COMMERCE. 



23 



ly take for granted, that the people who possess oppor- 

 tunities of this description, without turning them to ac- 

 count, are very little advanced on the road to civiliza- 

 tion. 



In looking to historical documents for the first indi- 

 cations of commerce, the plan is to direct our attention 

 to the earliest records of established society. These, as 

 is well known, exist in the case of Assyria, Juda?a, 

 Egypt, and the surrounding countries. Here, accord- 

 ingly, we find the descendants of Ishmael, " coming 

 from Gilead, bearing spices, balm, and myrrh, going to 

 cany it down to Egypt." In these days, merchants 

 superintended the carriage of their own commodities, 

 the expedient of transferring that duty to others, an ar- 

 rangement so simple in our eyes, being incompatible 

 with the rude customs of an unsettled people, and the 

 difficulty of traversing an almost desert country. In 

 Egypt, the progress of population, and consequently 

 of commerce, appears to have been rapid, but not to 

 have led to a correspondent improvement in naviga- 

 tion. However the national aversion to the sea being 

 partially overcome, the Egyptians shared with the Phoe- 

 nicians the honour of colonizing the far-famed shores 

 of Greece. The Phoenicians seem to have been early 

 " induced, by the convenience of their harbours, and the 

 vicinity of timber, to make navigation a regular em- 

 ployment. It is common to ascribe their application 

 to this pursuit, to the ungrateful nature of their soil ; a 

 consideration, which will not be received by those who 

 examine with attention the causes of national progress. 

 When other circumstances are equal, the fertile coun- 

 try is as likely to take the lead of a barren one in navi- 

 gation, as in other departments of industry. Its soil 

 supplies a larger stock of exchangeable commodities, 

 ahd its superior density of population, accelerates the 

 acquisition of those various branches of knowledge, on 

 which the adventurous and complicated art of naviga- 

 tion depends. 



The Phoenicians are understood to have surpassed all 

 their neighbours in the eastern part of the Mediterra- 

 nean in extent of commerce. Their reputation rests on 

 a concurrence of traditional and historical authority, 

 and the power of their capital Tyre, was ascertained 

 beyond a doubt, by the length of her resistance to the 

 overwhelming forces of Alexander. Superior, however, 

 as the Phoenicians were to their immediate neighbours, 

 they were probably inferior as navigators to the Athe- 

 nians, and evidently much behind their reputed de- 

 scendants the .Carthaginians. Our ignorance of the 

 early condition of the latter, is one of the principal de- 

 siderata of ancient history. Their power appears to 

 have increased with all the rapidity attendant on con- 

 firmed habits of national industry. Notwithstanding 

 a very defective government, and a comparative unac- 

 quaintance with land tactics, they long repressed the 

 rising greatness of Rome ; and the eventual triumph 

 of the latter may be ascribed, according to the judicious 

 remark of a late writer,* to that fortunate constitution, 

 which gave every citizen an interest in the prosperity 

 of the republic. The navigation of the Carthaginians 

 embraced the north of Africa, Sicily, Spain, and, more 

 or less, the distant shores of the Mediterranean to the 

 east, and of the ocean to the west. How far the north 

 of France or our own coasts came, as has been long as- 

 serted, within the range of then exploring labours, we 

 will not pretend to determine. 

 ; In Greece, the chief commercial cities were Athens 



Commerce 

 of the 

 Greeks. 



and Corinth. Each sent abroad colonies, which rival- Commerce 

 led the trade and navigation of the parent state. The 

 Euxine on the one hand, and Sicily on the other, ap- 

 pear to have been almost the farthest limits of Grecian 

 commerce ; but an active traffic must, no doubt, have 

 been carried on with the nearer shores of Thrace, Asia 

 Minor, and Italy. The superiority of the Greeks over 

 the Persians in actions by sea as well as by land, rests 

 on undoubted testimony ; but the cause of this, if ana- 

 lyzed, will be found to have lain more in courage than 

 in dexterity. The Greeks generally fought in small 

 vessels without decks, and rushed forward with impe- 

 tuous valour to board the ships of their enemies. (Thu- 

 cyriides, 1. 1. c. 14.) So little were they advanced in 

 navigation, that, at the time of the expedition of Xerxes, 

 the distance between jEgina and Samos was made an 

 objection to their attempting the voyage. (Herodotus, 

 lib. 8. cap. 132.) Their knowledge of the rest of the 

 globe was founded on conjecture, or derived from the 

 verbal reports of the few persons, who had been indu- 

 ced, by love of science, or by commercial pursuits, to 

 extend their travels into Asia Minor, and into Egypt. 

 The obstinate defence of Tyre seems to have given 

 Alexander a 1 powerful impression of the vast wealth de- 

 rived from commerce, especially from that with the 

 East Indies. He was accordingly induced, after con- 

 quering Egypt, to lay the foundation of a city, which 

 was to be the centre of trade as well as the seat of do- 

 minion. The situation of Alexandria was so well cho- 

 sen, that it continued a great commercial sea-port for 

 many ages, and did not fall into absolute decay until 

 the loss of the India trade, by the discovery of the pas- 

 sage by the Cape of Good Hope. 



The progress of the Romans in navigation and dis- Commerce 

 covery was still less considerable than that of the Greeks. of the Ru - 

 T-heir military education, and the spirit of their laws, mans * 

 concurred to estrange them from commerce and naval 

 affairs. It was the necessity of opposing a formidable 

 rival, not the desire of extending trade, that first prompt-' 

 ed them to aim at maritime power. Its advantages soon 

 became apparent, though, after they had rendered them- 

 selves masters of the sea, they still considered the naval 

 service in a subordinate light, and never imbibed the 

 commercial spirit of the conquered nations. Trade and 

 navigation were abandoned, like the mechanical arts, 

 to slaves, to freedmen, to provincials, and to citizens of 

 the lowest class. Yet the spirit of the Roman govern- 

 ment, and the consolidation of rival states into one em- 

 pire, had the effect of giving great additional security 

 to commerce. By sailing to the Indian continent from 

 the Red Sea, navigators became acquainted with the 

 periodical course of the winds. (Plin. Hist, Nat. lib. 6," 

 Ct 2^.) The uniform direction of the breeze supplying 

 the place of the compass, and rendering the guidance 

 of the stars less necessary, they reached the western 

 shore of the Indian continent with safety, and with 

 equal facility returned with the eastern monsoon. The 

 discovery of this new method of sailing to India, was 

 the most considerable improvement in navigation made 

 during the continuance of the Roman power ; for, in 

 ancient times, the knowledge of foreign countries was 

 acquired much more by land than by sea. 



The transfer, in the fourth century, of the seat of 

 empire to Constantinople, could not fail to affect the 

 wealth and grandeur of Rome. The subsequent inva- 

 sion of barbarous hordes tended farther to divest mer- 

 cantile intercourse of the requisite security ; and in the 



Jlr Brodie, author of the Hktory of the Roman Government, 



