Page:Craik History of British Commerce Vol 2.djvu/167

Rh One of the most important events affecting our foreign trade that took place in the reign of Anne was the conclusion, in December, 1703, of the famous commercial arrangement with Portugal, commonly called the Methuen Treaty, after the ambassador by whom it was negociated, by which, on condition of our admitting the wines of the growth of Portugal on payment of a duty one-third less than was paid upon French wines, his Portuguese majesty agreed to admit our woollen cloths on the same terms as before they were prohibited, which they appear to have been for about twenty years. This treaty, which continued to be maintained till the year 1831, was, in great part, no doubt, owing to the anti-Gallic temper which prevailed in the public mind, generally regarded at the time as one of the greatest advantages ever secured for our trade and manufactures, and it long continued to be the theme of boundless laudation with all our writers on subjects of commerce and political economy who aspired to the reputation of either orthodoxy or patriotism. As a specimen of the style in which it was wont to be spoken of, and of the beneficial effects that were attributed to it, the reader may take the following passage from Mr. Charles King's Dedication of the collection of papers entitled The 'British Merchant' to the son of Methuen:—"Your father, often ambassador extraordinary to the King of Portugal, procured for Great Britain that glorious treaty of commerce, by which she gains above a million a-year. By this treaty we paid our armies in Spain and Portugal, and drew from thence in the late war considerable sums for our troops in other parts, without remitting one farthing from England; and at the same time coined in the Tower above a million of Portugal gold in three years. By this treaty we gain a greater balance from Portugal only than from any other country whatsoever; and at this time it is the only country from whence we have any balance worth the naming. By this treaty we have increased our exports thither from about three hundred thousand pounds a-year to near a million and a half." One of the writers in the British Merchant declares that Mr. Methuen deserved to have his statue set