bly higher importance, and a more general interest. The class of merchants, which was, by this means, increased in an extraordinary degree, soon formed a body of men, spread over the whole cultivated world, and animated by one purpose-to maintain commerce; and, even among belligerent nations, the governments endeavored in vain utterly to abolish the mutual dealings of merchants. Thus, as the intercourse of nations became more lively, the exchange of ideas was promoted, men's views became enlarged, a cosmopolitan spirit united distant communities, and formed of the nations of Europe, as it were, one great, civilized family. Equal results were produced by the increased importance of the colonial powers (in late times, the two maritime states of England and Holland, in particular), arising from the increasing consumption of colonial goods. For them, and, indeed, though in an inferior degree, for the other colonial powers of Europe, the trade in the productions of the colonies was an important source of wealth and power. Their great political importance has exercised an extensive influence on the whole political condition of Europe. England, in particular, has become continually more powerful by its extensive trade. It was therefore in the natural course of things, that, when the immense power of France was developed by the revolution, and that country, under Napoleon, strove for predominance on the European continent, the greatest struggle should take place between France and England, a consequence of which was the continental system (q. v.) of Napoleon, who declared his purpose to be, to free Europe from the tribute which it was obliged to pay to England for the colonial goods which it received from her. England, deeming it absolutely essential to her interests to prevent the establishment of a universal monarchy on the continent, spared no exertion to procure the restoration of the former order of things, so that she might have a free intercourse with the continental ports. Without going into the points at issue between the two countries, the fact deserves to be stated, that the continental system called into action many kinds of industry on the continent, and, in this way, has produced important changes in the course of trade, resulting from the great increase of manufactures. If we examine whether it be actually true, as asserted in the time of the continental system, that the great use of colonial goods must necessarily produce poverty, it is easy to prove

the contrary, which has been already fully confirmed by experience. New wants gave rise to new energy and new branches of industry, in order to gratify those wants, thus increasing the productiveness of labor, and, simultaneously, the prosperity of the nations. But it is objected that money, or the produce of labor, which would otherwise remain in the various countries, is sent away from them in exchange for colonial goods. Very true; but, even if the express purpose of acquisition were not to procure new enjoyments, the object of all trade and all activity is, not to accumulate money, but to augment the sum of happiness. If this object be attained, industry and trade have effected all that they should do. Of course, no account can be reasonably taken of the small number of idle spendthrifts, who, without laboring, consume their capital in gratifying their pleasures. But it was soon perceived, that, in the existing state of Europe, entirely to exclude colonial articles was utterly impossible, though recourse was had to all kinds of substitutes. The enormous duties imposed on the importation of colonial goods, as far as the French power then reached, that is, throughout nearly all the continent of Europe, contributed essentially to render its nations poorer; for these duties had to be paid, while nothing of value could be given in return; from which circumstance originated a most pernicious and immoral smuggling trade. But Napoleon asserted that the English would not allow him to make peace, in which case the whole system would naturally have been changed. In the 18th century,

Great Britain became the first colonial power. It, therefore, stands at the head of the commercial nations, who are all, more or less, tributary to British art and industry. With more than 23,199 merchant vessels, containing 2,460,500 tons, in 1827, it exported, in the year ending Jan. 5, 1827, to the amount of £50,399,356, and from Ireland, to the amount of £967,312; the imports, during the same time, amounted to £36,038,951, and into Ireland, to £1,420,027. Its commerce is, in a great measure, managed by companies. These companies are the Russian, the Levant, the African, the South sea, and Hudson's bay companies, the East India company (q. v.), and the Borneo,

* We can give, in the following pages, only a brief account of the commerce of the different nations, and must refer the reader, for fuller information in regard to the different countries, to the different articles.

