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RIESBECK’S TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 287
rice of individuals ftifled every idea, both of her former power and the public good.
Her neighbours, in the mean time, acquired great ftrength; at length the Engplith
gave her a kick on the breech, and waked her out of her fleep: when the had opened
her eyes and feen how far fhe was gone backwards, -fhe {trove to make amends for her
negligence; but all her efforts were little better than grimaces, and only expofed her to
the derifion of the world.
LETTER, LXXI.
Ojtend.
SINCE this town has been made a free port, the trade of it has_very much increaf-
ed it is, however, much to be feared, that after the war it will relapfe into its former
infignificancy. All the Englifh, who are here, cry out on the dangerous entrance into
the haven, by ftormy north north-weft and wefterly winds, the narrow bafon, and the
want of many other conveniencies.
The fituation of Antwerp would have been much more advantageous for the ad-
vancement of trade, but the Dutch have locked up the mouth of the Scheld. Their
forts not only govern the river, as they fhould do according to treaty, but they have
literally {topped up the mouth of it. Sunken fhips filled with ftones, immenfe dykes of
ftone, pallifadoes, and other things of the kind, barely leave room enough for fmall
boats to go by. ‘I’wenty millions of guilders would not be enough, in twenty years, to
remove the impediments which the Dutch have laid in the way of the trade of
Antwerp. ;
There is no want of gold in Brabant and Flanders. Antwerp, Bruflels, Ghent, and
Bruges, are {till filled with the treafures which were amafled, when thefe towns were:
what England and Holland now are. The burgefles of thefe cities have a fhare in all
the great undertakings, and loans of the neighbouring nations. Their commerce of
exchange is immente, probably infurance is not fo fafe among the Dutch themfelves as
it is here. Antwerp is one of the moft famous places of infurance in. the world.—In
the laft Bavarian war, the court of Vienna, having determined to raife a loan in thefe
countries, were aftonifhed at the quicknefs with which the money was raifed ; but the
inhabitants of Ghent and Antwerp let the regency know, that if there was occafion for
three or four times as much, it would beas eafily procured. Ever fince that time the
court feems to know the value of its pofleflions in the Netherlands.
Notwithftanding this, the induftry in thefe countries is upon the whole very different
from what it was. The heirs of thofe treafures, which were accumulated between the
twelfth and fixteenth centuries, endeavour to make money of them in the eafieft way ;
nor is their way of living calculated to improve them to the utmoft. They are the
moft extraordinary compound of flothfulnefs and induftry, ftupidity and acutenefs,
activity and cowardlinefs, goodnefs of heart and treachery, that can well be conceived.
An Englifhman once faid of them, ‘* They have the impudence of the French, without
their pleafantry ; the pride and bigotry of the Spaniards, without their fenfe of honour ;
the ferocity and harfhnefs of the Dutch, without their punctuality ; the debauchery of
the Germans, without their integrity ; and as to their bodies, they are blocks, from
which the carver attempted to make Englifhmen, but could not cut them out.” ‘he
picture is in general jult, as thefe inhabitants of the Netherlands are an affemblage of
all thefe nations.—But what they are moft conf{picuous for, 1s want of honour. You
muft have agreements in writing in all the common tranfactions of life. You are in
danger of being firft overcharged, and then carried into a court of juftice by every
II work.
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