interest of the consumer rather than, as in later times, of the producer.

Besides the general effect on commerce produced by the policy and constitutional legislation of Edward I., he dealt in some cases directly with matters affecting trade. The Statute of Merchants (1283) gave greater security to foreign as well as native traders for recovery of debts, while the Charta Mercatoria (1303),—which by its enumeration of the various nationalities affected shows the extent of the body of foreign traders, confirmed and extended privileges which aliens had gradually obtained. Full security was given to all foreigners to come and go free from any personal duty; they were allowed to sell by wholesale to any native or alien, and to retail spices and mercery; any article might be exported, on paying the duty (except wine, for which a licence was required), to countries at peace with England. All restrictions on residence were removed, the export of wool on which duty had once been paid was legalised. It might also be moved from one part of the country to another (see BOARD OF TRADE). In this period there is a close connection between politics and commerce. Edward I. used the English supply of superior kinds of wool as a means of securing aid from the Flemings. According to the requirements of the moment its export was either forbidden, heavily taxed, or freely permitted. The first prohibition of the export of gold is found 1307; soon afterwards the STAPLE (q.v.) comes into notice. We cannot trace here the various changes of the system, but it tended directly to limit trade to the staple towns, and by enabling the course of every transaction to be more easily watched, made it possible to enforce the statutes which forbade foreigners to take their money out of the kingdom, or, in a milder form, required one half of it to be expended on native commodities.

The exports during the 13th and 14th centuries included wool, sent largely to Flanders, hides, tin, and fish. Coal was exported to France from Newcastle in the 14th century. Lead and iron were also at times exported, and in good seasons corn. The imports comprised iron from Spain, linen and fine cloth from Flanders, wine and salt from Gascony, silks, fruits, spices, and Greek wines brought by the Italian fleets, which, after 1317, regularly visited England. Furs, pitch, and timber came from the north of Europe through the traders of the Hanse towns; in times of scarcity corn was imported. The trade with Bordeaux was very active, and mainly carried on by English ships from London, Bristol, Dover, and Hull; they took out wool, herrings, lead, copper, and tin, and pilgrims as passengers; they returned laden with wine and wheat. In 1350, 141 ships carried 13,429 tuns of wine from Bordeaux to England.

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The difficulty of getting precise amounts of the commodities traded in during the earlier periods has led historians to quote gladly the exports and imports as given in the custom accounts for 1354. The former comprise 31,651 and 3036 cwt. of wool, sheepskins, hides, 47744 pieces of coarse cloth, and 80614 pieces of worsted, representing a total value of £212,338: 5s., of which nearly £82,000 went in duties. The imports were 1831 pieces of fine cloth, 3974 cwt. of wax, 18294 tuns of wine, with linen, mercery, and grocery, the whole valued at £38,383:16:10, paying nearly £600 duty. These figures, however, though instructive as showing the amounts of commerce in certain articles, and illustrating the great predominance of export duties in early times, are yet very incomplete, e.g. there is no account of the large export of minerals. More detailed returns of the customs of the port of London during the 14th century show extraordinary fluctuations from year to year.

The mechanism of commercial transactions became much more refined during the period under consideration. Though the earliest dealers in money and exchange, the Jews, were expelled by Edward I. (1290), their place was speedily taken by Italians, who supplied the funds needed by the English kings for their French wars, and developed the employment of the BILL OF EXCHANGE (q.v.) Even in the absence of direct evidence it is probable that the stringent regulations as to export of money were evaded by the use of these instruments, supplemented by smuggling, which the small size of all the vessels employed in trade rendered very easy.

The trade of Ireland and Scotland, up to the end of the 14th century, was not important. Bristol received the raw produce of Ireland, principally corn and skins; there was also some direct trade with Bordeaux. Scottish wool was exported from Berwick, and the produce of the fisheries found its way both to England and the Continent.