Solo and Banca company (for working the gold and diamond mines of Borneo, pursuing the pearl fisheries at Solo and Banca, and working the tin mines on the last-named island). The chief exports of Great Britain are, to the north of Europe, cotton, woollen and glass, hardware, pottery, lead, tin, coal, East India and colonial wares, dye-stuffs, salt, and refined sugar. In return, Great Britain receives from the north, corn, flax, hemp, iron, turpentine, tar, tallow, timber, linen, pearl and potashes, cordage and hog's bristles. To Germany, Holland, France, Italy, Spain and Portugal, it exports cotton and woollen fabrics, cutlery, dried and salt fish, pottery and glass-ware, colonial and East India goods, and all kinds of the finer manufactures. From Germany it imports corn, flax, hemp, linen cloth and thread, rags, hides, timber and wine; from Holland, flax, hemp, madder, gin, cheese, butter, rags and seeds; from France, wine, brandy, lace, cambric, silk, ornaments and fancy goods and fruit; from Italy, Spain and Portugal, silk, wool, barilla, sulphur, salt, oil, fruit, wine, brandy and cork. To Turkey it sends cotton and woollen goods, hardware, colonial and East India goods, lead, tin, iron, clocks and watches; receiving, in return, coffee, silk, fruits, fine oil, dye-stuffs, carpets, &c. To North Amer

ica it sends woollen and cotton manufactures, hardware, linen, glass and other wares; the imports from thence are flour, cotton, rice, tar, pitch, pot and pearl ashes, provisions, ship-timber, &c. The chief imports from South America are cotton, hides, skins, tallow, cochineal, dye-wood, sugar, indigo, cocoa, gums, &c.; and the exports from England are the same as above mentioned. The same exports are likewise sent to the West Indies; and, in return, Great Britain receives rum, coffee, tobacco, sugar, ginger, pimento, pepper, indigo, dye-stuffs, drugs, gums, cotton, mahogany, Campeachy wood, &c. To the East Indies, China and Persia, it sends woollen goods, iron, copper, lead, tin, foreign silver money, gold and silver, in bars, hardware, and a variety of manufactures (amounting, in 1828, to £4,877,125); for which it obtains muslins, calicoes, silks, nankeens, tea, spices, arack, sugar, coffee, rice, saltpetre, indigo, opium, drugs, gums, quicksilver, precious stones, pearls, &c., amounting, in 1828, to £8,002,786. To the colony of New South Wales, the common English manufactures and colonial goods are exported, and exchanged for train-oil, seal-skins, wool, &c.

Among themselves, the three British

kingdoms trade in the following commodities. From Scotland, England and Ireland receive corn, cattle, woollen and cotton goods, potash, granite, canvass and iron manufactures; the Scottish fisheries also furnish an important article of commerce. For these things, Scotland receives the productions of Ireland, and articles of luxury, of all kinds, from England. Ireland buys of England and Scotland, woollen, cotton and silk goods, East and West India goods, pottery, hardware and salt; and, in exchange, gives its linen, hides, potatoes and other provisions, &c. The foreign commerce of Ireland is, besides, very extensive. It exports its productions and manufactures to France, Spain, Portugal, the West Indies and North America, for wine, fruit, sugar, rum, &c. commercial intercourse between Ireland and the north of Europe is mainly through England, and its trade with the East passes exclusively through the same channel. The chief articles of export from Ireland are linen, potatoes and other provisions, corn, whiskey, herrings and salmon. How great the coasting trade of England is, inay be seen from the following table :Entries, inwards and outwards of the coasting trade of the United Kingdom, for the years ending Jan. 5, including the cross channel trade between Great Britain and Ireland.

The

The foreign possessions, settlements and colonies of Great Britain, of which it possessed 26 prior to the French revolution, and has gained 17 more by conquest, are Heligoland, Gibraltar and Malta, with Gozo and the Ionian isles, in Europe; its possessions in India, under the administration of the East India company, and Ceylon, in Asia; the Isle de France, or Mauritius, with the Sechelles and Amirante isles, the cape of Good Hope, Sierra Leone, Cape Coast and Annaboa, the islands of Ascension and St. Helena, in Africa; Canada, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Cape Breton, St. John's, or Prince Edward's island, Newfoundland, Hudson's bay and the bay of Honduras, in North America; Berbice, Essequibo and Deme

rara, in South America; Jamaica, Barbadoes, Antigua, St. Vincent, St. Christopher, Nevis, Montferrat, the Virgin islands, Grenada, Tobago, Dominica, Trinidad and the Bahamas, in the West Indies; also the Bermudas; in Australia (q. v.), New South Wales, Van Diemen's land, and the colony on New Zealand, and on Melville's island.

The most important commercial cities of England, besides London, are Liverpool, Bristol and Hull; the most important manufacturing towns are, Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, Nottingham, Halifax, Rochdale, &c. In Scotland, the principal commercial places are Glasgow, Greenock, Leith and Aberdeen. The foreign trade of Glasgow and Greenock extends to the West Indies, the U. States, the British American colonies, Brazil, and the whole continent of Europe. The foreign trade of Leith and Aberdeen extends to the West Indies, America, the Mediterranean and the Baltic. The greatest commercial cities of Ireland are, Dublin, Cork, Wexford, Waterford and Belfast.

