dunbar08
Author: Unknown
Date: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Essay VIII

The Same Subject Continued

The fate of nations often depends on circumstances apparently the most trivial. The genius, the life, perhaps the temporary humour of a single man may, on some occasions, fix the political arrangements that affect the essential interests of one half the globe.

Local circumstances are so blended in their operations with a variety of other causes, that it is difficult to define them with such precision as were necessary to form an estimate of their comparative importance. Hence the confusion, on this subject, which fills the volumes of the learned. A Writer [Montesquieu] of the first rank, who illustrates and adorns the history of mankind with plausible and ingenious theory, has assigned to physical causes an almost unlimited empire. Another Writer, [Hume] no less illustrious, contracts into a point the sphere of their dominion.

Their priority in the order of things, and their supposed permanency, have been urged by other writers, as decisive of superior sway. But it deserves to be remembered, that causes physical in their nature, are often moral only in their operations; that these operations are limited and precarious, and relative to the conjuncture; that a people may be long incapable to avail themselves of external advantages; that circumstances ultimately beneficial, may have proved for a long while incommodious or destructive; and, consequently, that the importance of local station, far from being permanent, varies not only with the contingencies of the natural world, but with the course of political events, and the general state of human improvement.

A settlement, conducing at one period to render the natives fierce, treacherous, and inhospitable, may be instrumental at another period, in rendering them civil and humane.

Before the aera of navigation, a settlement on an island, or the command of an extensive and commodious coast, might have conferred no advantages on the possessors; or rather circumstances, of such inestimable account in a commercial age, might, by cutting off all communication with the rest of the species, have proved, in every former aera, invincible obstacles to the civil arts. Our insular situation, so fertile a source of national security, opulence, and grandeur, rendered us long an uncultivated and sequestered people:

— Penitus toto divisos orbe Britannos

And the neglect with which Britons were once treated in the society of nations, is compensated only by that attention which their posterity command. While nations on the continent of Europe maintain their barriers with difficulty, and at an enormous expence, and, if they will consult their security, must often court alliances, and observe, with jealous attention, the minutest variations in the balance of power, Great Britain is exempted from such anxious solicitude. By collecting her forces within herself, by avoiding continental wars, which exhaust, to little purpose, her treasure and her blood, and by rendering the improvement of her maritime strength the fixed and steady object of her policy, she may maintain, in defiance of powerful confederacies, that post of honour and distinction, which seems to have drawn upon her the envy of nations, who now take advantage of internal calamities to insult her fortune.

The aera of navigation opened a new species of correspondence among men: and, in the infancy of the art, a civil settlement might be attended with peculiar advantages, which there could be no possibility of transmitting, in their full extent, to future generations. In the territory of the Phoenicians, neither large nor fertile, yet lying along a commodious coast, we observe sources of opulence and renown. That country, oppressed at first by the violence of the Assyrians, but afterwards so well adapted to the commercial circumstances of the antient world, called forth in its people corresponding exertions, and both invited them to undertake, and favoured the execution of early enterprizes as a maritime power. While the Egyptians, in the fullness of riches and of pride, and in the spirit of an unsocial form of superstition, had shut their ports against mankind, and renounced all foreign correspondence; it was the glory of the Phoenicians to venture beyond the boundaries of antient navigation, and by commercial enterprize, to diffuse arts and civility over the western regions.

Bred up in habits of frugality and domestic industry, the consequence of scanty and penurious possessions, they pursued an oeconomical, not a luxurious commerce. The commodities of every country were embarked on Phoenician bottoms; and, as merchants, or factors, or navigators, they created a sort of universal dependence, and conducted, almost exclusively, the traffic of the world.

What the Phoenicians were, in early times, relatively to the nations on the Mediterranean coast; what the Hanse Towns and the Dutch lately were, relatively to the other European states; the commercial towns all over Europe are, at this day, relatively to the rest of the earth. The maritime efforts of the Greeks lessened the importance of Phoenicia. The maritime efforts of the English, and of other powers, have sunk the importance of the Dutch commonwealth. The fall of Europe will mark, perhaps, at some future aera, the enterprize of the species at large; or Europe may only seem to fall, while she advances to more absolute greatness, and superior opulence, though of less relative importance in the political scale.

