to form a sort of code, the first of all those which have been made for the marine trade.

This society is the famous association of the Hanseatick Towns, which is commonly believed to have begun at Bremen on the Weser, in 1164.

It was not at first composed of more than the towns situated on the Baltick Sea, or of those that were but little distant. Its reputation and its forces increasing, there were but few of the trading towns in Europe which were not desirous of engaging in it. France furnished to the Confederation, Rouen, St. Malo, Bourdeaux, Bayonne, and Marseilles; Spain, Barcelona, Seville, and Cadiz; England, London; Portugal, Lisbon; the Low Countries, Anvers, Dort, Amsterdam, Bruges, Rotterdam, Ostend, and Dunkirk; Italy and Sicily, Messina, Livorno, and Naples.

The end of the fourteenth century and the beginning of the fifteenth were the most flourishing times of this alliance; it was then it presumed to declare war against kings; and history has not forgot that which it made against Waldemar, king of Denmark, about 1348, and against Eric in 1428, particularly this last; where the Hanseatick fleet was composed of forty ships, with twelve thousand regular troops, exclusive of the sailors.

The policy of the princes, whose principal towns had entered into this association, thought it ought to give bounds to a power, which began to grow suspicious, and which had not failed to become very soon formidable; the means were easy and short, each one withdrew their merchants from the alliance, which, in a little time (of that large number of towns of which it was composed in its greatest power) found itself reduced to only those that had begun the confederation; towns, notwithstanding, still so puissant by their commerce, that they were admitted to make treaties with the greatest kings, and particularly with those of France, as very lately happened in the reign of Lewis XV. and in the regency of Philip Duke of Orleans.

Some towns of Lower Germany still preserve the name of Hanseatick Towns, but, for the greatest part, this is rather a title with which they aim to honour themselves, than a mark that they continue to carry on trade under the laws and protection of the ancient alliance; there not being now more than Lubeck, Hamburgh, Bremen, Rostock, Brunswick, Cologne, and a few others, which are truly Hanseaticks, and of which the deputies are found at the assemblies, either ordinary or extraordinary, which they have for the common interest of the Association.

The great trade which Holland carries on with the Hanseatick Towns, does not contribute a little to support them in a part of their ancient reputation; and it is particularly to the alliance which they have with that powerful republick, that they owe the preservation of their liberty; the succours which some of them have received have more than once saved them from the enterprizes of the princes their neighbours, who either pretend to ha a right over them, or were jealous of the riches that their merchants amass in trade.

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It is also commerce, and the immense riches which the Dutch have acquired by it, Commerce that laid the first and most solid foundation of that power, which has placed them in a Dutch. condition to give so great succours to their allies; and it is only to the resources, which they have found in their trade, that they owe that degree of strength and credit, in which, at present, their republick appears; a credit so great and so well established, as has already, for a long time, rendered it equal to kings, and in some sort the arbitrator of their differences.

The inhabitants of the Low Countries have always been distinguished by their trade, but the riches thereof has also always rendered them fierce, and impatient of any sort of yoke, even the most easy and moderate.

These provinces, already so well known, by their continual insurrections against

their best princes, having past, in the fifteenth century, under the dominion of the Spaniards, they presently found, in the severity natural to that nation, motives to excite their factious genius, and, under a pretended violation of their privileges by their new masters, they united to support them, and combated so fortunately for liberty, that with the aid of the powerful protectors, who declared for them, (and particularly France) seven among them in the end formed this republick, which, in less than half an age, has carried its arms and commerce into all parts of the earth, and has made establishments so solid, that there are no powers who appear capable ever to shake them; nor is there any likelihood that its fall will come, but from itself; and that it cannot sink but under its own weight, and only by means of the too great extent of trade, which it may not be longer in a condition to support.

The Spaniards, to stop the progress of this new-born republick, believed that the hindering their trade would suffice, and to prohibit that which its merchants had always continued (notwithstanding the war) in all the ports of the Spanish dominions. The project was effectual, and the Dutch, deprived of this resource, would have found themselves reduced to the last extremity, if the most daring of their merchants had not taken the resolution to go to the East-Indies, to partake, if it was possible, with the Portuguese, (then united with the Spaniards,) the immense riches which the Oriental trade produced.

This enterprize, which appeared far beyond the power of these people, but ill fixed in their liberty, or rather who still fought to obtain it; this enterprize, I say, after some unsuccessful voyages, was in the end fortunate, and they fitted out twenty fleets in less than ten years, which returned loaded with spices and other merchandizes of the Indies, as well as with the spoils and booty of the Spaniards and Portuguese.

And, to prevent the confusion and disorder that so many different companies which were daily forming, and that had nothing in common but the object of their trade, might bring to it, it was then determined, by uniting them all together, to form that famous Dutch East-India Company, which seems incessantly to gain new strength, and which, after above an age's continuance, has not suffered any misfortune or diminution of its power and glory.

This great establishment was made in the year 1602, and it is this that has served as a model to so many other celebrated companies, which have since carried on a trade from Holland to all other parts of the world, and particularly to the ports of the Levant, Africk, the West-Indies, and, in one word to every place, where business could be transacted: these able merchants neglected not any, and they found in the less important, as well as in the more considerable, profits and resources, which ordinarily escaped the notice of other nations.

