As English commerce slowly freed itself from foreign hands, it

fell under the control of monopolies at home. The merchants of

the Middle Ages, in England and elsewhere, had formed

themselves into societies, or guilds, just as the artisans and

mechanics in different trades had done. Such associations had

originally grown out of the disorderly state of the times,

when government and law were weak, and when men who had common

interests were forced to unite to protect themselves, and to

establish customs and rules for regulating their business

affairs. But the guilds almost always became, in time,

oppressive monopolies, each acquiring, in its own department

of business, such exclusive rights and privileges as

practically shut out from that business all persons not

admitted to its membership. This occurred among the merchants,

as it did elsewhere, and English commerce grew up under the

control of various societies of "Merchant Adventurers," as

they were called.

See MERCHANT ADVENTURERS (page 2153).

The disputes and contests of these companies, at home and

abroad, and their suppression of individual enterprise, appear

to have hindered the growth of English commerce for a long

period. But it did grow steadily, notwithstanding, and through

the reigns of Henry VIII. and Elizabeth, the number of English

ships set afloat and of English merchants trading abroad, was

rapidly multiplied. Meantime the English people gained skill

in weaving, dyeing and other arts, and were fast extending the

manufacture at home of their own famous Wool. This, in turn,

made the sheep farming more profitable, and so much land was

taken for that purpose that other products were diminished and

most articles of food rose in price. That occurrence caused

grave anxiety, and the meddling statesmen of the time, who

thought that nothing could go well if their wisdom did not

regulate it by law (as too many meddling statesmen think yet)

began to frame acts of Parliament which directed how farming

lands should be managed and how many sheep a single farmer

should be permitted to own. The same kind of statesmanship

took alarm at the spread of weaving, in a small way, among

industrious villagers and country people, who set up looms and

made and sold cloth, outside of the guilds of the town

weavers. So the complaints of the latter were listened to, and

Parliament forbade weaving to be done outside of certain

towns, except for home use in the family of the weaver. There

was much of that sort of legislation during Tudor times, and

the industry and enterprise of the country had to struggle

long and hard for freedom to fairly exercise themselves. But

in spite of meddling statesmen and tyrannical monopolies, the

people went all from year to year, learning more, doing more,

producing more, wanting more, buying and selling more, and

living in a better way. After about 1511, there appears to

have been a considerable direct trade growing up between

England and the countries of the eastern Mediterranean (the

Levant), and consuls, to look after the rights and interests

of English merchants, began to be appointed, at Candia, and

elsewhere, as early as 1530. The voyage from London to the

Levant and return then occupied from eleven months to a year.

About 1535 the English made their appearance as traders on the

Guinea coast of West Africa, disputing the exclusive rights

which the Portuguese claimed there, and in 1537 they opened

trade with the Moors of the Barbary coast, in northern Africa.

In 1553 a chartered company of London merchants was formed

with the object of exploring for a northeastern passage to

China, around Europe, through the Arctic seas, as a means of

dividing the trade of the East with the Portuguese, who

controlled the southern route, around Africa. This is believed

to have been the first joint stock corporation of shareholders

that was organized in England. Sebastian Cabot, then "Grand

Pilot of England," was at the head of it. The northwestern

passage was not found, but the company opened a trade with

Russia which proved to be exceedingly valuable. Accepting

this, in lieu of the China trade which it could not reach, it

became, as the Russia Company, a rich and powerful

corporation. The success of the Russia Company stimulated the

adventurous disposition of the English people and set other

enterprises in motion. But still more energy was roused by the

hostility of national feeling toward Spain. The destruction of

the Armada broke the Spanish naval power and made the English

bold. They began to navigate the sea from that time with

intent to become its masters, though the Dutch were still

superior to them in maritime strength and experience. During

the reign of Elizabeth there rose a new race of Vikings, very

much like the old Norse heroes of the sea, and pursuing a very

similar career.

{3718}

The most daring and most famous among them, such as Grenville,

Drake and Hawkins, were more than half pirates, and their

voyages were chiefly expeditions for plunder, directed against

the Spaniards and Portuguese. The trade which they first gave

attention to was the trade in negro slaves. But those

piratical adventurers of the 16th century made England the

"mistress of the seas." They trained for her a body of sailors

who were able in time to more than cope with the Dutch, and

they opened the newly known regions of the world for her

merchants and colonists to spread over them. Before the end of

the 17th century, the English had become the foremost power in

the western world and were making the most of its

opportunities for production and trade. Meantime they were

pushing their way with equal energy in the East. On the last

day of the year 1600 the "Company of Merchants of London

trading into the East Indies," which became afterwards so

great and famous as the "East India Company" of England, was

chartered by the Queen. The Company sent out its first fleet

of five vessels in 1601. The expedition returned, after an

absence of two years and seven months, richly laden, in part

with pepper from Sumatra and in part with the spoils of a

Portuguese ship which it had captured in the straits of

Malacca. It had settled a trading agency, or factory, at

Bantam—and that was the beginning of the vast empire which

England now rules in the East.

See INDIA: A. D. 1600-1702 (page 1709).

COMMERCE: MODERN: The English:

17-18th Centuries.

The Colonial or Sole Market Commercial System.

"The doctrine that the commercial prosperity of a country

depends on the creation, maintenance, and extension of a sole

market for its products and for its supplies, was prevalent

from the discovery of the New World and the Cape Passage down

to the war of American Independence. This was the principal

object of Borgia's Bulls. This was what animated the Dutch, in

their successful, in the end too successful, struggle, after a

monopoly of the Spice islands. This was the motive which led

to the charters of the Russian Company, the Levant Company,

the East India Company, the Turkey Company, the Hudson's Bay

Company, in England. The theory was organized in the colonial

system, which Adam Smith examined, attacked, and as far as

argument could go, demolished in his great work. But the dream

of a sole market is still possessing the Germans and the

French. … The early wars of Europe were wars of conquest. …

After them came the wars of religion, from the outbreak of the

Insurrection in the Low Countries, and the civil wars in

France, down to the Peace of Westphalia in the middle of the

17th century. From that day to our own, European wars have

been waged on behalf of the balance of power, the principal

mischief-maker in the contest being France. The English, the

French, and the Dutch were the competitors in the wars for a

sole market. But Holland was practically ruined at the peace

of Aix-la-Chapelle, and France was stripped … of her colonies

at the peace of Paris, and England became not only the

principal maritime, but the principal manufacturing and

mercantile country in the world. As regards English trade,

however, though India was an outlet to some extent for English

goods, its trade was in the hands of a chartered company, whom

the Seven Years' War had left in serious straits. The most

important sole market which Great Britain had acquired by her

wars was the seaboard of North America. To support the

finances of the chartered company, the British Parliament

determined on taxing the inhabitants of her sole market, and

the result as you know was the war of American Independence. …

The colonial or sole-market system was based on a strict

reciprocity. The English Government admitted colonial produce

into the English markets at differential duties, or prohibited

the produce of foreign nations and foreign colonies

altogether. The Colonies were not only the customers of

English manufacturers only, to the absolute exclusion of

foreign manufactures, but were prohibited from undertaking

those manufactures themselves. The English Government adopted

with their colonies the policy which they adopted with Irish

manufactures, which they also prohibited, but with this

difference, that they disabled the Irish from having any trade

whatever with England, with the Colonies, and with foreign

countries. They wished to extinguish, with one exception,

every Irish product, and to constitute themselves the sole

manufacturers and shopkeepers for the Irish. They allowed only

the linen manufacture of Ulster. The Irish were to be, with

this exception, agriculturists only, but they were to be

disabled from selling their agricultural produce in England,

or elsewhere. They were practically denied the right of trade.

… It was the doctrine of the sole market in its most

exaggerated form. … The colonial system, under which

advantages were secured to the colonial producer by giving him

a preferred market in Great Britain, while the colonist was

debarred from engaging in manufactures, was a selfish one on

the part of the English merchants and manufacturers. It gave

the colonist a sole market, it is true. But it does not follow

that a sole market is a high market. On the contrary, it is

probable that the offer of a sole market is intended to secure

a low market. The Virginian planter sent the whole of his

tobacco to England. The English trader re-exported it to other

countries, say Holland or Germany. It may be presumed that he

made a profit on the original consignment, and on the

re-exportation, or he would not have undertaken the business.

… The colonial system did not preclude the plantations from

sending, under the strict conditions of the Navigation Act,

certain kinds of produce to other countries than England.

These were called non-enumerated commodities, the principal

being corn, timber, salted provisions, fish, sugar, and rum.

