NATIONAL IDEALS IN IRON TRADE 121 



considerable part upon the ideals or state of social opinion 

 that obtain in the nation, quite as much as upon the posses- 

 sion of suitable raw materials of manufacture, the skill and 

 capacity of its workers, and an advantageous geographical 

 position. Economists on the continent of Europe have not 

 hesitated to assert that a considerable portion of British 

 supremacy in manufactures is due to the state of unhindered 

 development that was possible in England, by reason of the 

 conditions of peace within her borders. The conditions are 

 certainly not favorable for successful manufacturing develop- 

 ment if the factories of a country are liable to interruption, or 

 even destruction, by sanguinary conflicts arising between 

 nations territorially conjointed. Economists say, and say 

 rightly, that England's long start in successful manufacture 

 and the acquisition of riches would not have taken place if 

 there had been periodical irruption of hostile feet within her 

 borders, as on the continent of Europe. A feehng of com- 

 fortable security as regards interference from without not only 

 produced a state of ease and wealth in England, but enabled 

 her capitalists to undertake enterprises in all quarters of the 

 globe to the benefit of the world at large. This feeling of ease, 

 security, and supremacy was accompanied by certain dis- 

 advantages which may be briefly stated. 



The landed interests in England, and in all European 

 countries, have always regarded themselves as a caste apart 

 from, and superior to, the other citizens of the state. A pre- 

 mium of social esteem has attached to the business of land- 

 owning, and to the pui*suits and pleasures of landowners, 

 which does not obtain with those having other occupations. 

 A stigma, or an amount of social disesteem, is attached to 

 those who do not belong to the landowning class, or to its 

 closely attached and dependent professions. These facts are 

 of great importance, since the landed interests have usually 

 constituted the governing classes, with all the privileges and 

 power that appertain thereto. 



The natural heritors of the successful British manufac- 

 turers of the sixth and seventh decades of the 19th century 

 have in many instances avoided the responsibilities incidental 

 to manufacture, preferring to play the part of a country gentle- 



