406 Tradesman and Merchant — Commercial Population 



their interests were widely opposed; for instance, the interloper 

 merchants opposed the chartering of exclusive trading companies; but 

 where there was agreement, these legislative measures were reahzed. 



The most influential merchant in political affairs before the Revolu- 

 tion was Sir Josiah Child. ^ He was the autocrat of the East India 

 Company, and favorite at the court of Charles II. Child made 

 Charles man\' private loans, and, though a Whig and raised by Whig 

 influence to the governorship of the East India Company, he was 

 made a baronet by Charles. James II hated Child while Charles 

 was living, but Child turned Tory when James came to the throne 

 and became, as was said, "an abject slave of the Court, for purposes 

 of his own aggrandisement.'"' His Tor^-ism caused a schism in the 

 Company and Papillon led the opposing faction and interlopers dur- 

 ing the next decade. The Revolution of 1688 left him but little 

 influence at Court; the outward management was entrusted to other 

 hands, the real direction, however, remained covertly in his hands. 

 Child's secret in securing favor at Court with the Stuarts was the 

 gi\'ing of presents to all who could help or hurt at Court. He distrib- 

 uted bribes judiciously and prodigally and mastered the situation. 



After the Revolution the mercantile element, representati\-e of the 

 monied interests, found their opposition not in the Court but in the 

 landed nobility and interests. The struggle centered in parhamentary 

 elections; the control of the Commons was the all important objective. 

 Money became the means. The borough system of representation 

 and representatives' playing for local interests made Parhament 

 peculiarly adapted for plutocratic intervention. No less did the 

 exaggerated esteem for wealth and riches easily gained that prevailed 

 among the upper classes contribute to the success of monied men. 

 Besides the conduct of the State devolved more fully into the hands of 

 the sovereign and his ministers than it could in a more democratic 

 go\'ernment. The sovereign and ministers could be kept in subjec- 

 tion to the monied class by a venal control of the House of Com- 

 mons; Accordingly, an all-pervading system of bribery and corrup- 

 tion was developed, and reached amazing proportions under Walpole's 

 masterful hand. Plutocracy prevailed almost ever\^vhere in the 

 go\'ernment.^ A renowned statesman expressed the situation by his 

 confident statement, "All these men have their price," referring to 



' Consult Bourne, Eng. ]\Ier., 240 el seq.; Scott, II, 128-189. 



2 See Macaulay, VI, 142; Bourne, 241; Scott, II, 145-167. 



^ See such contemporary writings as" Collection of Debates;" Da\enant, Works 

 IV, 128; Burnet, Hist, of his Own Time, IV, 362; and such recent works as Cunning 

 ham. Growth, IT. ^04-5; Macaulay. Hist., IV, 385-6, 498. 



