Page:The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, Volume 3.djvu/369

Rh to be recovered, and delivered to the king of Spain; but, by this treaty, that prince is to possess nothing in Flanders during the war; and after a peace, the States are to have the military command of about twenty towns, with their dependencies, and four hundred thousand crowns a year from the king of Spain, to maintain their garrisons. By which means, they will have the command of all Flanders, from Newport on the Sea, to Namur on the Maese, and be entirely masters of the Pais de Waas, the richest part of those provinces. Farther, they have liberty to garrison any place they shall think fit in the Spanish Low-countries, whenever there is an appearance of war; and consequently to put garrisons into Ostend, or where else they please, upon a rupture with England.

By this treaty likewise, the Dutch will in effect be entire masters of all the Low-countries; may impose duties, restrictions in commerce, and prohibitions, at their pleasure; and in that fertile country may set up all sorts of manufactures, particularly the woollen, by inviting the disobliged manufacturers in Ireland, and the French refugees, who are scattered all over Germany. And as this manufacture increases abroad, the clothing people of England will be necessitated, for want of employment, to follow; and in few years, by the help of the low interest of money in Holland, Flanders may recover that beneficial trade, which we got from them. The landed men of England will then be forced to reestablish the staples of wool abroad; and the Dutch, instead of being only the carriers, will become the original possessors of those commodities, with which the greatest part of the trade of the world is