who oppose that independence, without reference to the number or strength of their opponents.

To sum up, therefore, the present state of affairs on the island is looked upon as an interregnum pending the formation of a Cuban Republic. In spite of the assertions of Mr. Porter, the United States' Commissioner lately visiting the island, the native Cubans are, we may say, almost unanimously in favour of a Republic; their aim is definite, and the movement is constantly growing in force and in numbers.

Consequently the independence of Cuba is a necessity, and the only solution of the Cuban problem. For it the Cubans fought desperately many long years. Now that it has been conquered and solemnly recognised by the American nation, they are firmer than ever in their determination to maintain it.

ANTONIO GONZALO PÉREZ.

THE IMPERIALISM OF BRITISH TRADE.

I. THE RISE AND DECLINE OF BRITISH INDUSTRIAL SUPREMACY.

“A

T the present awful crisis, when England expects that every man will do his duty,' I know not that my time can be more beneficially employed than in an endeavour to diffuse among my countrymen just ideas of the sources of wealth and of the nature and extent of the benefits conferred by foreign trade."

Thus wrote Colonel Torrens in the beginning of this century, when England was suffering from the economic revulsion which, after the Napoleonic wars, had fallen like a blight on English industries.

We have to face another crisis, severer and of longer duration, which again spells ruin to the home producer. In the interest of home production and in the interest of English labour it is necessary to recall to our countrymen the true and almost forgotten teachings of our great economic writers, and to investigate by their light our present economic situation.

The disproportionate state of our exports and imports has of late become the burning question of the hour, and is eagerly ventilated. The decline of English exports in relation to the exports of other countries is taken as clear evidence that we are beaten out of the path of commerce by our foreign competitors. Our ears are jarred by the sinister croakings of ravens which warn us that the industrial glory of England is departing, and that we no longer reign supreme in manufactures and trade. There are voices which predict the Alarmists think we are living on our

inevitable decline of England.
capital and are becoming poorer every year.

Not only are the fears of mere alarmists and faddists aroused; also serious people and men of weight in politics, in science, and in the Press look gravely on the situation as represented by our trade statistics. Many of them have made valuable contributions to the

solution of this puzzling question, and at last Sir Robert Giffen has given his ponderous statement of the case, based on elaborate statistics, and full of Cobdenite wisdom. If he has succeeded hereby in calming the apprehensions of those good people who object to having their smug self-satisfaction disturbed, they will doubtless be thankful to him for the restoration of their equanimity.

With due deference to the high authorities who have given us their views, it seems to me that the true significance of this strange phenomenon of the increasing disparity of imports and exports has not yet been duly appreciated. It has been approached too much from the point of view of a mere statistician. The deeper economic significance of this momentous development has been strangely lost sight of.

In the following pages I propose to treat this question broadly, from an economic standpoint, and I begin with a short historical survey of the economic development of the British Empire from its foundation in the reign of Queen Elizabeth up to the present day. The events which during this period lifted England from a small country, commercially dependent on, and exploited by, foreigners, to the great and domineering position she now holds, may well inspire us Britishers with the proud confidence that England, far from declining, is destined to grow great and greater, and to become the mistress of the world-if we only preserve intact the foundations on which she rests.

Alfred Thomas Storey begins his book on "The Building of the Empire" with the following noteworthy passage:

"The building of the British Empire may be said to have begun with the ascent of Queen Elizabeth to the throne. Although up to that time the English had done a vast deal of fighting, it had been to little purpose, save the shedding of oceans of blood and the squandering of incalculable treasure. Never since the Norman Conquest had England counted so small a territory; never were her fortunes at so low an ebb, as when, in the year 1558, the last of the Tudors assumed the reins of power."

In other words, the Jingo policy of those days, which squandered blood and treasure for a will-of-the-wisp expansion of England by grabbing the lands of other nations, had hopelessly broken down and reduced England to the lowest ebb of her fortunes. Not only did she lose by it all she possessed beyond the seas; she even became the prey of the exploiting foreigner and lost her economic independence. This ought to be remembered at a moment when there are signs of our new colonial policy being on the verge of squandering blood and treasure for shadowy rights of suzerainty over a small South African Republic.