It is this commerce, which may be termed universal, that reassembles in Holland this infinite number of merchandizes, which it afterwards diffuses in all the rest of Europe.

It produces hardly any thing, and yet has wherewith to furnish other people all that they can have need of: it is without forests, and almost without wood, and there is not seen any where else so many carpenters, which work in naval constructions either for war or merchandize. Its lands are not fit for the culture of vines, and it is the staple or mart of wines, which are gathered in all parts of the world, and of brandies drawn from them. It has no mines nor metals, and yet there is found almost as much gold and silver as in New Spain or Peru, as much iron as in France, as much tin as in England, and as much copper as in Sweden. The wheat and other grains that are there sowed, hardly suffice for nourishment to a part of its inhabitants, and it is, notwithstanding, from hence that the greatest part of its neighbours receive them, either for their subsistence or trade; in fine, it seems as if the spices grew there; that

the oils were gathered there; that it nourished the precious insects which spin the silk, and that all sorts of drugs for medicine or dying were in the number of its products, and of its growth; its warehouses are so full, and its merchants seem to carry so much to strangers, or so many strangers come to load in its ports, that there is not a day, or it may be said, a moment, when ships do not come in or go out, and frequently entire fleets.

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The commerce of the Russians, a commerce already so established and extended, and Commerce which we see increasing under our eyes, merits without doubt not to be forgotten in of Russians. this historical abridgement of the progress of trade, and of the advantages which thereby accrue to those nations that apply themselves to it.

The situation of Russia is one of the happiest for commerce; its frontiers bordering on those of China, give to it a facility of carrying on trade, in that vast and rich empire, which re-unites, in some sort, the whole traffick of all the East. On the side of the Caspian Sea, there is offered to it, the commerce of Persia, of Armenia, and of the East-Indies; it may maintain a very considerable one with Constantinople, and the other states of the Grand Signor, by means of the ports, which it has, or which it may establish, on the Euxine Sea; and Archangel secures to it a great traffick with France, England, Holland, the Lower Germany, and many other nations.

In fine, to support this vast commerce with reputation, it is not deficient in rich merchandizes, either of its own product, or, at least, that are found there, both. better, and in greater abundance, than elsewhere; and, for the transportation into its provinces, of those which come to it from abroad, it has four great rivers, whose courses are near enough to be easily joined by canals, and which discharge themselves into the four seas, by which this grand empire is in part bounded, providing, as one may say, for bringing even into the capital, the spoils of all the rest of the world.

So many advantages were for a long time neglected by a nation equally uncivilized and lazy, and where the natural indolence was maintained for ages, by the political diffidence and suspicions of the greatest part of their princes, which had prohibited them all communication with strangers.

It is true, that after the English had discovered, by a fortunate chance, the celebrated port of Archangel, all nations, which carried on the commerce of the North had a free admittance into this part of the Russian dominions, but it was not properly till the glorious reign of Peter the Great, that Russia knew her strength and true interest, in regard to commerce; and it is to this monarch, always vigilant for the glory of his nation, and the prosperity of his people, that it is indebted for having extended its commercial intercourses to all parts of the world, where other nations of Europe have established theirs, and where till then, the name and empire of the Russians were hardly known.

It is to the year 1697, that the epocha of the establishment of their commerce ought to be fixed; a year which should for ever be consecrated in the Russian annals, since it was at that time that the political voyage of the Czar Peter Alexowitz, began, and that this monarch formed the grand design of changing the face of the Russian empire, and, by introducing commerce, to bring in also in its train, politeness, the sciences, liberal arts, and the many other advantages, which are ordinarily the fruits of them.

For the execution of a project so worthy of him that had conceived it, that famous embassy, to which was given the name of the grand embassy, which without doubt it merited, on account of the Czar's presence, who determined to be there in person,

*This great prince was the first of his country, who assumed the title of Emperor of all the Russias, which was confirmed to him by the other sovereigns of Europe, who sought his friendship. He was the founder of St.. Petersburgh in 1721, and died in 1725.

though incognito, and mixing in the train of the ambassadors, was seen to arrive in Holland, and afterwards pass over to England.

The pretext was the renewal of ancient treaties: the true reason was, that the prince this way found an occasion to come and study in these two nations, so skilful and fortunate in commerce, the most sure grounds of that, which he designed to establish in his own dominions.

It was then, that, despoiled of the marks of grandeur, and mingled with the most simple workmen, he did not think it unworthy of his rank, to employ his royal hands in the same works as they.

