LONDON,November 19,O.S.1750
MY DEAR FRIEND:I was very glad to find by your letter of the 12th,N.S.,that you had informed yourself so well of the state of the French marine at Toulon,and of the commerce at Marseilles;they are objects that deserve the inquiry and attention of every man who intends to be concerned in public affairs.The French are now wisely attentive to both;their commerce is incredibly increased within these last thirty years;they have beaten us out of great part of our Levant trade;their East India trade has greatly affected ours;and,in the West Indies,their Martinico establishment supplies,not only France itself,but the greatest part of Europe,with sugars whereas our islands,as Jamaica,Barbadoes,and the Leeward,have now no other market for theirs but England.New France,or Canada,has also greatly lessened our fur and skin trade.It is true (as you say)that we have no treaty of commerce subsisting (I do not say WITH MARSEILLES)but with France.There was a treaty of commerce made between England and France,immediately after the treaty of Utrecht;but the whole treaty was conditional,and to depend upon the parliament's enacting certain things which were stipulated in two of the articles;the parliament,after a very famous debate,would not do it;so the treaty fell to the ground:however,the outlines of that treaty are,by mutual and tacit consent,the general rules of our present commerce with France.It is true,too,that our commodities which go to France,must go in our bottoms;the French having imitated in many respects our famous Act of Navigation,as it is commonly called.
This act was made in the year 1652,in the parliament held by Oliver Cromwell.It forbids all foreign ships to bring into England any merchandise or commodities whatsoever,that were not of the growth and produce of that country to which those ships belonged,under penalty of the forfeiture of such ships.This act was particularly leveled at the Dutch,who were at that time the carriers of almost all Europe,and got immensely by freight.Upon this principle,of the advantages arising from freight,there is a provision in the same act,that even the growth and produce of our own colonies in America shall not be carried from thence to any other country in Europe,without first touching in England;but this clause has lately been repealed,in the instances of some perishable commodities,such as rice,etc.,which are allowed to be carried directly from our American colonies to other countries.The act also provides,that two-thirds,I think,of those who navigate the said ships shall be British subjects.There is an excellent,and little book,written by the famous Monsieur Huet Ev6que d'Avranches,'Sur le Commerce des Anciens',which is very well worth your reading,and very soon read.
It will give you a clear notion of the rise and progress of commerce.
There are many other books,which take up the history of commerce where Monsieur d'Avranches leaves it,and bring it down to these times.Iadvise you to read some of them with care;commerce being a very essential part of political knowledge in every country;but more particularly in that which owes all its riches and power to it.
