Of course, we mean not to deny, that Holland was greatly enriched by her early and immense trade to her numerous colonies in the East Indies, and her enormous carrying trade during the religious troubles in Europe, which prevailed for a considerable portion of the period under review; nor do we deny that a large commercial marine is a powerful auxiliary to the means by which a nation rises into importance, particularly such a country as Holland-from its central situation, its command of some of the most important inlets to the continent of Europe, &c., &c. Being a low country, almost reclaimed from the sea, possessing no great national staple, no mineral treasures; with a soil far from being naturally fertile, entirely level and, therefore, not well adapted to the production of the cereal grains, even when most highly cultivated-being, we say, thus by nature deprived of those endowments which could make it a country of indigenous exports, it must of necessity have recourse to the sea and its products. Accordingly we find its first resort was to the fisheries. But to show this more clearly, we refer to a report made to the stadt-holder, William IV., in answer to certain queries which he addressed to some of the most intelligent merchants of that country, and which questions and answers were as follows,

viz:

"1. What is the actual state of trade? and if the same should be found to be diminished and fallen to decay--then,

"2. To inquire by what method the same may be supported and advanced, or, if possible, restored to its former lustre, repute, and dignity." To this it was replied:

"1. That the natural and physical causes, are, the advantages of the situation of the country, on the sea and at the mouth of considerable rivers; its situation between the northern and southern parts, which by being in a manner the centre of all Europe, made the republic become the general market, where the merchants on both sides used to bring their superfluous commodities, in order to barter and exchange the same for other goods they wanted. Nor have the barrenness of the country, and the necessities of the natives arising from that cause, less contributed to set them upon exciting all their application, industry, and utmost stretch of genius to fetch from foreign countries what they stand in need of in their own, and to support themselves by trade.

"The abundance of fish in the neighbouring seas, put them in a condition not only to supply their own occasions, but with the overplus to carry on a trade with foreigners, and out of the produce of the fishery to find an equivalent for what they wanted through the sterility and narrow boundaries and extent of their own country.

"2. Among the moral and political causes are to be placed the unalterable maxim and fundamental law relating to the free exercise of different religions; and always to consider this toleration and connivance as the most effectual means to draw foreigners from adjacent countries to settle and reside here, and so become instrumental to the peopling of these provinces.

"Throughout the whole course of all the persecutions that have occurred in other countries, the steady adherence of the republic to this fundamental law, has been the cause that many people have not only fled hither for refuge with their whole stock in ready cash, and their most valuable effects, but have, also, settled and established many trades, fabrics, manufactures, arts, and sciences in this country, notwithstanding the raw materials

for the said fabrics and manufactures were almost wholly wanting in it, and not to be procured but at a great expense from foreign parts.

"The constitution of our form of government, and the liberty thus accruing to the citizen, are further reasons to which the growth of trade and its establishment in the republic may fairly be ascribed-and all her policy and laws are put upon such an equitable footing, that neither life estates nor dignities depend on the caprice or arbitrary power of any single individual, nor is there any room for any person, who by care, frugality, and diligence, has once acquired an efficient fortune, to fear a depreciation of it by any act of violence, oppression, or injustice.

"The administration of justice has, in like manner, always been clearly impartial and without distinction of superiour or inferiour rank-whether the parties have been rich or poor, or were this a foreigner and that a native; and it were greatly to be wished we could at this day boast of such impartial quickness and despatch in all our legal processes, considering how great an influence it has on trade.

"To sum up all amongst the moral and political causes of the former flourishing state of trade, may be likewise traced the wisdom and prudence of the administration; the intrepid firmness of the councils, the faithfulness with which treaties and engagements were wont to be fulfilled and ratified; and particularly the care and caution practiced to preserve tranquility and peace, and to decline instead of entering on a scene of war, merely to gratify the ambitious views of gaining fruitless or imaginary conquests.

"By these moral and political maxims was the glory and reputation of the republic so far spread, and foreigners animated to place so great a confidence in the steady determination of a state so wisely and prudently conducted, that a concourse of them stocked the country with an augmentation of inhabitants and useful hands, whereby its trade and opulence were, from time to time, increased.

"3. Amongst the adventitious and external causes of the rise and flourishing state of our trade may be reckoned, that at the time when the best and wisest maxims were adopted in the republic as the means of making trade flourish, they were neglected in almost all other countries, and any one reading the history of those times may easily discover that the persecutions, on account of religion, throughout Spain, Brabant, Flanders, and many other states and kingdoms, have powerfully promoted the establishment of commerce in the republic.

"To this happy result and the settlement of manufactures in our country, the long continuance of the civil wars in France, which were afterwards carried on in Germany, England, and divers other parts, have, also, very much contributed.

"It must be added, in the last place, that during our most burthensome and heavy wars with Spain and Portugal, (however ruinous that period was for commerce,) those powers had both neglected their navy; while the navy of the republic, by a conduct directly the reverse, was at the same time formidable, and in a capacity not only to protect the trade of its own citizens, but to annoy and to crush that of their enemies in all quarters."

The report then adverts to the actual state of the trade of the country, and goes on to state :

"1. That the natural causes of prosperity remained still the same as they were originally, with the exception of the fisheries, which were now

greatly shared by others; to which may be attributed the decrease of the herring, cod, and whale fisheries.

"2. That the moral causes existed still, and required only to be acted

upon.

