northern nations for their produce; and that, therefore, the consequences hinted at, in case of further efforts on their part to injure England, are not only natural, but will be necessary and inevitable, and make Great Britain, by compulsion, bring into activity those resources, which her policy ought long ago to have rendered productive.

The French revolution has created political changes and connec tions, which have greatly altered commerce; their effects we already feel beneficially on the one hand, with some inconvenience on the other; but the consequences are hardly yet to be foreseen. It is not improbable, but the commerce of the north of Europe will undergo as great a change as we have seen that transitory guest undergo in any other quarter in former times. The great attention paid by the Russian government to promote the trade of the Black Sea is only equal to the efforts of Peter the Great, for establishing that in the Baltic, by removing it from Archangel in the White Sea, to Petersburg.

The Austrian Netherlands, which used to be the barrier of Holland

against the power and incursion of France, no longer exist; and as that barrier may probably never be reinstated, Holland can never resume her former commerce, confidence, security, and freedom; the vitals. of it are destroyed by the alliance of her new neighbour, whose maxims and principles are unfavourable to the growth of so delicate and tender a plant as commerce.

Whilst Holland remains subject to the control of France, its commerce will always be interrupted by the misunderstandings of the latter with any other power; and the navigation of that fine river, the Rhine, will be lost to the general purposes of mercantile conveyance, to which the Dutch devoted it, as it will always be at the command of France.

The next considerable river that has an extensive interior communication, is the Elbe, which can supply the loss of the Rhine in some measure; but we have seen that France, having Holland as an ally, the barrier, even to the Elbe, is lost; and so long as Hanover remains connected with Great Britain, and Holland holds its present situation, the commerce, which might be carried on by the mouth of the Elbe, will always be liable to interruption, in any misunderstanding betwixt Great Britain and France.

Unless the security of Hanover is by some means accomplished against the encroachments of France, the trade of the Elbe will always be conducted on a very precarious footing; and, as this event is at present uncertain, it will be useful to the commercial interests of Great Britain to point out other channels by which they may securely carry on her trade at present, and likewise in future, whenever a similar obstruction shall occur.

The French, violating the guarantee of the German empire, by occupying Hanover, naturally drove Great Britain to the necessity of blockading the rivers Elbe and Weser: at the first, commerce experienced a momentary check only; new channels, never thought of before, were then resorted to, attended, however, with inconvenience. Tonningen became the port of Hamburg, as well as did different ports. in Holstein; the details of which will be given in a future chapter, when treating of the trade of the rivers Elbe, Weser, and Ems.

As the ports of the two former rivers have at present no direct external mercantile intercourse, and that of the latter will ever be liable to interruption from the frequent regulations made in Holland, through the influence of France, it becomes necessary to point out the first secure channel that British shipping can approach with facility and advantage; and which has the most easy and extensive interior communication, free from the influence or interruption of France.

In treating of the trade of Stettin, a very extensive avenue will be found into the interior of Germany, not only by the river Oder, but by different canals communicating with the Elbe, by which channels, great part of the interior commerce of Prussia and Germany was carried on through Hamburg, previous to the blockade of that river, which will shortly communicate even with the Danube.

From Dantzic we shall see the trade to Austria and all the intermediate country, as well as from Konigsburg and Riga for all the South East trade, through those fine regions, quite down to the Black Sea, Turkey, and even Asia. Under the respective heads will be found particular details for the information of every one.

What will serve to shorten the voyage, and lessen the risk in carrying on the continental trade, by means of the Baltic and the channels de

scribed, is the canal of Rendsburg, through Holstein; it will save the circuitous, dangerous, and tedious voyage round the Skaw and the Cattegate, by having proper vessels adapted to pass through, as the Dutch and French now have.

When these channels, and the facilities by the way of the Oder to the Elbe, and the numerous branches of interior communication to the western and southern boundaries of the German empire, come to be more generally known, the difficulties will not be found so insurmountable, nor the interruption so great as the French were inclined to believe. In one point they may be mistaken, for, by diverting trade into other channels,. though rather more inconvenient, it will be amply compensated for, by possessing greater secu rity; so that Great Britain may long enough maintain the contest, while she will never again have occasion to dread the inconvenience, which France has.now occasioned.