There was a reason for this, which was to be found in the

fiscal system of England. We did not want colonial corn, for

there were duties on corn, levied in the interest of the

landlords, nor colonial timber, salted meat and salted fish,

for the home produce of these articles were similarly

assisted. Sugar and rum were allowed to be exported, for the

owners of the plantations in the Leeward isles were chiefly

absentee English proprietors, who had already a monopoly of

English supply, and were powerful enough in Parliament to get

an extended market elsewhere. But in 1769, just before the

troubles broke out with the American plantations, an Act was

passed, disabling the colonists from sending even the

non-enumerated commodities to any country north of Cape

Finisterre, in Northern Spain. … The enumerated goods, and

there was a long list of them, could be exported to Great

Britain only. They consisted, as Adam Smith says, of what

could not be produced in this country, and what could be

produced in great quantity in the Colonies."

_J. E. T. Rogers,

The Economic Interpretation of History,

lecture 15._

{3719}

COMMERCE: MODERN: The Americans:

Colonial Trade.

"We are a nation of land-traffickers, but our ancestors in the

colonies traded and traveled almost entirely by water. There

were but twelve miles of land-carriage in all the province of

New York; beyond Albany the Indian trade was carried on by

'three-' or 'four-handed batteaus,' sharp at both ends, like

the Adirondack boat of to-day. Yachts, with bottoms of black

oak and sides of red cedar, brought wheat in bulk and peltries

down the Hudson; other craft carried on the domestic trade of

New York town with the shores of Long Island, Staten Island,

and the little ports beyond the Kill von Kull. … The first

regular wagon-carriage from the Connecticut River to Boston

did not begin until 1697; Massachusetts had then been settled

seventy years. The flat-bottomed boat, which has since played

so important a part in the trade of the Ohio and the

Mississippi, and whose form was probably suggested by that of

the 'west country barges' of England, appears to have been

used for floating produce down the Delaware before 1685. In

the Chesapeake colonies, until late in the provincial period,

there were almost no roads but the numerous bays and

water-courses, and almost no vehicles but canoes, row-boats,

pinnaces and barks. Places of resort for worship or business

were usually near the waterside. … But of all means of travel

or trade the Indian canoe was the chief. … Roads in the

colonies were hardly ever laid out, but were left where Indian

trail or chance cart-track in the woods had marked them. …

From England, along with bad roads, the colonists brought the

pack-horse which, in Devon and Cornwall, at the close of the

last century, still did the carrying, even of building-stones

and cord-wood. Most of the inland traffic of the colonial

period was done by packing. … The Germans, whose ancestors had

four-wheeled vehicles in the days of Julius Cæsar, made good

roads wherever they planted themselves. While their English

neighbors were content to travel on horseback and to ford and

swim streams, the Salzburgers in Georgia began by opening a

wagon-road twelve miles long, with seven bridges, 'which

surprised the English mightily.' Pennsylvania, the home of the

Germans, alone of the colonies built good straight roads; and

the facility which these afforded to ten thousand

freight-wagons was the main advantage that gave Philadelphia

the final preeminence among the colonial sea-ports, and made

Lancaster the only considerable inland mart In North America.

… Proximity to the wampum-making savages at one end of Hudson

River navigation and to the beaver-catchers at the other made

New York the chief seat of the fur trade. Wagon-roads, soil,

climate, and an industrious people made Philadelphia the

principal center of the traffic in bread and meat. The

never-ending line of convenient shore that bordered the

peninsulas of Maryland and Virginia, and gave a good

landing-place at every man's door, with a tobacco currency,

rendered it difficult to build towns or develop trade among

the easy-going planters of the Chesapeake and Albemarle

regions. A different coast-line, and rivers less convenient,

made Charleston the rich and urbane commercial and social

center of southern Carolina. Until about 1750 Boston was the

leading sea-port, and its long wharf, 2,000 feet in length

with warehouses on one side of it, was the New World wonder of

travelers. Five or six hundred vessels annually cleared out of

Boston in the middle of the 18th century for the foreign trade

alone, and the city contained between twenty and thirty

thousand people at the outbreak of the Revolution. But

Newport, with its thirty distilleries to make rum of the

molasses brought from the islands, and its seventeen sperm-oil

and candle factories to work up the results of the whaling

industry, had nearly half as many ships in foreign trade as

Boston, and three or four hundred craft of all sorts in the

coast-wise carrying trade. He was thought a bold prophet who

said then that 'New York might one day equal Newport'; for

about 1750 New York sent forth fewer ships than Newport, and

not half so many as Boston. … But Philadelphia—planted late in

the 17th century—outstripped all rivals, and for the last

twenty years of the colonial period was the chief port of

North America. … The imports and exports of the two tobacco

colonies together were far larger than those of Philadelphia,

but their profits were far less."

_E. Eggleston,

Commerce in the Colonies

(Century, June, 1884)._

COMMERCE: MODERN: The English:

18-19th Centuries.

Rising prosperity and commercial supremacy.

Successful War, Free Trade and Steam Power.

"If we look at the state of the European powers after the

conclusion of the Seven Years' War in 1763, we shall see how

favourable our position then was. In the first place, England

had seriously crippled her commercial rival, France, both in

her Indian and American possessions, and thereby had gained

extensive colonial territories which afforded a ready market

for British goods. Spain, which had been allied with France,

had lost at the same time her position as the commercial rival

of England in trade with the New World. Germany had for some

time ceased to be a formidable competitor, and was now being

ravaged by internal conflicts between the reigning houses of

Austria and Prussia. Holland, which had once been England's

most serious rival—especially in foreign commerce—was at this

time in a similar condition, and had greatly declined from the

prosperity of the 16th and 17th centuries. Hence England alone

had the chance of 'the universal empire of the sole market.'

The supply of this market was in the hands of English

manufacturers and English workmen, so that the great

inventions which came into operation after 1763 were thus at

once called into active employment, and our mills and mines

were able to produce wealth as fast as they could work,

without fear of foreign competition. It is not surprising,

therefore, to find that in the ten years, from 1782 to 1792,

our entire foreign trade was nearly doubled, the exact figures

being:

1782, imports £10,341,628, exports £13,009,458;

1792, Imports £19,659,358, exports £24,905,200.

And this remarkable progress was still kept up even during the

great continental wars which were caused by the French

Revolution, and which lasted for almost a quarter of a

century. …

{3720}

In spite of the almost entire loss of our trade in some

directions, English commerce improved in others; and, in fact,

any loss was more than counterbalanced by an increase in

regard to the (now independent) United States, Russia, Venice,

Germany, and Northern Europe, as well as with the West and

East Indian colonies, both British and foreign. In fact, many

of the countries whom France had compelled to become our

enemies found themselves unable to do without British

manufactures, especially as their own industries were

suffering from the warfare that was going on on the Continent,

and therefore had to find means to procure our goods. … The

close of the 25 years of continental war (1815) is sometimes

taken as being the date when the modern system of commerce may

be said to have had its beginning. Up to that time, although

great changes and advances had been made, the spirit of

monopoly and the general restrictive policy which

characterised previous centuries, were still, to some extent,

in force. But not very long after the peace that was won by

the battle of Waterloo, a remarkable change was made in the

commercial policy of England. … We now come to the beginnings

of freedom of trade."

_H. de B. Gibbins,

British Commerce and Colonies,

pages 91-102._

"When the wars of the French Revolution began, the foundations

of a great empire had already been broadly laid; and when it

ended, England stood out as a power which had grown greater in

the struggle. … Dutchman, Dane, and Spaniard, Frenchman and

Venetian, all ancient competitors of England, fell before her;

and, when the sword was sheathed in 1815, it was no

exaggerated boast to call her mistress of the seas. These

facts should never be lost sight of in any consideration of

the causes which have led us to where we now are. Without

these preparatory steps, both in domestic industries and in

foreign wars and conquests, England would not, with all her

material advantages, have been so entirely the gainer by the

progress of the last fifty years as she has so far proved to

be. … There is the more need to remember this because the time

immediately following the war was one of severe domestic

suffering, and of much retrograde legislation, conceived with

a view to, if possible, lessen that suffering. … The worst of

all the laws which then restricted trade were those relating

to the exports and imports of corn, which the younger men of

to-day have well-nigh forgotten. … It was not till after long

years of agitation by John Bright, Richard Cobden, and other

leaders of the Anti-Corn Law League, that the landed party

gave way sullenly, and assented, amid the most gloomy

predictions of impending ruin, to the repeal of the sliding

scale altogether, and the virtual abolition of all corn laws

by the substitution of a fixed duty of 1 s. per quarter. Thus

recently was one of the most oppressive pieces of fiscal

legislation that man could have conceived withdrawn; and not

until 1849, when that law came into force, could the

industries of the country be said to be anything like

unfettered. Yet twenty years more passed before this shilling

duty—the last rag of protection—was itself flung aside, and

the import of corn became perfectly free. … But many other

changes had in the meantime taken place, all tending more and

more to throw off the shackles of trade. … As late as 1840 our

customs tariff was described in the report of a committee of

the House of Commons as 'presenting neither congruity nor

unity of purpose;' as 'often aiming at incompatible ends,'

seeking both to produce revenue and to protect interests in

ways incompatible with each other. There were no fewer than

1,150 different rates of duty chargeable on imported articles,

… and the committee gave a list of 862 of such articles which

were subject to duty, seventeen of which then produced 94 per

cent. of a revenue amounting to £23,000,000. … The present

customs tariff contains less than two dozen articles all told,

and including those on which duty is imposed to countervail

the excise charges on internal products. The ordinary import

articles on which duty is charged number only seven. … But

there is yet another hindrance the removal of which has to be

noticed, and which, till removed, cramped England very

seriously, viz. the navigation laws and the great trade

monopoly of the East India Company. … It took longer time … to

accomplish the complete deliverance of our mercantile marine

from the baneful influence of 'protective' jealousy than to

accomplish any other great free-trade reform. A tentative

effort to lessen the consequences of confining the carrying

trade of England to English ships was made in 1825 by Mr.

