Impression of fear to him he attacks the Impatient and Inconstant Temper of the French is as unfit for the defensive part as their fire and first eagerness qualifys them to perform their duty in the first Experience makes me speak thus and I am persuaded that those who are perfect Commanders will say the same SECTION V Of Naval Power THE Power of Arms do's not only require that the King should be strong a shore but also potent at Sea When Anthony Perez was receiv'd in France by the late King your Father and that in order to soften his misery he had secured him a good Pension That stranger being desirous to express his Gratitude to that great King and to show him that tho he was unfortunate he was not ungrateful gave him three Councels in three Words which are of no small Consideration Roma Consejo Pielago The advice of this old Spaniard consummated in Affairs is not so much to be looked upon for the Authority of him that gave it as for its own weight We have already mention'd the Care Princes ought to take to have a good Council and to be authorised at Rome it now remains to show how it behoves the King to be Potent at Sea The Sea is of all Heritages that in which Soveraigns pretend to have the greatest share and yet it is that on which the Rights of every body are least agreed upon The Empire of that Element was never well secur'd to any It has been subject to divers Revolutions according to the inconstancy of its nature so subject to the Wind that it submits to him who Courts it most and whose Power is so unbounded that he is in a condition to possess it with violence against all those who might dispute it with him In a word the old Titles of that Dominion are Force and not Reason a Prince must be Powerful to pretend to that Heritage To proceed with Order and Method in this point we must consider the Ocean and the Mediterranian seperately and make a distinction between the Ships which are of use in both those Seas and of the Gallies the use of which is only good in that which Nature seems to have reserv'd expresly betwixt the Lands to expose it to less Storms and to give it more shelter A great State must never be in a condition to receive an injury without being able to revenge it And therefore England being situated as it is unless France is powerful in Ships the English may attempt whatever they please to our prejudice without the least fear of a return They might hinder our Fishing disturb our Trade and in blocking up the mouth of our great Rivers exact what Toll they please from our Merchants They might Land without danger in our Islands and even on our Coasts Finally The Situation of the Native Countrey of that haughty Nation not permitting them to fear the greatest Land-Forces the ancient Envy they have against this Kingdom would apparently encourage them to dare every thing should our weakness not allow us to attempt some thing to their prejudice Their Insolence in the late King your Father's time towards the Duke of Scily obliges us to put our selves in a posture never to suffer the like again That Duke being chosen by Henry the Great for an extraordinary Embassy into England Embarking at Callis in a French Ship with the French Flag on the Main Top Mast was no sooner in the Channel but meeting a Yacht which came to receive him the Commander of it Commanded the French Ship to strike The Duke thinking his Quality would secure him from such an affront refus'd it boldly but his refusal being answer'd with three Cannon shot with Bullets which piercing his Ship pierc'd the Heart of the French Force constrain'd him to do what Reason ought to have secur'd him from and whatever Complaints he could make he could get no other reason from the English Captain than that as his Duty oblig'd him to honour his Quality of Ambassador it oblig'd him also to compel others to pay that respect to his Master's Flag which was due to the Soveraign of the Sea If King James's words prov'd more civil yet they produc'd no other effect than to oblige the Duke to seek for satisfaction in his own Prudence feigning himself cur'd when his pain was most smarting and his wound incurable The King your Father was oblig'd to dissemble on that occasion but with this Resolution another time to maintain the Right of his Crown by the Force which time would give him means to acquire at Sea I represent this Great Prince to my mind projecting in that occurence what your Majesty must now put in Execution Reason obliges to take an Expedient which without ingaging any of the Crowns may contribute towards the preservation of the good understanding which is desirable among the Princes of Christendom Among many that might be propos'd the following are in my opinion the most practicable It might be agreed upon that French Ships meeting English Ships upon the Coast of England should Salute first and strike the Flag and that when English Ships should meet French Ships upon the French Coast they should pay them the same Honors on condition that when the English and French Fleets should meet beyond the Coasts of both Kingdoms they should both steer their Course without any Ceremony only sending out their respective Long-Boats to hail each other coming no neerer than within Cannon shot It might also be agreed upon that without having any respect to the Coasts of France or England the greater number of Men of War should be Saluted by the smaller either in striking the Flag or otherwise Whatever Expedient is found out on that subject provided it be equal on all parts it will be