The Discovery Of The Cape Of Good Hope Gave A Different Direction To The
Commerce Of The East, While At
The same time it very greatly extended it;
but as it is obvious that a greater quantity of the commodities
Supplied by
this part of the world could not be purchased, except by an increase in the
produce and manufactures of the purchasing nations, they also pushed
forward in industry, experience, skill, and capital. The Portuguese and
Spaniards first reaped the fruits of the discovery of the Cape of Good
Hope; subsequently the Dutch; and at the period at which this part of our
sketch of commerce commences, the English were beginning to assume that
hold and superiority in the East, by which they are now so greatly
distinguished. The industry of Europe, especially of the middle and
northern states, was further stimulated by the discovery of America, and,
indirectly, by all those causes which in the fifteenth and sixteenth
centuries tended to increase information, and to secure the liberty of the
mass of the people. The invention of printing; the reformation; the
destruction of the feudal system, at least in its most objectionable,
degrading, and paralizing features; the contentions between the nobility
and the sovereigns, and between the latter and the people; gave a stimulus
to the human mind, and thus enlarged its capacities, desires, and views, in
such a manner, that the character of the human race assumed a loftier port.
From all these causes commerce benefited, and, as was natural to expect, it
benefited most in those countries where most of these causes operated, and
where they operated most powerfully. In Holland we see a memorable and
gratifying instance of this: a comparatively small population, inhabiting a
narrow district, won and kept from the overwhelming of the ocean, by most
arduous, incessant, and expensive labour, - and the territory thus acquired
and preserved not naturally fertile, and where fertile only calculated to
produce few articles, - a people thus disadvantageously situated, in respect
to territory and soil, and moreover engaged in a most perilous, doubtful,
and protracted contest for their religion and liberty, with by far the most
potent monarch of Europe, - this people, blessed with knowledge and freedom,
forced to become industrious and enterprizing by the very adverse
circumstances in which they were placed, gradually wrested from their
opponents - the discoverers of the treasures of the East and of the new
world, and who were moreover blessed with a fertile soil and a luxurious
climate at home, - their possessions in Asia, and part of their possessions
in America. Nor did the enterprising spirit of the Dutch confine itself to
the obtaining of these sources of wealth: they became, as we have already
seen, the carriers for nearly the whole of Europe; by their means the
productions of the East were distributed among the European nations, and
the bulky and mostly raw produce of the shores of the Baltic was exchanged
for the productions and manufactures of France, England, Germany, and the
Italian states.
From the middle of the eighteenth century, the commerce of the Dutch began
to decline; partly in consequence of political disputes among themselves,
but principally because other nations of Europe now put forth their
industry with effect and perseverance. The English and the French,
especially, became their great rivals; first, by conducting themselves each
their own trade, which had been previously carried on by the Dutch, and,
subsequently, by the possessions they acquired in the East. The American
war, and soon afterwards the possession of Holland by the French during the
revolutionary war, gave a fatal blow to the remnant of their commerce, from
which it has not recovered, nor is likely at any time to recover, at least
nearly to its former flourishing state. For, as we have remarked, the Dutch
were flourishing and rich, principally because other nations were ignorant,
enslaved, and destitute of industry, skill, and capital.
England took the place of the Dutch in the scale of commercial enterprise
and success: the contest between them was long and arduous; but at length
England attained a decided and permanent superiority. She gradually
extended her possessions in the East; and after expelling the French from
this part of the world, became in reality the only European sovereign power
there.
The manufactures of England, those real and abundant causes and sources of
her immense commerce, did not begin to assume that importance and extent to
which they have at present reached, till the middle, or rather the latter
part of the eighteenth century; then her potteries, her hardware, her
woollens, and above all her cotton goods, began to improve. Certainly the
steam engine is the grand cause to which England's wealth and commerce may
be attributed in a great degree; but the perfection to which it has been
brought, the multifarious uses to which it is applied, both presuppose
skill, capital, and industry, without which the mere possession of such an
engine would have been of little avail.
At the termination of the American war, England seemed completely
exhausted: she had come out of a long and expensive contest, deprived of
what many regarded as her most valuable possessions, and having contracted
an enormous debt. Yet in a very few years, she not only revived, but
flourished more than ever; it is in vain to attribute this to any other
causes but those alone which can produce either individual or national
wealth, viz. industry, enterprize, knowledge, and economy, and capital
acquired by means of them. But what has rendered Britain more industrious,
intelligent, and skilful than other nations? - for if we can answer this
question, we can satisfactorily account for her acquisition of capital; and
capital, industry, and skill existing, commerce and wealth must necessarily
follow.
Britain enjoys greater political freedom, and greater security of property
than any other European nation; and without political freedom, the mass of
the people never can be intelligent, or possess either comprehensive views
or desires; and where views and desires are limited, there can be no
regular, general, and zealous industry.
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