this century; but as its dimensions gradually

enlarge, it will be necessary to be less particular and more condensed.

Our plan indeed of being more minute in the early history of geographical

science and commercial enterprise, is founded on an obvious as well as a

just and important principle. In the infancy of geography and commerce,

every fact is important, as reflecting light on the knowledge and state of

mankind at that period, and as bearing on and conducing to their future

progress; whereas when geography and commerce have been carried so far as

to proceed in their course as it were by their own internal impulse,

derived from the motion they have been acquiring for ages, their interest

and importance is much diminished from this cause, as well as from the

minuteness of the objects to which,--all the great ones having been

previously occupied by them,--they must necessarily be confined.

Several circumstances co-operated to direct geographical discovery, during

the eighteenth century, principally towards the north and north-east of

Asia, and the north-west of America. The tendency and interest of the

Russian empire to stretch itself to the east, and the hope still cherished

by the more commercial and maritime nations of Europe, that a passage to

the East Indies might be discovered, either by the north-east round Asia,

or by the north-west, in the direction of Hudson's Bay, were among the most

powerful of the causes which directed discovery towards those parts of the

globe to which we have just alluded.

The extent of the Russian discoveries and conquests in the north and

north-east of Asia, added much to geographical knowledge, though from the

nature of the countries discovered and conquered, the importance of this

knowledge is comparatively trifling. About the middle of the seventeenth

century, they ascertained that the Frozen Ocean washed and bounded the

north of Asia: the first Russian ship sailed down the river Lena to this

sea in the year 1636. Three years afterwards, by pushing their conquests

from one river to another, and from one rude and wandering tribe to

another, they reached the eastern shores of Asia, not far distant from the

present site of Ochotsk. Their conquests in this direction had occupied

them nearly sixty years; and in this time they had annexed to their empire

more than a fourth part of the globe, extending nearly eighty degrees in

length, and in the north reaching to the 160° of east longitude; in breadth

their conquests extended from the fiftieth to the seventy-fifth degree of

north latitude. This conquest was completed by a Cossack; another Cossack,

as Malte Brun observes, effected what the most skilful and enterprising of

subsequent navigators have in vain attempted. Guided by the winds, and

following the course of the tides, the current and the ice, he doubled the

extremity of Asia from Kowyma to the river Anadyn. Kamschatcka, however,

which is their principal settlement in the east of Asia, was not discovered

till the year 1690; five years afterwards they reached it by sea from

Ochotsk, but for a long time it was thought to be an island. The Kurile

Islands were not discovered till the beginning of the eighteenth century.

The direction of discovery to this part of the world, as well as the plan

by which it might be most advantageously and successfully executed, was

given by Peter the Great, and affords one proof, that his mind was

capacious, though his manners, morals, and conduct, might be those of a

half-civilized tyrant. Peter did not live to carry his plan into execution:

it was not, however, abandoned or neglected; for certainly the Russian

government, much more than any other European government, seems to pursue

with a most steady and almost hereditary predilection, all the objects

which have once occupied its attention and warmed its ambition. On his

death, his empress and her successors, particularly Anne and Elizabeth,

contributed every thing in their power to carry his plan into full and

complete execution. They went from Archangel to the Ob, from the Ob to the

Jenesei. From the Jenesei they reached the Lena, partly by water and partly

by land; from the Lena they went to the eastward as far as the Judigirka:

and from Ochotsk they went by the Kurile Islands to Japan.

One of the most celebrated men engaged in the Russian discoveries in the

early part of the eighteenth century was Behring: he was a Dane by birth,

but in the service of Catherine, the widow of Peter the Great, who fixed

upon him to carry into execution one of the most favourite plans of her

husband. During Peter's residence in Holland, in the year 1717, the Dutch,

who were still disposed to believe that a passage might be discovered to

the East Indies in the northern parts of America, or Asia, urged the

Emperor to send out an expedition to determine this point. There was also

another point, less interesting indeed to commercial men, but on which

geographers had bestowed much labour, which it was stated to the Emperor

might be ascertained by the same expedition; this was, whether Asia and

America were united, or divided by a sea, towards their northern

extremities.

When Peter the Great returned to Russia, he resolved to attempt the

solution of these problems; and with his own hand drew up a set of

instructions for the proposed voyage; according to these, the vessels to be

employed were to be built in Kamschatka; the unknown coasts of Asia and

America were to be explored, and an accurate journal was to be kept.

