rom this decay of her shipping. Her wealth being in small
bulk on a few ships, following more or less regular routes, was easily
seized by an enemy, and the sinews of war paralyzed; whereas the
wealth of England and Holland, scattered over thousands of ships in
all parts of the world, received many bitter blows in many exhausting
wars, without checking a growth which, though painful, was steady. The
fortunes of Portugal, united to Spain during a most critical period of
her history, followed the same downward path: although foremost in
the beginning of the race for development by sea, she fell utterly
behind. "The mines of Brazil were the ruin of Portugal, as those of
Mexico and Peru had been of Spain; all manufactures fell into insane
contempt; ere long the English supplied the Portuguese not only with
clothes, but with all merchandise, all commodities, even to salt-fish
and grain. After their gold, the Portuguese abandoned their very soil;
the vineyards of Oporto were finally bought by the English with
Brazilian gold, which had only passed through Portugal to be spread
throughout England." We are assured that in fifty years, five hundred
millions of dollars were extracted from "the mines of Brazil, and that
at the end of the time Portugal had but twenty-five millions in
specie,"--a striking example of the difference between real and
fictitious wealth.

The English and Dutch were no less desirous of gain than the southern
nations. Each in turn has been called "a nation of shopkeepers;" but
the jeer, in so far as it is just, is to the credit of their wisdom
and uprightness. They were no less bold, no less enterprising, no less
patient. Indeed, they were more patient, in that they sought riches
not by the sword but by labor, which is the reproach meant to be
implied by the epithet; for thus they took the longest, instead of
what seemed the shortest, road to wealth. But these two peoples,
radically of the same race, had other qualities, no less important
than those just named, which combined with their surroundings to favor
their development by sea. They were by nature business-men, traders,
producers, negotiators. Therefore both in their native country and
abroad, whether settled in the ports of civilized nations, or of
barbarous eastern rulers, or in colonies of their own foundation, they
everywhere strove to draw out all the resources of the land, to
develop and increase them. The quick instinct of the born trader,
sho