Middlemen in English Business 415 



were accelerated. The denser the population the more complex was 

 the technique of trade, but the degree of complexity outran the rela- 

 tive degree of density of population. The larger and concentrated 

 consumption caused a greater dependence upon commercial agents. 

 Local speciahzation of industry caused a like dependence. More 

 frequent and easier communication was wrought by the denser popu- 

 lation and occasioned a larger use of business men. Viewed in what- 

 ever light, the 10 per cent increase in population would call for a 

 higher per cent increase in the commercial population. 



In the second place, the knowledge of commerce was cumulative. 

 The experiences and practices of the preceding generations fructified 

 in the next. The ratio of daring and adventure might be constant or 

 decreasing, yet the commerce done be increasing. Furnished with 

 the data of past efforts and experiments at commerce, the less skillful 

 and venturesome could conduct a business which only the best and 

 elect could do heretofore. In other words, a larger per cent of the 

 people were assisted to the training requisite to the tradesman and 

 merchant and the doors of trade and commerce flung wide for them 

 to enter. 



A further opportunity for a larger commercial life consisted in the 

 greater freedom of trade. The medieval system of town monopoly, 

 town protection, gild control, and "well-ordered" market, was dis- 

 sohdng. The custom of "foreign bought and foreign sold" was 

 evaded or abandoned. The insistence on a term of apprenticeship 

 weakened and was neglected. The shopkeeper in his shop was sup- 

 planting the periodic direct exchange on the public market. The 

 license system for drovers, badgers, and pedlars, did not withstand 

 the movement toward freedom. The old restraints which hedged 

 about the alien merchants were removed.^ The monopolies of the 

 Tudors and early Stuarts were abolished. In nearly every respect it 

 was easier for the people to move into the sphere of commerce. 



Lastly, the foreign market was greatly extended by commercial 

 wars and treaties. Cromwell initiated the policy of extension, and 

 the century and a half that followed was a succession of wars with a 

 commercial motive. Portugal was transformed into an economic 

 dependency of England. India and America were added as colonies. 

 These fields of operations and of opportunity called forth a larger 

 merchant marine and a larger commercial population. 



The personnel of this commercial part of the people and its distribu- 



1 25 Chas. II, Cap. 6; Cap. 7; 1 Wm. & ISIary, Cap. 32. 