Huskisson; but it was not till 1854 that complete free trade

on the sea was granted by the abolition of any restriction as

to the nationality of vessels engaged in the coasting trade of

the kingdom. … Here, then, we have noted briefly the various

steps and leading characteristics of the commercial reforms

which, in this country, either paved the way for or secured

the benefit of the great outburst of enterprise and influx of

wealth which began in the second quarter of the present

century. These various reforms constitute, so to say, the

negative side of the modern commercial prosperity which this

country built upon the foundations of her world-wide empire;

and, in order to get a complete outline of the position which

we at present occupy, we must now revert briefly to the

positive side of the subject; we must find out where the great

modern wealth has come from, and on what it has been based.

Freedom of trade no doubt did much to call wealth and

enterprise into being; but in what did this wealth consist?

Happily the leading features are not difficult to trace.

Although the foundations of the great manufacturing industries

of this country lie far back in the past, their development,

like the growth of free-trade principles, is quite modern, and

dates in reality from the day when George Stephenson won the

competition at Liverpool with his locomotive 'the Rocket,'

settling thereby the question of railroad travelling by steam

beyond dispute. The mere stimulus to all kinds of mining and

manufacturing industries which this victory and the subsequent

railway operations gave, was itself enough to cause the trade

of this country to press forward by 'leaps and bounds.' Since

November 1830, it may be said to have done so; and the mere

fact that England was the originator of the railway systems of

the world, and that she contained within herself almost

boundless materials wherewith to supply those systems, would

itself suffice to explain the pre-eminence which from that day

to this has been unquestionably hers.

{3721}

The great natural resources of the country were first employed

in supplying the materials for home development, and then

gradually the wealth thus acquired by digging in the bowels of

the earth was utilised in tempting or leading other nations

into a career of 'progress' similar to our own. In spite of

the many losses which individuals suffered in the early days

of this progress, the nation grew steadily richer and its

stores of realised wealth increased with every new enterprise

almost that it took up. … Each year the realised wealth of the

one before told, as it were, in swelling the working power of

the nation, and in enlarging the business capacities and scope

of its credit. … Side by side with the increased produce of

the country, the increased manufactures, and the increasing

wealth, there were growing up facilities for

intercommunication with all parts of the world, and with that

an increasing tendency to emigration. The home hives were

constantly throwing off young swarms, which, settling now in

America, now in Australia, now in Africa, became so many new

centres of demand, so many links in the trade chain that we

had bound round the world."

_A. J. Wilson,

British Trade

(Fraser's Magazine, September, 1876),

pages 271-277._

"The almost unlimited expansion which becomes marked about

1850 and culminates in 1873, has been pointed to by many

different people as proof of the great effect of different

measures or inventions; as a matter of fact, it was due to no

one cause, but was rather the result of multitudinous

discoveries and events, acting and reacting on each other.

Perhaps the following list of dates shows this most clearly;—

Opening of first English railway, 1830;

Wheatstone's telegraph, 1837;

first ocean steamer, 1838;

settlement in New Zealand, 1840;

reduction of duties on raw materials, 1842;

repeal of Corn Laws, 1846;

commercial treaty with France, 1860.

Here are seven events of widely different natures, each of

which must have had its effect in the period under

consideration, and it would be useless, even if it were

possible, to weigh the separate result of each. We cannot

estimate, we can obtain no criterion of the vast effects of

the adoption of Free Trade. Three things, however, are clear;—

First, that till the suffocating restrictions were removed,

trade could not expand; when exports were prohibited, imports

could not be plentiful; when imports were taxed, the demand at

enhanced prices could not be great. Secondly, if every

restriction was removed from every branch of trade, there

would be no increase without natural causes of manufacture and

demand, no increased demand without a cheapening or

improvement of supply; that, in fact, Free Trade is the

method, not the source, of commerce, and that the claim of

this increase as the direct result of freedom and a proof of

its expediency is an inaccurate exaggeration. Thirdly, that

the date of the marked commencement of the expansion coincides

exactly with the reductions and abolitions of duties, pointing

to the fact, borne out by all concurrent events, that the

adoption of Free Trade was the opening of the valve which

allowed the forces of commerce full play. … It was in the

trades of comparatively recent establishment, in England

especially, that there were immense outputs (of cotton goods

and machinery, for instance), in great excess of the home

demand; and this could only pay if the foreign demand grew in

proportion to the growing efficiency; that is to say, our

newer industries became the most important, and were marked as

our division of international labour. The foreign demand,

indeed, for our manufactures and our machines was

extraordinary. Now, every country is trying to rival our

goods, and each to produce for herself the manufactures she

requires; then, rivalry was out of the question. … On every

side new markets were opened; old trades were increased, new

developed. The railways built with our materials opened up

districts hitherto inaccessible; this acted as a fresh

stimulus to our manufacturers—more capital was forthcoming,

and more railways were built. Not only were countries, with

which we had already established some trade, brought nearer

and in closer relation, but new countries were discovered.

Australia and New Zealand were ready to take our surplus

population, and were not behindhand in the new system of

development. Our older colonies also increased. With each

emigration the number of our customers abroad was multiplied.

In 1850 and 1852 this process was accelerated by the news of

the gold discoveries in California and Australia. So great was

the emigration and the consequent demand for ships that all

freights were increased, and, with a short lull, this

continued till 1856. … The last great impetus was given by the

Suez Canal, by which the journey to India and the East was

quickened by one-half, and, at the same time, rendered more

secure."

_A. L. Bowley,

England's Foreign Trade in the Nineteenth Century.

chapter 4._

See, also, TARIFF LEGISLATION (pages 3073-3077).

COMMERCE: MODERN:

The Americans: A. D, 1856-1895.

Decay of American shipping interests.

"Down to the year 1856, the United States had rapidly advanced

in commercial greatness, and had overcome all the obstacles

which had clustered about their path. At that time we were

close upon the heels of England, and everything pointed to our

speedily passing her in the race for commercial supremacy.

Since then our commerce has steadily declined,—a misfortune

usually attributed to the civil war, and subsequently to the

competition of more profitable forms of investment. These

circumstances no doubt hastened the loss of our commerce; but,

as Lieutenant Kelley points out, they are not the true causes

of its decline, inasmuch as that began before the civil war.

The origin of our difficulties lay in the abandonment of our

old policy, which, from the beginning of the century,

consisted in surpassing all the world in the quality and speed

of our ships and in our naval architecture. With the

substitution of iron for wood we began to drop behind, until,

with a population of 55,000,000, we have a tonnage but little

greater than we had when half as numerous. Moreover, our

percentage of wrecks is larger than that of any other

seafaring people, and our ships and steamers are

shorter-lived.

_The Question of Ships

(Atlantic Monthly, June, 1884, pages 859-861)._

{3722}

"The first symptoms of the decadence appeared in 1856, in the

falling-off in the sales of American tonnage to foreigners;

the reduction being from 65,000 in 1855 to 42,000 in 1856, to

26,000 in 1858, and to 17,000 in 1860. During the war,

however, the transfers of American tonnage to foreign flags

again increased very largely, and, for the years 1862 to 1865

inclusive, amounted to the large aggregate of 824,652 tons, or

to more than one-fourth of all the registered tonnage (the

tonnage engaged in foreign trade) of the United States in

1860. But these transfers, it is well understood, were not in

the nature of ordinary business, but for the sake of obtaining

a more complete immunity from destruction upon the high seas

than the United States at that time was able to afford. The

year 1856 also marks the time when the growth of our foreign

steam-shipping was arrested, and a retrograde movement

inaugurated; so that … our aggregate tonnage in this

department was 1,000 tons less in 1862 than it was in 1855.

