early, in one important particular - I mean the complete separation of the civil and military power. It was the union of these that led to the downfall of freedom in Rome.

Several of the states of Greece pursued commerce with considerable success; and her maritime and naval power was respectable, and even formidable. But the Greeks were in no degree distinguished as a commercial people. Their trade was confined almost entirely to the Mediterranean, and they knew little of the science of navigation. The truth is, that the Greeks seem to have had committed to them a peculiar trust in regard to civilization. It was time that the human mind should begin to be turned in upon itself, and opportunity afforded it to try the strength and the elegance of its own powers. It seems to have been put to the Greeks, to show what the human being is capable of, when allowed, under favorable circumstances, to devote himself to the cultivation of the intellect and the taste. Hence, they contented themselves with being shut up in almost total ignorance of the earth beyond their own narrow precincts. They despised every other people, and every other language. And they set themselves assiduously, and of course, successfully, to the cultivation of letters, of philosophy, and the fine arts. Their mission was an important, though a limited one, and it was most faithfully executed; but it has been rather in opposition to them t an through them, against their exclusiveness and through other and very different agencies, that the world has been put in possession of the results and benefits of their labors. If the world had waited for the Greeks themselves to diffuse the light they kindled, it is hard to say when its general illumination, through their means, would have commenced.

The Greeks were finally led forth to foreign conquests by Alexander; and it was under him, the great Macedonian hero, and by the force of his wonderful genius, that commerce began a new and splendid reign. It is remarkable that Alexander, whose march through hostile countries was scarcely impeded by his successive victories, was obliged, in his rapid career, to sit down for seven months before the peaceful city of Tyre; and, finally, made a conquest of her only after the most incredible exertions. It was, probably, this very resistance on the part of the Tyrians, with the vast resources which they were enabled to command for their defence, which first led the conqueror to comprehend something of the superior advantages of commerce; and, finally, prepared the way for the foundation of that great commercial emporium, in lower Egypt, which bore his name.

The city of Alexandria was founded and located expressly with a view to its commercial advantages. It commanded the trade, both of the East and of the West, and it never lost its ascendency, at least not beyond recovery, let what revolutions would come, as the centre and mart of universal trade, until near the close of the fifteenth century, when the Portuguese discovered, perhaps rediscovered, a new route to India, by way of the Cape of Good Hope.

But the city of Alexandria, be it remembered, became as much the centre of the arts and the learning of the world, as it was the seat of commerce and dominion. This was the theatre of the learned labors of the Hellenists; the seat of the celebrated academy and museum, where the greatest scholars of the age lived, studied, and instructed; and here was collected that celebrated library, designed to preserve and perpetuate the whole body of ancient learning, and embracing the entire circle of Grecian and Roman literature. Elegantia regum curæque egregium opus.

The next great event in the order of time, to be regarded as affecting the

condition and advancement of the race, was the accession of Rome to universal dominion. In all the western world, there was one central empire; every thing else was provincial only. Carthage was a province; Greece was a province; Egypt was a province; all subject to the sway of imperial Rome. Now, the proud and soldierly citizens of Rome despised commerce. Commerce, navigation, mechanical arts, and, indeed, for a considerable time, and to a considerable extent, letters themselves, were regarded by the haughty Roman as fit only to occupy the slave, the freedman, or the provincial. His business was to follow the trade of glorious war; the conquest of arms, and to delight himself with bloody pastimes. At a later period, stimulated by the learning and the example of the conquered Greek, the Roman cultivated letters successfully, and he carried one department of human learning, the department of law, to a noble and unexampled perfection. And his haughty disdain of commerce, as a personal employment, did not make him utterly blind to its merits and advantages as a business in the state. Commerce was suffered to remain in original hands; and it was so much the more active and successful, as it was now every where under the control and direction of one central power, and was freed from the injurious restrictions and obstructions to which it had been before subject, from the mutual jealousies and hostilities of rival states. The city of Rome, as the seat of supreme power, and the capital of universal empire, was the grand point. and reservoir to which the wealth of the provinces, and the chief profits and productions of all their trade and business, were made to flow. For this purpose, were these countries conquered; for this purpose, they were made provinces. Commerce increased the importance and the wealth of such of them as had been, or were, maritime states, and made them, of course, the more desirable and valuable, because richer subjects, to their imperial and plundering masters. Commerce, therefore, was fostered and encouraged by the Romans. They were made richer by it; they were enabled to indulge in a growing taste for the rare luxuries of the East; and they found in it a powerful ally and coadjutor in their great business of war and conquest.

