"To England, Antwerp exports jewels and precious stones, silver bullion, quicksilver, wrought silks, cloth of gold and silver, gold and silver thread, camblets, grograms, spices, drugs, sugar, cotton, cinnamon, galls, linens, serges, tapestry, madder, hops in great quantities, glass, salt fish, small wares made of metal and wood, arms, ammunition, and household furniture. From England, Antwerp imports immense quantities of fine and coarse woollen goods; the finest wool; excellent saffron, but in small quantities; a great quantity of lead and tin; sheep and rabbit skins, and other kinds of fine peltry and leather; beer, cheese, and other sorts of provisions, in great quantities; also Malmsey wines, which the English import from Candia."
Guicciardini observes, that Antwerp exported but little to Scotland, as that country was principally supplied from England and France: some spiceries, sugars, madder, wrought silks, camblets, serges, linen, and merceries, are exported. In return, Antwerp received from Scotland vast quantities of peltry of various kinds, leather, wool, cloth of coarse quality, fine large pearls, but not of quite so good a water as the oriental pearls.
The exports to Ireland were nearly the same as to Scotland: the returns were skins and leather, some low-priced cloths, and other coarse and common articles of little value.
The exports to Spain consisted chiefly of copper, brass, and latten, wrought and unwrought; tin, lead; much woollen cloth, both Flemish and English; serges, tapestry, linens, flax-thread, wax, pitch, madder, tallow, sulphur, wheat, rye, salted meat and fish, butter, cheese, merceries, silver bullion and wrought, arms, ammunition, furniture, tools; and every thing also, he adds, produced by human industry and labour, to which the lower classes in Spain have an utter aversion. From Spain, Antwerp received jewels, pearls, gold and silver in great quantities; cochineal, sarsaparilla, guiacum, saffron; silk, raw and thrown; silk stuffs, velvets, taffeties, salt, alum, orchil, fine wool, iron, cordovan leather, wines, oils, vinegar, honey, molasses, Arabian gums, soap; fruits, both moist and dried, in vast quantities, and sugar from the Canaries.
The exports to Portugal were silver bullion, quicksilver, vermilion, copper, brass, and latten; lead, tin, arms, artillery and ammunition; gold and silver thread, and most of the other articles sent to Spain. From Portugal, Antwerp received pearls and precious stones, gold, spices, to the value of above a million of crowns annually; drugs, amber, musk, civet, great quantities of ivory, aloes, rhubarb, cotton, China root, (then and even lately much used in medicine,) and many other rare and valuable Indian commodities, with which the greatest part of Europe is supplied from Antwerp; also, sugars from St. Thomas, under the line, and the other islands belonging to the Portuguese on the African coast; Brazil wood, Guinea grains, and other drugs from the west coast of Africa; Madeira sugar and wines. Of the produce of Portugal itself, Antwerp imported salt, wines, oils, woad, seeds, orchil, fruits, &c. &c.
To Barbary, Antwerp exported woollen goods, linen, merceries, metals, &c.; and received from it sugar, azure or anil, gums, coloquintida, leather, peltry, and fine feathers.
From this sketch of the commerce of Antwerp, when it was at its height, we see, that it embraced the whole commerce of the world: and that in it centered all the commodities supplied by Asia, America, Africa, and the south of Europe on the one hand, and England, the Baltic countries, Germany, and France on the other. The account given by Guicciardini is confirmed by Wheeler, who wrote in 1601. He observes, that a little before the troubles in the Low Countries, the people of Antwerp were the greatest traders to Italy in English and other foreign merchandize; and also to Alexandria, Cyprus, and Tripoli in Syria; "beating the Italians, English, and Germans, almost entirely out of that trade, as they also soon did the Germans in the fairs of their own country." He adds, that the Antwerp merchants, being men of immense wealth, and consequently able to supply Spain for the Indies at long credit, set their own prices on their merchandize. Antwerp also supplied Germany, Spain, Portugal, and Eastland with the wares, which France was wont to supply them. He adds, "It is not past eighty years ago, (that would be about 1520,) since there were not, in London, above twelve or sixteen Low Country merchants, who imported only stone pots, brushes, toys for children, and other pedlar's wares; but in less than forty years after, there were, in London, at least one hundred Netherland merchants, who brought thither all the commodities which the merchants of Italy, Germany, Spain, France, and Eastland, (of all which nations there were, before that time, divers famous and notable rich merchants and companies,) used to bring into England out of their own country directly, to the great damage of the said strangers, and of the natural born English merchants."
Guicciardini informs us, that in his time the port of Armuyden, in the island of Walcheren, was the place of rendezvous for the shipping of Antwerp: in it have often been seen 500 large ships lying at one time, bound to, or returning from distant parts of the world. He adds, that it was no uncommon thing for 500 ships to come and go in one day; that 10,000 carts were constantly employed in carrying merchandize to and from the neighbouring countries, besides hundreds of waggons daily coming and going with passengers; and 500 coaches used by people of distinction. In his enumeration of the principal trades, it is curious that there were ninety-two fishmongers, and only seventy-eight butchers; there were 124 goldsmiths, who, it must be recollected, at that time acted as bankers, or rather exchangers of money. The number of houses was 13,500. With respect to the shipping, which, according to this author, were so numerous at the port of Antwerp, comparatively few of them belonged to this city, as most of its commerce was carried on by ships of foreign nations.
This circumstance, of its having but few ships of its own, may be regarded as one cause why, when it was taken and plundered by the Spaniards in the year 1585, it could not recover its former commerce, as the shipping removed with the nations they belonged to. The forts which the Dutch built in the Scheldt were, however, another and a very powerful cause. The trade of Holland rose on the fall of Antwerp, and settled principally at Amsterdam; this city had indeed become considerable after the decline of the Hanseatic confederacy; but was not renowned for its commerce till the destruction of Antwerp. The commerce of Holland was extended and supported by its fisheries, and the manufactures of Flanders and the adjoining provinces, which in their turn received support from its commerce. Guicciardini informs us, that there were in the Netherlands, in time of peace, 700 busses and boats employed in the herring fishery: each made three voyages in the season, and on an average during that period, caught seventy lasts of herring, each last containing twelve barrels of 9OO or 1000 herrings each barrel; the price of a last was usually about 6£. sterling: the total amount of one year's fishery, was about 294,000£. sterling. About sixty years after this time, according to Sir Walter Raleigh, the cod and ling fishery of Friesland, Holland, Zealand, and Flanders, (the provinces included by Guicciardini in the maritime Netherlands) brought in 100,000£. annually: and the salmon-fishing of Holland and Zealand nearly half that sum.
The woollen manufactures of the Netherlands had, about the time that Guicciardini wrote, been rivalled by those of England: yet he says, that, though their wool was very coarse, above 12,000 pieces of cloth were made at each of the following places; Amsterdam, Bois-le-duc, Delft, Haarlem, and Leyden. Woollen manufactures were carried on also at other places, besides taffeties and tapestries. Lisle is particularised by him as next in commercial importance to Antwerp and Amsterdam. Bois-le-duc seems to have been the seat of a great variety of manufactures; for besides woollen cloth, 20,000 pieces of linen, worth, on an average, ten crowns each, were annually made; and likewise great quantities of knives, fine pins, mercery, &c. By the taking of Antwerp, the Spanish or Catholic Netherlands lost their trade and manufactures, great part of which, as we have already observed, settled in the United Provinces, while the remainder passed into England and other foreign countries.
