Sept. 13, 1888] 



NATURE 



48; 



In the seventh and eighth centuries the Arabs overran the whole 

 of Central Asia, and the carrying trade by sea and by land pa-sed 

 into their hands. Profound modifications were thus introduced 

 into the commercial intercourse between the East and the West. 

 All land traffic from the East was directed upon Baghdad, which 

 became the distributing centre whence goods were despatched by 

 the ancient trade routes to the West, and which almost rose to 

 the splendour of Babylon. On the sea the Arabs regained their 

 old reputation ; they sailed direct from the Red Sea to Cape 

 Comorin, and from Ceylon to the Malay Peninsula, and extended 

 their voyages to Kanpu, on a delta arm of the Yang-tse-Kiang ; 

 they established factories in the Indian Ocean, and, in the eighth 

 century, were so numerous in Canton as to be able to attack and 

 pillage that city. Their only rivals were the Chinese, whose 

 junks visited the Euphrates and Aden, and brought silks and 

 spices to the Malabar coast to be there exchanged for the raw 

 material and manufactures of the West. 



The Eastern produce brought by the Arabs to the ports of the 

 Mediterranean was conveyed to Europe by the merchants of 

 Venice, Genoa, Pisa, and other towns, who also traded to Con- 

 stantinople and the Black Sea. Venice from its geographical 

 position was well adapted to be the intermediary between the 

 East and Central Europe, and even before the rise of Islam a 

 large share of the carrying trade of the Mediterranean had fallen 

 into its hands through the apathy and luxurious indolence of the 

 Byzantines. It is unnecessary to trace the rise of Venice or dis- 

 cuss the impetus given by the Crusades to commercial intercourse 

 between the East and Western Europe ; it will be sufficient to 

 note that in the first quarter of the fifteenth century the carrying 

 trade of the Mediterranean was wholly in the hands of the Vene- 

 tians, and Venice had become the distributing centre for all 

 Europe. Venetian fleets, well guarded by war galleys, sailed at 

 stated times for Constantinople and the Black Sea ; for Syria and 

 Egypt ; for France : for Spain and Portugal, and for Holland. 

 Prom the ports in those countries, as well as from Venice herself, 

 the products of the East were carried inland over well-defined 

 trade routes, and cities such as Pavia,'Niirnberg, and Bruges, 

 the emporium of the Hanseatic League, rose to importance as 

 entrepots of Eas'ern commerce. 



The victorious advance of the Turks, the fall of Constantinople, 

 the piracy in the Mediterranean, and the termination of all inter- 

 course with China on the decline of the Mongol dynasty in the 

 fourteenth century, combined with other circumstances to turn 

 men's minds towards the discovery of a more convenient way to 

 the East. India was the dream of the fifteenth-century merchant, 

 and how to reach it by a direct sea voyage was the problem of 

 the day. The problem was solved when Yasco de Gama reached 

 the shores of India on May 20, 1498 ; and its solution was due 

 to the wise policy of a great grandson of Edward III., Prince 

 Henry of Portugal, "the Navigator,'' who unfortunately died 

 before success was attained. The discovery of the Cape route 

 was no mere accident, but the result of scientific training, deep 

 study, careful preparation, and indomitable perseverance. Prince 

 Henry having determined to find a direct sea route to India, in- 

 vited the most eminent men of science to instruct a number of 

 young men who were educated under his own eye, and in a few 

 years he made the Portuguese the most scientific navigators in 

 Europe. The Miccessful voyage of Vasco de Gama soon produced 

 important results ; the saving in freight by the direct sea route 

 was enormous, and when it became generally known that the pro- 

 ducts of the East could be obtained much cheaper in Lisbon than 

 anywhere else, that city became the resort of traders from every 

 part of Europe. From Lisbon, Indian commodities were carried 

 to Antwerp, which soon became the emporium of Northern 

 Europe. By these changes the trade of Venice was almost 

 annihilated, and Lisbon became the richest commercial city in 

 Europe. The \enetians had endeavoured to confine commerce 

 within its existing limits, and to keep to the trade routes then in 

 use. They had never made any attempt to enlarge the sphere of 

 nautical and commercial enterprise, and the consequence was 

 that their ablest seamen, imbued with the spirit of adventure, 

 took service in the Western States. When the Cape route was 

 discovered, instead of attempting to secure a share in the direct 

 sea trade, they entered into an alliance with the Sultan of Egypt 

 to crush the Portuguese, and built a fleet for him at Suez which 

 was defeated by Almeida in 1508. After this defeat the trade of 

 Venice soon passed away. 