Germany. On account of its navigable rivers, the commerce of this country is considerable. The chief articles of export are linen, linen yarn, raw wool, rags, quicksilver, corn, timber, flax, hemp, wax, lard, salt, wine and metals. Its imports are woollens, cottons and silks, hardware, watches, tanned leather, leather goods, tea, cacao, dye-woods, hides, colonial and East India goods. The principal ports of Germany are Hamburg, Lübeck, Bremen, Trieste and Dantzic. In the interior, its chief commercial cities are Vienna, Magdeburg, Leipsic, Frankfort on the Maine, Frankfort on the Oder, Augsburg, Berlin, Breslau, Cologne, Nuremberg, Brunswick, Mentz, Botzen and Prague. Hamburg (q. v.), in particular, is the channel through which flows, for the most part, the extensive trade between Great Britain and the German states. By means of the rivers running into the Elbe, the navigation of which has lately become free, the numerous and valuable productions of Upper and Lower Saxony, of Austria and Bohemia, go to Hamburg. By the Havel, the Spree and the Oder, its commercial operations are extended to Brandenburg, Silesia, Moravia and Poland. The business of Hamburg consists, in part, of the consignments of foreign merchants, and, to a great extent, of the purchase and sale of domestic and foreign goods. Its money transactions are very considerable. Bremen has important articles of export in the products of Westphalia and Lower

Saxony, which it sends to England, Spain and Portugal; and with America it has more intercourse than any other seaport of Germany. The trade in linens, which foreign countries carry on with Germany, passes wholly through the hands of the Hamburg and Bremen merchants, to whom all foreign orders are directed. The importation of tobacco from America into Germany is almost wholly through Bremen. Leipsic, the centre of European trade with the interior of Germany, and the place of deposit for foreign and Saxon goods, has, besides other mercantile privileges, three fairs (at Easter, Michaelmas and new year), to which merchants resort from all parts of Europe, and from Asia, and each of which lasts three weeks: there is, besides, at this place, a considerable market for Saxon wool. The chief articles of traffic are Bohemian, Silesian and Saxon linen; leather, hides, wax and wool, from Poland; wodlen goods and pigments, from Prussia; silks, velvets and corals, from Italy; leather, various manufactures and dye-stuffs, from Austria and Hungary; laces, silk goods of all kinds, ribbons, porcelain, watches, bronze and other manufactures, including fancy articles, from France; leather, hemp and flax, from Russia; colonial commodities and manufactures, from England and Holland; and literary productions from all Europe. There is, also, in Leipsic, an important horse market. Augsburg, by means of its agents and bankers, is the medium of mercantile communication between Germany and the south of Europe. The exchange business of Vienna is commonly transacted by drafts on Augsburg. It also derives considerable advantage from the forwarding of goods to and from Italy. Frankfort on the Maine, a place of great commercial activity, especially at the time of its two great fairs, in the spring and autumn, has, besides, a very important business, owing to the opulence of its old and new banking houses. It was the central point of all the Rothschilds. In Brunswick, considerable business is transacted in its natural productions, and manufactured articles, as well as in foreign goods. Its two great yearly fairs rank immediately after those of Leipsic and Frankfort. Great quantities of raw thread are sent thither by the Dutch merchants, and the strong beer, called mum, is exported to various parts of the world.

Austria is entirely separated from Germany by its system of imposts, and its commercial regulations. Its trade is mostly carried on by land, or on the rivers. Vienna,

