Henry Constantin Cras. La Sagesse du Souverain dans la Inoyens de Rendre le Commerce Florissant [“The Wisdom of the Sovereign in Finding Ways to Establish a Flourishing Trade.”]

(ECONOMICS).

Elie Luzac

Leiden

1773

FIRST EDITION . Title in red and black and with engraved vignette.

The author describes here the economies of different countries during the course of various eras. He posits that freedom of religion is one of the prerequisites for creating a prosperous national economy, examples of failure in that regard is France - who drove out the Huguenots and Spain and Portugal who expelled the Jews. “Certainly the Inquisition is blind, superstitious and cruel for pushing the Jews to desert Portugal and Spain - [eventually] bringing them to Amsterdam, where wise-men welcomed them with kindness. There, the [Jews] encouraged flourishing trade practices which they spread around the world, while in Spain and Portugal [trade] collapsed. That is why in order to populate our provinces and have them grow prosperous, our wiser nations should welcome the stranger… and let all freely practice his religion” (p. 16).