In war, Defoe says, repeating a favourite axiom of his, "it is not the longest sword but the longest purse that conquers," and if the French get the Spanish crown, they get the richest trade in the world into their hands.

The French would prove better husbands of the wealth of Mexico and Peru than the Spaniards.

They would build fleets with it, which would place our American plantations at their mercy.

Our own trade with Spain, one of the most profitable fields of our enterprise, would at once be ruined.

Our Mediterranean trade would be burdened with the impost of a toll at Gibraltar.