Page:History of merchant shipping and ancient commerce (Volume 2).djvu/182



Sir Walter Raleigh gives a graphic account of the state of things then existing, and of the condition of the English mercantile marine shortly before the union of the crowns of England and Scotland. In this remarkable paper, which contains many commercial principles far in advance of the age in which the author lived, Sir Walter states that the merchant ships of England were not to be compared with those of the Dutch, and that while an English ship of one hundred tons required a crew of thirty men, the Dutch would sail such a vessel with one third that number. Illustrative of the wise and progressive policy of the Dutch, he enumerates various instances where that country had an immense advantage over England, and where, following the example of ancient Tyre and of more modern Venice, Holland became the depôt of numerous articles "not one hundredth part of which were consumed" by the Dutch, while she gave "free custom inwards and outwards for the better maintenance of navigation and encouragement of the people to that business."

Directing attention to the liberal policy of some other of the nations of his time, Sir Walter mentions

capitalists to cope successfully with the powerful maritime associations which had in a great measure absorbed the most lucrative branches of commerce throughout the world. For these reasons the East India Company had been established, and for precisely similar reasons the English Government had been induced in 1606 to grant a charter to a company formed for trading to the Levant, though in this instance each individual traded on his own account subject to general regulations framed for the guidance of the whole of the members of the association.]
 * [Footnote: and not without valid reasons, that it would be impossible for individual