just if your Majesty is strong at Sea that which is reasonable will be thought so by the English who are so much blinded on that subject that they know no Equity but Force The advantages the Spaniards who are proud of being our Enemies at present derive from the Indies oblige them to be strong on the Ocean The reason of a sound Policy does not allow us to be weak there but it obliges us to be in a condition to oppose the designs they might have against us and to cross their enterprizes If your Majesty be potent at Sea the just apprehension Spain will lay under of your attacking their Forces the only Source of their Subsistance of your making a Descent on their Coasts which have upwards of six hundred Leagues Circumference your surprising some of their places which are all weak and in great number that just apprehension I say will oblige them to be so powerful at Sea and to keep such strong Garisons that the major part of the Revenue of the Indies will be consumed in Charges to preserve the whole and if the remainder suffices to preserve their States at last it will produce this advantage that they will no
will be very considerable in six years time by the number of their Ships and in a condition to assist the Kingdom in case of need as it is practis'd in England where the King makes use of his Subjects Ships in time of War without which he would not be so powerful at Sea as he is Moreover the number of Ships your Majesty designs to keep will not be lessen'd by it since the Publick Docks you have been pleas'd to re-establish will furnish you yearly as many as you please There is no State in Europe fitter to build Ships than this Kingdom abounding in Hemp Linen Cloth Iron Rigging and in Workmen whom our Neigbours commonly debauch from us because they are not imploy'd at home The Rivers Loire and Garrone have such convenient places for Docks that Nature seems to have design'd them for that use The cheapness of Victuals for the Workmen and the conveniencies of divers Rivers which disburthen themselves into them and bring all manner of necessaries justifie the said Proposition If next to this Expedient your Majesty will think fit to grant Merchandising some Prerogatives to give a Rank to Merchants whereas your Subjects are oblig'd to obtain it by divers Offices which are only good to maintain their idleness and to please their Wives you will restore Trade to that degree that every one and all in general will be advantag'd by it In fine if besides those two Favours you will be pleas'd to take a particular care to clear these two Seas from Pirates which may easily be done France will soon add to its Natural Plenty what Trade affords to the most barren Countries Six Guard Ships of two hundred Tuns and six Pinnaces well Arm'd will be sufficient to secure the Ocean provided the said Ships keep constantly at Sea And in order to secure the Sea of the Levant it will also be sufficient to put out to Sea yearly towards the month of April a Squadron of ten Gallies steering their Course towards the Isles of Corsica and Sardinia cruising all along the Coast of Barbary unto the Streights steering the same Course back again not to come home again until the Weather compels them to it at which time six Ships well Equip'd shall put out to Sea in their room to perform their Caravan in the Winter time SECTION VII Which shows that Gold and Silver are one of the principal and most necessary supporters of the State declares the means to make this Kingdom Powerful in that kind shows the revenue of the same at present and how it may be improv'd for the Future in discharging the People of three parts in four of the Burthen which overwhelms them at this Time IT is an old saying that the Finances are the sinews of a State and it certainly is the point of Archimedes which being firmly settled Inables to move all the World A necessitous Prince can never undertake a Glorious Action and necessity ingendring Contempt He can never be reduced to that condition without being exposed to the Efforts of his Enemys and of those who are Envious of his Grandeur Gold and Silver are the Tyrants of the World and tho' their Empire is unjust in it self it is sometimes so reasonable that we must suffer the Dominion of it and sometimes it is so extravagant that it is impossible not to detest the yoke of it as alltogether Insupportable There must be as I have already observ'd it a proportion between what the Prince draws from his Subjects and what they can give him not only without ruining themselves but without a notable Inconvenience As it is reasonable not to exceed the Power of those that give neither can less be exacted than what the necessity of the State Requires None but Pedants and the real enemys of the State can say that a Prince ought not to exact any thing from his Subjects and that his sole Treasure ought to lay in the Hearts of those who are submitted under his Dominion But at the same time none but Flatterers and the true Plagues of the State and of the Court can Insinuate to Princes that they may exact what they please and that in that Case their Will is the Rule of their Power Nothing can be more easy than to find plausible Reasons to raise Money even when there is no necessity for it neither is any thing less difficult than to produce apearent arguments to Condemn the same tho never so necessary Men must lay aside all Passions to be able to Judge and to decide what is reasonable on such occasions and there is no small difficulty to find the certain point of a just