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At the opening of the 15th century British trade, in its medieval form, had attained a high development, and was increasing in volume. Italian merchants were accorded full privileges by Henry IV. (1409), and even allowed to engage in the carrying trade contrary to the policy of the early Navigation Laws e.g. that of Richard II. (1381). remarkable poem called a Libel of English Policy (1436) gives a full account of commodities exchanged between the countries of western Europe. Spanish goods-fruit, oil, soap, wax, and iron-reached England by way of Bruges. The Portuguese trade, a direct one, supplied similar wares with the addition of hides and salt. Of Italian traders the Genoese brought alum, spices, and gold to meet the balance due by them for the export of wool and

One of the best indications of the growth of commerce is the increasing number of wealthy native merchants. Though some are mentioned in the 13th century, and the names of De la Pole and Whittington were remarkable in the 14th, it is not till the 15th century that they become numerous,—at London, Cotton, Smith, and Bullayn; at Hull Taverner is noticed as trading with Italy and enjoying special freedom by royal licence; Thornton at Newcastle; the Jays, Sturmy, and notably the Cannynges at Bristol. William Cannynge the younger is said to have had one ship of 900 tons, and to have employed 800 men and ten ships with an aggregate tonnage of 2853 tons.

In the 15th century the society of ADVENTURERS, MERCHANT (q.v.) was first chartered (1406), though a greater antiquity is claimed for it. This body, trading with the Netherlands, Germany, and the Baltic coast, interfered with the previous monopoly of the Teutonic Hanse, which, however, still retained its privileges and factory at London. The fact that the Hanse trade supplied much needed and desired commodities-timber for ships and bows, iron, flax, and hemp, besides furs and Rhenish wine -undoubtedly led to this favour.

Another noteworthy feature is the increased number of COMMERCIAL TREATIES (q.v.) stipulating for reciprocal concessions to subjects of the contracting parties. Engagements of this kind were formed with Venice, the Hanse towns, Brittany, Castile, the Netherlands, and Denmark, the most remarkable being those of Utrecht with the Hanse in 1474, and the Intercursus Magnus (1496) which reopened the Netherlands trade after a suspension of two years.

The prejudice against foreign traders became very strong during the latter part of this century, and was still more intense in the next. English commerce had reached a turning-point; instead of simply supplying other countries with raw materials and taking in exchange finished articles, it was sought to preserve the home market for native produce and to place the carrying trade, so far as English imports and

merchants. The woollen manufacture, which had always existed in a rude form and had been improved by Flemish immigrants in the 12th and 14th centuries, was now in a position to export the coarser kinds of cloth. The commercial history of the time is powerfully affected by a movement towards what would now be called "protection." Not to mention many minor acts dealing with special cases, there is the well-known statute of 1463 (3 Ed. IV. c. iv.) prohibiting, by enumeration, the import of almost all wrought goods, "that the English artificers may have employment"; and though the statute was limited to the king's reign, it was in fact re-enacted in that of Richard III., and regarded so late as the 18th century as "the wisest piece of commercial legislation." The ideas of aiding the defence of the kingdom, as in the laws of 1408 and 1483, requiring the import of bowstaves by the Venetian traders, and of securing an abundance of commodities specially needed for the welfare of the people, were still prominent in the minds of statesmen.

These tendencies of English commercial policy were supported by changes in the outside world. The fall of the Greek empire (1453) and the later conquest of Egypt (1517), involving the decline of Italian commerce, altered the balance of commercial as of political power. The consolidation of the French and Spanish monarchies changed the older lines of English trade with those countries, and the opening up of the New World of America and India had a still greater effect. The trade with the Mediterranean, formerly in the hands of the Italians, was now so important as to lead to the appointment of a consul at Pisa, 1485 (confirmed 1490), and after the discovery of the Cape passage to India (1497), English trade with Portugal rapidly increased. The Guinea traffic was opened 1530, the North Sea voyage to Russia discovered 1553. The Levant commerce commenced 1550, the first LEVANT or TURKEY COMPANY (q.v.) was chartered 1581. Ten years later the first voyage to India was made, and 1600 the foundation of the EAST INDIA COMPANIES (q.v.) was laid.

