INDUSTRIAL AND POLITICAL HISTORY OF 





INDUSTRIAL AND POLITICAL HISTOKY 

 ol' COMMERCE. 



<'ll A i :OBY. 



THE word " commerce " ia probably derived from two others, 



o tnretwtn," and signifies primarily the exchange of 



for commodities. In a general sense it is used 



:^iiiitw interchange of property between individuals or 



! in the following pages is mostly so employed. The 



us of the subject are as various as the interests concerned 



are manifold. A German writer saya : " How shall wo describe 



in detail ttio connection of the various relations of commerce ? 



1 of a lengthy exposition, lot us give a single proof, taken 



from recent f;irts. \\'luli> t - sun of the momentous 



.:! <!' July, 1806, was still shining on the bloody battle-field of 



with all its horrors, the telegraph brought new 



r8 from London, Paris, and other large places in the west of 



'jxs, to the German factories, and in consequence of these, 



are dwelt upon only no far a* they militate agabiwt the prin- 

 oiplM which have led mankind to produce, distribute, consume 

 replace, and accumulate wealth with a view to happinefn- 

 the like aim are in vow ti gated the phenomena of clam legisla- 

 tion, and the suicidal policy of those sovereign* wbo have 

 forbidden the diffusion of the rudiments of useful knowledge- 

 among their people. One consequence of such unenlightened 

 government has been that "the labour of the world has for 

 the most part been performed by ignorant men by the bond- 

 men and bondwomen of the Jews, by the Helots of Sparta, 

 by the captives that passed under the Roman yoke, by the 

 villeins, serfs, and skives of mediaeval and modern times." 



But it will be found that though the downfall of a people* 

 may have been accelerated by the ambition or incapacity of 

 rulers, yet the germs of decay are usually to be traced to the 

 sloth, self-indulgence, venality, and disregard of economic 

 virtues, exhibited long before, among all classes of the com- 

 munity. Where these vices prevail to any great extent, no 



fresh remunerative employment was given on the following nation can enjoy continued prosperity. Now, as in the days- 

 morning to the workmen, after they hod been long out of work. ' of old, nations are impoverished or flourishing, in the ratio of 

 ( \vii^' to the breaking up of the telegraph lines, the destruction their obedience to the groat moral laws, 

 of the railways, and the suspension of postal communication, 

 people in Prussia, Saxony, Thuringia, and Bavaria, at a much 



.shorter distance from the field of battle, did not learn until 

 1 days later how great an event history had to record 

 upon her tablets ; but that the war had taken a decisive turn, 

 and how in all probability it had occurred, the manufacturer 

 perceived on the very evening of the day of battle from the 

 orders that came to him from far distant places." 



There was a time, perhaps, when every man ministered to his 

 own wants, as there may still be parts of the world where the 



CHAPTER H. 



FIRST PERIOD : FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES TO THE FALL OF 

 THE WESTERN ROMAN EMPIRE, A.D. 476. 



Primitive Land Traffic Eiver Traffic Maritime Coasting Trade. 



1 . Primitive Land Traffic. Before gold became a medium 

 of exchange, production was restricted to those commodities 

 the exchange of which for others might generally be reckoned 



inhabitants have little or no social intercourse. Under such i upon. With the use of the precious metals as a common 

 conditions commerce could hardly exist. Nor could its range ! measure of value, industry and interchange were greatly facili- 

 be great when slaves were the agricultural labourers and the j tated. Enlarged trade required the whole time and energies 

 chief artisans, slave-owners the only men of property, and j of a class of men to negotiate between the producers of different 

 slave-traders the principal merchants. With the advent of nations. A class of merchants thus arose, whose business it 



freedom and the growth of municipalities commerce first became 

 general. 



