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Doc. 168.] 473
SWEDEN’S FINANCES.
trade is preserved, the country and its inhabitants are made
wealthy, and the wealth and the produce of other nations flow
into their treasury.
From the accompanying lists it appears,
I. That Sweden has been deprived of the considerable
revenues which it used to derive from those countries now
conquered by her enemies, from Liefland, Ingermanland, Wi
borg, Stettin, Bremen, and Zweibrücken, and which amounted
annually to several millions of florins, received into the public
exchequer, and which thence flowed into the pockets of her
subjects, and thus contributed to the welfare of the people,
in general and in particular. But inasmuch as these con
siderable sums are no longer available, no other means are
left to make up the deficiency, but by improving the commerce
and developing the resources of Sweden , so that those sums
which have been lost by misfortune, may be made up again
by industry.
II. From these same accounts it also appears that the
advantages that used to result from the traffic abroad, and
that used to accrue to the benefit of our own merchånts from
the carriage of merchandize, must now be left in the hands
of foreigners; because Swedish ships have become dilapi
dated during the weary years of war, and the capital of our
business men has been diminished, so that foreign merchants
now gain the whole profit, which Sweden, during the reign of
Charles XI, with so much difficulty and toil had acquired,
and whereby insensibly many tons of gold are lost annually to
the country.
III. There must be also deducted here the loss which
Sweden must put up with in future, by being separated from
those countries which were formerly incorporated with it,
and which were an incredible source of gain and profit to
Swedish merchants, who were able to work into one another’s
hands, in the conveyance of goods and merchandize from the
various sea-ports in the Baltic, without mentioning any other
than grain, hemp, oak, pitch, and tar, which form an im
portant item in the computation of the balance.
IV. From the accompanying lists it also appears that the
most valuable property and the surest source of income which
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