Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 6.djvu/233

Rh will be found much to exceed in export value the, though it must be added that to the extension of the latter there are yet no apparent limits. Many articles of export, which in 1839 were too inconsiderable to be included in a summary of principal articles, and not a few which had not then appeared in the export list, have since risen to a value much exceeding that of some principal articles in 1839; as for example, in 1873 and, 1,676,861;  and , 2,419,575; , 912,534; s, 1,027,121;  , 973,899;   and materials, 1,016,975;  other than , 672,970; ic  and apparatus, 2,359,563; and , , and  , made to foreign order, of which there is no record in the  returns whatever. The imports of the United Kingdom in 1873, besides many new of great aggregate value, such as, , , , ,  and  s, , s, and various , present a general increase over the whole range of foreign and  , most marked in  and provisions, of which the chiefly notable example, since they may fitly be embraced in the same category, includes , , , , , , , , , , s, , es, all manner of farm and  produce, the import value of which in 1873 is found to have amounted to 85,036,365. This, however marvellous, is indeed but the commerce of, but it contains the main current of the commerce of the whole, and is consequently an example, though a strong and concentrated example, of what has been passing in other. The exports of all have not been computed at more than 800,000,000 to 850,000,000. Deducting from the larger sum the and  exports, it follows that more than two-thirds of the exports of all other parts of the  are imported into the. Any permanent increase of in so large a centre is impossible without an increase throughout the general sphere, though this increase may be variously distributed. The following results of Professor Levi exhibit in the briefest form where the chief movement has been in the remarkable epoch under consideration, so far as it can be seen through the  of the.

Relation of Whole of.

Decennial Increase of.

It is always critical to assign specific causes for commercial results on so vast a scale and over so wide a theatre, for in such cases there must not only have been a long antecedent preparation of means to enable such rapid and gigantic efforts to be made, but it is certain that many causes will be found to have been in concurrent operation, effects themselves becoming causes in turn, and though in apparent conflict, one checking the excess of the other, yet in reality extending and sustaining the general impulse. But three grand characteristics of the period have been adduced with almost common consent as affording an explanation of the phenomena—(1) the adoption of free trade by Great Britain, (2) the Californian and Australian gold discoveries, and (3) Steam navigation, railways, telegraphs;—and these may obviously be accepted as the most powerful forces ever brought to bear on the extension of in any one age.

The measures by which introduced this great change in the policy of the  were marked by four general objects, merging by practical sequence in the absolute principle of  of —1st, to remove from the f all prohibitions of foreign import, among the chief of which were , while retaining for a limited period some protective regulation; 2d, to place hundreds of articles of the nature of  of , and others of less importance, yet useful in the , on a footing of entire  from  ; 3d, to reduce the  on foreign s which came into competition with home s; and 4th, to repeal the , admitting foreign  on a nominal fixed , which last involved an equally complete relief to provisions, ,  produce of every kind, and to foreign s. When the s and  were placed in full and direct competition with the , no class of rs had any excuse left for the slightest shred of protection. All these measures had the appearance more of concessions to foreign s than of any advantage to home producers, and this is, no doubt, the reason why free  was so long resisted, and many were unable to see, until the problem was visibly demonstrated, that in liberating commerce, even in developing foreign, the most powerful impulse may be given to all the springs of domestic prosperity. The immediate effects in increasing the —even the , which seemed endangered by the abolition of so many —in reviving   and s, and imparting new life to  itself, were so great that the free  policy was speedily carried up to its highest points of. The differential on foreign and,  and free   were removed; and the , in favour of which the greatest prejudice had long existed, were fully conformed to the new policy. The expected influence of so successful an illustration of free on other  has not yet been realized to any considerable extent. A more system of  with  and other an  has only been effected by, which, however mutually advantageous in its results, is in its temporary and provisional character more or less unsatisfactory. It was not enough that could say to her neighbours that free  had worked well not only for herself but for them. There was always the ready retort of the protected interests in the 