Letters concerning the English Nation/Letter X

by Voltaire

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LETTER X.

ON

TRADE.

AS Trade enrich'd the Citizens in England, so it contributed to their Freedom, and this Freedom on the other Side extended their Commerce, whence arose the Grandeur of the State. Trade rais'd by insensible Degrees the naval Power, whfch gives the English a Superiority over the Seas, and they now are Masters of very near two hundred Ships of War. Posterity will very possibly be surpriz'd to hear that an Island whose only Produce is a little Lead, Tin, Fuller's Earth, and coarse Wool, should become so powerful by its Commerce, as to be able to send in 1723, three Fleets at the same Time to three different and far distanc'd Parts of the Globe. One before Gibraltar, conquer'd and still possess'd by the English; a second to Porto Bello, to dispossess the King of Spain of the Treasures of the West-Indies; and a third into the Baltick, to prevent the Northern Powers from coming to an Engagement.

At the Time when Lewis XIV made all Italy tremble, and that his Armies, which had already possess'd themfelves of Savoy and Piedmont, were upon the Point of taking Turin; Prince Eugene was oblig'd to march from the Middle of Germany in order to succour Savoy. Having no Money, without which Cities cannot be either taken or defended, he address'd himself to some English Merchants. These, at an Hour and half's Warning, lent him five Millions, whereby he was enabled to deliver Turin, and to beat the French; after which he wrote the following short Letter to the Persons who had disburs'd him the abovemention'd Sums: "Gentlemen, I have receiv'd your money, and flatter my self that I have laid it out to your Satisfaction." Such a Circumstance as this raises a just Pride in an English Merchant, and makes him presume (not without some Reason) to compare himself to a Roman Citizen; and indeed a Peer's Brother does not think Traffic beneath him. When the Lord Townshend was Minister of State, a Brother of his was content to be a City Merchant; and at the Time that the Earl of Oxford govern'd Great-Britain, his younger Brother was no more than a Factor in Aleppo, where he chose to live, and where he died. This Custom, which begins however to be laid asfide, appears monstruous to Germans, vainly puff'd up with their Extraction. These think it morally impossible that the Son of an English Peer should be no more than a rich and powerful Citizens, for all are Princes in Germany. There have been thirty Highnesses of the same Name, all whose Patrimony consisted only in their Escutcheons and their Pride.

In France the Title of Marquis is given gratis to any one who will accept of it; and whosoever arrives at Paris from the midst of the most remote Provinces with Money in his Purse, and a Name terminating in ac or ille, may strut about, and cry, such a Man as I! A Man of my Rank and Figure! And may look down upon a Trader with sovereign Contempt; whilst the Trader on the other Side, by thus often hearing his Profession treated so disdainfully, is Fool enough to blush at it. However, I need not say which is most useful to a Nation; a Lord, powder'd in the tip of the Mode, who knows exactly at what a Clock the King rises and goes to bed; and who gives himself Airs of Grandeur and State, at the same Time that he is acting the Slave in the Anti-chamber of a prime Minister; or a Merchant, who enriches his Country, dispatches Orders from his Compting-House to Surat and Grand Cairo, and contributes to the Felicity of the World.