Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 6.djvu/234

206 respective that what was good for  in her somewhat exceptional condition, might not be good, or might even be impossible, for them; and here the controversy has rested. But it must be allowed to argue a vast deal for the power of free that, in the face of so many unreciprocal s, has been able to open an effective  in her s for amounts of foreign goods and produce which thirty s ago would have been deemed , while at the same time circulating her own  in such increasing quantities to all parts of the. There can be little question that the free commercial policy of this has been one of the leading springs of the late marvellous extension of international.

The effect of the n and n s has been compared to that of the  of  at two periods—when their treasures began to be distributed in, and again when the abundance and cheapness of  increased their productiveness;—but there is one difference at least, viz., that under the greatly more active life of the present age, as compared with the 16th and 17th centuries, the results of the n and n  discoveries were much more rapidly developed than in the other case, and may be said to have passed and been exhausted under the eyes of a single generation. We should thus be better able to judge the effect of sudden, though, as they prove, always temporary increases of the supplies of the precious metals. The two events in question were almost coincident, and they came when a general extension of had already been ten s in progress. The first effect was to produce a great to the  in which the -fields were situated, and this was followed by large exports of goods to the same quarters, which, as usually happens when business falls under  out of the ordinary  course, were much overdone, and ended eventually in heavy loss to the. Abundance of had been supplied to the -fields with, and as the  was not unremunerative, and in many cases was even rewarded by large findings of , the commotion in , , and  was sustained for a considerable time. The s of the s of and  were soon filled with the new supplies of, and these imparted increased confidence to  by which they were as soon redistributed. All this was calculated to give additional impulse and extension to the commercial forces already in motion. There was a new increase of demand for goods; much had been transferred from old seats of  to new fields; and there was rise of s, and rise of prices. But whether the effects would have been different whatever other produce than had been the impelling cause may be much doubted. The effect of increased supplies of the per se on prices is difficult to trace, and is seldom detected by the keenest analysis, more especially in a period of extending  and, for the  are then more quickly absorbed, and many causes, of which their increased supply is but one and the least, are operating on the value of goods. The n and n remain productive, though in much diminished amount, and their most permanent effect on commerce will probably be found to be that they helped materially to build  into a populous, which has become one of the largest  of  in the , and to make the  a growing , of such varied  that its foreign , greatly as it had increased in the first ten s of the  discoveries, continued to increase in the subsequent ten s, when its produce of  had declined into a subordinate interest.

Immensely important as the creative and stimulating effect of the free trade of Britain and the n and n discoveries had been, they pale before a mighty service that remains to be noticed, and which, in the prolific force of a aroused to commerce, they had all the while been carrying forward in their train. There is little need of remark in this place on,, and —equally marvellous in their power of facilitating commerce and in the rapidity of their construction to this end—beyond a simple indication. The words alone convey what an age we have been living in, and what the international progress in commerce must have been. In 1839 the in the, if any, could have been counted on one's s. In the  alone there are now 1597 , of nearly 1000 average , wholly employed in foreign. All the greater  have  of , and there is scarce any part of the  to which goods and passengers are not carried with the speed, regularity, and capacity which  has given to. That goods might be hauled overland by was only deemed possible when  opened the first short  in  in 1825. There are now 17,000 of  in the, or one  of  to every seven square s of , carrying both goods and passengers with the ease and  of this new system. A similar work has been done in other, and over many thousands of  of comparatively  tracts of. The only densely-peopled quarter of the unknown to  enterprize is, and in  a short  has just been opened from  to , amid the curiosity and welcome of the populace. The rapid development of is more wonderful even than that of  or. Difficult problems of pure, of applied to , and of material , had to be solved and tested at every step, and all this had to be done with the slightest attractions to  on the. Yet the s have been laid successfully under the, the , and the , and there remain now but few parts of the commercial  to which messages may not be sent and answers received within a few hours. These wondrous and wondrously combined powers of and  have realized, in the highest form conceivable to the practical, the facility of  and the means of rapid  and  which commerce had been seeking at infinite distance from , but seeking in vain. Their influence on the interior of  has been no less marked than on the exterior distribution of their products. They are the work of less than half a century, and yet to form them has cost tens of thousands of millions of. On whatever side the question is considered, nothing less than marvels are presented to our reason. For supposing these achievements possible, the, , and prepared and ready, where was the wealth to be found to accomplish them? It may be said that, , and have been called into existence by the rising energy and resources of commerce, and it may also be said that at every stage they have created the  by which alone they could be sustained and extended.

The international of  has attained such magnitude, and is so often lost sight of in the study of more visible imports and exports, as to require careful consideration, not only on the part of the immediate lenders and borrowers, but of all who are engaged in foreign. 