The destruction of the Hanseatic league, which benefited Amsterdam, seems also to have been of service to the other northern provinces of the Netherlands: for in 1510, we are informed by Meursius, in his History of Denmark, there was at one time a fleet of 250 Dutch merchant ships in the Baltic: if this be correct, the Dutch trade to the countries on this sea must have been very great. The circumstance of the Dutch, even before their revolt from Spain, carrying on a great trade, especially to the Baltic, is confirmed by Guicciardini; according to him, about the year 1559, they brought annually from Denmark, Eastland, Livonia, and Poland, 60,000 lasts of grain, chiefly rye, worth 560,000l. Flemish. They had above 800 ships from 200 to 700 tons burden: fleets of 300 ships arrived twice a year from Dantzic and Livonia at Amsterdam, where there were often seeing lying at the same time 500 vessels, most of them belonging to it. He mentions Veer in Zealand (Campveer) as at that time being the staple port for all the Scotch shipping, and owing its principal commerce to that circumstance.
The destruction of Antwerp brought to Amsterdam, along with other branches of commerce, the valuable trade which the former city had with Portugal for the produce and manufactures of India; these the Dutch merchants resold to all the nations of the north. As soon, however, as Philip II. had obtained possession of the throne of Portugal in 1580, he put a stop to all further commerce between Lisbon and the Dutch. The latter, having tasted the sweets of this commerce, resolved to attempt a direct trade to India. We have already mentioned the voyages of Barentz in search of a north-east passage; these proving unsuccessful, the Dutch began to despair of reaching India, except by the Cape of Good Hope; and this voyage they were afraid to undertake, having, at this time, neither experienced seamen nor persons acquainted with Indian commerce. A circumstance, however, occurred while Barentz was in search of a north-west passage, which determined them to sail to India by the Cape. One Houlman, a Dutchman, who had been in the Portuguese Indian service, but was then confined in Lisbon for debt, proposed to the merchants of Rotterdam, if they could liberate him, to put them in possession of all he knew respecting Indian commerce; his offer was accepted, and four ships were sent to India in 1594 under his command. The adventurers met with much opposition from the Portuguese in India, so that their voyage was not very successful or lucrative: they returned, however, in twenty-nine months with a small quantity of pepper from Java, where they had formed a friendly communication with the natives. The arrival of the Dutch in India,--the subjugation of Portugal by Spain, which circumstance dispirited and weakened the Portuguese, and the greater attention which the Spaniards were disposed to pay to their American than their Indian commerce, seem to have been the causes which produced the ruin of the Portuguese in India, and the establishment of the Dutch.
The Dutch pushed their new commerce with great vigour and zeal. In the year 1600 eight ships entered their ports laden with cinnamon, pepper, cloves, nutmegs, and mace: the pepper they obtained at Java, the other spices at the Moluccas, where they were permitted by the natives, who had driven out the Portuguese, to establish factories.
In consequence of a wild and ruinous spirit of speculation having seized the Dutch merchants, the government, in 1602, formed all the separate companies who traded to India, into one; and granted to this extensive sovereignty over all the establishments that might be formed in that part of the world. Their charter was for twenty-one years: their capital was 6,600,000 guilders (or about 600,000l.) Amsterdam subscribed one half of the capital, and selected twenty directors out of sixty, to whom the whole management of the trade was entrusted.
From this period, the Dutch Indian commerce flourished extremely: and the company, not content with having drawn away a large portion of the Portuguese trade, resolved to expel them entirely from this part of the world. Ships fitted, either to trade or to fight, and having on board a great number of soldiers, were sent out within a very few years after the establishment of the company. Amboyna and the Moluccas were first entirely wrested from the Portuguese: factories and settlements were in process of time established from Balsora, at the mouth of the Tigris in the Persian Gulf; along the coasts and islands of India, as far as Japan. Alliances were formed with many of the Indian princes: and in many parts, particularly on the coasts of Ceylon, and at Pulicat, Masulipatam, Negapatam, and other places along the coasts of Coromandel and Malabar, they were themselves, in fact, the sovereigns. The centre of all their Indian commerce was fixed at Batavia in Java, the greatest part of this island belonging to them. From this general sketch of the extent of country, which was embraced, either by their power or their commerce, it is evident that the Indian trade was almost monopolized by them; and as they wisely employed part of the wealth which it produced, to establish and defend their possessions, they soon became most formidable in this part of the world, sending out a fleet of 40 or 50 large ships, and an army of 30,000 men.
They were not, however, content, but aimed at wresting from the Portuguese almost the only trade which remained to them; viz. their trade with China. In this attempt they did not succeed; but in the year 1624, they established themselves at Formosa. Soon after this, the conquest of China by the Tartars, induced or compelled an immense number of Chinese to leave their native country and settle in Formosa. Here they carried on a very extensive and lucrative trade; and Formosa became the principal mart of this part of Asia. Vessels from China, Japan, Siam, Java, and the Philippines, filled its harbours. Of this commerce the Dutch availed themselves, and derived great wealth from it, for about forty years, when they were driven out of the island. In 1601, the Dutch received permission to trade to Japan, but this privilege was granted under several very strict conditions, which were, however, relaxed in 1637, when they discovered a conspiracy of the Spaniards, the object of which was to dethrone the emperor, and seize the government. The jealousy of the Japanese, however, soon revived; so that by the end of the seventeenth century, the lucrative commerce which the Dutch carried on with this island for fine tea, porcelaine, lacquered or Japan ware, silk, cotton, drugs, coral, ivory, diamonds, pearls, and other precious stones, gold, silver, fine copper, iron, lead, and tin; and in exchange for linen, and woollen cloths, looking-glasses, and other glass ware; and the merchandize of India, Persia, and Arabia, was almost annihilated.
Before proceeding to narrate the events which arose from the arrival of the English in the East Indies, and the effects produced on the Dutch power and commerce there, by their arrival, it will be proper to take a short notice of the commerce of the Dutch to the other parts of the world. As their territories in Europe were small and extremely populous, they were in a great measure dependent on foreign nations for the means of subsistence: in exchange for these, they had few products of their manufactures to give. The sources of their wealth, therefore, as well as of the means of their existence, were derived from the exchange of their India commodities, and from their acting as the great carriers of Europe. From these two circumstances, their cities, and especially Amsterdam, became the great mart of Europe: its merchants had commercial transactions to an immense amount with all parts of the world. In consequence of the vastness and extent of their commerce, they found great payments in specie very inconvenient. Hence arose the bank of Amsterdam. It is foreign to our purpose, either to describe the nature of this bank, or to give a history of it; but its establishment, at once a proof, and the result of the immense commerce of Amsterdam, and the cause of that commerce becoming still more flourishing, and moreover, as the principal of those establishments, which have changed the character of the commerce of Europe, could not be passed over without notice. It was formed in the year 1609.
In this year, the Dutch had extended their trade to the west coast of Africa so much, that they had about 100 ships employed in the gold coast trade. About the same time, they formed a colony in North America, in that province now called New York. In 1611, having formed a truce with Spain, they resolved to venture into the Mediterranean, and endeavour to partake in the lucrative trade with the Levant: for this purpose, they sent an ambassador to Constantinople, where he concluded a favourable treaty of commerce. But by far the most extensive and lucrative commerce which the Dutch possessed in Europe, was in the Baltic: there they had gradually supplanted the Hanseatic League, and by the middle of the seventeenth century, nearly all the commodities of the countries lying on, or communicating with this sea, were supplied to the rest of Europe by the Dutch. In the year 1612, they first engaged in the whale fishery at Greenland. In 1648, taking advantage of the civil troubles in England, and having by this time acquired a powerful influence at the Russian court, they interfered with the trade of the English Russian Company at Archangel; and this new branch of trade they pushed with their national industry and perseverance, so that in 1689 they had 200 factors in this place.