The movement of English commerce is shown by the average amounts of imports and exports during the reign of Henry VIII., which fairly represent the first half of the 16th century; as estimated by Schanz, they are as follows:Imports, 10,060 tuns of wine; 3028 cwt. wax, making with other imports a total real value of £402,092, but officially estimated at £284,360. Exports, 98,132 pieces of cloth; 5785 sacks of wool; 14,056 hides; 4387 pieces of worsted; 8931 cwt. of tin, with other exports giving a total estimated value of £427,830, officially stated at £293,287. Comparing these figures with the returns for 1354 given above, the growth of the woollen industry is evident-in

stead of unwrought wool it is cloth that is exported. Even in Flemish markets English competition was beginning to be felt during the 15th century, while the wider field that the Italian and Levant trade offered proved a further encouragement. The development of English export trade was aided by the monetary revolution of the 16th century. For a thousand years there had been no considerable addition to the amount of money in circulation, which at times had been even reduced. England had kept up its stock of money by trade with Flanders and the Italian cities, but the discovery of the mines of Mexico and Peru led to a continuous flow of bullion through Spain to the commercial centres of the Low Countries, where the rapid rise in prices stimulated the already-growing import of English products, since there was no rise of prices in England till 1570. The revolt of the Netherlands gave a further opportunity to English traders. The capture of Antwerp (1585) was a severe blow to its trade, most of which passed to Amsterdam and London, which during the preceding eighty years had been gradually gaining at the expense of other English ports. A large body of Flemish weavers emigrated to the eastern counties and increased the power of that district to produce for export. The closing of the London settlement of the Hanse (decreed 1552, finally carried out 1598), removing as it did the last trace of a time when the commerce of England was conducted by foreigners, is a significant mark of the opening of a new period.

The 17th century is pre-eminently the period of the MERCANTILE SYSTEM (q.v.) The tendencies which had been shown under the Tudors, and even earlier, to advance native industries by excluding foreign rivalry, now took the direction of encouraging exports, more especially of imitating the commercial development of Holland by securing markets and the CARRYING TRADE (q.v.) The commerce of this period was mainly carried on by companies, either joint stock or regulated, possessing in some cases monopolies of commerce with particular countries-the East India Companies of eastern traffic, the Merchant Adventurers of the German trade. There was a steady advance in business transacted, as the following short table proves.

East India trade at the commencement of the century, and later the important trade to the American "Plantations." At first the energy and superior resources of the Dutch enabled them to secure the greater part of the additional commerce of Europe. The pamphlet writers of the period are agreed on the point, and they are probably correct. Notwithstanding this relative inferiority, the commerce of England was certainly prospering. The woollen industry, now established as the leading manufacture, was increasing its export. Indian trade replaced the older commerce with Italy in supplying Eastern products, but the trade with the Mediterranean, now carried on by the Levant Company, retained much of its importance. Sugar, tobacco, and such rude products as timber and hides, were imported from the American colonies in large quantities. In spite of national jealousy and wars, the direct trade with Holland was large; English goods being stored at Amsterdam to be reshipped in the cheaper Dutch vessels. The Navigation Laws (see NAVIGATION ACTS), sought to destroy the advantage of these rivals, and are generally held to have so far succeeded. A further instance of the same spirit is found in the complete prohibition of French goods (1678); and, though the measure expired at the death of Charles II., it was practically re-enacted after the Revolution. In other respects the policy of protection was developed, the export duty on wool replaced by a prohibition, and various foreign products, which might compete with English goods were either excluded or heavily taxed. Trade with Ireland and the colonies was subjected to restrictions with the double object of securing a market for home manufactures and a cheap supply of raw materials for native workers. In another direction, however, commerce was freed from restraint. The privileges of the companies were closely questioned and the monopoly of the Merchant Adventurers was removed. The old "Statutes of Employment,' prescribing the expenditure of money within the country, became obsolete, and the export of bullion was legalised (1663), a reform in which the advocates of the East India Company took a prominent part, since this trade was carried on by the export of silver to the East, where it was specially prized.

By the end of the century the exports to Holland had probably reached their highest point. In 1703 they amounted to £2,417,890 (i.e. over 36 per cent of the total), more than half (£1,339,526) being woollen goods. Trade with France was only possible by means of smuggling; the Methuen treaty with Portugal (1703) being expressly designed to give the wines of that country an advantage over competitors, of which the chief was France. The attempt to negotiate an Anglo-French commercial treaty (1714) was a failure, and the privileges given to England by the treaty of