Indeed, the situation of Holland, nearly all the towns and villages of
which have a communication with the sea, either by rivers or canals, and
through some part of the territory of which the great rivers Rhine, Meuse,
and Scheld empty themselves into the sea, must always render it commercial.
The principal ports of the Netherlands are Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and
Antwerp. The exports of the Netherlands consist either of its own produce
and manufactures, or of those which are brought to it from the interior of
Germany: of the former, butter, cheese, madder, clover-seed, toys, &c.
constitute the most important; from Germany, by means of the Rhine, vast
floats of timber are brought. The principal imports of the Netherlands,
both for her own use and for the supply of Germany, consist of Baltic
produce, English goods, colonial produce, wines, fruits, oil, &c.
There is perhaps no country in Europe which possesses greater advantages
for commerce than France: a large extent of sea coast, both on the Atlantic
and the Mediterranean; excellent harbours; a rich soil and genial climate,
adapted to a great variety of valuable productions; and some manufactures
very superior in their workmanship,--all these present advantages seldom
found united. Add to these her colonial possessions, and we shall certainly
be surprized that her commerce should ever have been second, to that of any
other country in Europe.
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