50 INTRODUCTION. 



now distinguished by the name of the Feudal System. The king 

 or general, who led the barbarians to conquest, parcelled out the 

 lands of the vanquished among his chief officers, binding those on 

 whom they were bestowed to follow his standard with a number 

 of men, and to bear arms in his defence. The chief officers imitat- 

 ed the example of the sovereign, and, in distributing portions of 

 their lands among their dependents, annexed the same condition to 

 the grant ; a system admirably calculated for defence against a 

 foreign enemy, but which degenerated into an engine of oppression . 



The usurpation of the nobles became unbounded and intolera- 

 ble. They reduced the great body of the people into a state of 

 actual servitude, and deprived them of the natural and most unalien- 

 able rights of humanity. They were slaves fixed to the soil which 

 they cultivated, and together with it were transferred from one 

 proprietor to another, by sale or by conveyance. Every offended 

 bsfron or chieftain buckled on his armour, and sought redress at 

 the beau of his vassals. His adversaries met him in like hostile 

 array. The kindred and dependents of the aggressor, as well as 

 the defender, were involved in the quarrel. They had not even the 

 liberty of remaining neuter. 



The monarchs of Europe perceived the incroachments of their 

 nobles with impatience. In order to create some power that might, 

 counterbalance those potent vassals, who, while they enslaved the 

 people, controlled or gave laws to the crown, a plan was adopted 

 of conferring new privileges on towns. These privileges abolished 

 all marks of servitude ; and the inhabitants of towns were formed 

 into corporations, or bodies politic, to be governed by a council and 

 magistrates of their own nomination. 



The acquisition of liberty soon produced a happy change in the 

 condition of mankind. A spirit of industry revived ; commerce 

 became an object of attention, and began to flourish. 



Various causes contributed to revive this spirit of commerce., 

 and to renew the intercourse between different nations. Constan- 

 tinople, the capital of the Eastern or Greek empire, had escaped 

 the ravages of the Goths and Vandals, who overthrew that of the 

 West. In this city some remains of literature and science were 

 preserved : this, too, for many ages, w r as the great emporium of 

 . ^ trade ; and the crusades which were begun by the Christian 

 . ' ' powers of Europe with a view to drive the Saracens from 

 Jerusalem, having opened a communication between Europe 

 and the East, Constantinople was the general place of rendezvous 

 for the Christian armies, in their way to Palestine, or on their 

 return from thence. Though the object of these expeditions was 

 conquest and not commerce, and though the issue of them proved 

 unfortunate, their commercial effects were both beneficial and per- 

 manent. 



Soon after the close of the holy war, the mariner's compass was in- 

 A y. vented, which facilitated the communication between remote 

 . ' * nations. The Italian states, particularly those of Venice 

 and Genoa, began to establish a regular commerce with the 

 East and the ports of Egypt, and drew from thence all the rich 

 productions of India. These commodities they disposed of to 

 great advantage among the other nations of Europe, who began to 

 acquire some taste for elegance, unknown to their predecessors, or 

 despised by them. During the 12th and 13th centuries the com > 