But to return to early times: Carthage, a colony planted by the Phoenicians, and inheriting the commercial genius of the parent state, flourished by the same arts, and grew superior to all nations in naval power. Content with the empire of the sea alone, she might have bid defiance, on that element, to the arms of Rome.

But the neglect of her marine, the consequence of a long struggle for dominion on the continent of Europe, rendered her vulnerable on her own coasts. More attentive to the levying of armies, composed chiefly of foreign mercenaries, than to the equipment of fleets, in which alone her genius was peculiarly formed to excel, she allowed a maritime ascendency to a powerful rival. And, in these circumstances, the jealousy of other states, and intestine divisions, co-operated with the Roman vengeance and ambition in the extinction of the Carthaginian name.

Corinth, situated on an isthmus, in the centre of Greece, and equally connected with the Aegean and Ionian shores, is an example of a city which united with signal advantages for navigation those of inland trade. It derived, accordingly, from so fortunate a coincidence, wealth, splendor, and magnificence. As a mart of trade, it was no less resorted to than Carthage itself. They have been called, emphatically, the two eyes of the Mediterranean coast, and were destroyed in one year by the Romans. The city of Corinth was restored by Julius Caesar; the city of Carthage, by Augustus.

But it was not possible to restore, under the Roman yoke, that combination of circumstances which had rendered illustrious the antient possessors of the same settlements. Corinth was no longer the capital of a little monarchy, surrounded by free states, eminent for arts and sciences. And the new city of Carthage, in the form of a Roman colony, gives us no idea of that city which had been the pride of Africa, and the envy of Rome.

The aspiring genius of the Roman people was not formed for commercial arts. During the first ages of the commonwealth they remained totally unacquainted with maritime affairs. A Carthaginian galley, driven by accident on the coasts of Italy, presented them with the first model of a ship of war. But when naval armaments appeared to be essential to that plan of universal dominion after which they aspired, they became intent upon those objects, and pursued them with unremitting ardor and astonishing success. The mercantile spirit, and the love of ingenious arts, conducted the Pheonicians, the Carthaginians, and the Greeks, to distinction and eminence as maritime powers. Among these nations, trade was the principal aim in navigation; war only a collateral object. But this natural order of things was reversed at Rome. The martial spirit alone led to the establishment of a marine, which triumphed over the efforts of all the commercial states known in the antient world, and rendered the Romans themselves in some degree commercial, when no longer a war-like people. It was the same spirit which raised up suddenly for Mithridates (for he disclaimed all regard to commercial objects, as beneath his dignity) such formidable fleets, as insulted the Romans on their own coasts, when, by the annihilation of rival powers, they seemed to be in full possession of maritime empire.

Sometimes local situation suggests correspondent designs of great magnitude and importance. Sometimes designs suggested by other consideration are hence only conducted to a more brilliant or more successful issue. In both these ways, in the remote ages of antiquity, the Cretans, the Rhodians, and other states, availed themselves of happy situations in the pursuits of commercial and civil greatness.

But local advantages, fluctuating and precarious, often derive their sole account from the temporary condition of the world. It was hence that, long before the fall of Carthage and of Corinth, in consequence of the discovery of the Indian sea, Alexandria began to flourish, and became destined, from that discovery alone, to be the great emporium of trade between the east and west. Its situation between Tyre and Carthage was convenient for commanding some share of the lucrative trade of which these cities had been so long possessed. Tyre was already no more: and Carthage regarded with a jealous eye the erection of a port, which, under the protection of the king of Macedon, might supplant here in no small degree. To produce this effect, as well as to secure his conquest of Egypt, seems to have been the view of Alexander in laying the foundations of his new city. But he perceived not then the source of its importance. It was his expedition into the Indies alone which could have opened his eyes on the prospect of its future grandeur. This forms a memorial epoch. The boundaries of commerce being enlarged, and a maritime correspondence opened between the Indies and the western nations, the commodities of the East, which had been usually carried down the Oxus, and along the Caspian sea, began to be diverted into the channel of Egypt. The Indian trade indeed remained long inconsiderable; nor did it abandon of a sudden its antient course. But in proportion as this change took place under the Ptolemies, and under the Romans, the resort to Alexandria became conspicuous. In one month, says Josephus, it supplied the treasury of Rome with more riches than all the rest of Egypt supplied in a year. And from the reduction of Egypt into a Roman province by Augustus, to the conquest of that country by the Saracens, a period of above seven hundred years, the port of Alexandria was the most noted mart in the world. Nor was it less renowned as the seat of philosophy and the liberal arts. In the fall of this city we bewail that of learning itself, which underwent, upon that spot, the most fatal catastrophes recorded in the annals of time.

