0, by
which English commerce, with the exception of contraband of war, was
allowed to go on with ports of the enemy. The absurdity and falsehood of
this pretext being fully exposed in the pamphlet we are about to
reprint, we will only remark that the case had been more than once
decided against commercial nations, not bound, like England, by treaty
to defend the integrity of the Swedish Empire. In the year 1561, when
the Russians took Narva, and laboured hard to establish their commerce
there, the Hanse towns, chiefly Luebeck, tried to possess themselves of
this traffic. Eric XIV., then King of Sweden, resisted their
pretensions. The city of Luebeck represented this resistance as
altogether new, as they had carried on their commerce with the Russians
time out of mind, and pleaded the common right of nations to navigate in
the Baltic, provided their vessels carried no contraband of war. The
King replied that he did not dispute the Hanse towns the liberty of
trading with Russia, but only with Narva, which was no Russian port. In
the year 1579 again, the Russians having broken the suspension of arms
with Sweden, the Danes likewise claimed the navigation to Narva, by
virtue of their treaty, but King John was as firm in maintaining the
contrary, as was his brother Eric.

In her open demonstrations of hostility against the King of Sweden, as
well as in the false pretence on which they were founded, England seemed
only to follow in the track of Holland, which declaring the confiscation
of its ships to be piracy, had issued two proclamations against Sweden
in 1714.

In one respect, the case of the States-General was the same as that of
England. King William had concluded the Defensive Treaty as well for
Holland as for England. Besides, Article XVI., in the Treaty of
Commerce, concluded between Holland and Sweden in 1703, expressly
stipulated that no navigation ought to be allowed to the ports blocked
up by either of the confederates. The then common Dutch cant that "there
was no hindering traders from carrying their merchandise where they
will," was the more impudent as, during the war, ending with the Peace
of Ryswick, the Dutch Republic had declared all France to be blocked up,
forbidden the neutral Powers all trade with that kingdom, and caused all
their ships that went there or came thence to be brought up without any
regard to the nature of their cargoes.

In another respect, the situation of Holland was different from