The total tonnage of every description built in the United

States also declined from 583,450 tons in 1855 (the largest

amount ever built in any one year) to 469,393 in 1856, 378,804

in 1857, and 212,892 in 1860, a reduction of 68 per cent in

five years. During the year 1855, American vessels carried

75.6 per cent of the value of the exports and imports of the

United States. After 1855 this proportion steadily declined to

75.2 per cent in 1856, 70.5 in 1857, 66.9 in 1859, and 65.2 in

1861, the year of the outbreak of the war. … Of the enormous

increase in the foreign commerce of the United States since

1860, as above noted, every maritime nation of any note, with

the exception of the United States, has taken a share.

American tonnage alone exhibits a decrease. Thus, comparing

1880 with 1856, the foreign tonnage entering the seaports of

the United States increased nearly 11,000,000 of tons; whereas

the American tonnage entered during the same period exhibits a

decrease of over 65,000 tons. British tonnage increased its

proportion from 935,000 tons in 1856 to 7,903,000 in 1880;

Germany, during the same time, from 166,000 to 1,089,000; and

Sweden and Norway from 20,662 to 1,234,000. Austria, limited

to almost a single seaport, jumped up from 1,477 tons in 1856

to 206,000 tons in 1880, and had, in 1879, 179 large-class

sailing-vessels engaged in the American trade. Sleepy Portugal

increased during the same period from 4,727 tons to 24,449

tons. … How is it, that the United States, formerly a maritime

power of the first class, has now no ships or steamers that

can profitably compete for the carrying of even its own

exports; not merely with the ships of our great commercial

rival, England, but also with those of Italy, Sweden, Norway,

Germany, Holland, Austria, and Portugal? … The facts already

presented fully demonstrate that the war was not the cause,

and did not mark the commencement, of the decadence of

American shipping; although the contrary is often and perhaps

generally assumed by those who have undertaken to discuss this

subject. The war simply hastened a decay which had already

commenced. … The primary cause was what may be termed a

natural one, the result of the progress of the age and a

higher degree of civilization; namely, the substitution of

steam in place of wind as an agent for ship-propulsion, and

the substitution of iron in the place of wood as a material

for ship-construction. … The means and appliances for the

construction of iron vessels did not then [in 1855] exist in

the United States; while Great Britain, commencing even as far

back as 1837 (when John Laird constructed his first iron

steamers of any magnitude for steam navigation), and with

eighteen years of experience, had become thoroughly equipped

in 1855 for the prosecution of this great industry. The

facilities for the construction of steam machinery adapted to

the most economical propulsion of ocean vessels, furthermore,

were also inferior in the United States to those existing in

Great Britain; and, by reason of statute provisions, citizens

of the United States interested in ocean commerce were

absolutely prevented and forbidden from availing themselves of

the results of British skill and superiority in the

construction of vessels when such a recourse was the only

policy which could have enabled them at the time to hold their

position in the ocean carrying trade in competition with their

foreign rivals. … The inability of the ships of the United

States to do the work which trade and commerce required that

they should do as well and cheaply as the ships of other

nations having been demonstrated by experience, the decadence

of American shipping commenced and was inevitable from the

very hour when this fact was first recognized, which was about

the year 1856. Here, then, we have the primary cause of the

decay of the business of ship-building in the United States

and of our commercial marine. … The question which next

naturally presents itself in the order of this inquiry and

discussion is, Why is it that the people of the United States

have not been permitted to enjoy the privileges accorded to

other maritime nations, of adjusting their shipping interests

to the spirit and wants of the age? Why have they alone been

debarred from using the best tools in an important department

of commerce, when the using meant business retained, labor

employed, and capital rewarded, and the non-using equally

meant decay, paralysis, and impoverishment? The answer is,

Because of our so-called navigation laws."

_D. A. Wells,

Our Merchant Marine,

chapters 2-3._

"Somewhat curtailed, the navigation laws may be summarized as

follows: No American is allowed to import a foreign-built

vessel in the sense of purchasing, acquiring a registry, or

using her as his property; the only other imports, equally and

forcibly prohibited, being counterfeit money and obscene

goods. An American vessel ceases to be such if owned in the

smallest degree by a naturalized citizen, who may, after

acquiring the purchase, reside for more than one year in his

native country, or for more than two years in any other

foreign state. An American ship owned in part or in full by an

American citizen who, without the expectation of relinquishing

his citizenship, resides in any foreign country except as

United States Consul, or as agent or partner in an exclusively

American mercantile house, loses its register and its right to

protection. A citizen obtaining a register for an American

vessel must make oath that no foreigner is directly or

indirectly interested in the profits thereof, whether as

commander, officer, or owner. Foreign capital may build our

railroads, work our mines, insure our property, and buy our

bonds, but a single dollar invested in American ships so

taints as to render it unworthy of the benefit of our laws. No

foreign-built vessel can, under penalty of confiscation, enter

our ports and then sail to another domestic port with any new

cargo, or with any part of an original cargo, which has once

been unladen previously, without touching at some port of some

foreign country.

{3723}

This law is construed to include all direct traffic between

the Atlantic and Pacific ports of the United States via Cape

Horn, the Cape of Good Hope, or the Isthmus of Panama; and

being a coasting trade, foreigners cannot compete. An American

vessel once sold or transferred to a foreigner, can never

again become American property, even if the transaction has

been the result of capture and condemnation by a foreign power

in time of war. Vessels under 30 tons cannot be used to import

anything at any seaboard town. Cargoes from the eastward of

the Cape of Good Hope are subject to a duty of 10 per cent. in

addition to the direct importation duties. American vessels

repaired in foreign ports must pay a duty on the repairs equal

to one-half the cost of the foreign work or material, or pay

50 per cent. ad valorem, the master or owner making entry of

such repairs as imports. This liberal provision, which dates

from 1866, is made to include boats obtained at sea, from a

passing foreign vessel, in order to assure the safety of our

own seamen. … All other nations have the power of buying ships

for foreign trade in the cheapest market, and the effort to

protect our shipbuilders by the denial of this right forbids

the return of commercial prosperity."

_J. D. J. Kelley,

The Question of Ships,

chapters 4-5._

COMMERCE: MODERN:

The recent revolution in Commerce.

"All economists who have specially studied this matter are

substantially agreed that, within the period named

[1860-1885], man in general has attained to such a greater

control over the forces of Nature, and has so compassed their

use, that he has been able to do far more work in a given

time, produce far more product, measured by quantity in ratio

to a given amount of labor, and reduce the effort necessary to

insure a comfortable subsistence in a far greater measure than

it was possible for him to accomplish 20 or 30 years anterior

to the time of the present writing (1889). In the absence of

sufficiently complete data, it is not easy, and perhaps not

possible, to estimate accurately, and specifically state the

average saving in time and labor in the world's work of

production and distribution that has been thus achieved. In a

few departments of industrial effort the saving in both of

these factors has certainly amounted to 70 or 80 per cent; in

not a few to more than 50 per cent. … Out of such results as

are definitely known and accepted have come tremendous

industrial and social disturbances, the extent and effect of

which—and more especially of the disturbances which have

culminated, as it were, in later years—it is not easy to

appreciate without the presentation and consideration of

certain typical and specific examples. … Let us go back, in

the first instance, to the year 1869, when an event occurred

which was probably productive of more immediate and serious

economic changes—industrial, commercial, and financial—than

any other event of this century, a period of extensive war

excepted. That was the opening of the Suez Canal. … The old

transportation had been performed by ships, mainly

sailing-vessels, fitted to go round the Cape, and as such

ships were not adapted to the Suez Canal, an amount of

tonnage, estimated by some authorities as high as two million

tons, and representing an immense amount of wealth, was

virtually destroyed. The voyage, in place of occupying from

six to eight months, has been so greatly reduced that steamers

adapted to the canal now make the voyage from London to

Calcutta, or vice versa, in less than 30 days. The notable

destruction or great impairment in the value of ships

consequent upon the construction of the canal did not,

furthermore, terminate with its immediate opening and use; for

improvements in marine engines, diminishing the consumption of

coal, and so enabling vessels to be not only sailed at less

cost, but to carry also more cargo, were, in consequence of

demand for quick and cheap service so rapidly effected, that

the numerous and expensive steamer constructions of 1870-1873,

being unable to compete with the constructions of the next two

years, were nearly all displaced in 1875-1876, and sold for

half, or less than half, of their original cost. And within

another decade these same improved steamers of 1875-1876 have,

in turn, been discarded and sold at small prices. … Again,

with telegraphic communication between India and China, and

the markets of the Western world, permitting the dealers and

consumers of the latter to adjust to a nicety their supplies

of commodities to varying demands, and with the reduction of

the time of the voyage to 30 days or less, there was no longer

any necessity of laying up great stores of Eastern commodities

in Europe; and with the termination of this necessity, the

India warehouse and distribution system of England, with all

the labor and all the capital and banking incident to it,

substantially passed away. Europe, and to some extent the

United States, ceased to go to England for its supplies. …

Importations of East Indian produce are also no longer

confined in England and other countries to a special class of

merchants; and so generally has this former large and special

department of trade been broken up and dispersed, that

extensive retail grocers in the larger cities of Europe and

the United States are now reported as drawing their supplies

direct from native dealers in both China and India. … In

short, the construction of the Suez Canal completely

revolutionized one of the greatest departments of the world's

commerce and business; absolutely destroying an immense amount

of what had previously been wealth, and displacing or changing

the employment of millions of capital and thousands of men. …

The deductions from the most recent tonnage statistics of

Great Britain come properly next in order for consideration.