Such settlements then, as have been mentioned, combined with the peculiar circumstances of antiquity, had a discernible connexion with commercial and civil arts. As commerce, therefore, in the ordinary course of things, seems to make a people flourish; a settlement conducive to that end is numbered among the causes of public prosperity. But commerce itself, as ministering to luxury, was discountenanced by the maxims of antient policy; and, on the exclusion of it, Rome, and Sparta, and other antient states, seem to have proposed to found their greatness. This policy, violent indeed and unnatural, suited only the genius of martial and heroic times. Yet from hence it appears, that the complexion and temper of an age, by diversifying national objects, will diversify proportionably the inherent advantages of any local establishment.

The spirit of commerce, which actuates modern ages, has opened a new path of ambition. And though there are disadvantages inseparable from this spirit; though the detail of modern governments affords a less splendid theme to the historian than that presented in the transactions of antiquity; yet the civil and moral order of the world is certainly advanced by this great revolution in the view and proceedings of states.

But if the policy of the antients had been more generally directed to commercial objects, yet their maritime operations, we may observe, were necessarily circumscribed: and local advantages, once of high estimation, became afterwards comparatively of small importance, and almost disappear in an age when the general use of the compass, and the various improvements in navigation, so far enlarge the sphere of enterprize, and maintain an intercourse between regions the most remote.

In the progress of arts, the local advantages of mankind all over the globe seem to approach nearer to an equality. There arise more incentives to rouze the industry of nations. And a passage being opened in every country for the collective treasures of the earth, general competition and demand secure emoluments and rewards to every people, more accurately proportioned to the measure of active exertions, and the wisdom by which they are directed. Riches or poverty must no longer be estimated by the position of a people on the globe. Art, if I may say so, alters the dispensation of nature, and maintains a sort of distributive justice in the division of opulence among mankind. Such at least would be the tendency of things, if all restrictions on trade were abolished by a concert among nations, calculated for the common benefit of all.

But mutual jealousies derange and encumber their mutual efforts.

If, in order to keep in view of the coast, it was often necessary for antient navigators to prefer the more tedious to the shorter voyage, a similar necessity is superinduced upon the modern, by the absurdity of commercial regulations. It is merely the relative prosperity of mankind which enters into the views of sovereigns.

And no regulation, however beneficial to nations, will ever be established by their unanimous consent, if, by an unequal augmentation of opulence or power, it tends to break the rules of proportion, and affects the order in which these nations stand arranged on the general scale. But if national monopolies, founded on the jealousy of sovereigns, may sometimes, as connected with public security, be vindicated on the maxims of sound policy; yet, surely, no such jealousy can reasonably subsist among communities under the same government. On that government, at least, in reason and in justice, they have an equal claim. Yet regulations partial and oppressive we have seen in our days, and are too likely to see, dissolved by violence, which ought to have been dissolved in part by the mature wisdom of enlightened councils. Ireland, with arms in her hand, seemed to dictate the late resolutions of the British cabinet: resolutions which, if free and unconstrained, had formed the glory of the present reign.

Public reformation, indeed, must be gradual, and such as the times will bear. What is best in theory, is not always attainable in practice; and a wise government will proceed with caution in authorizing changes, however just, reasonable, and beneficial to the community at large, that are opposed to prejudices grown inveterate by age. But every approach towards an equal legislation, that can be made without disturbing the public tranquillity, obviates the danger of rising discontents, and tends ultimately to the harmony and stability of civil societies.

