Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Developement Of The Views Of The French Nation.
whole continental system of Europe ; and that if she were disabled , the powers on the continent would fall into their proper subordination . This party , it appears , has acted uniformly on this principle from its first establishment to the present moment . Their object till -the revolution was but faintly discovered ; but it is IIOAV too self-evident to be for . a moment disputed . Whether the friends of monarchy , the authors of the guillotine and ikeor the Moderatesheld the reigns of power in
p , , that country , this object , as a ruling principle , was pursued by all . There now remains not a port on the Mediterranean open to British commerce . Holland and Spain are already within - the vortex of French poAver , and engaged in a Avar against us for the destruction of our navy and trade . Portugal , it is ' feared , will soon be obliged to shut her ports against usl She has combined with a northern monarch to deprive us
of all intercourse with the city of Hamburgh and the northern part of Germany . But what is of still greater importance , because it will be in their power to retain it hereafter , the French will acquire , by the free-navigation of the Rhine , the Maese , add the Scheldt , ( which they will obtain by making the Rhine their boundary ) the power of join- - ing to theseby means of canalstheir numerous navigable riversand
, , , thereby possessing , at all times , a speedy and safe conveyance of their various productions , manufactures , ancl commerce , from all parts of Franceto the centre of Germany , Holland , and the Netherlands ; and from the Mediterranean Sea to the Bay of Biscay , to the British Channel , and to the North Sea . Thus they hope they will in future be , what England ancl Holland have been and now are—the
Carriers of Europe . Thus the manufactures and trade of England will rapidly decay , and with these its revenue ; and Avith its revenue , say they , the existence of its present system and power . Mr . Koops conceives that the people of England have misunderssood fhe magnitude of the object they are contending for , otherwise their feelings would be roused to assert , with greater energy and zeal , their honour and independence . He introduces that part of his subject which ,
relates to the importance of the navigation of the above rivers as follows . ' The commerce of the world has been in perpetual fluctuation , for which reason Englishmen cannot be too much- on their guard , not only in preserving what they possess , but in availing themselves of the mistakes or negligence of other nations , in order to acquiie new Sources of prosperity . W h ' o could have imagined , three hundred
years ago , that those ports of the Levant , fionr whence , by means of " the Venetians , En . land , ancl almost the rest of Europe , were supplied with the spices , drugs , Sx . of India ancb China , should at this , day be supplied with those very articles , by the remote countries of England and Holland , at an easier rate than they were used to have them directly from the East ? Or that Venice should afterwards lose
to Lisbon the lucrative trade of supply ing the rest of Europe with them ? Or that Lisbon should again lose the same trade to Holland ? Or that Holland should ever have become so insignificant in that , and every other commerce , as it actually is since it has been under the present French Government ; ' Or that the woollen manufactures , which were so flourishing in the Netherlands , should ever have arrived in England to such a high p itch , that they are now the noblest
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Developement Of The Views Of The French Nation.
whole continental system of Europe ; and that if she were disabled , the powers on the continent would fall into their proper subordination . This party , it appears , has acted uniformly on this principle from its first establishment to the present moment . Their object till -the revolution was but faintly discovered ; but it is IIOAV too self-evident to be for . a moment disputed . Whether the friends of monarchy , the authors of the guillotine and ikeor the Moderatesheld the reigns of power in
p , , that country , this object , as a ruling principle , was pursued by all . There now remains not a port on the Mediterranean open to British commerce . Holland and Spain are already within - the vortex of French poAver , and engaged in a Avar against us for the destruction of our navy and trade . Portugal , it is ' feared , will soon be obliged to shut her ports against usl She has combined with a northern monarch to deprive us
of all intercourse with the city of Hamburgh and the northern part of Germany . But what is of still greater importance , because it will be in their power to retain it hereafter , the French will acquire , by the free-navigation of the Rhine , the Maese , add the Scheldt , ( which they will obtain by making the Rhine their boundary ) the power of join- - ing to theseby means of canalstheir numerous navigable riversand
, , , thereby possessing , at all times , a speedy and safe conveyance of their various productions , manufactures , ancl commerce , from all parts of Franceto the centre of Germany , Holland , and the Netherlands ; and from the Mediterranean Sea to the Bay of Biscay , to the British Channel , and to the North Sea . Thus they hope they will in future be , what England ancl Holland have been and now are—the
Carriers of Europe . Thus the manufactures and trade of England will rapidly decay , and with these its revenue ; and Avith its revenue , say they , the existence of its present system and power . Mr . Koops conceives that the people of England have misunderssood fhe magnitude of the object they are contending for , otherwise their feelings would be roused to assert , with greater energy and zeal , their honour and independence . He introduces that part of his subject which ,
relates to the importance of the navigation of the above rivers as follows . ' The commerce of the world has been in perpetual fluctuation , for which reason Englishmen cannot be too much- on their guard , not only in preserving what they possess , but in availing themselves of the mistakes or negligence of other nations , in order to acquiie new Sources of prosperity . W h ' o could have imagined , three hundred
years ago , that those ports of the Levant , fionr whence , by means of " the Venetians , En . land , ancl almost the rest of Europe , were supplied with the spices , drugs , Sx . of India ancb China , should at this , day be supplied with those very articles , by the remote countries of England and Holland , at an easier rate than they were used to have them directly from the East ? Or that Venice should afterwards lose
to Lisbon the lucrative trade of supply ing the rest of Europe with them ? Or that Lisbon should again lose the same trade to Holland ? Or that Holland should ever have become so insignificant in that , and every other commerce , as it actually is since it has been under the present French Government ; ' Or that the woollen manufactures , which were so flourishing in the Netherlands , should ever have arrived in England to such a high p itch , that they are now the noblest