Before Queen Elizabeth ascended the throne foreign merchants had for many years been granted special privileges in the realm of England

and held almost a monopoly of her foreign trade. They bought up the raw produce of the country, they exported it to foreign manufacturing towns, accumulated large fortunes, and "ran away" with their profits to their native lands in order to make room for fresh exploiters from abroad. The home industries of England had been ruined by the sacrifices exacted from the country to carry on useless foreign wars. The Sovereign of England had become dependent on the foreign money-lender, who knew well how to make the best of his opportunities. That which is always bound to happen under such circumstances occurred to England. The country was drained of its resources, it was speedily relieved of its money, and the exchanges, the never failing symptom and indicator of this state of things, became utterly demoralised. We were on the road to becoming an impoverished country, but were saved by two men who laid the cornerstone of our future greatness. It seems to me that neither this development, nor the great men by whom it was inaugurated, have as yet met with the recognition they ought to have received from their countrymen.

Amongst Lord Burghley's papers a letter was found which was written by Sir Thomas Gresham to Queen Elizabeth on her accession to the throne. This wonderful letter, headed "Information of Sir Thomas Gresham, Mercer, touching the fall of the exchange, MDLVIII.," has happily been preserved in Burgon's "Life of Gresham," and I should counsel every patriotic Englishman to study it as the Magna Charta of our commercial freedom. In it Sir Thomas Gresham sets forth the means by which he succeeded in raising the exchange of the realm and in paying off the great debt which was due to Flanders.

Having made this clear, Gresham continues in the following words, which may serve even to-day to enlighten those who see the salvation of nations in low exchanges:

"By this it may plainly appear to your Highness, that as the exchange is the thing that eats out all Princes to the whole destruction of their common weal, if it be not substantially looked unto; so likewise the exchange is the chiefest and richest thing only above all other to restore your Majesty and your realm to fine gold and silver; and is the mean that makes all foreign commodities with all kinds of victuals good cheap, and likewise keeps your fine gold and silver within your realm.

"So consequently the higher the exchange riseth, the more shall your Majesty and your realm and common weal flourish."

Gresham concludes the letter with the following practical advice to the Queen for restoring her realm to a prosperous state :

"For this your Highness has none other ways but, firstly, when time and opportunity serve us, to bring your base money into fine. Secondly, not to restore the Still-yard (the foreign merchants) to their usurped privileges.

Thirdly, to grant as few licences as you can. Fourthly, to come in as small debt as you can beyond seas. Fifthly, to keep up your credit with your own Merchants, for it is they who must stand by you at all events in your necessity."

This good advice has been carried out to the letter. The debts "beyond the seas," the invariable sign of financial dependence and decadence in any country, were henceforward not only reduced, but done away with. The merchants of the realm stood in all necessities by their rulers, and the tremendous debt of England at this day is held only by the British themselves.

Lord Burghley-Lord Salisbury's great ancestor who figures in the letter we have just quoted as "Mr. Secretary Sissile," was, according to the words used by Sir Thomas Gresham, "most privy unto " the measures he adopted. In fact, as it is stated in Charlton's "Life of Burghley," the latter seems to have been a leading spirit in dealing with the then general complaints of the English merchants that they were unable to enter into competition with their wealthy neighbours on the Continent.

"Although," says Charlton, "he was unable at that time to accomplish all that he wished, yet he undoubtedly laid the foundations of those improvements which were subsequently carried out, and the good effects of which may be said to be experienced at this day."

By giving the natives of the kingdom again the lead in all commercial transactions, Burghley became-to speak once more in Charlton's words "the chief cause of that enterprise and industry which have ever since so strongly marked the character of the English merchants."

Hence we are in duty bound to look on these two men as on the creators of the independent commercial career of England. The selfreliant character of the British trader soon asserted itself in industry at home and in commerce abroad. The rich soil of England, no longer forced by iniquitous laws to yield only such produce as foreign manufacturers needed, began to be tilled and to feed a nation conscious of her rising destinies, and developing with energy her own manufactures and her own trade.

Bacon, even after the short time that had elapsed since Gresham's reforms, could write in his essay to King James the following panegyristic survey of the condition of the kingdom of Britain :

"I have thought good, as far as I can comprehend, to make a true survey and representation of this your Kingdom of Britain, being for mine own part persuaded that the supposed prediction: Video solem orientem in occidente, may be no less a true vision as applied to Britain than to any Kingdom in Europe; and being out of doubt that none of the first monarchies which in the memory of times have risen in this habitable world, has so fair seeds of beginnings as hath this your estate and kingdom." One hundred and fifty years later the commercial and financial