A depopulated state (176) and a poor and destitute state are the same thing. The sad effects that several states have experienced make well known the importance of this truth. I will cite three examples everyone knows. By expulsing the Moors, Spain lost a part of its wealth, which we must estimate to be as much as and more than the acquisition of Peru, regardless of what we could say about the justice of either affair. France only became so rich and flourishing because of the great number of its people who, through their industry, brought in the best part of Peruvian gold, but it suffered a considerable shock to its wealth from the expulsion of the Protestants, for which the foreign countries to which (177) they went are grateful. The effects of the last war and the plague that now afflicts several provinces are doing considerable harm to the wealth of this beautiful Kingdom by decreasing the number of its people.
The Author[^1] of Le Détail de la France[^2] claims that the Kingdom’s revenues have fallen by five hundred million in forty years, which he believes could be reestablished in an hour by a declaration from the King that would remove the obstacles to consumption and to the cultivation of estates and would allocate the taille[^3] proportionally. I am surprised that such a judicious Author whose work is full of judicious reflections has not thought of the circumstances that I (178) have just put forward: five hundred thousand more mouths and five hundred thousand more hands in a Kingdom that could support and feed once again as many[^4] inhabitants as there are would do the job better with regard to consumption, the cultivation of estates, and consequently, to increasing the revenues of this excellent Kingdom.
The appalling cruelties that the Duke of Alba[^5] inflicted on the Netherlands long ago considerably reduced the wealth of these Provinces, that is, made the best part of his people leave.
Hungary, the country that is the most abundant in the world in all sorts of goods commonly called wealth, is only poor in relation to the (179) small number of its people. After the restitution of the freedom of conscience[^6] and other very wise establishments that his Imperial Majesty[^7] has just made to increase the number of people in this kingdom, it could one day become one of the most beautiful and wealthiest of Europe because a very large number of inhabitants can find necessary, convenient, and superfluous goods more easily there than elsewhere without going abroad. In addition, the efforts made there to enlarge cities, by establishing manufactures and large scale trade, will greatly help the fine plan of the Imperial Court.[^8]
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