During the ten years from 1870 to 1880, inclusive, the British

mercantile marine increased its movement, in the matter of

foreign entries and clearances alone, to the extent of

22,000,000 tons; or, to put it more simply, the British

mercantile marine exclusively engaged in foreign trade did so

much more work within the period named; and yet the number of

men who were employed in effecting this great movement had

decreased in 1880, as compared with 1870, to the extent of

about 3,000 (2,990 exactly). What did it? The introduction of

steam hoisting-machines and grain-elevators upon the wharves

and docks, and the employment of steam-power upon the vessels

for steering, raising the sails and anchors, pumping, and

discharging the cargo; or, in other words, the ability,

through the increased use of steam and improved machinery, to

carry larger cargoes in a shorter time, with no increase—or,

rather, an actual decrease—of the number of men employed in

sailing or managing the vessels. …

{3724}

Prior to about the year 1875 ocean-steamships had not been

formidable as freight-carriers. The marine engine was too

heavy, occupied too much space, consumed too much coal. … The

result of the construction and use of compound engines in

economizing coal has been illustrated by Sir Lyon Playfair, by

the statement that 'a small cake of coal, which would pass

through a ring the size of a shilling, when burned in the

compound engine of a modern steamboat would drive a ton of

food and its proportion of the ship two miles on its way from

a foreign port.' … Is it, therefore, to be wondered at, that

the sailing-vessel is fast disappearing from the ocean? …

Great, however, as has been the revolution in respect to

economy and efficiency in the carrying-trade upon the ocean,

the revolution in the carrying-trade upon land during the same

period has been even greater and more remarkable. Taking the

American railroads in general as representative of the

railroad system of the world, the average charge for moving

one ton of freight per mile has been reduced from about 2.5

cents in 1869 to 1.06 in 1887; or, taking the results on one

of the standard roads of the United States the (New York

Central), from 1.95 in 1869 to 0.68 in 1885. … One marked

effect of the present railroad and steamship system of

transportation has been to compel a uniformity of prices for

all commodities that are essential to life. … For grain

henceforth, therefore, the railroad and the steamship have

decided that there shall be but one market—the world."

_D. A. Wells,

Recent Economic Changes,

pages. 27-47._

A recent English writer says: "Formerly we [the English] were

the great manufacturers of the world; the great distributors

and the great warehousemen of the world. Our country was the

point on which the great passenger traffic impinged from

America and from our Colonies, and from which passengers

distributed themselves over the continent of Europe. The

products of the world as a general rule came to English ports,

and from English ports were distributed to their various

markets. All this has much changed. Probably the alteration is

more marked in our distributing trade than in that of our

manufacturing trade or in any other direction. About twenty

years ago all the silk that was manufactured or consumed in

Europe was brought to England from the East, mostly in a raw

state, and was thence distributed to continental mills.

Notwithstanding the increased consumption in Europe, silk now

coming to England for distribution is only about one-eighth of

the quantity that came here some twelve years ago. This is one

single example of an Oriental product. The same diversion of

our distributing trade can be traced in almost every other

commodity. Many people believe that the opening of the Suez

Canal has caused this diminution of our distributing trade,

and it cannot be denied that the Suez Canal has done much to

divert Oriental trade from this country, and to send goods

direct through the Canal to the continental ports, where they

are consumed, or where they can be placed on railways and be

forwarded without break of bulk to their destinations. But

whatever the Suez Canal may have done to divert trade in

Oriental goods such as tea or silk, it cannot account for the

diversion of the trade coming from America. Yet we find the

same diversion of American products which formerly came to

England for distribution. With cotton the same result is

found, and with coffee from the Brazil. Nor does the diversion

of these articles merely demonstrate that our distributing

trade is being lost to us: it also shows that the

manufacturers of England now permit the raw material of their

industries to be sent straight to the factories of their

competitors on the Continent. It shows that the great

manufactures of the world are being transferred from England

to Belgium, France, Germany, and even to Portugal and Spain.

In the train of these manufactures are rapidly following all

the complex and complicated businesses which are the

hand-maidens of commerce. For instance, the financial business

which used to centre in London is being transferred to Paris,

Antwerp, and Germany, mainly because the goods to which this

business relates are now consigned to continental countries

instead of as formerly being brought to England to be

distributed therefrom. … The loss of our distributing trade is

to my mind in a great measure due to the fact that goods

consigned to continental ports can be there put upon railways

and sent straight to their destination; while goods sent to

English ports must be put upon a railway, taken to our coast,

there taken out of the railway, put on board a vessel, taken

across to the Continent, there unloaded, then put on the

railway and sent off to their ultimate destination. These

transhipments from railway to vessel and from vessel to

railway are always costly, always involve time, and in the

case of some perishable articles render the transaction almost

prohibitive. To get over this difficulty and to retain our

distributing trade, there appears to me to be only one course

open, and that is in some way to obtain direct

railway-communication from Liverpool, from London, from

Bristol, from Hull, from Glasgow, and from Dundee, to the

continental markets where the goods landed at those ports are

consumed."

_H. M. Hozier,

England's Real Peril

(Macmillan's Magazine, July, 1888)._

COMMERCE: MODERN:

Waterways and Railways in modern inland commerce.

"There are three great epochs in the modern history of canal

navigation, each marked by characteristics peculiar to itself,

and sufficiently unlike those of either of the others to

enable it to be readily differentiated. They may be thus

described:

1. The era of waterways, designed at once to facilitate the

transport of heavy traffic from inland centres to the

seaboard, and to supersede the then existing systems of

locomotion—the wagon and the pack-horse. This era commenced

with the construction of the Bridgewater Canal between 1766

and 1770, and terminated with the installation of the railway

system in 1830.

2. The era of interoceanic canals, which was inaugurated by

the completion of the Suez Canal in 1869, and is still in

progress.

3. The era of ship-canals intended to afford to cities and

towns remote from the sea, all the advantages of a seaboard,

and especially that of removing and dispatching merchandise

without the necessity of breaking bulk.

{3725}

The second great stage in the development of canal transport

is of comparatively recent origin. It may, in fact, be said to

date only from the time when the construction of a canal

across the Isthmus of Suez was proved to be not only

practicable as an engineering project, but likewise highly

successful as a commercial enterprise. Not that this was by

any means the first canal of its kind. On the contrary, … the

ancients had many schemes of a similar kind in view across the

same isthmus. The canal of Languedoc, constructed in the reign

of Louis XIV., was for that day as considerable an

undertaking. It was designed for the purpose of affording a

safe and speedy means of communication between the

Mediterranean and the Atlantic Ocean; it has a total length of

148 miles, is in its highest part 600 ft. above the level of

the sea, and has in all 114 locks and sluices. In Russia,

canals had been constructed in the time of Peter the Great,

for the purpose of affording a means of communication between

the different inland seas that are characteristic of that

country. The junction of the North and Caspian Seas, of the

Baltic and the Caspian, and the union of the Black and the

Caspian Seas, had all been assisted by the construction of a

series of canals which were perhaps without parallel for their

completeness a century ago. In Prussia a vast system of inland

navigation had been completed during the last century, whereby

Hamburg was connected with Dantzic, and the products of the

country could be exported either by the Black Sea or by the

Baltic. In Scotland the Forth and Clyde Canal, and the

Caledonian Canal, were notable examples of artificial

navigation designed to connect two seas, or two firths that

had all the characteristics of independent oceans; and the

Erie Canal, in the United States, completed a chain of

communication between inland seas of much the same order. But,

although a great deal had been done in the direction of

facilitating navigation between different waters by getting

rid of the 'hyphen' by which they were separated anterior to

the date of the Suez Canal, this grand enterprise undoubtedly

marked a notable advance in the progress of the world from

this point of view. The work was at once more original and

more gigantic than any that had preceded it. … The Suez Canal

once completed and successful, other ship canal schemes came

'thick as autumnal leaves in Vallombrosa.' Several of these

were eminently practical, as well as practicable. The Hellenic

Parliament determined on cutting through the tongue of land

which is situated between the Gulfs of Athens and Lepantus,

known as the Isthmus of Corinth. This isthmus divides the

Adriatic and the Archipelago, and compels all vessels passing

from the one sea to the other to round Cape Matapan, thus

materially lengthening the voyages of vessels bound from the

western parts of Europe to the Levant, Asia Minor and Smyrna.

