Preindustrial Europe: Science, the Economy, and Political Reorganization 307(reigned 1702–14), Parliament showed an unprece-
dented willingness to open its purse and support mas-
sive outlays for war, knowing that a weakened
monarchy could not use the money to subvert the free-
doms of its subjects.
The wealth that underwrote England’s command of
the sea and financed the campaigns of Marlborough on
land came from nearly a century of unparalleled eco-
nomic growth. England’s growing commercial strength
was based in part on geographic advantage. Faced with
the implacable hostility of Louis XIV, the Dutch were
forced to spend much of their wealth defending their
borders on land. England, an island, was spared this ex-
pense. Moreover, with their deep water ports and loca-
tion to windward of the continent, the English could
disrupt Dutch trade by blocking access via the English
Channel. The Anglo-Dutch wars of 1652–53, 1665–66,
and 1672–73 were fought over this issue. As George
Monk, the English general-at-sea in the Second Dutch
War said: “[W]hat we want is more of the trade the
Dutch now have.” Dutch seamen acquitted themselves
well, but the cost of battles in which more than a hun-
dred ships might be engaged on each side, together
with the need to provide convoys for trading vessels
even in peacetime, gradually eroded their competitive
advantage (see document 16.6).
Even favorable geography probably could not have
given England a decisive lead had it not been for a sys-
tem of credit and finance that became the envy of Eu-
rope. The revolution of 1688 paved the way for the
land tax of 1692 and the extension of excise taxes to a
wide range of consumer goods. England acquired the
benefits of permanent taxation for the first time in its
history. The Bank of England, established in 1694, then
stabilized English finances by underwriting government
war loans. In the eighteenth century it became the firstDOCUMENT 16.6
Dutch Trade in Decline
The problem of maintaining Dutch trade reached a crisis during the
War of the Spanish Succession (1702–13), when the conflict closed
many traditional markets. The following memo was presented to the
States General in 1706 by Adrianus Engelhard Helvetius, who points
out that Holland’s English allies were quick to take advantage of his
countrymen’s misfortunes.
The commerce of the United Provinces in Europe has
never been in worse condition than it is today. During the
course of earlier wars, although Dutch vessels were also
open to the attacks of privateers, at least they could take
refuge in the Atlantic and in the Mediterranean ports un-
der Spanish rule, which are now closed to them. Further-
more, even when they were completely barred from the
trade of France, they still continued to ply both the Baltic
trades, which they continue to enjoy, and the trades of
Spain, the kingdoms of Naples and Sicily, and Spanish
Flanders, which now they have good reason to miss. Not
only is the market greatly reduced for their cloth, both of
their own manufacture as well as that made in India and
the Baltic, and for their other wares, spices, salt fish, etc.,
but they are also deprived of the profitable return trade in
wool, wine, and necessary commodities....
As a result, there are frequent bankruptcies, word of
which scares people and discourages them from entrusting
money to the merchants, whose own funds are limited, as
they are in the habit of doing in peacetime. This decline
even affects the domestic commerce of the country, which
is suffering badly, especially thanks to the cunning manip-
ulations of the English, who take advantage of the oppor-
tunity to raise themselves upon the ruins of their allies.
The English, a people as fierce as they are capable,
being convinced that the States General need their help
so badly that they would not dare dispute anything with
them, follow the maxim of making the Dutch pay their
auxiliary troops, even when they are engaged in battle.
They supply them with goods of every kind, sending
cloth and Indian fabrics which are forbidden in England,
butter, tallow, even manufactured candles, grain, etc., and
in this they manage to make a profit on the support of
troops for which they ought to be paying themselves.
Helvetius. “Mémoire sur l’état présent du Government des Provinces
Unis.” In M. van der Bijl, ed., Bijdragen en Mededeldingen van het His-
torisch Genootshap 80(1966), 226–227, trans. Herbert H. Rowen, The
Low Countries in Early Modern Times. A Documentary History.New
York: Harper & Row, 1972.