In the year 1621 the Dutch formed a West India Company: their first objects were to reduce Brazil and Peru: in the latter they were utterly unsuccessful. By the year 1636 they had conquered the greater part of the coast of Brazil: they lost no time in reaping the fruits of this conquest: for in the space of thirteen years, they had sent thither 800 ships of war and commerce, which were valued at 4-1/2 millions sterling; and had in that time taken from Spain, then sovereign of Portugal, 545 ships. In the year 1640 the Portuguese shook off the Spanish yoke, and from this event may be dated the decline of the Dutch power in Brazil: in 1654 they were entirely expelled from this country.
In the year 1651, they colonized the Cape of Good Hope; and in the same year, began the obstinate and bloody maritime, war between Holland and England. This arose principally from the navigation act, which was passed in England in 1650: its object and effect was to curtail the commerce between England and Holland, which consisted principally of foreign merchandize imported into, and English merchandize exported from, England in Dutch vessels. In this war, the Dutch lost 700 merchant ships in the years 1652 and 1653. In 1654, peace was made. The object of the navigation act, at least so far as regarded the Dutch acting as the carriers of the English trade, seems to have been completely answered, for in 1674, after a great frost, when the ports were open, there sailed out of the harbour of Rotterdam above 300 sail of English, Scotch, and Irish ships at one time. The example of the English being followed by the nations of the north, the Dutch carrying trade was very much reduced. Between the years 1651 and 1672, when Holland was overrun by the French, their commerce seems to have reached the greatest extent, which it attained in the seventeenth century; and perhaps, at no subsequent period, did it flourish so much. De Witt estimates the increase of their commerce and navigation from the peace with Spain in 1648 to the year 1669, to be fully one-half. He adds, that during the war with Holland, Spain lost the greater part of her naval power: that since the peace with Spain, the Dutch had obtained most of the trade to that country, which had been previously carried on by the Easterlings and the English;--that all the coasts of Spain were chiefly navigated by Dutch shipping: that Spain had even been forced to hire Dutch ships to sail to her American possessions; and that so great was the exportation of goods from Holland to Spain, that all the merchandize brought from the Spanish West Indies, was not sufficient to make returns for them.
The same author informs us, that in the province of Holland alone, in 1669, the herring and cod fisheries employed above one thousand busses, from twenty-four to thirty lasts each; and above 170 smaller ones: that the whale fishery was increased from one to ten; that the cod and herring, when caught, were transported by the Hollanders in their own vessels throughout the world; thus obtaining, by means of the sea alone, through their own industry, above 300,000 lasts of salt fish.
As the Dutch commerce was decidedly and undoubtedly more extensive than that of all the rest of Europe, about the middle of the seventeenth century, it may be proper, before we conclude our notice of it at this time, to consider briefly the causes which cherished it into such full growth and vigour. These causes are explained in a very judicious and satisfactory manner by Sir William Temple, in his observations on the Netherlands. He remarks, that though the territory of the Dutch was very small, and though they laboured under many natural disadvantages, yet their commerce was immense; and it was generally esteemed that they had more shipping belonging to them than there did to all the rest of Europe.
They had no native commodities towards the building or equipping their ships; their flax, hemp, pitch, wood, and iron, coming all from abroad, as wool does for clothing their men, and corn for feeding them. The only productions or manufactures of their own, which they exported, were butter, cheese, and earthern wares. They have no good harbours in all their coast; even Amsterdam is difficult of approach, from the dangerous entrance of the Texel, and the shallowness of the Zuider Zee.
What then were the causes which, in spite of these disadvantages, rendered Holland so commercial? In the first place, great multitudes in small compass, who were forced to industry and labour, or else to want. In the second place, the emigration of men of industry, skill, and capital, driven into Holland from Germany, France, and England, by persecution and civil wars. In the third place, the security to property established by the government of the United States; and akin to this, general liberty of conscience in religious matters. The great fairs in the Netherlands may be regarded as another cause. These Sir W. Temple regards as the principal causes of the foundation of their trade. He next enquires into the chief advancers and encouragers of trade in that country.
These he considers to have been low interest, which caused money to be easily obtained, not only for the purposes of commerce, but also to make canals, bridges, &c. and to drain marshes. The use of their banks, which secures money, and makes all payments easy and trade quick,--the sale by registry, which makes all purchases safe,--the severity of justice, especially with regard to forging bills,--the convoys of merchant ships, which gives trade security, the nation credit abroad, and breeds up seamen,--the lowness of their custom duties and freedom of their ports, which rendered their cities magazines as well as markets,--order and exactness in managing their trade,--each town affecting some particular commerce or staple, and so improving it to the greatest height; as Flushing, the West India trade; Middleburgh, French wines; Terveer, the Scotch staple; Dort, the English staple and Rhenish wines; Rotterdam, the English and Scotch trade at large, and French wines; Leyden, the manufacture of all sorts of stuffs, silk, hair, gold, and silver; Haerlem, linen, mixed stuffs, and flowers; Delft, beer and earthen ware; Swaardam, ship building; Sluys, herring fishery; Friezeland, the Greenland trade; and Amsterdam, the East India, Spanish, and Mediterranean trade. Sir W. Temple mentions other two causes, the great application of the whole province to the fishing trade, and the mighty advance the Dutch made towards engrossing the whole commerce of the East Indies. "The stock of this trade," he observes, "besides what it turns to in France, Spain, Italy, the Straits, and Germany, makes them so great masters in the trade of the northern parts of Europe, as Muscovy, Poland, Pomerania, and all the Baltic, where the spices, that are an Indian drug and European luxury, command all the commodities of those countries which are so necessary to life, as their corn; and to navigation, as hemp, pitch, masts, planks, and iron."
The next question that Sir William Temple discusses is, what are the causes which made the trade of Holland enrich it? for, as he remarks, "it is no constant rule that trade makes riches. The only and certain scale of riches arising from trade in a nation is, the proportion of what is exported for the consumption of others, to what is imported for their own. The true ground of this proportion lies in the general industry and parsimony of a people, or in the contrary of both." But the Dutch being industrious, and consequently producing much,--and parsimonious, and consequently consuming little, have much left for exportation. Hence, never any country traded so much and consumed so little. "They buy infinitely, but it is to sell again. They are the great masters of the Indian spices, and of the Persian silks, but wear plain woollen, and feed upon their own fish and roots. Nay, they sell the finest of their own cloth to France, and buy coarse out of England for their own wear. They send abroad the best of their own butter into all parts, and buy the cheapest out of Ireland or the north of England for their own use. In short, they furnish infinite luxury which they never practise, and traffic in pleasures which they never taste." "The whole body of the civil magistrates, the merchants, the rich traders, citizens, seamen and boors in general, never change the fashion of their cloaths; so that men leave off their cloaths only because they are worn out, and not because they are out of fashion. Their great consumption is French wine and brandy; but what they spend in wine they save in corn, to make other drinks, which is brought from foreign parts. Thus it happens, that much going constantly out, either in commodity or in the labour of seafaring men, and little coming in to be consumed at home, the rest returns in coin, and fills the country to that degree, that more silver is seen in Holland, among the common hands and purses, than brass either in Spain or in France; though one be so rich in the best native commodities, and the other drain all the treasures of the West Indies." (Sir W. Temple's Observations on the Netherlands, Chapter VI.)