The canal is now an accomplished fact. Another proposal was

that of cutting a canal from Bordeaux to Marseilles, across

the South of France, a distance of some 120 miles, whereby

these two great ports would be brought 1,678 miles nearer to

each other, and a further reduction, estimated at 800 miles,

effected in the distance between England and India. The Panama

Canal (projected in 1871, and actually commenced in 1880) is,

however, the greatest enterprise of all, and in many respects

the most gigantic and difficult undertaking of which there is

any record. The proposed national canal from sea to sea,

proposed by Mr. Samuel Lloyd and others for Great Britain, the

proposed Sheffield Ship Canal, the proposed Irish Sea and

Birkenhead Ship Canal, and the proposed ship canal to connect

the Forth and the Clyde, are but a few of many notable

examples of the restlessness of our times in this direction. …

There are not a few people who regard the canal system almost

as they might regard the Dodo and the Megatherium. It is to

them an effete relic of a time when civilisation was as yet

but imperfectly developed. … Canals do, indeed, belong to the

past. … That canals also belong to the present, Egypt, the

American isthmus, Manchester, Corinth, and other places, fully

prove, and, unless we greatly err, they are no less the

heritage of the future."

_J. S. Jeans,

Waterways and Water Transport,

section 1, chapter 1._

"'The sea girt British Isles have upwards of 2,500 miles of

canals, in addition to the Manchester Ship Canal, which is

thirty-five and one-half miles, and is said to be one of the

most remarkable undertakings of modern times.' … In 1878,

Germany had in operation 1,289 miles of canals, and had

ordered the construction of 1,045 miles of new canals. Belgium

has forty-five canals. Italy, Hungary, Sweden, Holland and

Russia have their respective systems of canals. France has

expended a larger amount of money than any other European

nation, to provide for canal navigation, and in 1887 the total

length of its canals was 2,998 miles. About forty-eight per

cent of the tonnage of that Republic was transported on its

waterways. The average capacity of boats used therefor was 300

tons. The total length of the canals in operation in the

United States in 1890 was upwards of 2,926 miles."

_H. W. Hill,

Speech on Canals in New York

Constitutional Convention of 1894._

"In most of the leading countries of the world, a time arrived

when the canal system and the railway system came into strong

competition, and when it seemed doubtful on which side the

victory would lie. This contest was necessarily more marked in

England than in any other country. England had not, indeed,

been the first in the field with canals, as she had been with

railways. … But England having once started on a career of

canal development, followed it up with greater energy and on a

more comprehensive scale than any other country. For more than

half a century canals had had it all their own way. … But the

railway system, first put forward as a tentative experiment,

and without the slightest knowledge on the part of its

promoters of the results that were before long to be realised,

was making encroachments, and proving its capabilities. This

was a slow process, as the way had to be felt. The first

railway Acts did not contemplate the use of locomotives, nor

the transport of passenger traffic. The Stockton and

Darlington Railway, constructed in 1825, was the first on

which locomotives were employed.

See Steam Locomotion (page 3029).

Even at this date, there were many who doubted the expediency

of having a railroad instead of a canal, and in the county of

Durham … there was a fierce fight, carried on for more than

twenty years. In the United States, the supremacy of waterways

was maintained until a much later date. …

{3726}

A keen and embittered struggle was kept up between the canal

and the railroad companies until 1857; and even in the latter

year the Legislature of the State of New York, finding that

railway competition was making serious inroads upon their

canal traffic, were considering whether they should not either

entirely prohibit the railways from carrying freight, or

impose such tolls upon railway tonnage as would cripple the

companies in their competition with canals. … The agitation,

however, came to nothing. It had no solid bottom. It was an

agitation similar in kind to that which had disturbed Europe

when Arkwright's spinning machine and Compton's mule were

taking the place of hand labour. The clamour suddenly

collapsed, and was never heard of afterwards. Meanwhile the

railway system proceeded apace. The records of human progress

contain no more remarkable chapter than that which tells of

the growth of American railroads. … In the annals of

transportation, there is no more interesting chapter than that

which deals with the contest that has been carried on for

nearly half a century between the railways and the lakes and

canals for the grain traffic between Chicago and New York.

This contest is interesting, not only to Americans, as the

people who are engaged in it, and whom it more directly

concerns; but also to the people of Europe, and of Great

Britain in particular, the cost of whose food supplies is

affected thereby. … The circumstances of the Erie Canal are,

however, exceptional. Seldom, indeed, do railway freights run

so low as they do on the 950 miles of rail way that separate

Chicago from New York. Over this distance, the great trunk

lines have recently been carrying freight at the rate of 15

cents, or 7½ d. per 100 lbs. This is equivalent to about 14 s.

per ton, or exactly 0.174 d. per ton per mile. There is

probably no such low rates for railway transport in the world.

But this low rate is due entirely to the competition of the

lakes, rivers, and canals."

_J. S. Jeans,

Waterways and Water Transport,

chapters 26-27._

"The early railroad engineers overestimated the speed which

could be readily attained. Fifty years ago it was generally

expected that passenger trains would soon run at rates of from

seventy-five to one hundred miles an hour—a prediction which

has as yet remained unfulfilled. On the other hand, they

underestimated the railroad's capacity for doing work cheaply.

It was not supposed that railroads would ever be able to

compete with water-routes in the carriage of freight, except

where speedy delivery was of the first importance. Nor was it

at that time desired that they should do so. The first English

railroad charter contained provisions expressly intended to

prevent such competition. A generation later, in the State of

New York itself, there was a loud popular cry that the New

York Central must be prohibited from carrying freight in

competition with the Erie Canal. The main field of usefulness

of railroads, and the means by which that field was to be

developed, were not merely ignored, they were positively

shunned. This period of railroad infancy ended about the year

1850. The crisis of 1847 marked its close in England. The

Revolution of 1848-51 was the dividing line on the continent

of Europe. The land grants of 1850, and the formation of three

trunk lines from the seaboard to the interior may be taken as

the beginning of the new era in the United States. It began to

be seen and felt that a steam railroad was something more than

an exaggerated turnpike or horse railroad, and that it had

functions and laws of its own. The changes were: first, the

consolidation of old roads; second, the construction of new

ones in a great variety of conditions; third, and most

important, the development of traffic by cheap rates and new

methods. … Under all these influences the railroad mileage of

the world increased from 20,000 in 1850 to 66,000 in 1860,

137,000 in 1870, 225,000 in 1880, and [406,416 in

1893.—'Archiv für Eisenbahnwesen']. … Rapid as has been the

growth of the railroad mileage, traffic has kept pace with it.

It is estimated that the total number of tons moved in 1875

was about 800,000,000. At present [1885] it is about

1,200,000,000 annually, while the passenger movement has

increased from 1,400,000,000 to 2,400,000,000. If we could

take distance as well as quantity into account, the change

(for freight at any rate) would be still greater. To a certain

extent this increased intensity of use of railroads is due to

improvements in engineering; to a much greater extent it is

the result of improved business methods. … Between 1850 and

1880 rates were reduced on an average to about one half their

former figures, in spite of the advance in price of labor and

of many articles of consumption. A variety of means were made

to contribute to this result. The inventions of Bessemer and

others, by which it became possible to substitute steel rails

for iron, made it profitable for the railroads to carry larger

loads at a reduction in rates. Improvements in management

increased the effective use of the rolling stock, while the

consumption of fuel and the cost of handling were diminished.

By other changes in railroad economy it became possible to

compete for business of every kind, with the best canals or

with natural water-courses. The railroad rates of to-day are

but a small fraction of the canal charges of two generations

ago; while in volume of business, speed, and variety of use

there is an inestimable advance."

_A. T. Hadley,

Railroad Transportation,

chapter 1._

"The railway mileage in the United States on June 30, 1893,

was 176,461.07 miles. This shows an increase during the year

of 4,897.55 miles, being an increase of 2.80 per cent. The

previous report showed an increase during the year ending June

30, 1892, of 3,160.78, being an increase of 1.88 per cent over

the mileage of the year 1891. The rate of increase from 1886

to 1887 was 9.08 per cent; from 1887 to 1888, 6.05 per cent;

from 1888 to 1889, 3.22 per cent; from 18139 to 1890, 4.78 per

cent; and from 1890 to 1891, 2.94 per cent. … The total number

[of men] in the service of railways in the United States on

June 30, 1893, was 873,602, being an increase of 52,187 over

the number employed the previous year."

_Interstate Commerce Commission,

Statistics of Railways, 1883

pages 11 and 31_.

----------COMMERCE: End--------

COMMON LAW, History of.

See LAW (page 1956).

COMMUNISM.

See SOCIAL MOVEMENTS (page 2932).

COMPURGATION, Disappearance of.

See LAW, CRIMINAL: A. D. 1166 (page 1981).

CONGO STATE, The.

See (in this Supplement) AFRICA.

{3727}

CONNECTICUT, Early provision for education in.

See EDUCATION, MODERN (page 729).