Sometimes with the mallet and chisel in hand, he worked in the yards at all sorts of naval constructions, which could make the marine flourish. At others, attentive to the lessons of some skilful pilot, he informed himself of the divers points of wind that reign at sea, or learned the manner of using the compass, and sea-charts for a safe navigation. At other times, he took the shuttle, and studied in the manufactories the art of making those fine cloths, which the English and Dutch had till then sold so dear to his subjects. Sometimes also, by conversation with the most able merchants, he sought to penetrate into the secrets of the Bank and Exchange, and to secure beforehand correspondents at London and Amsterdam to the bankers, whom he proposed to establish in the principal towns of his dominions. In fine, nothing escaped his curiosity, from the desire which he had to form his subjects to arts and manufactures: and as if he designed some time or other to set up as a master in the fabrication of all sorts of works, he himself served a sort of apprenticeship, and was seen assiduous in the work-houses of the most able artificers; here to handle the iron with the blacksmith, there cutting wood with the carpenter; in another place, twisting hemp with the ropemaker; and, in one word, working at all the trades which are necessary to support commerce, and render it flourishing.

It cannot be expressed how many establishments, favourable to trade, and till then unknown to the Russians, were the happy consequences of the curious discoveries of a prince so universally attentive to the good of his people.

New ports were opened in divers parts of his dominions, and that of Petersburgh now vies with Amsterdam.

On the land side, with numerous caravans, the Russians made a road across the vast regions of Tartary, and being admitted at Pekin, they returned loaded with the richest merchandizes of China and the East.

The junction of the Baltick with the White Sea is almost achieved, by canals cut in the lands, with a labour and expence immense and truly royal; and there are lately others dug to join these two seas with the Caspian, by means of the Volga.

But still a variety of regulations, and a fund of sound policy was wanting to bring commerce and arts to an eminent degree of perfection in an empire so subject to revolutions in its government. These we have seen established by an admirable code of laws, and in general, by the wise administration of the reigning empress, the renowned Catharine II. the liberal patroness of learning and the polite arts, who, adopting the best parts of the plan of Peter I. for civilizing his subjects, sends a number of youths annually at her own expence to England and other countries, to study agriculture, botany, trade, the mechanic and polite arts, in short, every branch of useful knowledge. At the same time, she spares no pains or expence to attract skilful artists, and able workmen in every class to her country. Honours, pensions, and large emoluments are the rewards of those who enter into her service. However, it is the duty of the British legislature and the magistracy to guard as much as possible against the seduction of her manufacturers; for the excellent policy of this princess may be as detrimental to the trade and manufactures of other countries, as it is

beneficial to her own.

Her alliance is already become so formidable as to be contended for by the first powers of Europe, and a country which at the beginning of the present century had scarce any weight in the affairs of Europe bids fair to turn the scale into which she shall place her influence or interest. If her commerce increases in the same rapid proportions as her civil, military, and naval power, those who have had the greatest hand in erecting it, may be the first to repent the measure.

Let us now join to so many examples, ancient and modern, of the advantages that commerce produces to states, and among the nations where it flourishes, some remarkable instances of individuals, whom it has raised to the highest fortune. Perhaps those who are more affected by their own interest than by that of the publick, may herein find motives and inducements to animate and engage them to a profession which may be attended with so great and happy effects.

France and Italy furnish us with the two first, in the order of time, and England with a third, all equally celebrated and singular.

Coeur.

James Coeur, a native of Bourges in the province of Berry, was a son of a private James merchant; he followed the profession of his father, but with such speedy and happy success, that an author assures us, he gained more alone, than all the merchants of the kingdom together.

His commerce was extended to all the Mediterranean; he trafficked in Asia with the Turks or Persians, and the other subjects of the Sultans of Babylon, and in Africa with the Saracens.

It was by the city of Montpellier (which then was the only entrance of the kingdom on that side) that he carried on such extensive commerce; this also was the only reason that could render that city dear to James Coeur, with which he had not otherwise any connection, and consequently this was the sole motive that could determine him to embellish it. After speaking of a fountain which he made, where his arms still remain, we shall enlarge a little on the common exchange of the merchants, known at Montpellier under the name of the Loge, which he built, that this edifice might have a remarkable conformity with the commerce of the city, as it is visible, he never dreamt of undertaking the former, but with the view of augmenting and facilitating the latter. This building, which still subsists, is solid and magnificent. What is admired above all, are the basso relievos in medallions, which ornament the front, and which employ the vain curiosity of those, who have yet the weakness to give into the search after the philosopher's stone; these are to them so many enigmatical emblems, under which they imagine that James Coeur has hid the mysteries of the grand work, of which he made use, as they pretend, to acquire his immense riches, which, notwithstanding, he owed solely to trade, according to Mr. Astruc.

His great riches, acquired by a way so lawful, and the probity with which he always conducted his business, having rendered him famous among foreigners, and known at court; Charles VII. called him to the ministry, and intrusted to him the management of his finances, making him Grand Treasurer, A. D. 1444.

His elevation did not in the least interrupt his merchandizing, but, on the contrary, excited him to continue it with greater reputation and success; but then this generous. merchant, whose heart was yet greater than his fortune, had the most noble views in his commerce, and preferring the interest of the state to his own, it was more in his own funds than the prince's exchequer, that he found resources, not only to reestablish the kingdom, exhausted by a long war, but to carry on enterprizes against the ancient enemies of the French nation, and to reunite to the crown, one of its finest and richest provinces, which had been for a long time in the hands of the English.