is nearly as ancient as the world itself; necessity set it on foot; the desire of convenience improved it; and vanity, luxury, and avarice, have largely contributed to raise it to its present pitch. At first, it could only consist in the exchange of things necessary for life. The ploughman gave his corn to the shepherd, and received milk and wool in exchange. This method of commerce still exists among rude nations, particularly on the coasts of Siberia, Lapland, and among several nations on the shores of Asia, Africa, and America.

In all imperfectly formed societies which still adhere to this rude simplicity, there are similar modes of exchange; thus, the Laplanders and the savages of America, give the skins of the minever, ermine, and beaver, in payment of the goods with which they are supplied; in other countries, gold dust, ivory, shells, &c., are used for the same purpose. In some countries, cattle formed the intermediate article ; and, according to this arrangement, a certain number of sheep or oxen were given in exchange for provisions or merchandize. This custom, which was attended with much inconvenience, existed no longer than the period when metals were first introduced in commerce as a standard value.

It is not precisely known when the commerce, by buying and selling, first began; but the first pieces of money made to replace the value of the cattle which were before the medium of exchange in trade, bore the figures and names of the animal; and it is probable that each piece of money was of the precise value of the animal that it represented. Thus a hundred pieces on which was the picture of a sheep,

were equivalent to a hundred sheep; and the piece of money which bore the figure of an ox or a cow, sufficed for the payment of one of those animals.

The facility afforded to commercial intercourse by means of money, the activity which it inspires in circulation, and its influence in almost every transaction of human life, cause it to be looked upon as the soul of business.

The first most expert and most daring traders of all antiquity, were the Egyptians, the Phoenicians, and the Carthaginians.

Under the Asiatic and Grecian empires, commerce was cultivated by several nations; but it flourished more considerably under the dominion of the Romans, as appears from the great number of their colleges and companies of merchants.

The destruction of the Roman empire by the irruptions of the barbarians, brought that of commerce along with it; or, at least, suspended its ordinary operation for some time. By degrees it began to recover itself, and made a new progress; especially in Italy. The Pisans, Florentines, Genoese, and Venetians, abounding in shipping, took occasion to spread themselves through all the ports of the Levant and Egypt; bringing thence silk, spices, and other merchandize, with which they furnished the greatest part of Europe. Thus was the modern commerce founded on the ruins of that of the ancient Greeks and Romans to the same places; and thus did those famous republics acquire their lustre and power, which were considerably increased by the commercial effects of the crusades. The republics furnished the Crusaders with transports, military stores, and provi

sions, and obtained charters very favourable to the establishment and extension of their commerce. When Constantinople was taken under the banner of the holy cross, many valuable branches of trade, which formerly centered in that city, were transferred to Venice, Genoa, or Pisa.

The Germans had, however, long carried on a' separate commerce, which was not borrowed from the Romans, nor did it fall with theirs. Towards the end of the twelfth century, the German cities situated on the coasts of the Baltic, and the rivers that communicate with it, carried on a considerable traffic with the neighbouring states. As their commerce was much interrupted by pirates, seventy-two of them united together for their mutual defence; and were hence called Hanseatic, or Hans towns. These flourished till the end of the fifteenth, or beginning of the sixteenth, century, when a division arose among them. About the same time a new passage to the Indies was discovered by the Portugueze, by the Cape of Good Hope, and settlements made on the coasts of Africa and the Indies; the ancient Italian and Hanseatic commerce sunk; and the chief trade came into the hands of the Portugueze.

The Portugueze had not possessed those different branches of commerce above a hundred years, when about the beginning of the seventeenth century, the Dutch began to share it with them, and in a little time dispossessed them of almost the whole of it. The English, French, Danes, and Hamburghers, excited by their success, soon made settlements in the Indies, and on the coasts of Africa. And lastly, America, discovered by Columbus in 1492, became the object of a new, vast, and most important com

merce for all the nations of Europe; and of this, Cadiz and Seville were made the centre.

The first conquerors of this new world, still pos sess the greatest part of it, and endeavour to preserve its commerce to themselves with great jealousy; yet the English, French, Portugueze, and Dutch, have several rich and flourishing colonies, either in the islands or on the continent; and it is certain, that the trade of Europe has not suffered by the new commerce with America.

The navigation from the Baltic to the Mediterranean, was tedious and difficult; the situation of Flanders, the flourishing state of its manufactures, together with the free fairs of that country, engaged the merchants, both of the north and south, to establish their magazines first in Bruges, and then in Antwerp. But the establishment of the republic of Holland, the favourable reception it gave to strangers, and the refuge it afforded to religious exiles, drew store of manufacturers to it, as well as manufactures; and soon sunk the commerce of Antwerp. The same reasons, with the convenience and multitude of the ports of England, the goodness of the wools, and the industry of the workmen, have brought hither the better part of the commerce of Europe.

ORIGIN OF AMBASSADORS.

The interests of commerce have frequently made it necessary to maintain ambassadors or agents in foreign countries, where the purposes either of war or alliance would not have required any. The commerce of the Turkey Company, first occasioned the

establishment of an ordinary ambassador at Constantinople. The first English embassies to Russia, arose altogether from commercial interests. The constant interference which those interests necessarily occasioned between the subjects of the different states of Europe, has introduced the custom of keeping in all neighbouring countries, ambassadors or ministers, constantly resident, even in the time of peace. This custom, unknown to ancient times, is not older than the beginning of the sixteenth century; that is, than the time when commerce first began to extend itself to the greater part of the nations of Europe, and when they began to attend to its interests.

TYRE.

The

Of all the cities of antiquity, Tyre was the most celebrated for the extent of its commerce. Tyrians obtained the productions of the East, of which it was the grand emporium, by sailing up the Red Sea or Arabian Gulf, and then passing across Arabia Petrea to Rhinocolura.

Alexander seems to have determined on the destruction of Tyre, in order to found a city which he might dignify with his name, and enrich with the commerce of the East; for which, Alexandria was placed in a better situation than Tyre.

Of Tyre, "whose merchants were princes, whose traffickers were the honourable of the earth," there now exists scarcely any traces. Some miserable cabins arranged in irregular lines, dignified with the name of streets, and a few buildings of a rather better description, occupied by the officers of the govern