the English Nation.
69
LETTER X.
ON
TRADE.
AS Trade enrich'd the Citizens in England, ſo it contributed to their Freedom, and this Freedom on the other Side extended their Commerce, whence aroſe the Grandeur of the State. Trade rais'd by inſenſible Degrees the naval Power, whfch gives the Engliſh a Superiority over the Seas, and they now are Maſters of very near two hundred Ships of War. Poſterity will very poſſibly be ſurpriz'd to hear that an Iſland whoſe only Produce is a little Lead, Tin, Fuller's Earth, and coarſe Wool, ſhould become ſo powerful by its Commerce, as to be able to ſend in 1723, three
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