RiESBECK’s TRAVELS THROtTGH GERMANY.

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vifion of the waters ferve for any other purpofe, than to compel them the more, in pro-cefs of time, to overflow the middle of the country, for want of having fufficient ftrengthto maintain their old mouths.

Thefe canals, and the abundant diggings of turf, entirely divert this country, whichis the fport of the Rhine , the Maefe, and the fea, of all fecurity. In the direCt linebetwixt Rotterdam and Amfterdam, there is dyke upon dyke; all thefe hollows havebeen occafioned by the digging of the turf; moft of them are fo deep, that it is impof-fible to draw the waters pf them into the canals, which are on a level with the furfaceof the fea. What a ruin will take place, if once the waters of the neighbouring riversbreak in upon them, or endeavour to open a way through them! In.fhort, no Dutch *01 an can promife his children a durable habitation, faveonly the inhabitants of Guelder *land, which is nothing but fand, and thofe of Over-Yfifel and Drenthe , countries whichare almoft nothing but morafles and heaths, and throughout the habitations of colds, ca-tarrhs, and fevers.

Turn we our eyes from the phyfical fituation of the country to its prefent politicalone, which is much worfe.

Many fuperficial writers of the hiftory of Holland have obfer-ved, that the republic, wastoo young, and its conftitution not fufHciently firm and folid ; but this opinion has beencontroverted by a whole herd of Dutch writers, who have brought the brilliant parts oftheir hiftory to {hew, how little their conftitution had flood in the way of their unitedexertions. The event, however, has contradicted all the nonfenfe hitherto written onthe fubject. The brilliant actions performed by the anceftors of thefe men, were, inpart, the efteCt of a patriotic enthufiafm, which neither is, nor, by the nature of things,can be, of long duration in a republic entirely commercial, and partly arofe from thebenevolent and perfonal influence- of a demi-god of the houfe of Nafiau. Their opera-tions were never the refult of a folid conftitution, which keeps bodies in a regular de-gree of heat, and makes them aft with uniformity and alacrity. Even in the courfe ofthe war, in which the republic figured amongft the firft powers of Europe , it frequentlyexperienced, that the different members of the body were not well compared and con*tteCted together.

The enthufiafm of the inhabitants, the preflure of circumftances, and the aftoniftiingactivity of fome princes of Holland , could do wonders, and raife the republic above it-Telf, fo long as the other powers of Europe were not entirely formed, and did not knowthe whole of their ftrength; but fince thefe times, the latter have taken uncommonlytarge ftrides, and the republic has gone back, as it muft continue to do, for want of afufficient degree of internal ftrength. In thofe wars, in which the force of the repub*be (hone fo bright at fea, there was no naval power of Europe which poffeffed abovethirty ftffps of the line; the greateft force the Englilh could oppofe, confifted of twenty,

. ai td in the moft bloody engagements betwixt the two nations, there were hardly evertnore than twelve or fixteen on a fide; the fleets were, for the moft part, made up offrigates, and other lefler craft.

Thefe times are now long gone by; Great Britain has a hundred and four {hips of*he line, befides frigates. If by exorbitant taxes, the republic could even build a for-midable navy, it would be impoffible for it ever to man them. According to the lifts°f the admiralty, there are to be fixty {hips of the'line, with a proportionable number pffrjgates, ready for the fervice of the enfuing year ; but at this very moment, that theyhave but fixteen {hips, there is a cry for failors in every corner. The pay, it is true, hasbeen doubled, and projects have been given in to make ufe of part of the land troops in

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