It is not known whether the Emperor was induced to plan this expedition

solely on the representations which were made to him in Holland, or from a

belief that the close vicinity of the two continents of Asia and America

had already been ascertained, or at least rendered highly probable, by some

of his own subjects. It is certain that the Russians and the Cossacks in

their service had reached the great promontory of Asia opposite to America;

and it is said that the islands lying in Behring Straits, and even the

continent beyond them, were known to them by report.

Peter, however, did not live to accomplish his design; and, as we have

already noticed, his widow Catherine fixed upon Behring to conduct the

expedition. After building a vessel in Kamschatka, he sailed in 1728: his

first object was to examine the coast of this part of Asia. He was the

first who ascertained Kamschatka to be a peninsula, and he framed an

accurate chart of it, which is still regarded as one of the best extant.

After reaching a Cape in north latitude 67° 18', and being informed by the

inhabitants that beyond it the coast bended to the west, he resolved to

alter his course to the south. This was accordingly done, but he did not

discover the opposite coast of America; several circumstances were noticed,

however, which indicated that there was land to the east, at no great

distance, such as floating pine branches and other species of plants,

unknown on the coast of Asia; these were always driven ashore when easterly

winds prevailed. The inhabitants also informed him, that, in very clear

weather, they were able, from the top of their highest mountains, to descry

land to the east.

Encouraged by these circumstances, Behring resolved to undertake a second

voyage from Kamschatka: in this voyage he was accompanied by a Russian,

named Tchirikoff. They steered east, and first sought for land, which was

said to have been discovered between the latitude of 40° and 50°; but

finding none, they separated, and steering further north, the Russian

discovered the continent of America in about 56-1/2°, and Behring 2°

further north. On his return, the latter was wrecked in the island which

bears his name, where he died.

About four years after the death of this navigator, which happened in 1741,

the sea between Asia and America was visited by some Russian merchants, who

obtained permission from the government to make discoveries, hunt and

trade; the vessels employed for this purpose were formed of a few boards

fastened together with leathern thongs; yet in these were discovered the

Aleutian Islands. Soon afterwards another group of islands were discovered;

and then a third group, the Black Fox Islands, which are near the American

continent. It was not, however, till the year 1760, that the Russians

learnt that Ochotsk was only separated from America by a narrow strait; and

it is said that in 1764, a Russian mercantile company sent out some

vessels, which passed through a strait to some inhabited islands in 64°

north latitude; these were supposed to belong to the continent of America;

but if a strait was discovered by these adventurers, there must be an error

in the latitude, as in 64° there is no opening known to exist.

It was reserved for an English navigator to ascertain the truth of the

report which the Russians had received from the inhabitants of Ochotsk,

that their country was separated from America only by a narrow strait.

This was done during the third and last voyage of Captain Cook; the

principal design of which was to ascertain the existence and practicability

of a passage between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, either to the

north-east or north-west. For this purpose he carefully examined the north-

west coast of America, beginning this examination in the latitude of 44°

33' north. Previously to this voyage an act of Parliament was passed,

granting a reward of 20,000_l_. to any person who should discover any

northern passage by sea between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, in any

parallel to the northward of the 52° of northern latitude. This voyage

of Cook began in 1778; on the 9th of August, in that year, he ascertained

the position and latitude of the western extremity of America, and soon

afterwards he determined the width of that strait which divides the two

continents. He then steered to the north, and continuing up the strait till

he was in the latitude 70° 41', he found himself close to the edge of the

ice which "was as compact as a wall," and ten or twelve feet high. He was

of course obliged to return to the south, and in this part of his voyage he

observed, on the American side, a low point in latitude 70° 29', to which

he gave the name of Icy Cape. After the death of Cook, Captain Clarke

entered the strait on the Asiatic side, and reached the latitude of 70°

33'; he afterwards got sight of the land on the American side in latitude

69° 34'. Such were the results of the last voyage of Captain Cook,

respecting the proximity of Asia and America, and the nature of the strait

by which they were divided.

Although the Spaniards seemed to be most interested in whatever concerned

the west coast of America, yet they made no attempt to explore it from the

commencement of the seventeenth century till the year 1774. In 1769,

indeed, being alarmed at the evident design of the Russians to settle in

the north-west coast, they formed establishments at St. Diego and Montory.

In 1774 they traced the American coast from latitude 53° 53' to latitude

55°, and it is said discovered Nootka Sound. In the following year an

expedition was sent from St. Blas, which proceeded along the north-west

coast, and reached to latitude 57° 58'.

The voyage of Cook roused the Russian government to further exertions; and

they accordingly fitted out an expedition to explore the sea between Asia

and America: the command of it was given to an Englishman of the name of

Billings, who had served as a petty officer under Captain Cook. He was,

however, by no means qualified for his situation, and abandoned the

enterprise in the latter end of July, having proceeded only a few leagues

beyond Cape Barrenoi: the whole amount of the information procured during

this voyage being confined to a few of the Aleutian Islands, and some

points in the coast of America and Asia.