"3. That the accidental or extreme causes had greatly changed; that the persecutions in other countries had ceased; that the negligence, indolence, and contempt for trade, which had formerly prevailed in foreign states, had diminished; that the commercial regulations of Holland had been adopted by them, and that trade and manufactures were flourishing in many of those states; that the English were the first among whom the Hollanders had excited emulation; that for a century that nation had passed laws and regulations in order to attract to them the trade enjoyed by the republic; that they prohibited the export of their wool, which was formerly manufactured in Holland; and that many other countries had directed their attention to those branches of industry which had previously only flourished in Holland."

As proof of the decline of trade the report cites, "That the great number of shops, which have been closed, even in twenty years, in the principal towns, and especially at Amsterdam; the difficulty of procuring seamen for the shipping; and that in Amsterdam, which was formerly the entrepot for indigo and all other dye stuffs, scarcely a vestige of these remained; that Hamburg and all other towns supplied Germany with sugar, coffee, and other articles, which were formerly stored for sale at Amsterdam; that the latter had now no commercial houses in Spain, and little interest in the galleons, and also that the trade of the Dutch in the Levant had disappeared. That the prodigious quantities of cotton and printed cloth manufactories and sugar refineries established in Hamburg, Bremen, and recently in Brabant and Flanders, are certain proofs of the decline of our trade and manufactures; and to what are we to attribute this decay? is it not to our overwhelming imposts?

"Formerly the republic was the only country that could be truly said to be a commercial power, and foreigners consented to pay the imposts whether on purchases or sales; but during the last century the commercial system had entirely changed in Europe. Foreign states having beheld the surprising effects of our traffic, and to what an eminent degree the republic had been elevated by commerce alone, have applied themselves successfully to trade, and to avoid our heavy charges, pass with their superfluous products to other countries, the produce of which they take in return."

The memoir then recommends to impose no duty on raw materials, or on foreign goods placed in entrepot, or for transit; and, in one word, that the lighter the burthens were, the greater would be the trade.

On the other hand, the author of La Richesse de la Hollande, combats these opinions, and denies that the competition of foreigners caused the decline of trade; or that the introduction of luxury has been a leading cause of the decline. He ascribes it "to the heavy taxation for sustaining wars, and for paying the interest of the heavy national debt. The interruption of trade and the destruction or capture of property at sea and in the colonies, and the taxation occasioned by these wars, may be considered the principal causes of Holland's decline."

The advocates of the so-called "Free Trade" are continually bringing forward Holland as a test of their theory, and holding that country up as

an example to the United States; we have therefore inserted the foregoing
questions and answers, to show that there is no kind of analogy whatever
between the two countries. Entirely destitute, from the testimony of her
own merchants, as we have shown her to be, of all those national advan-
tages which we so eminently possess; she having no great staple, while
She with an
we have cotton for ourselves, and for all the world besides; possessing no
minerals, whilst we abound in every species of them.
acknowledged sterile soil that does not produce sufficient for her own con-
sumption, while ours is the most fertile and productive. Holland having,
in 1838, but a population of about three millions, while ours must have been
at least seventeen millions. The area of Holland is about twelve thou-
sand-while we have upwards of two millions square miles, with every
variety of climate; she confined to one temperature. What possible analo-
gy is there in our national endowments? But it is useless to make further
comparison, for there is literally nothing common to the two countries.

But is Holland a country of "Free Trade?" We unhesitatingly answer she is not. However moderate may be her impost upon goods for transit, and such as she needs and cannot either produce or make, she takes care to encourage, by high duties, and even by a prohibition, of such as interfere with her home industry. We have before us the last tariff of Holland in operation in 1842, where we find the following articles prohibited:

Empty casks and fish barrels, salted or smoked fish, dried fish, syrups of all kinds, tobacco pipes, dye-woods, and Brazil-wood ground, and molasses. The reason of these prohibitions is obvious; it is to protect their coopers, their fisheries, and their sugar refineries which produce molasses. Besides these prohibitions, the following articles pay very heavy duties, amounting, in many cases, to prohibition:

Flour, 20 florins per 100 lbs., equal to $16 per barrel. Sugar pays duty and excise equal to $3 92 per 100 lbs. Refined sugar pays 14 cents Beef pays $6 40 per 100 lbs. Hams pay $4 80 per 100 lbs. per lb. Ribs of beef $8 per 100 lbs. Vinegar pays $3 per barrel. Spermaceti lb. per and wax candles pay 16 cents

Woollen cloths, costing per yard from 80 cts. to $1 60..

.$28 per

100 lbs.

66

66

66

66

$1.60" 240" Costing more than 3 20"

40
to 2 40....
to 3 20.

66

48

...

60

Sewing silk 40 per cent., snuff per 100 lbs. $4 80, starch 4 cts. pr. lb.

And for the information of our agriculturists, we state that Holland has Corn-Laws similar to those of Great Britain, upon a sliding scale, which perfectly exclude wheat, rye, barley, and oats, established as late as 1836, as will be found by Table A. on next page.

This Corn-Law, it will be seen by a recent decree of William II., King of Holland, has been suspended in consequence of the shortness of the potato crop.

This limited suspension fully proves that restriction on her corn trade is a policy to which Holland intends to adhere, and that, therefore, in the general, foreign corn will be excluded.

Average Prices of the undermentioned Descriptions of Grain, as fixed by law per Muid.*

TABLE A.-DUTCH CORN-LAW.

The English Imperial Quarter is equal to 3 Muids, or Mudden.