Having thus sketched the progress and nature of Dutch commerce, during that period when it was at its greatest height, and brought our account of it down to the commencement of the eighteenth century, we shall next proceed to consider the English commerce from the time of the discovery of the Cape and America, till the beginning of the same century.
From the sketch we have already given of English commerce prior to the end of the fifteenth century, it is evident that it was of very trifling extent and amount, being confined chiefly to a few articles of raw produce, and to some woollen goods. The improvement of the woollen manufacture, the establishment of corporations, and the settlement of foreign merchants, as well as the gradual advancement of the English in the civilization, skill, and industry of the age,--in the wants which the first occasions, and in the means to supply those wants afforded by the two latter,--these are the obvious and natural causes which tended to improve English commerce. But its progress was slow and gradual, and confined for a long time to countries near at hand; it afterwards ventured to a greater distance. Companies of merchant adventurers were formed, who could command a greater capital than any individual merchant. Of the nature and extent of their foreign commerce at the close of the fifteenth century we are informed by an act of parliament, passed in the 12 Hen. VII. (1497.)
From this act it appears, that England traded at this time with Spain, Portugal, Bretagne, Ireland, Normandy, France, Seville, Venice, Dantzic, Eastland, Friesland, and many other parts. The woollen cloth of England is particularly specified as one of the greatest articles of commerce. In a licence granted by Henry VII. to the Venetians, to buy and sell at London, and elsewhere in England, Ireland, and Calais, woollen cloth, lead, tin, and leather, are enumerated as the chief exports. From this document it also appears, that there resided in or traded to England, the following foreign merchants: Genoese, Florentines, Luccans, Spaniards, Portuguese, Flemings, Hollanders, Brabanters, Burgundians, German, Hanseatic, Lombards, and Easterlings.
From these two documents, the nature and extent of English commerce at this period may be inferred: its exports were sent as far north as the southern countries of the Baltic, and to all the rest of Europe, as far south and east as Venice; but this export trade, as well as the import, seems to have been almost entirely carried on by foreign capital and ships; the merchant adventurers having yet ventured very little from home.
In 1511, English commerce, in English ships, extended into the Levant, chiefly from London, Bristol, and Southampton. Chios, which was still in the possession of the Genoese, was the port to which they traded. This branch of trade flourished so much in a few years, that in 1513 a consul, or protector of all the merchants and other English subjects in Chios, was appointed. The voyages were gradually lengthened, and reached Cyprus, and Tripoli, in Syria. The exports were woollen goods, calf-skins, &c.; and the imports were silks, camblets, rhubarb, malmsey, muscadel, and other wines: oils, cotton wool, Turkey carpets, galls, and Indian spices. The commerce was in a small degree carried on by English ships, but chiefly by those of Candia, Ragusa, Sicily, Genoa, Venice, Spain, and Portugal. The voyages to and from England occupied a year, and were deemed very difficult and dangerous. So long as Chios remained in the possession of the Genoese, and Candia in that of the Venetians, England traded with these islands; but ceased to trade when the Turks conquered them. From 1553, to 1575, the Levant commerce was quite discontinued by England, though during that period, the French, Genoese, Venetians, and Florentines, continued it, and had consuls at Constantinople.
The small and temporary trade with the Genoese and Venetian possessions in the Levant, seems to have been attended with such profit, and to have opened up such further prospects of advantage, as to have given rise to a direct trade with Turkey, and the formation of the Turkey Company. The enlightened ministers of Elizabeth effected these objects: they first sent out an English merchant to the Sultan, who obtained for his countrymen all the commercial advantages enjoyed by the Venetians, French, Germans, and Poles. Two years afterwards, in 1581, the Turkey Company was established. Sir William Monson, in his Naval Tracts, assigns the following as the causes and reasons why England did not sooner embark in the Turkey trade for Persian and Indian merchandize: 1. That there was not sufficient shipping; 2. the hostility of the Turks; and, lastly, England was supplied with Levant goods by the Venetian ships, which came annually to Southampton. He adds, "the last argosser that came thus from Venice was unfortunately lost near the isle of Wight, with a rich cargo, and many passengers, in the year 1587." The Turkey Company carried on their concern with so much spirit, that the queen publicly thanked them, with many encouragements to go forward for the kingdom's sake: she particularly commended them for the ships they then built of so great burden. The commodities of Greece, Syria, Egypt, Persia, and India, were now brought into England in greater abundance, and sold much cheaper than formerly, and yet the returns of this trade are said to have been, at its commencement, three to one.
It is not our object, nor would it be compatible with our limits, to trace the progress of commerce minutely, in any of its branches, but rather to point out, as it were, its shootings in various directions; and any special causes which may have given vigour to its growth, or have retarded it. In conformity with this plan, we shall only notice some of the more marked and important eras of our Levant trade, prior to the commencement of the eighteenth century. The trade to the Levant, in its infancy, like all other trades, at a time when there was little capital and commercial knowledge, required the formation of a company which should possess exclusive privileges. Charters were granted to such a company for a term of years, and renewed by Elizabeth. In 1605 king James gave a perpetual charter to the Levant Company: the trade was carried on with encreasing vigour and success: our woollen manufactures found a more extensive market: the Venetians, who had for many years supplied Constantinople and other ports of the Levant, were driven from their markets by the English, who could afford to sell them cloths cheaper; and English ships began to be preferred to those of Venice and other nations, for the carrying trade in the Mediterranean. According to Sir W. Monson, England exported broad cloth, tin, &c. enough to purchase all the wares we wanted in Turkey; and, in particular, 300 great bales of Persian raw silk yearly: "whereas a balance of money is paid by the other nations trading thither. Marseilles sends yearly to Aleppo and Alexandria at least 500,000l. sterling, and little or no wares. Venice sends about 400,000l. in money, and a great value in wares besides: the Low Countries send about 50,000l., and but little wares; and Messina 25,000l. in ready money: besides great quantities of gold and dollars from Germany, Poland, Hungary, &c.; and all these nations take of the Turks in return great quantities of camblets, grograms, raw silk, cotton wool and yarn, galls, flax, hemp, rice, hides, sheep's wool, wax, corn, &c."
The first check which the Levant trade received was given by the East India Company: about the year 1670 the Levant Company complained that their trade in raw silk was much diminished; they had formerly imported it solely from Turkey, whereas then it was imported in great quantities direct from India. In 1681, the complaints of the one company, and the defence of the other, were heard before the Privy Council. The Levant Company alleged, that for upwards of one hundred years they had exported to Turkey and other parts of the Levant, great qualities of woollen manufactures, and other English wares, and did then, more especially, carry out thither to the value of 500,000l; in return for which they imported raw silks, galls, grograms, drugs, cotton, &c.; whereas the East India Company exported principally gold and silver bullion, with an inconsiderable quantity of cloth; and imported calicoes, pepper, wrought silks, and a deceitful sort of raw silk; if the latter supplants Turkey raw silk, the Turkey demand for English cloth must fail, as Turkey does not yield a sufficient quantity of other merchandize to return for one fourth part of our manufactures carried thither.
The East India Company, on the other hand, alleged that the cloth they exported was finer and more valuable than that exported by the Turkey Company, and that, if they were rightly informed, the medium of cloths exported by that company, for the last three years, was only 19,000 cloths yearly: it is admitted, however, that before there was any trade to China and Japan, the Turkey Company's exportation of cloth did much exceed that of the East India Company. With respect to the charge of exporting bullion, it was alleged that the Turkey Company also export it to purchase the raw silk in Turkey. The East India Company further contended, that since their importation of raw silk, the English silk manufacturers had much encreased, and that the plain wrought silks from India were the strongest, most durable, and cheapest of any, and were generally re-exported from England to foreign parts.