CONNECTICUT BLUE LAWS.

See (in this Supplement) BLUE LAWS.

CONSTANTINOPLE: LIBRARIES.

See LIBRARIES, ANCIENT (page 2006).

Mediæval Commerce.

See (in this Supplement) COMMERCE, MEDIÆVAL.

----------CONSTITUTION OF BELGIUM: Start--------

On page 2304 of this work, under NETHERLANDS (BELGIUM): A. D.

1892-1893, there is given some account of the revision of the

constitution of the kingdom, in 1893, and the peculiar new

features introduced in its provisions, relative to the

elective franchise. The following is a translation of the text

of the revised constitution:

Title I.

Of the Territory and of its Divisions.

Article 1.

Belgium is divided into provinces, these provinces are:

Antwerp, Brabant, Western Flanders, Eastern Flanders, Hainaut,

Liège, Limburg, Luxemburg, Namur. It is the prerogative of

law, if there is any reason, to divide the territory into a

larger number of provinces. Colonies, possessions beyond the

seas or protectorates which Belgium may acquire, are governed

by particular laws. The Belgian forces appointed for their

defense can only be recruited by voluntary enlistment.

Article 2.

The subdivisions of the provinces can be established only by

law.

Article 3.

The boundaries of the State, of the provinces and of the

communes can be changed or rectified only by a law.

Title II.

Of the Belgians and their Rights.

Article 4.

The title Belgian is acquired, preserved and lost according to

the regulations determined by civil law. The present

Constitution, and other laws relating to political rights,

determine what are, in addition to such title, the conditions

necessary for the exercise of these rights.

Article 5.

Naturalization is granted by the legislative power. The great

naturalization, alone, assimilates the foreigner to the

Belgian for the exercise of political rights.

Article 6.

There is no distinction of orders in the State. Belgians are

equal before the law; they alone are admissible to civil and

military offices, with such exceptions as may be established

by law in particular cases.

Article 7.

Individual liberty is guaranteed. No person can be prosecuted

except in the cases provided for by law and in the form which

the law prescribes. Except in the case of flagrant

misdemeanor, no person can be arrested without the order of a

judge, which must be served at the time of the arrest, or, at

the latest, within twenty-four hours.

Article 8.

No person can be deprived, against his will, of the judge

assigned to him by law.

Article 9.

No punishment can be established or applied except by

provision of law.

Article 10.

The domicile is inviolable; no domiciliary visit can be made

otherwise than in the cases provided for by law and in the

form which it prescribes.

Article 11.

No person can be deprived of his property except for public

use, in the cases and in the manner established by law, and

with prior indemnity.

Article 12.

The penalty of confiscation of goods cannot be imposed.

Article 13.

Civil death is abolished; it cannot be revived.

Article 14.

Religious liberty, public worship, and freedom of expressed

opinion in all matters are guaranteed, with a reserve for the

repression of offenses committed in the exercise of these

liberties.

Article 15.

No person can be compelled to join, in any manner whatsoever,

in the acts and ceremonies of any worship, nor to observe its

days of rest.

Article 16.

The State has no right to interfere in the appointment nor in

the installation of the ministers of any religion, nor to

forbid them to correspond with their superiors and to publish

their acts under the ordinary responsibility of publication.

Civil marriage shall always precede the nuptial benediction,

with the exceptions to be prescribed by law in case of need.

Article 17.

Teaching is free; all preventive measures are forbidden; the

repression of offenses is regulated only by law. Public

instruction given at the expense of the State is also

regulated by law.

Article 18.

The press is free; censorship can never be re-established;

caution-money from writers, editors or printers cannot be

required. When the author is known and is a resident of

Belgium, the editor, the printer or the distributor cannot be

prosecuted.

Article 19.

Belgians have the right to meet peaceably and without arms, in

conformity with such laws as may regulate the use of their

right but without the requirement of a previous authorization.

This stipulation does not apply to open air meetings, which

remain entirely subject to police regulations.

Article 20.

Belgians have the right of association; this right cannot be

subject to any preventive measure.

Article 21.

It is the right of every person to address to the public

authorities petitions signed by one or several. The

constituted authorities alone have the right to address

petitions in a collective name.

Article 22.

The secrecy of correspondence is inviolable. The law

determines who are the agents responsible for violation of the

secrecy of letters confided to the post.

Article 23.

The use of the languages spoken in Belgium is optional; it can

be prescribed only by law, and only for acts of public

authority and for judicial transactions.

Article 24.

No previous authorization is necessary for the undertaking of

proceedings against public officials, on account of acts in

their administration, except that which is enacted concerning

ministers.

Title III. Of Powers.

Article 25.

All powers are derived from the nation. They are exercised in

the manner prescribed by the Constitution.

{3728}

Article 26.

Legislative power is exercised collectively by the King, the

Chamber of Representatives and the Senate.

Article 27.

The initiative belongs to each one of the three branches of

the legislative power. Nevertheless, all laws relating to the

revenue or to the expenditures of the State, or to the

contingent of the army must be voted first by the Chamber of

Representatives.

Article 28.

The interpretation of laws by authority belongs only to the

legislative power.

Article 29.

The executive power, as regulated by the Constitution, belongs

to the King.

Article 30.

The judicial power is exercised by the courts and tribunals.

Decrees and judgments are executed in the name of the King.

Article 31.

Interests exclusively communal or provincial, are regulated by

the communal or provincial councils, according to the

principles established by the Constitution.

Chapter First.—Of The Chambers.

Article 32.

Members of both Chambers represent the nation, and not merely

the province or the subdivision of province which has elected

them.

Article 33.

The sittings of the Chambers are public. Nevertheless, each

Chamber forms itself into a secret committee on the demand of

its president or of ten members. It then decides by absolute

majority whether the sitting on the same subject shall be

resumed publicly.

Article 34.

Each Chamber verifies the powers of its members and decides

all contests on the subject that may arise.

Article 35.

No person can be at the same time a member of both Chambers.

Article 36.

A member of one of the two Chambers who is appointed by the

government to any salaried office, except that of minister,

and who accepts the same, ceases immediately to sit, and

resumes his functions only by virtue of a new election.

Article 37.

At every session, each Chamber elects its president and its

vice-presidents and forms its bureau.

Article 38.

Every resolution is adopted by the absolute majority of the

votes, excepting as may be directed by the rules of the

Chambers in regard to elections and presentations. In case of

an equal division of votes, the proposition brought under

deliberation is rejected. Neither of the two Chambers can

adopt a resolution unless the majority of its members is

present.

Article 39.

Votes are given by the voice or by sitting and rising; on

"l'ensemble des lois" the vote is always taken by the call of

the roll of names. Elections and presentations of candidates

are made by ballot.

Article 40.

Each Chamber has the right of inquiry [or investigation].

Article 41.

A bill can be passed by one of the Chambers only after having

been voted article by article.

Article 42.

The Chambers have the right to amend and to divide the

articles and the amendments proposed.

Article 43.

The presenting of petitions in person to the Chambers is

forbidden. Each Chamber has the right to refer to ministers

the petitions that are addressed to it. Ministers are required

to give explanations whenever the Chamber requires them.

Article 44.

No member of either Chamber can be prosecuted or called to

account for opinions expressed or votes given by him in the

performance of his duties.

Article 45.

No member of either Chamber can be prosecuted or arrested in

affairs of repression, during the session, without the

authorization of the Chamber of which he is a member, except

the case be "de flagrant delit." No bodily constraint can be

exercised against a member of either Chamber during the

session, except with the same authorization. The detention or

the prosecution of a member of either Chamber is suspended

during the whole session if the Chamber so requires.

Article 46.

Each Chamber determines by its rules the mode in which it will

exercise its powers.

Section I.—Of the Chamber of Representatives.

Article 47.

Deputies to the Chamber of Representatives are elected

directly under the following conditions: A vote is conferred

on citizens who have completed their 25th year, who have

resided for at least one year in the same commune, and who are

not within one of the cases of exclusion provided for by law.

A supplementary vote is conferred on each citizen who fulfills

one of the following conditions:

1. To have completed 35 years of age, to be married, or to be

a widower having legitimate offspring, and to pay to the State

a tax of not less than 5 francs on account of dwelling-houses

or buildings occupied, unless exempted by reason of his

profession.

2. To have completed the age of 25 years and to be owner:

Either of real property, valued at not less than 2,000 francs

to be rated on the basis of the "revenu cadastral," or of a

"revenu cadastral" proportioned to that value; Or of an

inscription in the great book of the public debt, or of a

"carnet de rente Belge" at the savings bank of at least 100

francs of "rente." The inscriptions and bank books must have

belonged to the incumbent for at least two years and a half.

