9. Divide your graphic chart of commercial statistics into blocks, to correspond with periods of commercial policy; dates may be chosen as follows, 1800, 1860, 1880, 1900. Be cautious, however, about any conclusions that may suggest themselves.
10. Relative share of different factors in recent commercial progress. [Cf. W. E. Gladstone, Free trade, railways, and the growth of commerce, Nineteenth Century (Magazine), Feb., 1880, 7: 367-378; but do not regard this article as settling a problem still unsolved.]
11. Significance of the “most favored nation” clause in tariff history. [Reciprocity and commercial treaties, 389-416.]
12. Various systems of tariff policy. [Reciprocity and commercial treaties, 461-467.]
BIBLIOGRAPHY
The best single reference on the commercial conditions and policy of the Napoleonic period is Lingelbach, *Historical investigation and the commercial history of the Napoleonic era, in Amer. Hist. Rev., Jan., 1914, 19: 257-281; this provides a scholarly survey of the whole literature of the subject and can be used as a guide to further study. Of later works should be noted Frank E. Melvin, Napoleon’s navigation system, Univ. of Penn. thesis, 1919, N. Y., Appleton.
On commercial policy in general the best reference is Bastable’s ** Commerce of nations, which treats international trade, the theory and the history of commercial policy briefly but with admirable clearness. The history of the commercial policy of particular countries will be covered in following chapters. A survey of modern tariff systems is provided in * Reciprocity and commercial treaties, published by the U. S. Tariff Commission, Washington, 1919; J. W. Root, Tariff and trade, Liverpool, 1898, combines a general discussion of the tariff question with a review of the tariff policy of important commercial countries.
Colonial policy can receive but scant treatment in this book. The student is referred to the bibliography by A. P. C. Griffin, List of books relating to colonization, Washington, second ed., 1900, and to the references there given.
CHAPTER XXXV
ENGLAND: COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT, 1800-1850
417. Importance of the commerce of England.—In returning to the study of the development of commerce in different countries we shall take up first the country which at the beginning of the nineteenth century, and at its end as well, held the leading position, England. An English author has made the statement that “in the eighteenth century foreign trade was of so little importance to the majority of the inhabitants of England, that with one important exception (wheat) the whole of it might have been destroyed without making any appreciable change in the habits or wealth of the people.” This statement is an exaggeration which can hardly be supported, but yet it suggests a truth of great importance; English commerce in 1800 was merely an aid to the development and welfare of the country, while it had become in 1900 absolutely necessary to the mere existence of the people.