THE HOUSE THE HERRING BUILT 175 



of his value in that respect, and this to his value 

 as merchandise which was early perceived by 

 the Hansards, who were glad to exchange other 

 commodities for the invaluable herring ; out 

 of the herring sprang the wealth and greatness 

 of the Hansa League till Beuckel's discovery 

 of a new method of curing raised the Dutch, 

 through their fishing fleet, to the rank of the 

 first mercantile nation of the world and gave 



IB Holland the first modem mercantile marine. 



' This in its turn led to the struggle between 

 Dutch and English in and after Cromwell's 



, days, and by the passing of the Navigation 



»Aet of 1651 and the creation of our mercantile 

 marine, to the rise of the British Navy and to 

 the supersession of the Dutch as the leading 

 naval power ; the British Navy and mercan- 

 tile marine assisted the building up of our 

 Colonial Empire, the possession of the carrying 

 trade led to the expansion of our production of 

 overseas raw materials and the development of 



(overseas trade — this to the envy of Germany, 

 who saw her opportunity in the repeal of the 

 Navigation Acts in 1849 ; she began to build 

 a mercantile marine and out of it a navy, and 

 to plan a world empire to supersede our own by 

 defeating us and gaining Dominion of the Sea, 

 thereby realising the dream of List of domi- 



Inating the trade of the world by control of 

 colonial raw products. Hence one of the causes 

 of the present war and its consequences. 

 r— 



