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.
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