Now, the agency which commerce, during all this period, had in furthering human improvement, is evident enough. It was the means of establishing and preserving an intercourse between Rome and her provinces, and between the various countries themselves subject to Rome, on a footing very different from that which otherwise must have existed. It was an intercourse, in some degree, of reciprocal advantage; it softened hostile feeling; it caused men to begin to regard each other as friends and brothers, who might be better employed than in robbing and murdering one another; it enlarged, at once, the desires and the capacities of men; it improved their tastes, their manners, and their habits; and, by opening channels of more easy and general communication, it made an extension and diffusion of knowledge and the arts, and of the light of learning, possible, which was quite impossible without it.

But now the time was at hand, when Rome must fall. Her mission had been fulfilled; her work was done, and she must give place to new races of men, who, though at first of most unpromising appearance, should, in time, take up improvement where she should leave it, and carry it on to a perfection which she was, and must forever have been, incapable of giving The first effect of the great Northern inundation, which swept over the Western Empire, was to quench, at once, the light of science, of arts, of letters, and of civilization in Europe. Europe returned to primitive barbarism.

it.

VOL. I.-NO. I.

2

Her territory cut up and parcelled out into small states, always independent and generally hostile; there was a sudden and utter end of the union and intercourse which had existed under the Roman power. Learning was despised, as leading to effeminacy; and universal ignorance, rudeness, and barbarism prevailed. "The names of stranger and of enemy," says Robertson, "became once more words of the same import. Customs every where prevailed, and even laws were established, which rendered it disagreeable and dangerous to visit any foreign country. Cities, in which alone an extensive commerce can be carried on, were few, inconsiderable, and destitute of those immunities which produce security or excite enterprise. The sciences, on which geography and navigation are founded, were not cultivated. The accounts of ancient improvements and discoveries, contained in the Greek and Roman authors, were neglected or misunderstood. The knowledge of remote regions was lost; their situation, their commodities, and almost their names, were unknown."

But, after some ages of settled gloom and darkness, symptoms of revival began to appear; and it is worth remarking, that these symptoms first showed themselves among those tribes of barbarians who had possessed themselves of Italy, and were favorably situated to commence operations in trade. Commerce had not been at any time wholly neglected in the Greek empire, Constantinople had all the while preserved a taste for the productions of the East, and kept up the intercourse necessary to bring them in, even when compelled to resort to the tedious and difficult route, inland, by way of the Indus, the Oxus, and the Caspian and Euxine seas. These productions were also brought by way of the Persian gulf, and the Euphrates and the Tigris, to several cities on the Syrian coast of the Mediterranean. And the Arabians, in possession of Alexandria, revived and carried on the old trade between that city and India, by the route of the Arabian gulf and the Indian ocean. With all these marts of trade successively, the Italians established and maintained a commercial intercourse. They began this intercourse so early as the age of Charlemagne, and by the time the Crusades commenced, several of their cities had risen to considerable opulence, and already, through the channels of their trade, they had communicated to Spain, to France, to the Low Countries, and to England, some valuable ideas of manufactures and arts. The holy war, as it was called, gave a new impulse to the trade and business of the Italian cities; and Venice, particularly, became a powerful state, with great personal wealth, and extensive and valuable territorial possessions. The profits of trade stimulated the Italians to attempt the production and manufacture of various commodities, for which they found a growing demand in every quarter of Europe. Companies of Lombard merchants were settled in the various kingdoms, under the immediate protection of the governments, and a special suspension made in their behalf of the absurd customs and enactments against strangers, for the purpose of receiving, vending, and distributing the productions of Italian trade or Italian skill. And it was through these means chiefly that the European nations were first led to value or desire the useful and elegant arts and luxuries of life.

Following the efforts and successes of the Italians, the spirit of trade and enterprise was aroused in the north. The famous Hanseatic League was formed, and became a powerful and formidable association. The cities of the League concerned themselves as well with politics as with trade, and they conducted with equal skill and success the transactions of commerce and the operations of war. Between them and the Lombards, an active cor

respondence and exchange took place; supplies became more regular and abundant, and had a more extended and general distribution. In the mean time, a new spirit of industry was excited; manufactures flourished, especially in the Netherlands. Flanders, through her trade in woollens, became populous and opulent. And finally, England, by the wise conduct and policy of Edward III., following the example of Flanders, and aided by Flemish artisans, adopted the manufacture of woollens, and thus, by this simple beginning, set out in a commercial career, which she has since run with unexampled credit, advantage, and success.