A few years afterwards the Empress Catherine sent out a secret expedition;

the principal object of which was to ascertain the situation of the islands

between the two continents. Little is known respecting this expedition,

except that some observations were made on Behring's Straits, which,

however, were not passed. The distance between the continents was estimated

at forty-eight miles.

About the same time, the great profits which it was expected would be

derived from the fur trade on the north-west coast of America, induced

several commercial vessels to visit it; and during their voyages, nearly

all the parts of it which had not been visited by Cook, were examined as

far as the inlet which was named after him, in latitude 61° 15'. This

extent of coast was found to consist of a vast chain of islands; and the

appearance and nature of it revived the hope which Cook's last voyage had

extinguished, that in this part of the coast there might be a practicable

passage from the Pacific to the Atlantic ocean.

This hope was again extinguished in the opinion of most people, by the

result of two of the most celebrated voyages which have been performed

since the death of Captain Cook: we allude to the voyages of La Perouse,

and of Vancouver: the former sailed with two frigates from Brest on the 1st

of August, 1785: the object of this voyage was very comprehensive and

important, being no less than to fill up whatever had been left deficient

or obscure by former navigators, and to determine whatever was doubtful, so

as to render the geography of the globe as complete and minute as possible:

he was directed to supply the island in the South Seas with useful European

vegetables. At present we shall confine our notice of this voyage to what

relates to the more immediate object of this part of our work, the coast of

North-west America.

The north-west coast of America was made by La Perouse, in latitude sixty

degrees north: from this latitude he carefully traced and examined it to

the Spanish settlement of Monterey.--an extent of coast of which Cook had

had only a transient and imperfect view. Of this he constructed a chart,

which at the time was justly regarded as extremely accurate and complete,

but was subsequently rendered much more so by the survey of particular

points and bays made by the vessels engaged in the fur trade, and

especially by that which was constructed by Vancouver, from a close and

careful examination of the numerous channels with which this coast abounds,

principally performed in boats, and therefore descending into very minute

details.

The accessions made by him to geography in other parts of the globe, as

well as his unfortunate fate, will be afterwards related.

In the year 1790, a dispute arose between Britain and Spain, respecting

Nootka Sound: on the adjustment of this dispute, the British government

determined to send out an officer to secure possession of the settlement,

and also to determine the question respecting the existence of a navigable

passage between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Captain Vancouver was

selected for these purposes: his instructions were, after accomplishing his

mission at Nootka Sound, to examine that part of the coast occupied by the

chain of islands, discovered by the vessels in the fur trade, "and to

ascertain, with the greatest exactitude, the nature and extent of every

communication by water which might seem to tend to facilitate commercial

relations between the north-west coast and the countries on the east of the

continent, inhabited by British subjects or claimed by Great Britain;" and

in particular to search for the strait of John de Fuca, and to examine if

Cook's River had not its source in some of the lakes frequented by the

Canadian traders, or by the servants of the Hudson's Bay Company.

He sailed from England with a sloop and brig on the 1st of April, 1791. He

began his examination of the west coast of America, in latitude 39° 27'

north, and continued it as far as Nootka: finding that the Spaniards raised

difficulties to the restoration of this settlement, he proceeded to carry

into execution the other objects of this voyage. During three summers, he

surveyed the north-west coast of America as far as Cook's River, with a

diligence, attention, and accuracy which could not have been surpassed.

Every opening which presented itself was explored, and never left till its

termination was determined; so that on a very careful and minute inspection

of every creek and inlet of a coast consisting almost entirely of creeks

and channels, formed by an innumerable multitude of islands, he thought

himself justified in pronouncing, that there is no navigable passage

between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, unless there may be a possibility

of sailing through the strait between Asia and America, and navigating the

Frozen Ocean. The surveys which were made during this voyage, may justly be

said to have rendered perfect the geography of that part of the north-west

coast of America to which it extended, and indeed to have completed the

whole geography of this coast, which, from the multitude of its creeks,

inlets, islands, &c., presents formidable as well as petty and troublesome

difficulties in the way of its accurate and complete survey. Captain

Vancouver, however, was extremely fortunate in the weather which attended

him during the whole of the three summers which he spent on this coast.