We have been thus particular in detailing this dispute between these companies, partly because it points out the state of the Levant Company and their commerce, at the close of the seventeenth century, but principally because it unfolds one of the principal causes of their decline; for, though some little notice of it will afterwards occur, yet its efforts were feeble, and its success diminished, chiefly by the rivalry of the East India Company.
The Levant trade, as we have seen, was gradually obtained by the English from the hands of the Venetians and other foreign powers. The trade we are next to notice was purely of English origin and growth;--we allude to the trade between England and Russia, which began about the middle of the sixteenth century. The discovery of Archangel took place, as we have already related, in 1553. Chanceller, who discovered it, obtained considerable commercial privileges from the Czar for his countrymen. In 1554, a Russian Company was established; but before their charter, the British merchants had engaged in the Russian trade. The first efforts of the company seem to have been confined to attempts to discover a north-east passage. Finding these unsuccessful, they turned their attention to commerce: they fortunately possessed a very enterprising man, peculiarly calculated to foster and strengthen an infant trade, who acted as their agent. He first set on foot, in 1558, a new channel of trade through Russia into Persia, for raw silk, &c. In the course of his commercial enquiries and transactions, he sailed down the Volga to Nisi, Novogorod, Casan, and Astracan, and thence across the Caspian Sea to Persia. He mentions that, at Boghar, which he describes as a good city, he found merchants from India, Persia, Russia, and Cathay,--from which last country it was a nine months journey to Boghar. He performed his journey seven different times. It appears, however, that this channel of trade was soon afterwards abandoned, till 1741, when it was resumed for a very short time, during which considerable quantities of raw silk were brought to England by the route followed by the Russian agent in the sixteenth century. The cause of this abandonment during the sixteenth century seems to have been the length and danger of the route; for we are informed that one of the adventures would have proved exceedingly profitable, had not their ships, on their return across the Caspian, with Persian raw silk, wrought silks of many kinds, galls, carpets, Indian spices, turquois stones, &c., been plundered by Corsair pirates, to the value of about 40,000l. The final abandonment of this route, in the eighteenth century, arose partly from the wars in Persia, but principally from the extension of India commerce, which being direct and by sea, would, of course supply England much more cheaply with all eastern goods than any land trade. Beside the delay, difficulty, and danger of the route from the Volga, already described, the route followed in the sixteenth century, till the merchants reached the Volga, was attended with great difficulty. The practice was to transport the English goods, which were to be exchanged, in canoes, up the Dwina, from Archangel to Vologda, thence over land, in seven days, to Jeroslau, and thence down the Volga, in thirty days, to Astracan.
The Russians having conquered Narva, in Livonia in 1558, the first place they possessed in the Baltic, and having established it as a staple port, the following year, according to Milton, in his brief history of Muscovia, the English began to trade to it, "the Lubeckers and Dantzickers having till then concealed that trade from other nations." The other branches of the Baltic trade also encreased; for it appears by a charter granted by Elizabeth, in 1579, to an Eastland Company, that trade was carried on between England and Norway, Sweden, Poland, Lithuania, Prussia, Pomerania, Dantzic, Elbing, Konigsberg, Copenhagen, Elsinore, and Finland. This company was established in opposition to the Hanseatic merchants; and it seems to have attained its object; for these merchants complained to the Diet of the Empire against England, alleging, that of the 200,000 cloths yearly exported thence, three-fourths went into Denmark, Sweden, Poland, and Germany; the other fourth being sent to the Netherlands and France.
It was not to be supposed that our commerce with Archangel and Narva would long remain without a rival. The Dutch, aware of its importance, prevented by their influence or presents, the Czar from renewing the Russian Company's privileges. As this trade was become more extensive, and carried off, besides woollen goods, silks, velvets, coarse linen cloth, old silver plate, all kinds of mercery wares, serving for the apparel of both sexes, purses, knives, &c. Elizabeth used her efforts to re-establish the company on its former footing; and a new Czar mounting the throne, she was successful.
The frequent voyages of the English to the White Sea made them acquainted with Cherry Island, of which they took possession, and where they carried on for a short time the capture of morses: the teeth of these were regarded as nearly equal in quality and value to ivory, and consequently afforded a lucrative trade; oil was also obtained from these animals. Lead ore is said to have been discovered in this island, of which thirty tons were brought to England in 1606. The Russian Company, however, soon gave up the morse fishery for that of whales. They also carried on a considerable trade with Kola, a town in Russian Lapland, for fish oil and salmon: of the latter they sometimes brought to England 10,000 at one time. But in this trade the Dutch likewise interfered.
The fishery for whales near Spitzbergen was first undertaken by the company in 1597. In 1613, they obtained from King James an exclusive charter for this fishery; and under this, fitting out armed ships, they expelled fifteen sail of French, Dutch, and Biscayners, besides some private English ships. But the Dutch persevered, so that next year, while the Russian Company had only thirteen ships at the whale fishery, the former had eighteen. The success of their whale fishery seems to have led to the neglect of their Russian trade, for, in 1615, only two vessels were employed in it, instead of seventeen great ships formerly employed. From this period, the commerce carried on between Russia and England, by the Russian Company, seems gradually to have declined.
The commerce between England and the other parts of Europe, during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, presents little that calls for notice; as the manufactures and capital of England encreased, it gradually encreased, and was transferred from foreign to English vessels. The exports consisted principally of woollen goods, prepared skins, earthen-ware, and metals. The imports of linens, silks, paper, wines, brandy, fruits, dye-stuffs, and drugs. The woollen cloths of England were indeed the staple export to all parts of England during the whole of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries: as our cotton, earthen-ware, and iron manufactures sprung up and encreased, they supplied other articles of export;--our imports, at first confined to a few articles, afterwards encreased in number and value, in proportion as our encreased industry, capital, and skill, enlarged our produce and manufactures, and thus enabled us to purchase and consume more. A very remarkable instance of the effect of skill, capital, and industry, is mentioned by Mr. Lewis, a merchant, who published a work entitled,The Merchant's Map of Commerce, in 1641. "The town of Manchester," he says, "buys the linen yarn of the Irish in great quantity, and, weaving it, returns the same again, in linen, into Ireland to sell. Neither doth her industry rest here, for they buy cotton wool in London, that comes first from Cyprus and Smyrna, and work the same into fustians, vermilions, dimities, &c., which they return to London, where they are sold, and from thence not seldom are sent into such foreign parts where the first materials may be more easily had for that manufacture." How similar are these two instances to that which has occurred in our own days, when the cotton-wool, brought from the East Indies, has been returned thither after having been manufactured, and sold there cheaper than the native manufactures.
But though there are no particulars relative to the commerce between England and Europe, which call for our notice, as exhibiting any thing beyond the gradual extension of commercial intercourse already established; yet in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, there were other commercial intercourses into which England entered, that deserve attention. These may be classed under three heads: the trade to Africa, to America, and India.
