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.
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