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city of the kingdom. No doubt part of this change is due to the migration of its industries, as the revival at the time of the Parliamentary war is to the development of a new industry in the county. In the days of Lollardy it prospered greatly, but when, in spirit if not in name, the principles which Wiklif taught were accepted by the Anglican Church, and Wiklif was styled the morning star of the Reformation, the special prosperity of Norfolk had passed away. But, for a long time, a "weaver" was the familiar synonym for a heretic.

Copiousness of diplomatic literature-The effect of the intercourse of nations-Fallacies about money, and its place in commerce-Exports and imports-How does a nation spend more than it earns— Proof of such a state of things-Early trade of England, the Hanseatic League-Trade with Flanders and elsewhere-Routes from the East-The discovery of the New World, the Cape Passage, and the conquest of Egypt by the Turks-Inherent errors in the Dutch trade―The Intercursus Magnus—Commercial treaties— 1. That of Mr. Methuen. 2. That of Mr. Eden. 8. That of Mr. Cobden.

Ir will be obvious to you that I can treat this vast subject only in outline. There is very little printed literature which is more copious than that which deals with diplomacy and trade. The great work of Dumont proposes to give up to the middle of the eighteenth century, the various treaties, political and commercial, which have been negotiated between the different states of Europe. The numerous volumes of Rymer, historiographer to Charles II., are a selection from the public papers which are preserved in the national archives. But neither of these authors is as copious as Muratori, whose volumes are a repertory of the infinitely various relations which subsisted from time to time between the numerous Italian cities. The collection of Muratori is not only interesting to the student of modern history, but is valuable as it enshrines in it many scattered pieces of information about ancient commercial law, the most ancient and continuous of all law, for it is probable that this branch of international custom and comity reaches back to the time when the Rome

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of the kings and the early republic made treaties with Carthage and the other colonies of Tyre.

The economical benefits of trade, and of that understanding between nations which leads to the exchange of products, which protects merchants and merchandize, and gives temporarily to the foreigner, under more or less easy conditions, the opportunities of commerce, are obvious and trite. The distribution of products to the greatest possible reciprocal advantage is the first and most enduring stimulant to trade. In all acts of exchange the buyer has the strongest inducement to get what he most needs, and in commerce both parties buy and both parties sell. Trade is again the most efficient instructor as to the natural benefits of soil, climate, and material, and it teaches this with the greatest rapidity and accuracy. The greatest service which unimpeded trade does to a community which has accepted it, is that it informs the people, who desire to exchange their products, what are the best kinds of material on which to exercise their industry, and develop that utility which is the sole end of economical labour. Hence it supplies the answer to the important problem-Has the industry in which a country is engaged been determined on in the most productive direction, does it produce the greatest possible results with the least possible expenditure of force? Hence it acts as a stimulant for the discovery of labour-saving instruments, and of cost-saving processes, for any waste is labour needlessly and unprofitably expended. It leads to the discovery of natural resources, as in this country coal, salt, and iron, the last two of which, before certain discoveries were made, were imported into this country. In the fifteenth century it was supposed that if the exportation of French salt was prohibited or even hindered, a most powerful instrument for checking English progress, or crippling England's domestic life, would be put into operation.

Trade, again, is an effective means for the development of international morality, for the sense of reciprocal benefit teaches the reality of reciprocal rights, and the recognition of rights in the people of a foreign country is obviously a means by which people are instructed in that sense of justice and the satisfaction of obligations which is the earliest, and, it would seem, the most difficult lesson of civilization. The difficulty there is in inculcating the force

of reciprocal obligations appears to me to be the reason why, in the early ages of jurisprudence, the law enforcing contracts has constantly been so severe, that in course of time the severity imperils the very foundations of society itself, and it becomes necessary to modify the ancient code by enacting a law of usury, in which relief is given to the debtor, and in modern times, by what is equivalent in its effects and virtually in its principle, a law of bankruptcy or a revision of contracts. The international morality which has been induced by trade in course of time develops that which is called international law, i.e., international comity, the force of which is public opinion and the censure of other nations, an expedient by which, it may be hoped, as these forces become more effectual, war may become itself an anachronism. Perhaps in past times, the English people, by insisting on extravagant rights on the high seas, have been the greatest hindrance to the development of international comity; but of late years, and apparently from conviction, we ourselves have been among the foremost to suggest that the barbarisms of ancient warfare shall be discarded by international consent.

Few nations are so barbarous as not to recognize the importance of trade. But as that which they sell is by the very act of exchange that which they desire less than that which they receive, they are naturally most interested in exports. Another circumstance, however, has led to a further anxiety to increase exports, the motive of which is more obscure.

It is clear that to a person engaged in trade, the mere retention of money is not desirable. There is no reason to believe that by holding it he will gain an advantage, for by the very terms of its use as a means of exchange, it varies least of all in value within measureable time. Except, then, as it gives a sense of security against unforeseen emergencies, a risk, on the hypothesis that the trader is solvent, which is progressively diminished in civilized communities, to hoard is to lose. As the machinery of trade becomes more complicated or, to be more accurate, to be more nicely adjusted, movements of specie from country to country, or from merchant to merchant, become rarer, and the transmission of the precious metals ceases to be the business of the trader, for the function of adjusting the wants of the money market, either for internal circulation or for

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the purpose of the foreign exchanges becomes the special office of the bullion dealer. This view of the entirely secondary functions of money in trade, and of its being to the dealer a mere temporary instrument to be got rid of as soon as possible in trade, if profit is to be made, was seen very early in the history of economic literature; for it is stated clearly enough in a treatise by Nicholas Oresme, Bishop of Lisieux, in the fourteenth century. Money is a convenient, the only convenient measure of exchange value; it has a temporary convenience in effecting certain exchanges, but the trader retains it in his possession for the shortest possible time. In brief, he takes it, only to get rid of it.

The case is entirely different with a government, particularly with a government in the time at which Oresme wrote. Here, and for the reason given above, as a reserve against unforeseen emergencies, the acquisition of money, the creation of a treasure, the value of a hoard, were instant and obvious. In the nature of things a government produces nothing, gets no profits. It may be in the highest degree necessary and useful, but in the nature of things, it exists only to spend. It knew, at least in the time of which I am writing, that the strongest power was that which had or could get most money. Centuries after Oresme, Louis XIV., when he was pressed by the reverses of unsuccessful war, consoled himself by saying, "After all, it is the last pistole that wins." In the sixteenth century, all Europe was aghast at the designs of Philip II. of Spain. He had the great mines of the New World, or at least levied a heavy tax on their produce. He seemed to be possessed of inexhaustible riches. He was baffled, beaten, made bankrupt by the Dutch, in whose country there was not an ounce of natural gold or silver, who got all their money by trade, except when they occasionally captured their enemy's treasure fleet, and were rapidly becoming the richest nation of Europe, when Philip had ruined Spain and brought down the Genoese traders, on his declaring himself bankrupt.

European governments interpreted the interests of their subjects by the view which they took of their own interests. Merchants knew then as they know now, that money has a temporary use only to the individual. But the government, seeing the permanent use of money to itself, strove to make it permanent in the community whose affairs they administered. So they devised the doctrine of