Concessions, well-timed, to our American provinces, might have prevented the fatal rupture, and even secured their allegiance for ages. Yet those concessions, when at length extorted from us by an apparent necessity, merit but little praise; and Britons will long remember the language of that Great Man, who thus expostulated with the Rulers of his Country, while our empire was yet entire: ţAvoid this humiliating, disgraceful necessity. — With a dignity becoming your exalted situation, make the first advances to concord, to peace, and happiness: for that is your true dignity, to act with prudence and with justice. — That you should first concede, is obvious from sound and rational policy. — Concession comes with better grace, and more salutary effect, from the superior power; it reconciles superiority of power with the feelings of men; and establishes solid confidence on the foundation of affection and gratitude.ţ

But on these maxims of legislative wisdom I make no comment.

And with regard to those more complicated and nice discussions, the tendency of national monopolies, and the genius of exclusive companies, I will beg leave to refer my readers, for the fullest information, to an Enquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations: a work which will, probably, in future times, be referred to in political science, as the first just and systematical account that has appeared in any language, of the principles of public oeconomy, and the phoenomena of commercial states.

Besides the influence of commerce, there are other causes, in the progress of general improvement, by which the importance of civil settlements is materially affected. The increase of a people in a barren soil led formerly, by a species of necessity, to plans of migration, of rapine, or of conquest. And civilized nations in the antient world were able, with difficulty, to defend their frontiers, when assailed by hungry and desperate barbarians. But when arts and industries began to be excited in those countries, which, for want of tillage and cultivation, had remained desolate and barren, one cause began to be removed, which disturbed the repose of nations.

Thus the Danes, and other people in the high northern latitudes, subsisting less precariously on the fruits of their own industry, than their forefathers subsisted by piracy and war, ceased to press with their incumbent weight the neighbouring states, and permitted government to advance throughout the rest of Europe. But if rude armies, as hostile and fierce as ever issued from the storehouse of nations, were again to appear on the frontiers of any European state, the contest would not be dubious; the assailants only would feel the blow. By the invention of fire-arms, which has changed by degrees the whole system of war, there resides a power of resistance in every flourishing state, to which the most furious efforts of rude and desparate heroism were opposed in vain. War is now conducted at an expence which the exertions of industry can only supply; and the superiority in arms, which once resided with rude and poor nations, is transferred in modern ages to the nations advanced in opulence and credit. Yet the diffusion of knowledge gradually tends to reduce mankind more nearly to a level in the enterprizes of peace and war. And that singular invention, which seemed calculated for the destruction of mankind, and which actually enabled a few adventurers from Europe to annex a hemisphere to its dominion, tends in the issue to render battles less bloody, conquests less rapid, and governments more secure than in any former period.

Upon the whole, we observe local advantages, which fluctuate in every age, and often owe their existence and duration to a train of independent events, to be of the least relative movement in the most flourishing stage of the arts and sciences. But that intercourse, which navigation opens, though abundantly sufficient for the purposes of mercantile traffic and exchange, can seldom form between distant nations so intimate connexions as arise from vicinity of settlement. Geographical relation, therefore, will always be, in some degree, instrumental in retarding or accelerating, in every country, the progress of civil life.

Communities, as well as private persons, are formed by example. And the character of a people must bear resemblance in manners, in genius, and in arts, to that which predominates in the system with which they are more immediately connected. Civility and rudeness being distributed like light and darkness in the natural world, contiguous nations are often contemporary in their progress and decline: and the more enlightened regions, though always shifting, form at any one time a complete and undivided whole, situated around a common centre. But the various circumstances hitherto under review, ought to be considered rather as occasions of prosperous or adverse fortune, than as direct causes of human perfection or debasement. The former ought, by no means, to be confounded with the latter; nor the local circumstances we have mentioned, with that more mysterious influence which, reaching the principles of our nature, is supposed to produce original and constitutional differences in the human species.