Proportion The Expences which are absolutely necessary for the subsistance of the State being fix'd the less a Prince can raise among the People is the best In order not to be forc'd to raise great summs it is necessary to spend little and the best way to make moderate expences is to banish all Profusion and to Condemn whatever may tend to that end France would be too Rich and the People too abounding if it did not suffer the dissipation of the public Revenue which other States spend with rule They lose more in my opinion than some Kingdoms who pretend some Equality with us Commonly spend A Venetian Ambassador told me one day wittily upon this Subject speaking of the Wealth of France that in order to make us perfectly happy he only wish'd we knew as well how to spend that well which we dissipate without reason as the Republic knew how to lay out every Quatrain without waste and without overmuch husbandry If it were possible to regulate the appetite of the French I would think that the best way to manage the King's purse were to have recourse to that expedient but as it is impossible to prescribe bounds to the greediness of our Nation the only way to contain them is to use them as Physicians do famish'd Patients whom they constrain to use abstinence by keeping all manner of Victuals from them To that end it is necessary to reform the Finances by the suppression of the chief means by which Men get money unlawfully out of the King's Coffers Among them all none are so dangerous as that of the Comptans the abuse of which is grown to that heigth that not to remedy it and to ruin the State is one and the same thing Tho it is useful to use them on some occasions and that it seems necessary in others nevertheless the great inconveniences and the abuses which arrise by it do so far surpass their usefulness that it is absolutely necessary to abolish them Whole Millions will be sav'd by this means and a thousand conceal'd profusions will be redress'd which it is impossible to discover as long as the secret ways of spending the public Treasure will be in use I am sensible that some will urge that there are some foreign expences which by their Nature must be kept secret and which the
is the bare reward of his Contumacy As if it were ever allowable to betray Truth and justice because they make no defence The old Duke d'Espernon who till then had been an object of envy began to become an object of Pity 1639. In six months time of the year 1639 he lost the Duke de Candale his eldest Son he saw the second Condemn'd to Death on whom he had fix'd his heart and all his hopes besides the Death of the Cardinal de la Valette his third Son to whom it was thought Cardinal de Richelieu as a recompence for his Services had promis'd not to disturb the repose of his Father's old age Orders follow'd immediately to Confine him first to his House of Plassaâ— next to Loches where he ended his days some years after His constancy was such in that great Age that after having perform'd in his last sickness what ever could be desir'd of him for his Conscience without Pride or Weakness for he ever had Religion and Faith he let fall never a Word in relation to the Cardinal but what was at once Christian like and Noble He ordered the Duke de la Vallette's two Children to be recommended to the King they having the honor to be related to him they were the Children of his first Marriage for he had none by the second And some suggesting to him that he would do well to do them the same office with the Minister whose power was so well known he only answer'd mildly I am his Servant without being able to resolve to request any thing of him He dyed on the 13. of January 1642 being 88 years of Age repeating often even in the middle of his Prayers and in the very Arms of Death the Name of his Son de la Valette whom he look'd upon as his Martyr The Cardinal de Richelteu did not out-live him long He dyed on the 4th of December of the same Year being only 58 years of Age leaving to Courtiers one of those â—ine but too subtile Examples of what Fortune Grandeur and Favour is never certain never contented and which is worse little present and long pass'd The King who griev'd in secret for having allow'd him so much Power and who had reason to dread all things from him if he had liv'd much longer did not think himself so much depriv'd of a faithful Minister as deliver'd of a proud insupportable Master It then prov'd a kind of Merit at Court not to have been too much his Friend But all things were soon alter'd there a second time by the King 's own Death on the 14th of May 1643. The Duke de la Valette call'd Duke d'Espernon since his Father's Death came back from England and surrender'd himself in the Prison of the Palace of Paris and was absolv'd by the unanimous Voice of the Parliament with a general Applause of the Grandees and of the People No Man of any Note that I know of ever laid the ill Success at Fontarabie to his charge but the Cardinal and as to the pretended Intelligence or Conspiracy with the two Princes far from upbraiding himself with it he plac'd it among his best Actions since that tho ill us'd and oppress'd by the Cardinal to the highest degree he had been able to resist the Temptation to right himself and the Duke his Father by a Civil War the greatest and most dangerous of all those of that time if both had hearkn'd to it As the Cardinal de Berulle dyed with the repute of sanctity and that all those who have known him have testify'd the same except Cardinal Richelieu it