On the Commercial Strength of Great Britain 



480 



institutions, bafllecl the hopes of the 

 philanthropists of France; but the dis- 

 cussions and (lie suljsequcnt unhappy 

 wars rendered England, in a special 

 manner, the object of French cu- 

 riosity. 



It is too obvious that France has 

 fallen again under the domination of 

 those, who, too proud to receive a 

 lesson from calamity, seem studious to 

 carry her back a century. Such may 

 not be their profession, or even perhaps 

 their true object ; but they arc endea- 

 vouring to reconcile impossibilities, and 

 to produce beneficial result from the 

 discordant elements of arbitrary power 

 and personal industry. The latter is 

 the conseipience of civil liberty, and 

 can with no success be reconciled with 

 modern French police, French par- 

 liaments, French juries, and French 

 13 nance. 



The race, however, which grew into 

 manhood, and learnt to think, during 

 the revolution, is not extinct; and the 

 wisest of these are properly seeking to 

 effect, by amelioration, that which they 

 cannot hope for, even from counter-revo- 

 lution. As one means, they hold up 

 to their countrymen the example of 

 England, where the causes and efTects 

 are proved by experience, and hence 

 the researches and labours of M. 

 Dupin. 



We hope to see the legislators and phi- 

 losophers not of France only, but of all 

 the continental nations, visiting Eng- 

 land, as the sages of Rome visited 

 Athens, and those of Athens visited 

 Memphis, in order to survey the springs 

 of national prosperity, to draw lessons 

 of political economy and legislation, 

 and, by research and comparison, to 

 increase the common stock of liuman 

 enlightenment and happiness. 



The following analysis of the causes 

 of England's grandeur is eloquent, 

 striking, and just. 



" Such is the superiority of commer- 

 cial power ! A great example, which 

 has not hitherto been sufficiently appre- 

 ciated, will render this truth more 

 apparent. 



"The spectacle which tfie Roman peo- 

 ple exhibited, was that of an obstinate 

 miner, choosing his position, and ad- 

 vancing to the top from parallel to paral- 

 lel, in order to carry, one after another, the 

 various military posts of the world. At 

 length, insurmountable obstacles pre- 

 sented a barrier to its further progress; 

 its aggressive impulse was broken by the 

 resistance of the German, and the fugi- 

 tive elasticity of the Parthian; and con- 



[July 1, 



quest paused in its career, from lassi- 

 tude, before it reached the Indian. 



"'ihe empire, then, became over- 

 whelmed with the burden of its own 

 grandeur. In order to defend it, more 

 numerous armies were requisite than had 

 sufficed for its conquests. Neverthe- 

 less these clouds of soldiery, diifused 

 over an immense frontier, without rapid 

 and facile resources of transport and 

 concentration, found themselves iu all 

 quarters isolated and weak. When 

 warriors were insufficient, ditches and 

 walls were necessary to shelter Ihe em- 

 pire of the Scipios and Caesars from a 

 sudden coup de main of the barbarians. 

 But these barriers were useless, unless 

 manned by soldiers capable of defending 

 them. They were incapable of arresting 

 a sudden irruption of nations utterly 

 ignorant of the art oi' war. Compressed 

 on all sides, the empire narrowed its 

 circle with much greater rapidity than 

 it had extended it ; and it necessarily 

 repast the limits of all its successive ex- 

 cursions, till it reached the period of its 

 entire destruction. 



"If Rome had possessed a commercial 

 and maritime industry equal to that of 

 England, instead of neutralizing lier 

 various offensive armaments, she would, 

 on the contrary, have imparted impulse 

 to such as were defensive : she would 

 have directed them in the seasonable 

 moment on such points as were threa- 

 tened, and would have <lemonstrated 

 her universal superiority to the isolated 

 and intermitting aggressions of nations 

 nnacquaiiited with the resources of 

 civilization. The Britannic empire 

 possesses, therefore, in it.sclf, a principle 

 of resistance which the Roman empiie 

 wanted. This principle is that of com- 

 mercial power." 



With this argument we fully concur. 

 The recent example of the irruption of 

 the Ashantees is a case in point ; no one 

 can doubt the instantaneous facility of 

 repressing those savages beyond the line 

 of civilization, if they were a hundred 

 times more formidable and numerous. 

 The philosophical tone of the following 

 passage is striking, liberal, and true. 



" The lime was, when, to appreciate 

 correctly the true greatness and power of 

 a rival people, and to reveal the secret, 

 would have subjected the patriotic friend 

 of his fellow-citizens to the imputation of 

 being the enemy of their glory, and the 

 despiser of the superiority of a country, 

 preferring blindness of vision to faculty 

 cf sight. The parasites of nations, dan- 

 gerous and corrupting as the ilatlerers 

 of kings, heretofore thought it incum- 

 bent 



