Page:History of merchant shipping and ancient commerce (Volume 2).djvu/183

 the fact that France offered to the vessels of all nations free custom twice and sometimes three times each year, when she laid in her annual stock of provisions, and also in such raw materials as were not possessed by herself in equal abundance, adding that La Rochelle was an entirely free port, a small toll levied for the repair of the harbour alone excepted. Denmark also granted free custom throughout the year, with the exception of one month between Bartholomew-tide and Michaelmas. The merchandise of France, Spain, Portugal, Turkey, Italy, and England were then transported chiefly by the Dutch into the east and north-east kingdoms of Pomerania, as well as into Poland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Germany, and Russia, and some other countries of the south. Sir Walter, with great force, adds, "and yet the situation of England lieth far better for a store-house to serve the south-east and the north-east kingdoms than theirs do, and we have far the better means to do it if we apply ourselves to do it."

Sir Walter says with equal truth that, although the greatest fishery in the world is on the coasts of England, Scotland, and Ireland, Holland despatches annually to the four great towns on the Baltic, Königsburg, Elbing, Stettin, and Dantzig, herrings worth 620,000l., while England does not send a boatload; nor even a single herring up the Rhine to Germany, whose people purchase annually from the Dutch fish to the value of 400,000l. "We send," remarks this enlightened statesman, "into the east kingdoms yearly only one hundred ships, and our trade chiefly depends on Elbing, Königsburg, and Dantzig," while "the shipowners of the low country