INDUST1MM, AND POLITICA < >RY OF COMMI 



wore passod, even thus early, to prevent nativ. industry from 

 being i tli.- influx. !' tao necessaries and com: 



; v II. ini'ori'onitc'l the' weavers of London, 



. -o them many privileges, condemning all foreign w.iol t . 



'nt. 



rd I. and Edward III. wore warlike rulers, continually 

 . i need of pecuniary subsidies, and unscrupulous aa to the 

 moans by which they obtained them. They perceived that 

 trade was a main source of wealth, and so far, therefore, they 

 encouraged tiin pursuits of industry. Kdward I. opened English 



merchants of Germany, Franco, tho Netherlands, 

 .1, Spain, l...i:il.:ir.!y. and Tuscany, but he confiscated 



- of 1G.5UO industrious Jews, whom ho banished 

 from tho kingdom, thereby displaying religious fervour, while 

 bringing lucre to tho well-nigh exhausted treasury, and relieving 

 himself of enormous debts. Edward III. granted the weavers, 



ind fullers of Flanders exclusive privileges, to induce them 

 lo in tho kingdom, yet at tho same time fettered tho grant 

 with absurd regulations to prevent their growing rich or proud. 

 A citizen of London in the same reign waa executed for using 

 coal as fuel, after it had boon forbidden. The clamour against 

 coal may bo more easily understood when wo remember that 

 hiinneys and glass windows were luxuries not as yet commonly 

 enjoyed, and that the smoke from fires had to make its escape 

 from crevices in the buildings. Tho first export of coal was 

 from Newcastle to France, in 1325. About this time, also, 

 textile fabrics were first exported from England. Woollen cloths 

 were manufactured at Bristol, London, and Norwich. Linen 

 and silk-weaving began to flourish. The hardware manufacture, 

 however, was still bound down by heavy duties, and tin vessels 

 mode in Malta, from ore raised in England, formed a portion of 

 tho imports. 



How rapidly a native marine was formed may be judged by 

 the fact that tho Cinque Ports, which for special immunities 

 granted at tha Conquest were bound to furnish merchant vessels 

 for use in war when required, supplied but five of such vessels 

 for tho use of Edward I. ; while, together with London, Bristol, 

 and Southampton, they furnished 710, manned by over 14,000 

 sailors, for the service of Edward III. in tho siege of Calais. 



This was tho era of tho merchant princes whose names are 

 landmarks in English history. The family of tho Do la Poles, 

 merchants of Hull, were distinguished for their great wealth, 

 amassed in commercial pursuits in the reign of Edward III. 

 Between that period and the roign of Henry VIII., tho Do la 

 Pole family produced a Lord Chancellor, and acquired succes- 

 sively an earldom, a marquisate, and a dukedom ; and this was 

 not an exceptional example of commercial prosperity. The 

 wealth of Canynge, five times mayor of Bristol in the reign of 

 King Henry VI., is attested in the stately structure of St. Mary 

 Iledcliffe, tho " Pride of the West," one of the finest examples of 

 our ecclesiastical architecture, and also in the still active charities 

 of that city. Still more renowned is Sir Richard \\Tiittington, 

 thrico Lord Mayor of London, who had " right liberal and largo 

 hands" to all poor people, and tho fame of whoso wealth has 

 ^'ivon rise to one of our commonest nursery stories. 



Wealth arising out of industry and commerce produced great 

 changes in national manners and customs. A powerful middle 

 class was created, jealous of their rights, and profiting by the de- 

 pression of the barons during the Wars of the Roses. These 

 conflicts long diverted the attention of the English people 

 from tho vast natural resources with which they were favoured. 

 Iberians, Italians, Danes, Norwegians, and Germans, who had, 

 from their offices in London, heretofore controlled the foreign 

 trade, now obtained for many years a new and undeserved lease 

 of our matchless coast and harbours. At the accession of tho 

 House of Tudor, however, if the magnitude of Dutch, German, 

 or even French trade had not been reached, there had, never- 

 theless, boon laid by England tho foundations of a commerce and 

 an opulence destined to excel and outlast tho prosperity of 

 nations much earlier in the race. 



SCOTLAND. The trade of Scotland was of less importance than 

 that of England. Fisheries were carried on along tho coasts, 

 and a few coarse o'loths were woven in the towns. The exports 

 /ere chiefly raw materials, some of which were carried in 

 Scottish ships. The commodities comprised wool, beavers' 

 skins, hides, oxen, horses, and sheep, and were consigned for tho 

 most part to the Low Countries. 