the store-house of the inland trade of all Austria, has quite an extensive commerce with England, the Netherlands and France, and important dealings with Italy, Hungary, Poland and Turkey. By the way of Vienna, Germany receives great quantities of raw cotton from Turkey. The commerce of Trieste, in the Littorale, consists chiefly in the exportation of German productions, and of colonial goods, which go from thence to the Levant, and the coasts of the Black sea. Trieste may be regarded as the depot of the productions of the Levant. It is, also, actively engaged in the importation of British wares, and of the produce of the fisheries of Newfoundland. Except this city, the commerce of Austria is confined to Venice and Fiume. The most considerable places of inland trade in the monarchy, besides Vienna, are Lemberg, Prague, Brunn, Brody, Botzen, Pest and Cronstadt. The allowed imports consist mainly of raw produce, cotton and wool, silk, rice, oil, spices, colonial articles, leather, cattle, &c. The articles of export are woollen cloths, linens, cordage, mineral productions, grain and glass. Great profit is derived from the transportation of goods, especially of those of the Levant. In Bohemia, far the greater portion of the trade is in the hands of the Jews, who are numerous in the country. The trade is chiefly in exports-linens, woollens, silks, dye-wood, leather and glass. The glass is superior in polish and cheapness to that of other countries, and the exportation of it is very considerable. It is thought that the goods exported to Spain, Russia, the Levant and America amount to 2,500,000 guilders, annually. The countries with which Bohemia has the most commercial intercourse are Austria, Holland, Spain, Portugal, Italy and Turkey. The exports are rated at from $5,000,000 to $6,000,000, and the imports (colonial goods, articles of luxury, &c.) at from $4,000,000 to $5,000,000. Prague is the first commercial city of the country,Reichenberg, the second. Prussia has likewise, by its system of prohibition, been separated from Germany with respect to free commercial intercourse, especially since 1818. The commerce of this monarchy is promoted by the Baltic, by many navigable rivers, and by canals. The commerce in domestic productions is more important than the transportation and commission trade, which flourishes mainly in Cologne, Magdeburg, Stettin, Minden, Dantzic, Königsberg, Breslau, &c. The exports by sea are grain, wax, tallow, wool, lin

seed, flax, hemp, wood, linen, yarn, woollen and cotton goods, fine works of art, including articles made of amber. Of the different commercial places, Frankfort on the Oder has three considerable fairs. Magdeburg sends corn, linen, cotton goods, cloths, leather, salt and copper to Hamburg, and to the fairs of Leipsic and Brunswick. It has, besides, a transit trade in colonial goods, wine, grain, &c. Wheat is exported from Dantzic, which possesses the largest granary in Europe; from Elbingen, Stettin, Königsberg, Anclam and Berlin, timber; staves and ashes from Dantzic, Memel and Stettin; hemp, flax and linseed, tallow, wax and hog's bristles from Memel and Königsberg. Tilsit carries on a brisk trade in corn, linseed, hemp and flax. The exports of Brunsberg are woollen yarn, corn and flax. Colberg exports corn, and the other produce of Poland. The trade of Stralsund, likewise, consists chiefly in the exportation of corn. Of all the articles of Prussian commerce, the Silesian linen holds the first rank, and for the manufacturing of it, the Silesian towns Hirschberg, Landshut, Schmiedeberg, Friedland, Waldenburg, Schweidnitz, and the Prussian section of Upper Lusatia, are celebrated. This linen is particularly in demand among the Hamburg, English, Dutch, Italian and South American merchants. The imports which have the readiest sale in Prussia are colonial goods, dye-wood, salt, Buenos Ayres hides, indigo, groceries, wine, silk, cotton goods, hardware, &c.*

Hanover is not distinguished for its mercantile activity. The exports consist of horses, horned cattle, lead, wax, linen, leather, salt, oats, barley, timber, boards, and the ferruginous copper of the Hartz mountains. The linens are ordinary; the table cloths and Osnabruck damask are inferior in quality to those of Prussia and Friesland. The surplus of the domestic consumption is exported to South America through the medium of the Hanseatic cities. The principal imports are English

* The extended frontier of Prussia exposes it very much to smuggling. On this account, Prussia has been lately endeavoring to induce some of the restrictions on their commercial intercourse with smaller states in her neighborhood to abolish all her. Some of the states have acquiesced in this arrangement. These are Bavaria, Wurtemberg, Mecklenburg, the Saxon dukedoms, Hesse-Darmstadt and Brunswick. Some of these have also allowed Prussia to place her custom-houses on their outward frontier, on condition of her paying them a certain sum as a compensation for the customs which she will thus receive. Some other German form the confederacy of Central Germany. These states have united together with similar views, and states are Hanover, Hesse-Cassel, the kingdom of Saxony, and Oldenburg.

