But to none was the hostility of the feudal chiefs more rancorous than to the pursuits of commerce. The most odious of sights was the tall chimney of a manufactory peering through the oak and elm of the chase; while the pollution of mills and workshops on the banks of pellucid streams was not to be borne. The mines of the mountain were closed, lest their produce might destroy the salmon and trout of the rivers; while houses and ships were left unbuilt, that the forests be not denuded of their stately timber.
The hostility of the feudal chiefs to mercantile progress
was the more inveterate, from a feeling and knowledge of its antagonism to their own irresponsible power. Every manufactory which was set up bore a brow of hostility to the castle; while every town was in feud with the manor. In every war or tumult the towns and commercial villages ranged their forces in opposition to the Baron and his clan; and whensoever an opportunity offered for suppressing and subverting the feudal dominion and privileges, the mercantile community never failed to raise the axe and strike at their root.
The Barons, therefore, manifested the utmost dislike and hostility to the progress of manufactures and towns. Seldom could a fitting site for a village or manufactory be found except within the limits of a manor; and the lord, if he even conceded the liberty for the erection, never failed to burden the grant with exorbitant rents and exactions, and to fetter it with the most oppressive restrictions. These grants would never have been made, only for the temptation of gold. The feudal chiefs were, from their ostentatious power and display, mostly poor; and in exchange for a high rent or large purchase money, they were induced to grant tracts of land to the manufacturer and merchant, whose money capital was the only bait for the cupidity of the proprietor. Hence, from the reign of Edward the First onwards, the conflict of capital representing commerce, and territorial interest representing the lords of the soil. The former power, feeble at first, grew steadily under the more favorable reigns of succeeding monarchs, and in modern times has made such strides, as to equal, if not surpass, the ancient dominion of the fief.
Moreover, the excessive power of the Barons was full of danger to the peace and security of the realm. Where the dominion and government of the mass of the people were in so few hands, the peril of the nation was great
from the discontent or ambition of one or more of the chiefs. A Mowbray, Bohun, Mortimer, or Clifford, could at the head of his clan disarrange the affairs of the entire kingdom, and plunge the nation into war. This danger was also increased from the turbulent disposition of the Barons. The feudal chiefs dwelt apart in the strongholds of their castles, and the solitude of their manors, and exercised unlimited dominion and sovereignty over the inhabitants of their domains. Their mode of life and irresponsible power generated an independence and insubordination which could ill brook restraint or abridgment even from the sovereign, setting aside from another chieftain, and which often broke out in open rebellion, defying even the power of the crown. Hence the insurrection of a Leicester, a Warwick, and a Northumberland, which required the utmost force of the sovereign and his confederate Barons to subdue. Hence also the intestine commotions and civil wars which were so prevalent in the feudal ages, and which from time to time paralysed the progress of the nation, and occasioned the sacrifice of innumerable lives.
The feudal dominion was, in the last place, very unfavorable to art, science, and discovery. Its chiefs had little leisure from foreign wars and domestic tumult for their prosecution, and had less inclination to encourage their promotion by others. Their attention was absorbed in schemes of territorial aggrandisement and political intrigue, as to devote little time to the improvement of the mind. The only learning which they patronised was the mummeries of monkish superstition and priestly adulation. True science was neglected, or even discouraged. We do not find one name throughout the dark and stormy reigns of the Plantagenets which may rank in the first class of scientific merit. We must descend to the Tudors before we meet with any light to dispel the Egyptian darkness which enveloped science. It was the reign of the virgin
Queen Elizabeth which was embellished by that galaxy of illustrious stars in the firmament of discovery, which mapped out new and more useful paths for investigation, and will shed everlasting light upon science. It was in this epoch when the feudal dominion had been shorn of much or most of its pristine glory, and when commerce and manufactures were encouraged, and the liberty of the subject was more secure—that a Bacon, a Raleigh, a Camden and a Davis, arose to delight and bless mankind with their magnificent discoveries. The paths shadowed out by these great names were afterwards pursued under still more auspicious reigns, throughout which we find a joint alliance and equal progress between mercantile grandeur and civil freedom, and their hand-maiden science. In these latter times we meet with a Newton, a Davy, a Watt, and a Stephenson, whose discoveries and works have yoked matter to accomplish the purposes of man, and made the elements tributary to his designs. It is likewise more than probable that had the human mind in modern times not emancipated itself from feudal servility and thraldom, Britain and the world would have been deprived of these universal blessings, and our own glorious island would at present hold little or no higher rank in Europe than benighted Spain, or the Italian peninsula.
Now that the pomp, glory, and circumstance of the feudal state have passed away, we may leisurely look back on its history, contemplate its features, and observe its effects and tendencies. In this retrospect we are encouraged by the better condition of the age in which we live, and the brightening prospects of the future. But in all our inquiries and wanderings let us never forget that man has in all ages been inconstant, and human nature imperfect, and that the best of all institutions are probably those which approximate the laws that Solon gave to the Athenians; who said, “My laws are not the best ones possible, but they are the best which the Athenians can bear.”
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