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A37429 The interests of the several princes and states of Europe consider'd, with respect to the succession of the crown of Spain, and the titles of the several pretenders thereto examin'd Defoe, Daniel, 1661?-1731. 1698 (1698) Wing D836; ESTC R4999 18,910 37

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vast difference between the Charge of a War maintain'd Abroad and the Desolations of a War brought Home to our own doors While the Dutch maintain'd their Army and sent them into Flanders to Fight the War though it was long and very bloody yet was easy to them but to have the French Army in the Bowels of their Country leaves nothing but Ruin and Desolation behind witness the Rage of the French Armies at Swamerdam in the Years 1672 and 1673. The Dutch by their hired Troops are a very powerful State but are on the other hand the worst of any Nation in the World to entertain a War in their own Dominion because they are so exceedingly dependant upon the openness and freedom of Trade which if it be once Obstructed as to be sure it must be by such a kind of a War they are presently impoverisht The Uniting the Spanish Netherlands to France by this Succession would leave Holland in a manner quite naked of all its defence and exposed to the Will of the French for if Flanders be lost all the Blood and Treasure spent by the whole Confederacy in Three long and chargeable Wars for the rescuing Flanders out of the French hands would be lost and all the labour of the King of England and his Armies would be utterly lost The Dutch are certainly exposed to the last degree and in so much danger of being absolutely subdued in such a case that I think they are concern'd in the highest degree to prevent if possible such an Union as that which would to them be the most fatal thing in the World We come in the next place to examine how England stands with respect to such an Union England is not one jot less concern'd in the matter than Holland the King of England whose Hazards in Flanders may seem needless to those who understood no better has given sufficient Testimony of his Opinion how much the safety of England depends upon maintaining the Frontier of Flanders as a Barrier for the Kingdom against the Insults of the French Nation and indeed if nothing but the prodigious increase of the Naval Strength which France would attain by such an Union were considered it would be sufficient to make all the Northern parts of Europe join their Interest against it I noted in the Article about the Dutch the naked Condition they would be in with respect to a War by Land but should the French once make themselves Masters of Flanders and of some of the Dutch Ports and Harbours in the Scheld or the Maez the addition of their Naval Strength would make them too great a Match for all Europe at Sea The present Conjunction of the English and Dutch Fleets have not without great difficulty preserved the Command of the Sea during this War the Advantages gain'd by it are visible to the meanest understanding and I question whether it would be possible to maintain that Command in case of such a Union The present growing greatness of the French Genius infus'd by vigorous Councils into the Spaniards may once again make them as they formerly were the most Powerful Nation in the World both at Land and Sea if then the French and Spaniard United should make themselves in proportion too strong at Sea for the English and Dutch they may bid very fair for a Universal Empire over this part of the World Our Interests in the West-Indian Colonies of America come next into Consideration 'T is absolutely necessary for the security of our Plantations whose extent is exceeding great that no Union be made between the French and Spanish Dominions otherwise the whole Trade from these parts of the World to both East and West Indies may lie at the mercy of the French For England and Holland being Nations subsisting and depending wholly upon Trade and Foreign Negoce any Union in the World which shall be too strong for them at Sea may in the end reduce both those Nations to what Terms and what Subjection they please And this leads us to the other great Consideration of this Union as it respects The Interest of Trade in the World The Interest of Trade is the Interest of Nations Peace is the end of War or at least ought to be so Trade is the end of Peace and Gain is the end of Trade The Trade of Europe is principally in the hands of the English Dutch and Spaniards from the two former to the latter in Manufactures of their own Growth and Operation The Spaniards who are a Nation that make the best Return in Trade of any Nation in the World namely Bullion may be said to suffer us to Trade with them rather than they to Trade with us They are a subtle but a very slothful Nation they buy almost all their necessary things of Foreigners they have in a manner no Manufacture among them they hardly make their own Cloaths and in return the Growth of their Countrey as Wines Oyls and Fruits are brought back and the Overplus made up by Exchange supplied by the Bullion of their West-Indies As a further demonstration of the ill husbandry of the Spaniards in Trade it appears that all the Trade carried on with them by the English and Dutch is carried on upon our own Stocks and some have ventured to say that the English Effects in Spain do not amount to less than 50 Millions sterl which way of Trade has always been the greatest Ligament of the Peace between the English and Dutch and the Spaniard For on the first occasion of a Rupture with these Countries the immediate course the Spaniard takes is to seize upon all the English or Dutch Merchants and confiscate their Effects which are always so considerable as that those Nations have no Equivalent to lay hold on by way of Reprisal 'T is true they have taken their Plate-Ships and sometimes plunder'd the Coast-Towns in the Spanish West-Indies which at best would be but a small Amends to the Seizure of the Effects of so many Merchants Nay they are not only so ill Merchants as to suffer Strangers to engross their Trade but even those Strangers as if the Spaniards were neither able to manage nor fit to be trusted with Business employ all Agents Factors and Servants of their own sent over and resident among them with the same Methods as they Plant amongst the most barbarous Nations of Africa and by this Method the Trade of Spain is so managed that whatever it be to the Spaniards themselves 't is certainly a Trade exceeding gainful to the Merchants of these Countries in particular 1. As it occasions the Consumption of their Manufactures and from thence the Improvement of their Stocks at home by which the whole Countries are enrich'd and the Poor employ'd and supported 2. As it makes a Return of Bullion which is the greatest Advantage that can accrue to Trade for Manufactures exported and Bullion return'd make always an Account of Profit to the Publick Stock of a Nation 3. An