Since the discovery of the Cape route there has been one long 

 struggle for the possession of the commerce of India ; who should 

 be the carriers and distributors of Indian commodities was for 



more than two and a half centuries a much contested point 

 amongst the maritime nations of the West. At first there seems 

 to have been a general acquiescence in the claim of the Spaniards 

 and Portuguese to a monopoly of the southern sea-route--, and 

 this led to those heroic efforts to find a north-east or north-west 

 passage to India which have so greatly added to our geographical 

 knowledge. Failure in this direction was followed by attempts 

 to reach India by the Cape in the face of the hostile attitude of 

 Spain and Portugal. The mighty events which in turn trans- 

 ferred wealth and commerce from Lisbon to Antwerp, Amster- 

 dam, and the banks of the Thames are matter of history, and it 

 is scarcely necessary to say that at the close of the Napoleonic 

 wars England remained undisputed mistress of the sea, and had 

 become not only the carrier of all ocean-borne traffic, but the 

 distributing centre of Indian goods to the whole world. A 

 period of keen competition for a share in the commerce of India 

 has again commenced amongst the States of Europe, and symp- 

 toms of a coming change in the carrying and distributing trade 

 have been increasingly apparent since Africa was separated from 

 Asia, nearly twenty years ago, by the genius of M. de Lesseps. 



The opening of the Suez Canal, by diverting trade from the 

 Cape route to the Mediterranean, has produced and is still pro- 

 ducing changes in the intercourse between the East and the West 

 which affect this country more nearly, perhaps, than any other 

 European State. The changes have been in three directions. 



First. An increasing proportion of the raw material and 

 products of the East is carried direct to Mediterranean ports, 

 by ships passing through the Canal, instead of coming, as they once 

 did, to England for distribution. Thus Odessa, Trieste, Venice, 

 and Marseilles are becoming centres of distribution for Southern 

 and Central Europe, as Antwerp and Hamburg are for the 

 North ; and our merchants are thus losing the profits they 

 derived from transmitting and forwarding Eastern goods to 

 Europe. It is true that the carrying trade is still, to a very great 

 extent, in English hands ; but should this country be involved in 

 a European war, the carrying trade, unless we can efficiently 

 protect it, will pass to otheis, and it will not readily return. 

 Continental manufacturers have always been heavily handi- 

 capped by the position England has held since the com- 

 mencement of the century, and the distributing trade would 

 doubtless have passed from us in process of time. The opening 

 of the Canal has accelerated the change, to the detriment of 

 English manufactures, and consequently of the national wealth ; 

 and it must tend to make England less and less each year the 

 emporium of the world. We are experiencing the results of a 

 natural law that a redistribution of the centres of trade must 

 follow a rearrangement of the channels of commerce. 



Second. The diversion of traffic from the Cape rou'e has led 

 to the construction of steamers for special trade to India and the 

 East through the Canal. On this line coaling-stations are 

 frequent, and the seas, excepting in the Bay of Biscay, are more 

 tranquil than on most long voyages. The result is that 

 an inferior type of vessel, both as regards coal-stowage, 

 speed, endurance, and seaworthiness, has been built. These 

 " Canal wallahs," as they are sometimes called, are quite unfitted 

 for the voyage round the Cape, and should the Canal be blocked 

 by war or accident they would be practically useless in carrying 

 on our Eastern trade. Since the Canal has deepened they have 

 improved, for it has been found cheaper to have more coal- 

 stowage, but they are still far from being available for the long 

 voyage round the Cape. Had the Canal not been made, a large 

 number of fine steamers would gradually have been built for the 

 Cape route, and though the sailing-ships which formerly carried 

 the India and China trade would have held their own longer, 

 we should by this time have had more of the class of steamer 

 that would be invaluable to us in war time, and our trade would 

 not have been liable, as it is now, to paralysis by the closing of 

 the Canal. 



Third. Sir William Hunter has pointed out that, since the open- 

 ing of the Canal, India has entered the market as a competitor 

 with the British workman ; and that the development of that 

 part of the Empire as a manufacturing and food-exporting 

 country will involve changes in English production which must 

 for a time be attended by suffering and loss. Indian trade has 

 advanced by rapid strides, the exports of merchandise have 

 risen from an average of 57 millions for the five years preceding 

 1874 to 88 millions in 1884, and there has been an immense 

 expansion in the export of bulky commodities. Wheat, which 

 occupied an insignificant place in the list of exports, is now a 

 great staple of Indian commerce, and the export has risen since 