I. The trade to Africa.--The first notice of any trade between England and Africa occurs in the year 1526, when some merchants of Bristol, which, at this period, was undoubtedly one of our most enterprising cities, traded by means of Spanish ships to the Canaries. Their exports were cloth, soap, for the manufacture of which, even at this early period, Bristol was celebrated, and some other articles. They imported drugs for dyeing, sugar, and kid skins. This branch of commerce answering, the Bristol merchants sent their factors thither from Spain. The coast of Africa was, at this period, monopolized by the Portuguese. In 1530, however, an English ship made a voyage to Guinea for elephants' teeth: the voyage was repeated; and in 1536, above one hundred pounds weight of gold dust, besides elephants' teeth, was imported in one ship. A few years afterwards, a trade was opened with the Mediterranean coast of Africa, three ships sailing from Bristol to Barbary with linens, woollen cloth, coral, amber, and jet; and bringing back sugar, dates, almonds, and molasses. The voyages to Guinea from the ports of the south and southwest of England, particularly Portsmouth, Plymouth, and Bristol, were frequently repeated: the returns were uniformly gold dust and elephants' teeth. But it does not appear that other ports followed the example of these, that these sent many ships, or that the commerce became very regular and lucrative, till the west coast of Africa was resorted to for slaves.
This infamous trade was first entered upon by the English in the year 1562. Mr. John Hawkins, with several other merchants, having learnt that negroes were a good commodity in Hispaniola, fitted out three ships, the largest 120, the smallest forty tons, for the coast of Guinea. Here they bought slaves, which they sold in Hispaniola for hides, sugar, ginger, and pearls. The other branches of the African trade continued to flourish. In 1577, English merchants were settled in Morocco; Spanish, Portuguese, and French merchants had been settled there before. In this year, Elizabeth, always attentive to whatever would benefit commerce, sent an ambassador to the Emperor of Morocco, who obtained some commercial privileges for the English. In 1588, the first voyage to Benin was made from London, by a ship and a pinnace: in 1590, a second voyage was made from the same port with the same vessels. Their exports were linen, woollen cloths, iron manufactures, bracelets of copper, glass beads, coral, hawks' bells, horses' tails, hats, &c. They imported Guinea pepper, elephants' teeth, palm oil, cotton cloth, and cloth made of the bark of trees.
An African Company had been formed in Elizabeth's reign; but neither this, nor two others succeeded; their ruin was occasioned by war, misconduct, and the interference of what were called interlopers. In 1672, a fourth company was established, whose efforts at first seem to have been great and successful. They bought the forts the former companies had erected on the west coast: instead of making up their assortments of goods for export in Holland, as the former companies had been obliged to do, they introduced into England the making of sundry kinds of woollen goods not previously manufactured. They imported large quantities of gold dust, out of which 50,000 guineas were first coined in one year, 1673. Their other imports were red wood for dyes, elephants' teeth, wax, honey, &c. The value of the English goods exported to them averaged annually 70,000l. This company was broken up at the Revolution.
II. Though the Portuguese and Spaniards were very jealous of the interference of any nation with their East India commerce; yet they were comparatively easy and relaxed with regard to their American possessions. Accordingly, we find that, in 1530, there was some little trade between England and Brazil: this is the first notice we can trace of any commercial intercourse between this country and the New World. The first voyage was from Plymouth: in 1540 and 1542 the merchants of Southampton and London also traded to Brazil. We are not informed what were the goods imported; but most probably they were Brazil wood, sugar, and cotton. The trade continued till 1580, when Spain, getting possession of Portugal, put a stop to it.
The next notice of any trading voyage to America occurs in 1593, when some English ships sailed to the entrance of the St. Lawrence for morse and whale fishing. This is the first mention of the latter fishery, or of whale fins, or whale bones by the English. They could not find any whales; but on an island they met with 800 whale fins, the remains of a cargo of a Biscay ship which had been wrecked here.
In 1602, the English had suspended all intercourse with America for sixteen years, in consequence of the unsuccessful attempts of Raleigh. But, at this time, the intercourse was renewed: a ship sailed to Virginia, the name then given to the greater part of the east coast of North America; and a traffic was carried on with the Indians for peltry, sassafras, cedar wood, &c. Captain Gosnol, who commanded this vessel, was a man of considerable skill in his profession, and he is said to have been the first Englishman who sailed directly to North America, and not, as before, by the circuitous course of the West Indies and the Gulf of Florida. In the subsequent year there was some traffic carried on with the Indians of the continent, and some of the uncolonized West India islands.
Prior to the year 1606 several attempts had been made to colonize different parts of the new world by the English, but they all proved abortive. In this year, however, a permanent settlement was established near James River, within the Chesapeake. It is not our plan to detail all the particular settlements, or their progress to maturity; but merely to point out the beginnings of them, as evidence of our extending commerce, and to state such proofs as most strikingly display their improvement and the advantages the mother country derived from them. In conformity with this plan, we may mention that sugar plantations were first formed in Barbadoes in 1641: this, as Mr. Anderson, in his History of Commerce, justly observes, "greatly hastened the improvement of our other islands, which soon afterwards followed it in planting sugar to very great advantage. And, as it was impossible to manage the planting of that commodity by white people in so hot a climate, so neither could sufficient numbers of such be had at any rate. Necessity, therefore, and the example of Portugal gave birth to the negro slave trade to the coast of Guinea and it is almost needless to add, that such great numbers of slaves, and also the increase of white people in those islands, soon created a vast demand for all necessaries from England, and also a new and considerable trade to Madeira for wines to supply those islands." The immediate consequence of the spread of the sugar culture in our West India islands was, that the ports of London and Bristol became the great magazines for this commodity, and supplied all the north and middle parts of Europe; and the price of the Portuguese-Brazil sugars was reduced from 8l. to 2l. 10s. per cwt.
The rapid growth of the English colonies on the continent and in the islands of America, during the seventeenth century, is justly ascribed by Sir Josiah Child, to the emigration thither, occasioned by the persecution of the Puritans by James I. and Charles I.; to the defeat of the Royalists and Scotch by Cromwell; and, lastly, to the Restoration, and the consequent disbanding of the army, and fears of the partizans of Cromwell. It may be added, that most of the men who were driven to America from these causes, were admirably fitted to form new settlements, being of industrious habits, and accustomed to plain fare and hard work.
The American plantations, as they were called, increased so rapidly in commerce that, according to the last author referred to, they did, even in the year 1670, employ nearly two-thirds of all our English shipping, "and therefore gave constant sustenance, it may be, to 200,000 persons here at home." At this period New England seems to have directed its chief attention and industry to the cod and mackerel fisheries, which had increased their ships and seamen so much as to excite the jealousy of Sir Josiah Child, who, however, admits that what that colony took from England amounted to ten times more than what England took from it. The Newfoundland fishery, he says, had declined from 250 ships in 1605, to eighty in 1670: this he ascribes to the practice of eating fish alone on fast days, not being so strictly kept by the Catholics as formerly. From Carolina, during the seventeenth century, England obtained vast quantities of naval stores, staves, lumber, hemp, flax, and Indian corn. About the end of this century, or at the very commencement of the next, the culture of rice was introduced by the accident of a vessel from Madagascar happening to put into Carolina, which had a little rice left; this the captain gave to a gentleman, who sowed it.
The colony of Virginia seems to have flourished at an earlier period than any of the other English colonies. In the year 1618, considerable quantities of tobacco were raised there; and it appears, by proclamations of James I. and Charles I., that no tobacco was allowed to be imported into England, but what came from Virginia or the Bermudas.
The colony of Pennsylvania was not settled by Pen till the year 1680: he found there, however, many English families, and a considerable number of Dutch and Swedes. The wise regulations of Pen soon drew to him industrious settlers; but the commerce in which they engaged did not become so considerable as to demand our notice.
