350 Tradesman and Merchant — Commercial Population 



play, namely, the discovery, study and fostering of that market and 

 the connecting of the local and distant markets. This dealing in 

 place-markets may be called the "connective" fmiction. It is con- 

 cerned with the methods of business connection and the means and 

 use of communication. 



(.4). The Connective Function and the Facilities for its Performance. 



The merchant developed connections. The status and conditions 

 prevalent in a country \vith no, or an inactive, merchant class found 

 illustration in Turkey in the eighteenth century. An author in 1728 

 said the Turks had no course of exchange between the Capital and 

 other parts of the world; that they had no correspondence to the 

 distant parts of the world nor traded with merchants anywhere except 

 such as came immediately and directly to them; that they had no 

 postal system internal or foreign; and that they gave no credit in 

 trade. ^ But the very success of a merchant hinged upon his ability 

 as a "commercant," i.e., his ability to develop connections, relations, 

 organizations and dependencies in the empire of business.- English 

 merchants studied the manufactures and methods of foreign lands, 

 studied the wares desired by foreign markets,^ and introduced these 

 exotic things into the domestic production. The rise of a merchant 

 and tradesman class always preceded that of a manufacturing class.'* 

 Foreign luxuries became home necessities. The merchant was cos- 

 mopolitan, tra\'elled ^videly, came from his voyages full of new ideas, 

 with new customs, new goods; he initiated wants and a higher scale 

 of li\ing.^ 



This establishment of relations whereby things foreign were got for 

 the surplus of home industries was the most peculiar function of the 

 merchant. He pierced the unknown seas, discovered new realms, set 

 up factories and secured custom in the remote corners of the earth. 

 No less in deed than name was he a "Venturer." He ventured 

 against stiff opposition at home, en route, and abroad. Public opinion 

 was long opposed to him; his foreign wares competed with home 

 wares; he exported bullion; he practiced usury; his profits were con- 

 demned as unjustifiable and as the wages of iniquity. Pirates were 



1 Atlas Mar. et. Com., 173. 



-Mantoux explains Boulton's success at exploiting ^^'att's engine thus. See 

 Mantoux, 89. 



^ Postlethwayt, Diet., s. v. Manufacturers. 



^Ashley, Ec. Hist., I, 77. 



5 Houghton, Collection, IV, 62-6, discusses the reaction of exotic luxuries on 

 the life of the Kingdom. 