manufactures, especially woollen cloths and calicoes, colonial goods, Prussian and Friesland linen, fine French cloths, silks, jewelry and French wines, with all kinds of small articles of luxury, which the Hanoverian merchant brings with him from the fairs of Brunswick, Leipsic, and Frankfort on the Maine. The chief commercial towns are Emden, Hanover and Münden. The commerce of Saxony, Bavaria, Würtemberg, Hesse, &c., may be comprised under the general head of German commerce, as there exists no reciprocal system of prohibition. (See Germany, Trade of; also the separate articles on these countries.) Denmark and Holstein. Although the Danish merchants have formed connexions with all the commercial states of Europe, and play an important part in the commerce both of the Mediterranean and the Baltic, their own country possesses but few productions, important as articles of export. Most of what they export are the productions of their East and West India possessions. To the ports of Petersburg, Riga, Stockholm and Memel, Denmark carries the woollen goods of Iceland and the Faroe islands; salt from Spain, France and Portugal; and the productions of the East and West Indies and of China. To Germany it sends its horses, its cattle, colonial and West India goods, and woollen stockings, receiving in return linen, wool, brandy and wine. To Holland it exports rape-seed, fish, &c., in exchange for groceries. To France, Spain and Portugal it carries horses, fish, and other articles from Russia, in exchange for salt, wine, fruits, sweet oil, brandy, silk, &c. Its trade with England consists, mainly, in exchanging timber, &c., for English manufactures. To Iceland it exports rye-meal, rye, barley, brandy and other spirituous liquors, together with the common articles of consumption; receiving in return fresh, dry, and salt fish, trainoil, tallow, eider down, wool and woollen stockings. It supplies Greenland with flour, spirituous liquors, &c., in return for train and seal-oil, seal-skins, eider down and peltry. The largest commercial towns of Denmark are Copenhagen and Elsinore in Zealand, Aalborg in Jutland, Flensborg and Tönningen in Sleswic, Altona and Kiel in Holstein. The West India colonies of Denmark are St. Croix, St. Thomas and St. John's. On the coast of Coromandel, it possesses Tranquebar; on the coast of Guinea, Christianborg and other small places. It has also small factories on the Nicobar islands. In Europe, it possesses Iceland. The chief commer

cial companies in Denmark are the Asiatic or East India company, the Iceland company, the maritime insurance company, the African or Danish West India, and the general commercial society. In 1824, there were exported from Denmark 2,022,720 tons of grain, 36,562 tons of flour, &c.

France. The commerce of France extends to every country of the world. The exports are wine, brandy, oil, corn, meal, liqueurs, snuff, silks, woollens, fancy goods of all kinds, watches, porcelain, crystals, carpets, bronze, linen, lace, cambric, tapestry, hemp, flax, fruits, capers, salt, jewelry, paper, &c.; and France receives the raw produce of all countries, but very few manufactured goods. In 1824, the value of all the exports of France was 440,542,000 francs, of which 163,056,000 were in natural products, and 277,486,000 in manufactured goods. In the same year, goods were imported into France to the amount of 189,535,000 francs in 3,387 French vessels, to the amount of 108,397,000 francs in 4,183 foreign vessels, and to the amount of 156,929,000 by land; the whole importa tion amounted to 454,861,000 francs. The principal ports are Bordeaux, Marseilles, Nantes, Havre de Grace, St. Malo, L'Orient and Dunkirk. The commerce of Marseilles is mostly with the Levant and the West Indies; that of Bordeaux, with Asia, the West Indies, and the north of Europe. Calais and Dunkirk carry on a very lucrative contraband trade with England. Havre de Grace is the seaport of Paris, which has a very extensive indirect trade, and dealings in bills of exchange with foreign countries. Amiens exports great quantities of velvet; Abbeville, Elbeuf, Louvier and Sedan trade mainly in cloths; Cambrai, Valenciennes and Alençon, in cambrics and fine laces. Cette, the port of Montpellier, has an extensive trade in Spanish and colonial goods. The commerce of Bayonne is chiefly with Spain. Silks form a principal article of the commerce of Lyons, which is situated in the centre of the roads leading to Switzerland, Spain, Italy and Germany, and has annually four fairs. For Strasburg, its excellent turpentine is an important article of trade. Lille has a direct intercourse, not only with all the commercial states of Europe, but also with the French and Spanish colonies, and with the Levant. The other commercial towns of importance are Rheims, Troyes, Grenoble, Nismes, Angoulême, Cognac, Nantes, Rouen, Rochelle, and Caen. Grenoble supplies France, Italy, Spain, and even reat