 IKKLAND. Irish commerce resembled that of Scotland and 



England, and in Importance ranked between the two. Dahlia. 

 Watorford, Cork, and Droghed* were prosperous port*, dealing in 

 (lidos, HkitiM, wool, and flub, and to sonw extent in grain. Woollen 

 and linen goods wore exported to a mall extent The OOB- 

 morcial impoats wore light, which gave the country the advan- 

 tage of poHH6Hning comparative freedom of trade. 



CHAP. XX1V.-COMMEKCIAI, KINGDOMS OF KORTHEBIf 



KUJiOPE. 



RUSSIA. Russia wan the last of the states of Europe to emergt 

 from barbarism. In tho Middle Ages a great part of the country 

 was barely known, and many district* now belonging to the 

 empire had not then boon conquered. The shores of the Black 

 Sea were visited by Greeks, Byzantines, Venetians, and Genoese, 

 who successively competed for tho exhaostless supplies of raw 

 materials, such as forest products, furs, metal*, and grain brought 

 down to the maritime depots situated in the Crimea and at the 

 mouths of the Danube. 



Tho rude commerce carried on by these several adventurers 

 in one part of tho Russian dominions was so restricted from 

 various causes, that in order clearly to understand it we most 

 learn something of the political history of the country. The 

 name " Russians " included various tribes. The Russian mo. 

 narchy waa established (862) by Rnric, a daring freebooter of the 

 Baltic. He and his brothers were chosen sovereigns over the 

 Sclavonian Boyards and Finnish tribes, in order to appease their 

 continual feuds. The brothers, Inco and Truvor, soon died, and 

 left Ruric undisputed monarch. He waa a chief of Varangia, a 

 Norse or Scandinavian kingdom founded by Ingvar the Great 

 on the east coast of the Baltic. The Vikings or Varangians 

 called themselves Itusini, from the district of Sweden whence 

 they were originally derived, and Rune's subjects now adopted 

 tho same name, and designated their country Rus. Skira, son of 

 Ingvar, had chosen Novgorod as his capital, and until 882 it waa 

 both the residenco of the Russian sovereigns and the principal 

 mart of the kingdom. Its chief trade waa with Constantinople, . 

 and its natural advantages were a fertile soil, producing grain 

 and fibres ; large forests, supporting innumerable animals ; and 

 navigable rivers flowing into the Euxine. Novgorod retained 

 its importance after the seat of government waa removed to 

 Kiev. Its population in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries 

 fell not far short of half a million, of whom 30,000 boasted 

 they were skilled in warlike horsemanship. Under Vladimir 

 tho Great, who married the daughter of the Greek emperor, 

 Basil II., Novgorod became the emporium of a great commerce. 

 Fairs were held, and a prodigious amount of business waa trans- 

 acted. These fairs afterwards fell into decay. Pleskov, on Lake 

 Peipus, shared the trade and the decay of Novgorod, while 

 Moscow assumed by degrees the commercial importance which 

 had belonged to both. The great market-place of Moscow, soon 

 known as tho "Hostinoydvor" or Strangers' Court, waa fur- 

 nished with 5,000 counters or benches of stone. Encircled by 

 a boundless steppe, and enjoying excellent water communica- 

 tion, the trade of Moscow waa unimpeded throughout the year ; 

 boats or rafts formed the means of communication in summer; 

 and in winter, sledges driven over the frozen snow. K 

 second capital of Russia, situated on the Dnieper, and now 

 regarded as the sacred city of the Greek Church, traded with 

 Constantinople and with the Italian cities to an extent perhaps 

 greater than did either Novgorod or Moscow. Kazan was the 

 chief entrepdt of the trade of Northern and Central Asia. It 

 was the capital of 'an independent Tartar state, and, though con- 

 nected with Russia by trade, it waa not annexed until the year 

 1552, by Ivan IV. The plains of Kazan are fertile, and afford 

 riih pastures for cattle, the rearing of which, together with 

 fishing, are the chief native occupations. The civilising influ- 

 ences of commercial intercourse were slow in penetrating Russia. 

 Novgorod and Pleskov were the only towns which possessed the 

 privilege of a free market. All other marts were so fettered, 

 that trade could not flourish. The Boyards, as the Russian 

 nobles were called, kept aloof from intercourse with foreigners ; 

 and it was not till the time of Peter the Great that Russian 

 prejudices were broken down how, we shall see. 



SWEDEN. -Sweden was in every respect the most important 

 of the three northern kingdoms inhabited by the Scandinavian 

 race. A more extensive country than Norway and Denmark 

 taken together, ita power, both political and commercial, in the 