III. The commercial intercourse of England with India, which has now grown to such extent and importance, and from which has sprung the anomaly of merchant-sovereigns over one of the richest and most populous districts of the globe, began in the reign of Elizabeth. The English Levant Company, in their attempts to extend their trade with the East, seem first to have reached Hindostan, in 1584, with English merchandize. About the same time the queen granted introductory letters to some adventurers to the king of Cambaya; these men travelled through Bengal to Pegu and Malacca, but do not seem to have reached China. They, however, obtained much useful information respecting the best mode of conducting the trade to the East.
The first English ship sailed to the East Indies in the year 1591; but the voyage was rather a warlike than a commercial one, the object being to attack the Portuguese; and even in this respect it was very unfortunate. A similar enterprize, undertaken in 1593, seems, by its success, to have contributed very materially to the commercial intercourse between England and India; for a fleet of the queen's ships and some merchant ships having captured a very large East India carrack belonging to the Spaniards or Portuguese, brought her into Dartmouth: if she excited astonishment at her size, being of the burthen of 1600 tons, with 700 men, and 36 brass cannon, she in an equal degree stimulated and enlarged the commercial desires and hopes of the English by her cargo. This consisted of the richest spices, calicoes, silks, gold, pearls, drugs, China ware, ebony wood, &c., and was valued at 150,000l.
The increasing commercial spirit of the nation, which led it to look forward to a regular intercourse with India, was gratified in the first year of the seventeenth century, when the queen granted the first charter to an East India Company. She seems to have been directly led to grant this in consequence of the complaints among her subjects of the scarcity and high price of pepper; this was occasioned by the monopoly of it being in the power of the Turkey merchants and the Dutch, and from the circumstance that by our war with Portugal, we could not procure any from Lisbon. The immediate and principal object of this Company, therefore, was to obtain pepper and other spices; accordingly their ships, on their first voyage, sailed to Bantam, where they took in pepper, to the Banda isles; where they took in nutmeg and mace, and to Amboyna, where they took in cloves. On this expedition the English established a factory at Bantam. In 1610, this Company having obtained a new charter from James I., built the largest merchant ship that had ever been built in England, of the burthen of 1100 tons, which with three others they sent to India. In 1612 the English factory of Surat was established with the permission of the Great Mogul; this was soon regarded as their chief station on the west coast of India. Their first factory on the coast of Coromandel, which they formed a few years afterwards, was at Masulipatam: their great object in establishing this was to obtain more readily the cloths of Coromandel, which they found to be the most advantageous article to exchange for pepper and other spices. For at this time their trade with the East seems to have been almost entirely confined to these latter commodities. In 1613, the first English ship reached a part of the Japan territories, and a factory was established, through which trade was carried on with the Japanese, till the Dutch persuaded the emperor to expel all Europeans but themselves.
The year 1614 forms an important era in the history of our commercial intercourse with India; for Sir Thomas Roe, whom James sent ambassador to the Mogul, and who remained several years at his court, obtained from him important privileges for the East India Company. At this time, the following European commodities were chiefly in repute in India; knives of all kinds, toys, especially those of the figures of beasts, rich velvets and satins, fowling pieces, polished ambers and beads, saddles with rich furniture, swords with fine hilts inlaid, hats, pictures, Spanish wines, cloth of gold and silver, French shaggs, fine Norwich stuffs, light armour, emeralds, and other precious stones set in enamel, fine arras hangings, large looking glasses, bows and arrows, figures in brass and stone, fine cabinets, embroidered purses, needlework, French tweezer cases, perfumed gloves, belts, girdles, bone lace, dogs, plumes of feathers, comb cases richly set, prints of kings, cases of strong waters, drinking and perspective glasses, fine basons and ewers, &c. &c. In consequence of the privileges granted the East India Company by the Mogul, and by the Zamorine of Calicut, their factories were now numerous, and spread over a large extent of coast.
If we may trust the controversial pamphlets on the East India Company which were published in 1615, it appears that up to this year they had employed only twenty-four ships; four of which had been lost; the largest was 1293 tons, and the smallest 150. Their principal imports were still pepper, cloves, mace, and nutmegs, of which 615,000 lbs. were consumed in England, and the value of 218,000l. exported: the saving in the home consumption of these articles was estimated at 70,000l. The other imports were indigo, calicoes, China silks, benzoin, aloes, &c. Porcelain was first imported this year from Bantam. The exports consisted of bays, kersies, and broad cloths, dyed and dressed, to the value of 14,000l.; lead, iron, and foreign merchandize, to the value of 10,000l.; and coin and bullion, to the value of 12,000l.; the outfit, provisions, &c. of their ships cost 64,000l.
The Dutch, who were very jealous of the successful interference of the English in their eastern trade, attacked them in every part of India; and though a treaty was concluded between the English and the Dutch East India Company, yet the treachery and cruelty of the Dutch, especially at Amboyna, and the civil wars into which England was plunged, so injured the affairs of the English East India Company, that at the death of Charles I. its trade was almost annihilated. One beneficial consequence, however, resulted from the hostility of the Dutch; the English, driven from their old factories, established new ones at Madras and in Bengal.
Before, however, this decline of the English trade to India, we have some curious and interesting documents relating to it particularly, and to the effects produced on the cost of East Indian commodities in Europe generally, by the discovery of the Cape of Good Hope. These are supplied by Mr. Munn, in a treatise he published in 1621; in favour of the East India trade. We have already given the substance of his remarks so far as they relate to the lowering the price of Indian commodities, but as his work is more particularly applicable to, and illustrative of the state of English commerce with India, at this time, we shall here enter into some of his details.
According to them, there were six million pounds of pepper annually consumed in Europe, which used to cost, when purchased at Aleppo, brought over land thither from India, at the rate of two shillings per lb.; whereas it now cost, purchased in India, only two-pence halfpenny per lb.: the consumption of cloves was 450,000 lbs.; cost at Aleppo four shillings and nine-pence per lb., in India nine-pence: the consumption of mace was 150,000 lbs.; cost at Aleppo the same per lb. as the cloves; in India it was bought at eight-pence per lb.: the consumption of nutmegs was 400,000 lbs.; the price at Aleppo, two shillings and four-pence per lb.; in India only four-pence; the consumption of indigo was 350,000 lbs.; the price at Aleppo four shillings and four-pence per lb.; in India one and two-pence, and the consumption of raw silk was one million lbs., the price of which at Aleppo was twelve shillings per lb., and in India eight shillings. It will be remarked that this last article was purchased in India, at a rate not nearly so much below its Aleppo price as any of the other articles; pepper, on the other hand, was more reduced in price than any of the other articles. The total cost of all the articles, when purchased at Aleppo, was 1,465,000l.; when purchased in India, 511,458l.; the price in the latter market, therefore, was little more than one-third of their Aleppo price. As, however, the voyage from India is longer than that from Aleppo, it added, according to Mr. Munn's calculation, one-sixth to the cost of the articles beyond that of the Turkey voyage. Even after making this addition, Mr. Munn comes to the conclusion we have formerly stated, "that the said wares by the Cape of Good Hope cost us but about half the price which they will cost from Turkey."
Mr. Munn also gives the annual importation of the principal Indian goods into England, by the East India Company, and the price each article sold for in England; according to this table, the quantity of pepper was 250,000 lbs., which, bought in India for twopence halfpenny, sold in England for one shilling and eightpence:--150,000 lbs. of cloves, which bought in India for ninepence, sold in England for six shillings:--150,000 lbs. of nutmegs, bought for four-pence, sold for two shillings and sixpence:--50,000 lbs. of mace, bought for eightpence, sold for six shillings:--200,000 lbs. of indigo, bought for one shilling and twopence, sold for five shillings:--107,140 lbs. of China raw silk, bought for seven shillings, sold for twenty shillings:--and 50,000 pieces of calico, bought for seven shillings a piece, sold for twenty-six shillings.