To sum up the whole, the means of carrying on trade with. the interior of the continent will be clearly pointed out, in any event less unfortunate than that of the conquest of Denmark and Prussia, by that same power, which has already ruined the Austrian Netherlands, and the Seven United Provinces,

CHAP. II.

OF THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE IN GENERAL.

Its Extent, Seas, Lakes, Rivers, Canals, and interior Communication. Its Produce, Iron, Wood, Hemp and Flax, Linens, Tallow, Grain, &c.

THE immense extent of country in Europe and Asia, now comprehended under the general name of the Russian empire, has only

emerged from barbarism within these two centuries. Except in incursions and wars of depredation, the more ignorant portion of society has always been inferior in power to that which is the more enlightened.

Since the modern methods of making war, this distinction, given by civilization and wealth, has become infinitely greater than ever, and completed the superiority.

When Russia is more improved and better cultivated, as it no doubt soon will be, the exports and imports from other nations will greatly increase; besides, the navigation of the Black Sea, in a central situation, and surrounded by the finest and most fertile country in the world, if it was inhabited by a more wealthy and civilized race of inen, would greatly tend to the increase of trade.

Amongst other things that take place, as civilization is introduced, population increases with the means of existence. Countries that enjoy a fertile soil and fine climate attain ordinarily from one hundred and fifty, to two hundred inhabitants for every English square mile; but if Russia were only to attain to one-third of the lowest degree, (or fifty,) which is not quite equal to Poland, the population would then amount to one hundred and twenty-five millions, which would afford a degree of commerce, and be attended with an increase of power that must greatly change both the mercantile and political interests of Europe.

Within these two last centuries, this change began, and, during the reign of Peter the Great, one hundred years ago, its progress was accelerated. It ceased to increase so fast after the death of that monarch, till within these fifty years, under the late empress; since which time, it has advanced in power and importance with great rapidity.

As all over Europe the progress of advancement has been greatly accelerated, during the last thirty years of the eighteenth century, Russia has partaken of the general movement; but owing to its immense size, and its being far behind the others, it has changed still more

rapidly than any other; for in 1762, when the Empress Catharine mounted the throne, it was a second rate power; it is now not only in the first rank by land, but might soon be a second rate power at sea, if it knew its own resources.

The great means with which nature has furnished Russia, together with the example of other nations that are in a more advanced state, added to the facility with which arts, inventions, and improvements in general, are now disseminated, give its monarchs an ambition to make it that great empire for which it seemed by nature intended. The plans traced out by Peter the Great, lead naturally to the same end; so that, perhaps, there never was any country which, owing to a vast concurrence of circumstances, had so great an energy, both physical and moral, as we find combined in the Russian empire.

The revenues are at present but small, in comparison to the population,* and according to the extent still less; but they are increasing, and the value of money is greater there than in most other countries, so that, merely by a numerical comparison, the proportion is not fairly ascertained. The revenues of Russia, if estimated at ten millions sterling, will, in that country, go as far in military services and the main expenses of government as thirty millions would in England.

It was so late as the reign of Edward VI. that the commerce of Russia had its rise, when the celebrated Sebastian Cabot, who had already discovered Newfoundland, in the year 1553, fitted out three ships to discover a north-east passage to India and China: the command was given to Sir Hugh Willoughby, who unfortunately put into one of the harbours of Lapland with two of the ships, which were frozen in, and every soul perished. The command was afterwards given to Richard Chancellor, who was master of the other ship, and who had returned to England, after having landed at a monastery near the Dwina. Soon after this, Ivan Vassilievitch caused a harbour to be made, called

* From the 18th of February, 1803, to the 18th of February, 1804, there were married in the empire, 302,467 couples. Died 791,979 persons. Born 1,279,321, which last number, multiplied by 30, gives 38,379,650, for the population of Russia. In such accounts as those, nothing can be exaggerated, but much may have been forgotten, and something must have been omitted; so that 40,000,000 will be a fair estimate of people in that great empire.

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