Sir Waiter Raleigh's views on maritime commerce, 1603.
Sir Walter Raleigh gives a graphic account[1] 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
- [Footnote: and not without valid reasons, that it would be impossible for individual
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.]
- ↑ 'Select observations of the incomparable Sir Walter Raleigh relating to trade, as it was presented to King James.'—Published, London, 1696. See also Macpherson, vol. ii. pp. 233-239.
