?.6&
HISTORY OF SETTLEMENTS AND TRADE
book an induftry proportionable to the load of their contri
IX- butions, and to the patience neceffary to fupport the
burden of them. If to the enormous expences of the
ftate it were neceffary to add thofe which the pomp of
a court requires; if the prince were to employ in main-
taining the agents of tyranny what ought to be be-
flowed on the foundations of a land obtained, ask
were, from the fea, he would foon drive the people to
defpair.
The inhabitant of Holland, placed upon a moim-
tain, and who obferves at a diftance the fea rifing eigh-
teen or twenty feet above the level of the lands, and
dafhing its waves againft the dykes he has raifed, con-
fiders within himfelf, that fooner or later this boifterous
element will get the better of him. He difdains fo
precarious a dwelling; and his houfe, made either of
wood or ftone at Amfterdam, is no longer looked upon
•as fuch : it is his fhip that is his afylum ; and by de-
grees he acquires an indifference and manners conform-
able to this idea. The water is to him what the vici-
nity of volcanos is to other people.
If to thefe natural caufes of the decay of a patriotic
fpirit were joined the lofs of liberty, the Dutch would
quit a country that cannot be cultivated but by men
who are free ; and thefe people, fo devoted to trade,
would carry their fpirit of commerce, together with
their riches, to fome other part of the globe. Their
Iflands in Alia, their fadories in Africa, their colonies
in America, and all the ports in Europe, would afford
them an afylum. What fladtholder, what prince, re-
vered by fuch a people, would wifh, or dare, to become
their tyrant?
A fenfelefs, ambitious man, or a ferocious warrior,
might poffibly attempt it. But among thofe who are
deftined to govern the nation, are fuch men rarely to
be found. Every thing feems to confpire in exciting
the greateft apprehenfions in the republic upon this
important point. There are fearce any natives on
board their fleets, except a few officers. Their armies
are compofed of, recruited, and commanded by »¦