Its tendency in our own day, whatever may have been the 

 case in past ages, is to equalise amongst millions the bless- 

 ings provided by Nature ; to diffuse as widely as possible an 

 abundance of the necessaries and comforts of life at the 

 least cost of human toil or suffering ; and thus, ultimately, to 



was to travel from place to place, observing where commodities 

 were to be spared, and where they were wanted, and devising 

 means for a transfer of the surplus of one country to supply 

 the deficiency of another. 



In its infancy, trade was carried on overland. Man did not 

 at first trust to the unknown waters even of rivers, but con- 

 fined himself to narrow routes between the various states. The 



remove that scarcity to which can be traced a large amount of ; dangers which beset a solitary journey led to the practice of 

 crime and misery. Through its instrumentality additional value ; travelling at fixed seasons and in large companies. Thus was 

 is given to commodities, by their conveyance from localities of obtained mutual protection, and at the same time the enjoy- 

 profuse or easy production, to others selected for their con- I ment of social intercourse. The earliest caravan trade had its 

 sumption ; though until the means of distribution be adequate, centre in Egypt, and dated from a period antecedent to the re- 

 supplies must continue irregular and costly. cords of history. The geographical position of this country made 

 Successful commercial transactions require powers of fore- it a convenient meeting-place, or medium of communication, 

 sight and combination. The merchant has not only to supply between Africa and Asia. All evidence points to a connection 

 the present wants of a locality, but also to anticipate future between the ancient Egyptians and those Semitic races which 

 wants. Still further, he must have just conceptions of the ' extended from the Levant to the plain of Shinar, and from the- 

 functions of credit a gigantic power for good, if well used, j high lands of Armenia to Yemen. The fertile valley of the 

 but, if abused, entailing the gravest evils panics, waste of Nile was the cradle of the social polity, the arts, and the 



wealth, and destitution. 



From the foregoing it will be evident that the history of 

 commerce, with which is interwoven the development of 

 mercantile associations, guilds, companies, and trade-unions, 

 the principles and practice of colonial policy, as well as much 

 of our legislation, is a subject of the highest importance. Yet 

 the duty of its culture has been hitherto neglected or mis- 

 understood amongst us ignored, almost without exception, in 

 our colleges and courses of public instruction. England, the 



sciences of Phoenicia and of Europe. Equally obscure as to its 

 origin and the conditions under which it was carried on was 

 the caravan trade of Bactria, now Bokhara, the country beyond 

 the mountainous border of North-west India. This was the 

 most remote region to which the Western caravans penetrated, 

 and here, as an emporium, the products of the unknown eastern 

 regions of Asia were brought to be exchanged for the merchandise 

 of the West. The district over which overland traffic extended 

 thus coincided with the geographical range of the camel an 



most commercial country in the world, has allowed the neigh- I animal whose association with the caravan trade from the 

 bouring states of Holland and Germany to outstrip her in j earliest times has entitled it to the name of the " ship of the 

 attention to commercial literature, and in adequate provision I desert." The route of a caravan westward, heavily laden with 

 for its study. The consequences have been serious ; for, as the silk-j and precions stones, ivory, pearls, and spices, was by 



possession of knowledge always tends to the application of 

 knowledge, so ignorance entails the loss of opportunities. 



Public opinion appears to be at length aroused to a sense of 

 this neglect, and to the means for its removal ; if so, wo may 

 hope that in proportion to the spread of information on points 

 of economic science and experience there will be less of " wilful 

 waste and woeful want," and that even decennial commercial 

 crises may become things of the past. 



In a history of commerce, the destructive agencies that have 

 disturbed society, and the aggrandisement of states by plunder, 



way of Herat in Afghanistan, and Ecbatana in Persia, Besides 

 these cities, the halting-places were valleys and plains fertilised 

 by water, and by the refreshed and grateful travellers of old 

 described as paradises upon earth. 



In India, elephants were used. The merchants travelled alone, 

 caravans not being common. 



2. Eiver Traffic. Traders in time acquired sufficient con- 

 fidence to entrust themselves and their wares to the easier 

 transit of rivers, wherever facilities for such means of com- 

 munication existed. The Nile must have been thus utilised 



