Middlemen in English Business 361 



produce and sell their consignments of East India goods and English 

 wares. ^ 



Branch House. A merchant firm may conduct other houses, of 

 like kind, abroad and use these as means of carrying on their foreign 

 business. Such branch houses have distinct advantages which recom- 

 mend them to modern business. A branch house permits foreign 

 customers to fill orders without delay or the formalities connected 

 with long distance ordering, and to order small quantities; it impresses 

 the customer with a feeling of security in the responsibility of the dis- 

 tant firm; by it mistakes and disputes are easily adjusted and redress 

 efifected without delay which a long tedious correspondence entails; 

 and it may carry a Hmited stock of goods, and quote two prices, one 

 for prompt shipment from the branch, the other for shipment from 

 the home office.' 



The English merchant made use of the branch house. ^ His sons 

 and servants were trained up in these houses abroad. It was advan- 

 tageous to have one or more members of the firm five abroad and 

 conduct the branch house; the purchases could be made at first hand 

 and the course of foreign business more successfully provided for.'* 

 For this reason "the most capital houses of mercantile trade through- 

 out Europe" \vere generally composed of several partners; either a 

 partner resided abroad, or travelled abroad, "in order to make the 

 better judgment of the credit and fortune of their correspondents, 

 cement ties of commercial friendship with others, and extend their 

 traffic in general. "^ 



Conclusions. By these four means of connection, viz., supercargo, 

 factor, commission house, and branch house, the mercantile world was 

 put in close and intimate touch, one part with another. The larger 

 merchants effected a universal correspondence; "universal Merchants" 

 became common.^ The intensity of mutual interdependence grew 

 apace; the world of commerce became more sensitive, but at the same 

 time its general tenor became more stable and dependable. The 



^ "Increase and Decline of Trade," 31-2. 



- The above advantages are discussed in Mod. Bus., IX, 108. 



^ See Savary, Par. Neg., II, 525; Defoe, Com. Eng. Tr., I, 164. 



■" Savary, Par. Neg., II, 134; points out the adv'antages of resident partners at 

 Amsterdam, 1673. 



^ Postlethwayt, Diet., s. v. Mercantile College. 



^ Postlethwayt, Diet., s. v. Invoice; particularizes Sir John Lambert as I'exemple 

 par excellence of business connections and said his mercantile negotiations were 

 almost beyond the pitch of credit, having accounts with every conspicuous mer- 

 chant of Europe contemporary with him. 