is a very material point to inform the Public with the Motives that could induce the said Cardinal de Richelieu to insert these Words in the Tenth Page of his Political Testament Your Majesty would thereby have freed the Nation of the Grisons for ever from the Tyranny of the House of Austria had not Fargis your Ambassador in Spain at the Sollicitation of Cardinal de Berulle made as he has confess'd it since without the knowledge and contrary to your Majesty's express Orders a very disadvantageous Treaty to which you adher'd at last to please the Pope who pretended to be somewhat concern'd in that Affair and in the 14 Page the Cardinal de Berulle and the Lord Keeper Marrillac advised your Majesty to abandon that poor Prince he speaks of the Duke of Mantua to the injustice and Insatiable avidity of that Nation which is an Enemy to the Repose of Christendom he means the Spaniards to hinder them from disturbing it the rest of your Council proved of a different opinion both because Spain durst not have formed such a Resolution immediately after the making of a Treaty of Vnion among the English and because if they should have followed so ill an advcie they could not have been able to stop the progress of your Arms. A Little insight into the principal Affairs transacted in the reign of Lewis the XIII is sufficient to know that the Cardinals de Berulle and de Richelieu were both ingag'd in the Interest of the Queen Mother Mary de Medicis and that they liv'd in perfect Intelligence until the year 1622 when the War of the Pon de Cee broke out All the Queen Mother's Creatures did expect that Cardinal de Richelieu to whom that Princess had given Order Power to conclude an accommodation with the King her Son's Ministers would mind their advantages as much as his own and would not expose them to the Vengance of their Enemys whom they had only irritated to remain Faithful to the Queen Mother Nevertheless Cardinal de Richelieu only thought of obtaining a Place for himself in the Sacred College and neglected all the rest For which reason Cardinal de Berulle the Marshal and Lord Keeper Marillac Monsieur and Madam du Fargis and several others fell out with him In the Second Place the first considerable affair which occur'd in the Council of France in 1624 immediately after the Cardinal's being introduc'd there upon the Marriage of Madam Henrietta of France youngest Sister to the King with the Prince of Wales The Cardinal de Richelieu pretended to attribute all the honor of it to himself and negotiated with so much address that he obtained from the Earls of Holland and Carlile Ambassadors from England more advantageous Conditions for the Catholic Religion than those which the King of Great Britain had granted to the Spaniards when he desir'd their Infanta for the said Prince of Wales But the main difficulty was to prevail with the Court of Rome to approve the Conditions Cardinal de Richelieu had made with the English Ambassadors The Court pitched upon Cardinal de Berulle in order thereunto He went to Rome and there began continued and concluded the famous Negotiation which is found among the Manuscripts of Lomenie in the King's Library He obtain'd what ever he desir'd of the Pope and that was sufficient to excite Cardinal de Richelieu's jealousy As to
of China the Entrance into which is allow'd to no body is the only Country in which that Nation has no Place settled for their Trade The City of Genoa which only abounds in Rocks makes so good a Use of its Trade that I may safely affirm that it is the Richest City in Italy if the succors of Spain France only abounding too much within it self has hitherto neglected Trade tho they are as conveniently seated for it as their Neighbours and might free themselves of the assistance they receive from them on that account at their own Cost The Fisheries of the Ocean are the easiest and most useful Commerce which can be made in this Kingdom It is the more necessary in that there is no State in the World so well Peopled as France That the Number of those who are out of the Road to Heaven is very inconsiderable compar'd to the Catholics who living under the Laws of the Roman Church abstain the third part of the year from the use of Meat And that none of the dispensations practised in Spain are used there to eat Meat at all times under a specious pretence Trade will be the easyer for us in that we have a great number of Sea Men who heitherto have been oblig'd to seek out imployment among our Enemyes having none at home and we have made no other use of them hitherto but to get salt Fish and Herrings But having wherewith to imploy our Mariners instead of being Constrained to strengthen our Enemies by weakning our selves we will be able to carry into Spain and other Countrys that which they have hitherto brought to us by the assiistance of our Men who serve them France is so fertile in Corn so abounding in Wine Flax and Hemp to make Cloth and Riggings so necessary for Navigation that Spain England and all other Neighbouring States must have recourse thither And provided we know how to improve the advantages which Nature has given us we will get money of those who have occasion for our Goods without troubling our selves much with their Commoditys which are of little use to us Spanish English and Dutch Cloths are only superfluous we may make them as good as theirs getting Wool from Spain as they doe Moreover we may have them more conveniently upon the account of our Corn and Linen Cloths if we will exchange them to make