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king_n able_a england_n war_n 757 4 5.8269 4 false
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ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A30883 A discourse of trade by N.B. ... Barbon, Nicholas, d. 1698. 1690 (1690) Wing B707; ESTC R12426 26,245 107

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It is Useful for the Defence of the Government It Provides the Magazines of Warr. The Guns Powder and Bullets are all made of Minerals and are wrought by Traders Besides those Minerals are not to be had in all Countries The great Stock of Salt-peter is brought from the East Indies and therefore must be Imported by the Merchant for the Exchange of the Natives Stock The last Benefit is That Trade may be Assistant to the Inlarging of Empire and if an Universal Empire or Dominion of very Large Extent can again be raised in the World It seems more probable to be done by the Help of Trade By the Increase of Ships at Sea than by Arms at Land This is too large a Subject to be here Treated of but the French King 's seeming Attempt to Raise Empire in Europe being that Common Theam of Mens Discourse has caused some short Reflections which will appear by Comparing the Difficulty of the one with the Probability of the other The Difficulties of Raising a Dominion of very Large Extent especially in Europe are Many First Europe is grown more Populous than formerly and there are more Fortified Towns and Cities than were in the time of the Roman Empire which was the last extended Dominion and therefore not easily Subjected to the Power of any one Prince Whether Europe be grown more Populous Solely by the Natural Increase of Mankind There being more Born than Dye which first Peopled the World Or Whether since the Inhabitants of Europe being Addicted to Trade the ground is made more Fertile and yields greater Plenty of Food which hath prevented famine that formerly destroy'd great Numbers of Mankind So that no great Famines has been taken Notice of by Historians in these Last Three Hundred Years Whether by Dreining Great Bogs Lakes and Fens and Cutting down vast Woods to make Room for the Increase of Mankind the Air is Grown more Healthy So that Plagues and other Epidemical Diseases are not so destructive as formerly none so violent as Procopius and Wallsingham Report which destroyed such Vast Numbers in Italy that there were not left Ten in a Thousand and in other Parts of Europe not enough alive to Bury the Dead Whereas the Plague in 1665 the Greatest since did not take away the Hundredth Person in England Holland and other Countries where it Raged Whether since the Invention of Guns and Gun-Powder so many Men are not slain in the Wars as formerly Xerxes lost 260000 in one Battle against the Grecians ALEXANDER destroyed 110000 of Darius's Army Marius slew 120000 of the Cimbri and in great Battles seldome less than 100000 fell But now 20000 Men are accounted very great Slaughter Whether since the Northern People have fallen on Trade such vast Numbers are not destroyed by Invasions Whether by all those Ways or by which of them most Europe is grown Populous is not Material to this Discourse It is sufficient to shew That the Matter of Fact is so which does appear by comparing the Antient Histories of Countries with the Modern In the Antient Descriptions the Countries are full of Vast Woods wild Beasts the Inhabitants barbarous and as wild without Arts and the Governments are like Colonies or Herds of People But in the Modern the Woods are cut down and the Lyons Bears and wild Beasts destroyed no Flesh-Eaters are left to inhabit with Man but those Dogs and Cats that he tames for his Use Corn grows where the Woods did and with the Timber are built Cities Towns and Villages the People are Cloathed and have all Arts among them and those little Colonies and Families are increased into Greàt States and Kingdoms and the most undeniable Proof of the Increase of Mankind in England is the Doom-Day-Book which was a Survey taken of all the Inhabitants of England in the Reign of William the Conquerour by which it appears that the People of England are increased more than double since that time But since the Mosaical Hypothesis of the Increase of the World is generally believed amongst the Christians And the late Lord Chief Justice Hales in his Book of the Origination of Mankind hath endeavoured to satisfie all the rest of the World It would be mis-spending of Time to use any other Topick for the further Proof thereof than what naturally follows in this Discourse which is from the Different Success of Arms in the Latter and Former Ages In the Infancy of the World Governments began with little Families and Colonies of Men so that when ever any Government arrived to greater Heighth than the rest either by the great Wisdom or Courage of the Governor they afterwards grew a pace It was no Difficulty for Ninus that was the oldest Government and consequently the most Populous to begin the Assyrian Empire nor for his Successors to continue and inlarge it Such Vast Armies of Cyrus Darius Hystospis and Xerxes the least of their Forces amounting to above 500000 could not be Resisted when the World was but thin Peopled These great Armies might at first sight seem to infer That the World was more Populous than now because the Armies of the greatest Princes seldom now exceed the Number of Fifty or Sixty Thousand Men But the Reason of those great Numbers was They were not so well Skilled in Military Arts and shew that the World was in the Infancy of its Knowledge rather than Populous for all that were able to bear Arms went to the Wars And if that were now the Custom there might be an Army in England of above Three Million allowing the Inhabitants to be Seven Millions and by the same Proportion the King of France's Country being four Times bigger might raise Twelve Millions such a Number was never heard of in this World The next Difficulty against the inlarging of Empire by Arms is That since Printing and the Use of the Needle hath been discovered Navigation is better known and thence is a Greater Commerce amongst Men the Countries and Languages are more understood Knowledge more dispersed and the Arts of War in all Places known so that Men fight more upon equal Terms than formerly and like two Skilful Fencers fight a long Time before either gets Advantage The Assyrians Persians Conquered more by the Number of Souldiers than Discipline the Grecians and Romans more by Discipline than Number as the World grew older it grew wiser Learning first flourished among the Grecians afterwards among the Romans and as the Latter succeeded in Learning so they did in EMPIRE But now both Parties are Equally Disciplin'd and Arm'd and the Successes of War are not so great Victory is seldom gained without some Considerable Loss to the Conquerour Another Difficulty to the inlarging of Dominion by Arms is That the Goths Overcoming the greatest Part of Europe did by their Form of Government so settle Liberty and Property of Land that it is difficult for any PRINCE to Change that Form Whether the Goths were Part of the Ten Tribes as some are of