The Dutch must be understood as they really are, the Middle Persons in Trade, the Factors and Brokers of Europe... they buy to sell again, take in to send out again, and the greatest Part of their vast Commerce consists in being supply'd from All Parts of the World, that they may supply All th World Again.
Daniel Defoe (1967). “A Plan of the English Commerce: Being a Compleat Prospect of the Trade of this Nation, as Well the Home Trade as the Foreign”
