tain he can have gained nothing by his
Conquests, if they have not rendered him Master of more Subjects, more
Riches, or greater Power. What I shall be able to offer upon these
Heads, I resolve to submit to your Consideration.

To begin then with his Increase of Subjects. From the Time he came of
Age, and has been a Manager for himself, all the People he had
acquired were such only as he had reduced by his Wars, and were left
in his Possession by the Peace; he had conquered not above one third
Part of _Flanders_, and consequently no more than one third Part of
the Inhabitants of that Province.

About 100 Years ago the Houses in that Country were all Numbered, and
by a just Computation the Inhabitants of all Sorts could not then
exceed 750000 Souls. And if any Man will consider the Desolation by
almost perpetual Wars, the numerous Armies that have lived almost ever
since at Discretion upon the People, and how much of their Commerce
has removed for more Security to other Places, he will have little
Reason to imagine that their Numbers have since increased; and
therefore with one third Part of that Province that Prince can have
gained no more than one third Part of the Inhabitants, or 250000 new
Subjects, even tho' it should be supposed they were all contented to
live still in their native Country. and transfer their Allegiance to a
new Master.

The Fertility of this Province, its convenient Situation for Trade and
Commerce, its Capacity for furnishing Employment and Subsistence to
great Numbers, and the vast Armies that have been maintained here,
make it credible that the remaining two Thirds of _Flanders_ are equal
to all his other Conquests; and consequently by all he cannot have
gained more than 750000 new Subjects, Men, Women and Children,
especially if a Deduction shall be made of such as have retired from
the Conqueror to live under their old Masters.

It is Time now to set his Loss against his Profit, and to shew for the
new Subjects he had acquired, how many old ones he had lost in the
Acquisition: I think that in his Wars he has seldom brought less into
the Field in all Places than 200000 fighting Men, besides what have
been left in Garrisons; and I think the common Computation is, that of
an Army, at the latter End of a Campaign, without Sieges or Battle,
scarce Four Fifths can be mustered of those that came into the Field
at the Begin