a double gain Our Kings having made a shift with Draps de Berry we may very well make a shift now with Draps de Sceau and de Meunier or Millers Cloth which are now made in France without having recourse to those that are made abroad the use of which will be abolish'd by this means as well as the Serges of Chalons and of Chartres have abolish'd those of Milan And indeed the Draps de Sceau are insomuch request in the Levant that next to those of Venice made with Spanish Wool the Turks preferr them to all others and the Citys of Marselles and of Lyons have heitherto driven a very great Trade in them France is Industrious enough Not to stand in need of the best Manufactures of our Neighbours such fine Plushes are made at Tours that they are sent into Spain Italy and other foreign Countrys the Plain Tafetas which are made there also are so much in Vogue throughout France that there is no need to look for any elsewhere Red Purple and Spotted Velvets are made finer there now than at Genoa It is also the only place in which Silk Serges are made Mohair is made as good there as in England the finest Cloths of Gold are made finer there and Cheaper than in Italy So that we may easily forbear that Trade which only serves to foment our Laziness and to feed our Pride to stick solidly to that which may increase our Wealth and imploy our Mariners insomuch that our Neighbours may not improve our labours at their cost Over and above those above specify'd which are the best in the Ocean many others may be made The Skinners Trade of Canada is the more necessary because there is no need of carrying Money there and that they take such Commodities in Exchange as scizzer-Cases Knives small Pen-knives Needles Pins Bills Hatchets Watches Hat-bands Points and other sorts of Mercery Wares That of the Coast of Guiny in Africa in which the Portgueze have long possess'd a place call'd Castel de Mine which the Hollanders of the West-India Company have taken from them within these 2 or 3 years is of the same nature in that the only Goods exported there are Pedlars Wares Canvass and course Linen Cloths in exchange of which the Negroes give Golden Powder The Merchants of Roans have formerly driven a Trade of Linen and Woolen Cloths in the Kingdom of Fez and of Morrocco by means of which they got a great deal of Gold Were the King's Subjects strong in Shipping they might ingross all the Trade of the North which the Dutch have got by reason that the North standing absolutely in need of Wine Vinegar and Brandy-Wine of Chesnuts of Pruens and of Nuts all Commodities in which the Kingdom abounds and which cannot be consum'd in it it is easie to make a considerable Trade of them and the better in that returns may be made of Wood of Copper of Pitch and Tar things not only useful for our selves but necessary for our Neighbours who can not get them from them without our Goods unless they will lose the fraight of their Ships in going thither I do not enter into the particulars of the Trade which may be driven in the East-Indies and in Persia by reason that the humour of the French being so hasty that they will see the effects of their desires as soon as they have conceiv'd them Long Voyages are not suitable with their temper However as abundance of Silks and Carpets are brought from Persia many Curiosities from China and all manner of Spices from divers places in those parts of the World which are of great use to us that Trade is not to be neglected To make a good Settlement it would be necessary to send two or three Ships into the East Commanded by Persons of Quality Prudence and Wisdom with Patents and necessay Powers to Treat with those Princes and to Make Allyances with the People on all sides as the Portugueze English and Dutch have done This design would succeed the better by reason that those who have taken a footing in those Nations are very much hated by them at present either because they have deceiv'd them or because they have subdued them by Force As to the West there is no great Trade to be expected there Drake Thomas Cavendish Sperberg L'Hermite le Maire and the late Count Maurice who sent twelve Ships thither of 500 Tuns on purpose to Trade there either by way of Friendship or by Force not having been able to make any settlements there there is but little to be hop'd for on that side unless
a Military Force be sent thither to take possession of the places Spain possesses there at present The little Isles of St. Christopher and others seated at the Head of the Indies may yield some Tobacco some Skins and other things of small consequence THERE NOW REMAINS TO KNOW WHAT MAY BE DONE IN THE MEDITERRANEAN Trade of the Mediteranean Memorial of the different Trades driven in the Levant Napoli de Romania The French carry some Goods there and Money and bring back Silks Goats Leather Wool Wax and Cheese part of which is destributed and sold in Italy Satalia The French only carry Money there and bring back Cotton Wax and all manner of Goat Skins Smyrna The French carry more Goods there than Money abundance of Merchandise going off there for Chio the Archipelago and Constantinople The Goods carry'd there are Paper Caps Draps de Paris and of Languedoc Brasil Wood Cutchaneal Spices Satins made at Lyons and sometimes they bring back Persian Silks and Rubarbs which the Persians bring thither Cottons spun into Thred Wax Mastick and course Carpets Scala Nova Sometimes our Ships take in Wheat and Legumes there Constantinople The French carry abundance of Goods there which are the