Page:William Petty - Economic Writings (1899) vol 1.djvu/352

254 3. Though the expence of each head, should be 13l. per annum; 'tis well known that there be few in Amsterdam, who do not earn much more than the said expence.

4. If Holland and Zealand pay p. an. 2100000l. then all the Provinces together, must pay about 3000000l. less than which summ per annum, perhaps is not sufficient to have maintained the Naval War with England, 72000 Land Forces, besides all other the ordinary Charges of their Government, whereof the Church is there apart : To conclude, it seems from the Premisses, that all France doth not raise above thrice as much from the publick charge, as Holland and Zealand alone do.

5. Interest of Money in France, is 7l. per cent. but in Holland scarce half so much. |[9]|

6. The Countries of Holland and Zealand; consisting as it were of Islands guarded with the Sea, Shipping, and Marshes, is defensible at one fourth of the charge, that a plain open Country is, and where the feat of War may be both Winter and Summer; whereas in the others, little can be done but in the Summer only.

7. But above all the particulars hitherto considered, that of superlucration ought chiefly to be taken in; for if a Prince have never so many Subjects, and his Country be never so good, yet if either through sloth, or extravagant expences, or Oppression and Injustice, whatever is gained shall be spent as fast as gotten, that State must be accounted poor; wherefore let it be considered, how much or how many times rather, Holland and Zealand are now above what they were 100 years ago, which we must also do of France: Now if France hath scarce doubled its Wealth and Power, and that the other have decupled theirs; I shall give the preference to the latter, even although the $9/10$ increased by the one, should not exceed the one half gained by the other, |[10]| because one has a store for Nine Years, the other but for one.

To conclude, upon the whole it seems, that though France be in People to Holland and Zealand as 13 to 1, and