6. The commercial treaty of 1860. [McCarthy, Hist., vol. 2, chap. 41; Morley, Cobden, chap. 32.]
7. What is the difference between “general” and “special” commerce? [Statesman’s Year-Book, France, Commerce.]
8. France under the third republic. [Seignobos, chap. 7.]
9. The protectionist reaction. [Herbert A. L. Fisher, in Econ. Journal, 1896, 6: 341-355.]
10. The situation of France in international commerce. [Lebon, in International Monthly, 1901, 3: 252-273.]
CHAPTER XLII
MINOR STATES OF CENTRAL AND NORTHERN EUROPE
511. States of minor commercial importance.—In the year 1912 four great states carried on nearly one-half of the foreign commerce of the world, considerably more than one-half if their dependencies be counted with them. Three of these, England (including the British Empire), Germany, and France, have already formed the subject of study, and the fourth, the United States, will be considered at length in a later section. We must now attend to the commercial development in other countries, reviewing their history more briefly as accords with their minor importance. We shall take up first two countries, the Netherlands and Belgium, which stand not far below the leaders, and which would even rank high among them but for their small size. It may not be unnecessary to remind the reader that Belgium is a creation of the nineteenth century; the country had formed a province subject to Spain or Austria until the period of the French Revolution when it was for a time incorporated in France, then (1815) joined to the Netherlands in a single kingdom, and finally, in 1830, established as an independent state.
512. Commerce of the Netherlands to 1830.—Dutch commerce had long passed its best days when, toward the close of the eighteenth century, it received what seemed to be its death blow in the war with England, growing out of the American war of independence. Before the Netherlands had begun to recover from its reverses it was engulfed in the movements of the French Revolution; was conquered and heavily taxed by the French; suffered under the ban of Napoleon’s continental system; and lost for a time its most valuable colonial possessions. At the close of the wars, in 1815, it recovered its colonies, except Ceylon, the Cape of Good Hope, and parts of Guiana, which remained in the possession of the English, but it could not recover its former commercial position. Other peoples had learned to do for themselves what the Netherlands had once done for them as a merchant and carrier; and Amsterdam and Rotterdam saw their commerce pass to London, Hamburg, and other ports. In striking contrast with the earlier period the Netherlands had in 1824-5 only 7 large ships under construction while England had about 800. The union with the Belgian provinces, lasting from 1815 to 1830, increased the area and the internal trade of the country, but was a hindrance rather than a help to the development of foreign commerce. The Belgian industries required protection, and the tariff, framed to meet both their demands and a protectionist sentiment in the Netherlands which had grown up in the period of decline, hampered free commercial relations with other states.
513. Dutch commerce since 1830.—The Netherlands, even after the separation of Belgium in 1830, clung to the protective tariff, and remained outside the great current of commerce. A colonial policy known as the culture-system, adopted in their East Indian possessions, especially Java, returned a large revenue to the government, but prevented commercial development there, while the West Indian possessions suffered severely from the lack of labor following the abolition of slavery. Meanwhile, however, a movement for free trade had grown up which resulted, after 1850, in a lowering of tariff rates until they were little more than nominal in amount. The growth of the European railway system gave to the Netherlands a new importance as a place of import for wares destined for central Europe; and the country profited largely by the growth, on either side, of the two great industrial powers, England and Germany. In the last half of the century the growth of the Dutch commerce has been rapid and nearly constant. The annual value of the total special trade (exports plus imports, in this case including the precious metals) was as follows at ten-year intervals from 1850 to 1910, in milliards of dollars: .1, .2, .2, .6, 1.0, 1.5, 2.4. Figures for the general trade of the country, including goods imported and then re-exported, would be considerably larger.
514. Position of the Dutch in recent commerce.—The Netherlands suffers from a lack of mineral resources, as the country is largely “made” land, composed of sand and silt which the great rivers have deposited at their entrance to the sea. The Dutch, therefore, have been handicapped in their attempts to share in the development of modern industry, and find in agriculture rather than in manufacturing their chief occupation. They have succeeded in certain special manufactures (diamond-cutting, chocolate, oleomargarine), in gaining a leading place, but cannot compete with other nations in the staple machine industries. They produce a surplus of dairy products for export, and import raw materials and manufactures which cannot be produced in sufficient quantity at home; but the striking feature of their trade is the fact that in general the same products appear among both the imports and the exports. The Dutch, favored by their national training and geographical position, and diverted from other means of livelihood by lack of resources, are the middlemen of Europe, arranging exchanges between other countries.