The effects of the revival and prosecution of trade in Europe, were too plain to be mistaken. It aroused and liberalized the minds of men. It subdued their mutual animosities. It softened their manners. Laws and governments were greatly modified by it. It fostered the genuine spirit of liberty and personal independence. It stimulated to activity, industry, and enterprise. It produced wealth; and this led, first to indulgence, and the adorning of life, then to ease, leisure, and finally, to study and intellectual cultivation. The first attempts to revive literature, were made in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. They were begun in Italy, where trade was begun; and instruction was first derived from the Greeks at Constantinople, and the Arabians at Alexandria, as commodities had been. And when literature really revived, at a later period, it was still in Italy that her light was kindled; and it is believed, that wherever the illumination spread in Europe, commerce had preceded it.

I need not dwell on subsequent events, marking the grand outline of the modern history of commerce. They are familiar to all. A safe and intelligible path was found on the broad ocean, by the discovery of the Mariner's compass. The Cape of Good Hope was discovered, and passed. A new world was found.

"The 17th century was the period in which the principles were adopted, and most of the establishments formed, which have contributed to advance the commerce of Europe to its present astonishing height. The interests of nations became better understood than in any former age; the utility of commerce had become evident to every one, from the wealth and power it had conferred on the states which had encouraged it; and commercial treaties became frequent between the different nations. Navigation was improved, new settlements were formed, and many of those before made were rising into importance; manufactures were advancing in many parts of Europe; shipping was increasing; and the intercourse between distant places, from the accumulation of knowledge and experience, becoming more expeditious and secure."*

Since the period just named, commerce has steadily gone on, improving, and enlarging, both in Europe and America; while, within the few short years of the present century, it has acquired an actual increase, and a prospective activity and advantage, which give to it a value and an importance which have never been felt as belonging to it before. Now in all the progress it has made, in modern as well as in former times, it is impossible not to see, that the enlightenment and civilization of mankind, have made a general and equal advance along with it. It is impossible not to discover that its influence, on the whole, has been as salutary, as it has been powerful and commanding. It is identified every where with improvement-im

Rees' Cyclopædia.

provement in mind and manners-improvement in arts and letters — improvement in knowledge, in morals, in legislation, in laws, in liberty, and in all this improvement, it has led much more than it has followed; it has been the pioneer, much more than the fellow and companion of human advancement and civilization.

But no adequate justice can be done to the claims and merits of commerceto the great influence it has exerted, and is destined to exert, on human affairs without a recurrence to some particulars. It is important to understand how commerce operates, and by what instruments and agencies— what results it produces, or is capable of producing, and by what means it produces them in order to comprehend, in any fit degree, the eminent service it has rendered, and may be expected to render, to mankind. The limits of this occasion will not allow me to do more than to glance, in a cursory and hurried manner, at some of these particulars.

The direct object of commerce is the exchange of commodities. Of course, there must be commodities to be exchanged; and the more of them there may be, the more considerable will be the business and the profits of exchange. Commerce, then, is concerned to favor production, to favor industry, to favor ingenuity and invention. She stands between the class of the producers and the class of the consumers; and her interest is to encourage both production and consumption. To encourage consumption, she labors to create a taste for commodities; she persuades her customers, that their comfort will be promoted, and their happiness increased, by the possession of these commodities. In the early periods of commercial operations, whether the object be to sell, or to purchase, intercourse takes place always between those who are in diverse or different states, in regard to improvement, usually by the visits of the more civilized to the less civilized. The object is to induce the savage to exchange the skins in which he wraps himself, for the coarse but more comfortable cloths of the merchant to induce the barbarian to give up his bow and arrow for the rifle, and the rifle in turn for the plough and the sickle. As improvement goes on, the articles of the trade improve in texture, in value, and in variety; until, finally, nothing is satisfactory short of productions formed of the most costly and precious materials, and wrought with the most exquisite skill and workmanship. Wants have been increased with the increase of supplies, while the ability and means to satisfy them all, if circumstances have not been unfavorable, are certain to have increased faster and faster still. Whatever can save or facilitate labor; whatever can gratify the taste or the intellect; whatever can promote comfort, safety, ease, enjoyment, is sought after and had for the asking and paying for. And these very wants, and this very consumption, are indicative of refined and polished life.

But while commerce has been creating all this taste, and all this desire, for the arts, the conveniences, and luxuries of civilized life, she has of necessity put in operation, or encouraged, other agencies of human improvement, in order to enable her to meet the demands she has thus created. The mechanic, the artizan, the agriculturist, and the manufacturer, have been stimulated to new industry and new effort. Production has increased. Division of labor has taken place. Invention and ingenuity have been at work. The ocean and the earth have been explored for materials. Agriculture has been roused to activity, to give subsistence to labor in other departments. And thus, on the side of production, immense good has been effected. Those who produce are enabled to consume; and the more, the more they produce. As production swells, profits increase; the elements are set to work, instead of muscles;