In a third table he gives the annual consumption of the following India goods, and the lowest prices at which they used to be sold, when procured from Turkey or Lisbon, before England traded directly to India. There was consumed of pepper, 400,000 lbs., which used to be sold at three shillings and sixpence per lb.; of cloves, 40,000, at eight shillings; of mace, 20,000, at nine shillings; of nutmegs, 160,000, at four shillings and sixpence; and of indigo, 150,000, at seven shillings. The result is, that when England paid the lowest ancient prices, it cost her 183,500l. for these commodities; whereas, at the common modern prices, it costs her only 108,333l. The actual saving therefore to the people of England, was not near so great as might have been expected, or as it ought to have been, from a comparison of the prices at Aleppo and in India.
There are some other particulars in Mr. Munn's Treatise relating to the European Trade to the East at this period, which we shall select. Speaking of the exportation of bullion to India, he says that the Turks sent annually 500,000l. merely for Persian raw silk; and 600,000l. more for calicoes, drugs, sugar, rice, &c.: their maritime commerce was carried on from Mocha; their inland trade from Aleppo and Constantinople. They exported very little merchandize to Persia or India. Marseilles supplied Turkey with a considerable part of the bullion and money which the latter used in her trade with the East,--sending annually to Aleppo and Alexandria, at least 500,000l. and little or no merchandize. Venice sent about 400,000l. and a great value in wares besides. Messina about 25,000l., and the low countries about 50,000l., besides great quantities of gold and dollars from Germany, Poland, Hungary, &c. With these sums were purchased either native Turkish produce and manufactures, or such goods as Turkey obtained from Persia and other parts of the East: the principal were camblets, grograms, raw silk, cotton wool and yarn, galls, flax, hemp, rice, hides, sheeps' wool, wax, corn, &c. England, according to Mr. Munn, did not employ much bullion, either in her Turkey or her India trade; in the former she exported vast quantities of broad cloth, tin, &c. enough to purchase nearly all the wares she wanted in Turkey, besides three hundred great bales of Persian raw silk annually. In the course of nineteen years, viz. from their establishment in 1601 to 1620, the East India Company had exported, in woollen cloths, tin, lead, and other English and foreign wares, at an average of 15,383l. per annum, and in the whole, 292,286l. During the same period they had exported 548,090l. in Spanish silver. The East India Company employed in 1621, according to this author, 10,000 tons of shipping, 2500 mariners, 500 ship carpenters, and 120 factors. The principal places to which, at this period, we re-exported Indian goods, were Turkey, Genoa, Marseilles, the Netherlands, &c.; the re-exportations were calculated to employ 2000 more tons of shipping, and 500 more mariners.
From a proclamation issued in 1631, against clandestine trade to and from India, we learn the different articles which might be legally exported and imported: the first were the following: perpalicanos and drapery, pewter, saffron, woollen stockings, silk stockings and garters, ribband, roses edged with silver lace, beaver hats with gold and silver bands, felt hats, strong waters, knives, Spanish leather shoes, iron, and looking glasses. There might be imported, long pepper, white pepper, white powder sugar, preserved nutmegs and ginger preserved, merabolans, bezoar stones, drugs of all sorts, agate heads, blood stones, musk, aloes socratrina, ambergris, rich carpets of Persia and of Cambaya, quilts of satin taffety, painted calicoes, Benjamin, damasks, satins and taffeties of China, quilts of China embroidered with silk, galls, sugar candy, China dishes, and porcelain of all sorts.
Though several articles of Chinese manufacture are specified in the proclamation, yet we have no notice of any direct trade to China till nearly fifty years after this time, viz. in the year 1680. In this year the East India Company sent out eleven ships, including two to China and the Moluccas; their general burden was between 500 and 600 tons: in these ships there was a stock of nearly 500,000l. Besides the articles imported from India enumerated in the proclamation of 1631, there now appear cowries, saltpetre, muslins, diamonds, &c.
In 1689 the East India Company published a state of their trade, from which it appeared that in the last seven years they had built sixteen ships from 900 to 1300 tons each,--that they had coming from India eleven ships and four permission ships, the value of their cargoes being above 360,000l.: that they had on their outward voyage to Coast and Bay, seven ships and six permission ships, their cargoes valued at 570,000l.: that they had seven ships for China and the South Seas, whose cargoes amounted to 100,000l. That they had goods in India unsold, to the amount of 700,000l. About this period, Sir John Child, being what would now be called governor general of India, and his brother, Sir Jonah, leading member of the Court of Committees, the policy was introduced through their means, on which the sovereign power, as well as the immense empire of the East India Company was founded; this policy consisted of the enlargement of the authority of the Company over British subjects in India, and in attaining political strength and dominion, by retaliating by force of arms, on those Indian princes who oppressed their settlements.
In the year 1698, in consequence of complaints against the East India Company, and their inability to make any dividend, they thought it necessary to give in a statement of their property in India. In this they asserted that they had acquired, solely at their own expence, revenues at Fort St. George, Fort St. David, and Bombay, as well as in Persia, and elsewhere, to the amount of 44,000l. per annum, arising from customs and licenses, besides a large extent of land in these places; they had also erected forts and settlements in Sumatra, and on the coast of Malabar, which were absolutely necessary to carry on the pepper trade; they had a strongfort in Bengal, and many factories, settlements, &c. in other places. The result of the complaints against the Company was, that a new company was established this year; the two companies, however, united in the beginning of the eighteenth century.
We shall conclude our account of the state of English commerce during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, with some more general and miscellaneous topics.
I. Exports. In the year 1534, the total value of our exports did not exceed 900,000l. of the present value of our money: the balance of trade was estimated at 700,000l.: this arose principally from the very great exportation of woollen goods, tin, leather, &c., on which an export duty was laid, bringing in 246,000l.; whereas, the duty on imports did not produce more than 1700l. In the year 1612, according to Missenden, in his Circle of Commerce, the exports to all the world amounted to 2,090,640l., and the imports to 2,141,151l.; on the latter, however, the custom duties are charged; the custom duties on the exports were 86,794l.; the impost paid outwards on woollen goods, tin, lead, pewter, &c. 10,000l.; and the merchants' gains, freight, and other charges, to 300,000l.:--if these be added to the value of the exports, the total amount will be 2,487,435l,-- from which the imports, including custom duty on them, being deducted, leaves 346,283l.,--which Missenden regards as the balance gained that year by the nation. The principal articles of export have been enumerated: the principal articles of import were silks, Venice gold and silver stuffs, Spanish wines, linen, &c. At this time, London paid nearly three times as much for custom duties as all the rest of England together. In the year 1662, according to D'Avenant, the inspector general of the customs, our imports amounted to 4,016,019l., and our exports only to 2,022,812l.; the balance against the nation being nearly two millions. In the last year of the seventeenth century, according to the same official authority, there was exported to England from all parts, 6,788,166l.: of this sum, our woollen manufactures were to the value of 2,932,292l.; so that there was an increase of our exports since 1662, of 4,765,534l. The yearly average of all the merchandize imported from, and exported to the north of Europe, from Michaelmas, 1697, to Christmas, 1701, is exhibited in the following table: