COMMERCE. 



and England, the encouragement of navi- 

 gation, the institution of public banks,and 

 the more general practice of insurance, fa- 

 voured the extension of commerce, suppli- 

 ed it with new materials, and rendered it 

 more secure. It has been protected, m all 

 the states of Europe, by numerous laws 

 and edicts ; it has been encouraged by 

 bounties and privileges, and commercial 

 treaties have been formed between differ- 

 ent nations for removing impediments, 

 and facilitating a mutually benehcial in- 

 tercourse. The commerce of Europe has 

 thus expanded in a degree of which form- 

 er times could have no idea, and while it 

 has multiplied the luxuries and refine- 

 ments of society, it has contributed essen- 

 tially to the advancement of naval power, 

 and been rendered by most states a fruit- 

 ful source of public revenue. 



COMMKHCE of Great Britain. The un- 

 manufactured commodities exported by 

 England, for many centuries before the* 

 woollen manufacture had made any pro- 

 gress, were sufficient to procure the few 

 foreign articles then in request, and also 

 to bung a yearly balance of cash, by 

 which some other branches of foreign 

 trade were carried on to a small extent, 

 and a beginning was made to the ac- 

 quirement of commercial capital. The 

 foreign trade of this country was,however, 

 in its infancy, almost wholly in the hands 

 of foreigners, who settled m London, and 

 a few other ports, for the purpose of car- 

 rying on commerce with their respective 

 countries; many of these merchants were 

 Jews, whose profits must have been very 

 considerable, to induce them to submit 

 to the impositions to which they were 

 frequently exposed. By degrees some 

 of the inhabitants of London, and of the 

 ports lying opposite to France and Flan- 

 ders, began to build ships of their own, 

 and to. enter into competition with the 

 alien merchants. 



In the reign of Edward III. the exports 

 of England consisted chiefly of wool,skins, 

 hides, leather, butter, tin, and lead, of 

 which wool was by far the most conside- 

 rable, the quantity amounting to about 

 30,000 sacks of 26 stone each in a year. 

 From a record in the Exchequer it ap- 

 pears, that in 1354 the exports of Eng- 

 land amounted to 294,184/. 17s. 2d. the 

 imports to 38,970A 3s. 6d. money of that 

 time. This is a great balance, consider- 

 ing that it arose almost wholly from the 

 exportation of wool and other raw mate- 

 rials; but it is not very probable that the 

 excess of the exports was usually so 

 great as in this particular year. It was 



not till the middle of this century that the- 

 English began to extend their commer- 

 cial voyages to the Baltic ; nor till the 

 middle of the subsequent century that 

 they sailed to the Mediterranean. 



The.improvement of the woollen manu- 

 facture greatly increased the value of the 

 exports, as France had not then engaged 

 in this manufacture, ana Holland had not 

 carried it to any considerable extent ; so 

 that England enjoyed almost a monopoly 

 of that manufacture, for the supply of the 

 north and west parts of Europe, before 

 the year 164u, Spain and Portugal being 

 then almost entirely supplied from this 

 country with light draperies, as well for 

 their home consumption, as for that of 

 their extensive colonies, from whence, in 

 return, we then received sugar, tobacco, 

 drugs, and other commodities, with which 

 we are now supplied by our own colo- 

 nies. In 1672 the Parliament repealed 

 the duties payable by aliens on the ex- 

 portation of the native commodities and 

 manufactures of England, putting them 

 in this respect on a level with English 

 subjects. This salutary principle was 

 further extended in IfOO, by removing 

 the duties on every kind of woollen goods 

 and on all kinds of corn, grain, and meal, 

 exported. Many subsequent events, as 

 the establishment of the credit of the 

 Bank, the union with Scotland, the conso- 

 lidation of the two East Indian Companies, 

 and the rapid improvement of the North 

 American colonies.contributed materially 

 to the advancement of the commerce of 

 Great Britain : and Mr. Erasmus Philips, 

 in his " State of the Nation in respect to 

 her Commerce, &c." makes " the balance 

 of England's trade,one year with another, 

 to have been in our favour, on an average, 

 or medium, 2,881, 357/. from 1702 to 1712." 

 This appears to have been somewhat be- 

 yond the truth, but it is certain that fo- 

 reign trade was then gradually increas- 

 ing, and it was greatly promoted by an 

 act passed in 1722, for extending the 

 principle which had been adopted with 

 respect to woollen goods, by permitting- 

 the exportation, duty free, of all mer- 

 chandize, the produce of Great Britain, 

 (except a few particular articles) and the 

 importation, duty free, of the materials 

 for dying, essential to several manufac- 

 tures. 



From this period, the encouragement 

 given to the fisheries in different parts, 

 the increased cultivation of the West In- 

 dia islands, and the immense acquisitions 

 of territory in the East Indies, have com- 

 bined, with the increasing wealth and po* 