same that are carry'd to Smyrna excepting Gold Silver and Silk Stuffs and very seldom Money they bring back Leather and Wool there being nothing else and often not finding Commodities for the Goods that have been sold there they are oblig'd to send the said Money to Smyrna to be imploy'd there or else it is remitted by Bills of Exchange to Aleppo there are always abundance of Goods to be bought there to carry into Christendom Isle of Cyprus In which there are divers Ports Money is carry'd thither some Cloths and Caps and in return we take Cotton spun into Thred Silks made in the said Isles and some Drugs Alexandria and the Port of Aleppo Abundance of Merchandice and Money are carry'd thither from France Those Goods are the same which are carry'd to Smyrna And â—ast quantities of Silks and Drugs are taken in there all sorts of Cottons Oak-Apples Goat Skins which they stile of the Levant Red Yellow and Blue Callicos and sometimes Indian Goods which are brought there from Persia Before the English and Dutch went into the Indies all Persian Silks Drugs and other Goods were brought to Aleppo from whence they were brought to Marseilles and from thence they were afterwards sold throughout France England Holland and Germany And now the said English and Hollanders have taken away the said Trade from us and do not only furnish all France with Persian Goods but also with those they buy on the Grand Seignior's Territories which they carry through Persia to Goa where they lade The Goods that are brought from the Levant are dispos'd of in Sicily Naples Genoa Leghorn Majorca and throughout Spain Flanders and Germany Seyda the Port of Tripoly Barut and St. John d'Acre The French carry some Commodities thither and for the most part Money they bring back from thence Silks spun Cottons Ashes to make Soap Drugs which come from Damascus sometimes they take in Rice and when they have a good Crop of Wheat they suffer our Ships to take lading of it Alexandria the Port of Aegypt and Grand Cairo The French carry several French Commodities thither as Cloth Paper Brasil Cochaneal but more Money than Goods they take in their Natron Drugs of divers sorts and most of the Goods which sell in Italy or in Spain Formerly all sorts of Spices were brought to Alexandria through the Red Sea which were carry'd to Marseilles but now the English and Hollanders go into the Indies we must buy them of them Tunis Wine is transported thither from Marseilles Hony Tartar Cloth Paper and other Goods and seldom any Money and Leather and Wax is taken in there Algiers and the adjacent Ports The same Commodities are often carry'd thither from Marseiles which are carry'd to Tunis and Leather and Wax are also brought from thence I own I have been long deceiv'd in the Trade the Proveneals drive in the Levant I was of opinion with many others that the said Trade was prejudicial to the State thinking according to the common notion of the World that it exhausted the Money of the Kingdom in exchange of Goods no wise useful and only fit to indulge the Luxuriousness of our Nation But having made an exact enquiry into the Nature of that Trade condemn'd by the publick voice I have alter'd my opinion upon such solid grounds that whoever will know them will certainly think I have done it with Reason It is certain that we stand in absolute need of most of the Commodities of the Levant as Silks Cottons Wax Goat Skins Rubarb and several other Drugs which are necessary to us It is also certain that if we do not fetch them Strangers will bring them to us and get the profit we might get our selves It is likewise certain that we do not carry near so much Money into the Levant as French Commodities our Hemp our Linen Cloath our Timber to build Ships are in greater request there than Money Those who understand the Trade of the Levant know that the Money which is carry'd thither is not of the growth of France but Spain from whence we draw it by the Trafick of those very Commodities we bring from the Levant which is very observable They are moreover sensible that the more the City of Marseilles Trades into the Levant the richer it is in Money That the Silks and spun Cotton which are the principal Commodities which come from the Levant are wrought in France and from thence transported into Foreign Countries with a profit of Cent. per Cent. upon the buying of the said Manufacture That the said Trade maintains a vast number of Workmen and that it preserves us That it imploys abundance of Seamen useful in time of Peace and necessary in War Finally That the Customs of the said Trade amounnt to a great deal of Money And therefore it is evident that the said Trade is not only advantageous but absolutely necessary Whatever advantages may accrue by the Trade of the two Seaâ— the French will never apply themselves to it with delight unless the means appear as easie to them as the end is useful One of the best expedients to incourage them for their own good is that your Majesty would be pleas'd yearly to sell them some of your Ships at an easie rate on condition that they shall imploy them for Trade and not sell them out of the Kingdom This Medium applying a Remedy to their impatience which does not permit them to tarry for the building of a Ship to make use of it will be the more agreeable to them in that it will enable them to reap almost as soon as they have sown Beside the profit that will thereby accrue to private persons the State will receive a considerable advantage by such an Order by reason that the Merchants