John Cowan wrote:
> Roger Mills scripsit:
>
> > First day on the job, a co-worker recited a wonderful little quatrain
about
> > the Dutch, of which I only remember the last line---
>
> Probably George Canning (1770-1827, Prime Minister of the U.K. for a
> few months of 1827). In 1826 he sent a coded dispatch to the British
> Ambassador to the Netherlands:
>
> In matters of commerce the fault of the Dutch
> Is giving too little and asking too much;
> With equal protection the French are content
> So we'll lay on Dutch bottoms just twenty percent.
>
Hmm, close. Knew I could count on you! I suppose the version I heard was
somebody's adaptation-- it was _all_ about the Dutch, didn't mention the
French.