Upwards of twenty years elapsed after the voyage of Vancouver, before

another attempt was made to find out a passage from the north Pacific into

the Atlantic Ocean. This attempt proceeded from Russia: not however from

the government, but an individual. Count Romanzoff, a Russian nobleman, is

well known for his liberal and judicious encouragement of every thing which

can promote useful knowledge, especially in what relates to the improvement

and benefit of his country. His first design was to fit out an expedition

to explore the north-west passage by Hudson's Bay or Davis' Straits; but

learning that the British government were making preparations to attempt it

by that route, he changed his plan, and resolved to fit out an expedition

to attempt the discovery of a passage from the eastward.

A ship was accordingly built and equipped, and the command given to

Lieutenant Kotzebue. He sailed from Russia in the autumn of 1815, and on

the 19th of June in the following year he reached Kamschatka. This he left

on the 15th of July and on the 20th of that month, Behring's Islands were

seen to the northward of Cape Prince of Wales. A tract of low land was

ascertained to be an island about seven miles long, and a mile across, in

the widest part: beyond it was a deep inlet running eastward into the

continent. Lieutenant Kotzebue, animated and encouraged by this appearance,

proceeded in a northerly direction, and found that the land continued low,

and tended more to the eastwards. On the 1st of August the entrance into a

broad inlet was discovered, into which the current ran very rapidly. The

opening of this inlet was known before, and is indeed laid down in the

charts attached to Marchand's Voyage round the World; but Kotzebue is

certainly the first person who explained it. As it was perfectly calm when

he reached this inlet, he resolved to go on shore, and examine from some

eminence the direction of the coast. "We landed," he observes, "without

difficulty, near a hill, which I immediately ascended; from the summit I

could no where perceive land in the strait: the high mountains to the north

either formed islands, or were a coast by themselves; for that the two

coasts could not be connected together was evident, even from the very

great difference between this very low and that remarkably high land. It

was my intention to continue the survey of the coast in the boats, but a

number of baydares coming to us along the coast from the east, withheld

me." He afterwards had an interview with the Americans who came in these

baydares: he found that they prized tobacco very highly, and that they

received this and other European goods from the natives of the opposite

coast of Asia. It was probably the first time in their lives that these

Americans had seen Europeans. They were of the middle size; robust and

healthy; ugly and dirty; with small eyes, and very high cheek bones: "they

bore holes on each side of their mouths, in which they wear morse bones,

ornamented with blue glass beads, which give them a most frightful

appearance. Their dresses, which are made of skins, are of the same cut as

the Parka, in Kamtschatka; only that there they reach to the feet, and here

hardly cover the knee: besides this, they wear pantaloons, and small half

boots of seal skins."

The latitude of this place, or rather of the ship's anchorage, at the time

this survey was made, was 66° 42' 30", and the longitude 164° 12' 50".

There were several circumstances which induced Kotzebue to hope that he had

at length found the channel which led to the Atlantic: nothing was seen but

sea to the eastward, and a strong current ran to the north-east. Under

these circumstances, thirteen days were occupied in examining the shores of

this opening; but no outlet was discovered, except one to the south-east,

which seemed to communicate with Norton Sound, and a channel on the western

side, which of course could not be the one sought for. Kotzebue, however,

remarks, "I certainly hope that this sound may lead to important

discoveries next year; and though a north-east passage may not with

certainty be depended on, yet I believe I shall be able to penetrate much

farther to the east, as the land has very deep indentures." The name of

Kotzebue's Sound was given to this inlet. Next year he returned to

prosecute his discovery; but in consequence of an accident which happened

to the ship, and a very dangerous blow which he received at the same time,

he abandoned the attempt.

That there is an opening, either by Kotzebue's Inlet or near to it, to the

Frozen Ocean, is probable, not only from the circumstances we have

mentioned of an opening and a strong current to the north-east having been

observed, but also from other circumstances noticed in the account of this

voyage. This current brings large quantities of drift wood into Kotzebue's

Sound: and in the breaking up of the ice in the sea of Kamschatka, the

icebergs and fields of ice do not drift, as in the Atlantic, to the south,

nor do they drive to the Atlantic islands, but into the strait to the

north. The direction of the current was always north-east in Behring's

Straits; and it was so strong and rapid, as to carry the ship fifty miles

in twenty-four hours; that is, above two miles an hour. On the Asiatic side

of the strait it ran at the rate of three miles an hour; and even with a

fresh north wind, it ran equally strong from the south. The inference drawn

by Kotzebue is as follows: "The constant north-east direction of the

current in Behring's Straits, proves that the water meets with no

opposition, and consequently a passage must exist, though perhaps not

adapted to navigation. Observations have long been made, that the current

in Baffin's Bay runs to the south; and thus no doubt can remain that the

mass of water which flows into Behring's Straits takes its course round

America, and returns through Baffin's Bay into the Ocean."