The property of the wife is assigned to the husband; that of

children under age, to the father. Two supplementary votes are

assigned to citizens fully 25 years of age who are included in

one of the following cases: A. To be the holder of a diploma

of higher instruction or of a similar certificate of

attendance on a complete course of medium instruction of the

higher degree, without distinction between public and private

establishments. B. To fill or to have filled a public office,

to occupy or to have occupied a position, to practise or to

have practised a private profession, which implies the

supposition that the titulary has at least an average

education of the higher degree. The law determines these

functions, positions and professions, as well as, in given

cases, the time during which they shall have been occupied or

practised. No person can accumulate more than three votes.

Article 48.

The constitution of the electoral colleges is regulated by law

for each province. The vote is obligatory and takes place in

the commune with exceptions to be determined by law.

Article 49.

The electoral law fixes the number of deputies according to

the population; this number cannot exceed the proportion of a

deputy for 40,000 inhabitants. It determines also the

qualifications of an elector and the mode of the electoral

operations.

{3729}

Article 50.

To be eligible, it is necessary:

1. To be a Belgian by birth or to have received the "grand

naturalization";

2. To enjoy civil and political rights;

3. To have completed 25 years of age;

4. To reside in Belgium.

No other condition of eligibility can be required.

Article 51.

The members of the Chamber of Representatives are elected for

four years. Half of them are changed every two years,

according to the order of the series determined by the

electoral law. In case of dissolution, the Chamber is entirely

renewed.

Article 52.

Each member of the Chamber of Representatives receives a

yearly indemnity of 4,000 francs. He is, besides, entitled to

free travel on the State railways and on the "conceded"

railways, from his residence to the city where the session is

held.

Section II.—Of the Senate.

Article 53.

The Senate is composed:

1. Of members elected in proportion to the population of each

province, conformably to Article 47; though the law may

require that the electors shall be 30 years of age, the

provisions of Article 48 are applicable to the election of

these senators.

2. Of members elected by the provincial councils, to the

number of two from each province having less than 500,000

inhabitants, of three from each province having from 500,000

to 1,000,000 of inhabitants, and of four from each province

having more than one million of inhabitants.

Article 54.

The number of senators elected directly by the electoral body

is equal to half the number of the members of the Chamber of

Representatives.

Article 55.

Senators are elected for eight years; half of them are changed

every four years, according to the order of the series

determined by the electoral law. In case of dissolution, the

Senate is entirely renewed.

Article 56.

To be eligible for election and to remain a senator, it is

necessary:

1. To be a Belgian by birth or to have received the "grande

naturalization";

2. To enjoy civil and political rights;

3. To reside in Belgium;

4. To be at least 40 years of age;

5. To pay into the treasury of the State at least 1,200 francs

of direct taxes, patents included; Or to be either proprietor

or usufructuary of real property situated in Belgium, the

cadastral revenue from which is at least 12,000 francs. In the

provinces where the number of those eligible does not attain

the proportion of one in 5,000 inhabitants, the list is

completed by adding the heaviest tax-payers of the province to

the extent of that proportion. Citizens whose names are

inscribed on the complementary list are eligible only in the

province where they reside.

Article 56 bis.

Senators elected by the provincial councils are exempted from

all conditions of census; they cannot belong to the assembly

which elects them, nor can they have been a member of it

during the year of the election, nor during the two previous

years.

Article 57.

Senators receive neither salary nor indemnity.

Article 58.

The King's sons, or in their absence the Belgian Princes of

the branch of the Royal family called to reign, are by right

senators at 18 years of age. They have a deliberative voice

only at 25 years of age.

Article 59.

Any assembly of the Senate which may be held outside the time

of the session of the Chamber of Representatives is null and

void.

Chapter II.—Of the King and his Ministers.

Section II.—Of the King.

Article 60.

The constitutional powers of the King are hereditary in the

direct, natural and legitimate descent from His Majesty

Leopold-George-Christian-Frederick of Saxe-Coburg, from male

to male, by order of primogeniture, and to the perpetual

exclusion of the females of their line. The prince who marries

without the consent of the King or of those who, in his

absence, exercise his powers, in the cases provided for by the

Constitution, shall forfeit his rights. Nevertheless he can be

restored to his rights by the King or by those who, in his

absence, exercise his authority in the cases provided for by

the Constitution, with the consent of both Chambers.

Article 61.

In default of male descendants of his Majesty

Leopold-George-Christian-Frederick of Saxe-Coburg, the King

can name his successor, with the assent of the Chambers,

expressed in the manner prescribed by the following article.

If no nomination has been made according to the proceeding

here stated, the throne will be vacant.

Article 62.

The King cannot be, at the same time, the chief of another

State, without the consent of both Chambers. Neither of the

two Chambers can deliberate on this subject if two-thirds at

least of the members who compose it are not present, and the

resolution is adopted only if it receives two-thirds at least

of the votes cast.

Article 63.

The person of the King is inviolable; his ministers are

responsible.

Article 64.

No act of the King can have effect if it is not countersigned

by a minister, who, thereby, makes himself responsible.

Article 65.

The King appoints and dismisses his ministers.

Article 66.

He confers the grades in the army. He appoints to the offices

of general administration and of foreign relations, with the

exceptions determined by law. He appoints to other offices

only by virtue of express provisions of a law.

Article 67.

He makes the regulations and decrees necessary to the

execution of the laws, without power to suspend the laws

themselves, nor to exempt from their execution.

Article 68.

The King commands the land and naval forces, declares war,

makes treaties of peace, of alliance, and of commerce. He

announces them to the Chambers as soon as the interest and the

safety of the State admit of it, adding to them appropriate

communications. Treaties of commerce and those which might

burden the State or bind Belgians individually become

effective only after having received the approval of the

Chambers. No cession, nor exchange, nor addition of territory

can take place without authority of a law. In no case can the

secret articles of a treaty be destructive to the open

articles.

Article 69.

The King sanctions and promulgates the laws.

Article 70.

The Chambers meet by right every year, on the 2d Tuesday in

November, unless previously summoned by the King. The Chambers

must remain in session at least 40 days in each year. The King

declares the closing of the session. The King has the right to

call extra sessions of the Chambers.

{3730}

Article 71.

The King has the right to dissolve the Chambers, either

simultaneously or separately; the act of dissolution to

contain a convocation of the electors within forty days and of

the Chambers within two months.

Article 72.

The King may adjourn the Chambers. The adjournment, however,

cannot exceed the term of one month, nor be renewed in the

same session, without the consent of the Chambers.

Article 73.

He has the right to remit or to reduce penalties pronounced by

the judges, except those which are enacted concerning the

ministers.

Article 74.

He has the right to coin money, in execution of the law.

Article 75.

He has the right to confer titles of nobility, without power

to attach any privilege to them.

Article 76.

He confers the military orders, observing in that regard what

the law prescribes.

Article 77.

The law fixes the civil list for the duration of each reign.

Article 78.

The King has no other powers than those formally conferred on

him by the Constitution, and by laws enacted pursuant to the

Constitution.

Article 79.

On the death of the King, the Chambers meet without

convocation, not later than the tenth day after that of his

decease. If the Chambers had been previously dissolved, and if

the convocation had been fixed in the act of dissolution for a

later date than the tenth day, the old Chambers resume their

functions until the meeting of those which are to take their

place. If one Chamber only had been dissolved, the same rule

is followed with regard to that Chamber. From the death of the

King and until his successor on the throne or the regent has

taken the oath, the constitutional powers of the King, are

exercised, in the name of the Belgian nation, by the ministers

assembled in council and under their responsibility.

Article 80.

The King is of age when he has completed his 18th year. He

takes possession of the throne only after having solemnly

taken, in the midst of the Chambers assembled together, the

following oath: "I swear to observe the Constitution and the

laws of the Belgian people, to maintain the national

independence and to preserve the integrity of the territory."

Article 81.

If, on the death of the King, his successor is a minor, both

Chambers meet in one body for the purpose of providing for the

regency and the guardianship.

Article 82.

If it is impossible for the King to reign, the ministers,

after having caused that inability to be established, convoke

the Chambers immediately. Guardianship and regency are to be

provided for by the Chambers convened.

Article 83.

The regency can be conferred on one person only. The regent

enters upon his duties only after he has taken the oath

prescribed by Article 80.

Article 84.

No change can be made in the Constitution during a regency.

Article 85.

In case of a vacancy on the throne, the Chambers deliberating

together, arrange provisionally for the regency until the

meeting of new Chambers, that meeting to take place within two

months, at the latest. The new Chambers deliberating together

provide definitely for the vacancy.

Section II.—Of the Ministers.

Article 86.

No person can be a minister who is not a Belgian by birth, or

who has not received the "grande naturalization."

Article 87.

No member of the royal family can be a minister.

Article 88.

Ministers have a deliberative voice in either Chamber only

when they are members of it. They have free admission into

each Chamber and must have a hearing when they ask for it. The

Chambers may require the presence of ministers.

Article 89.

In no case, can the order of the King, verbal or written,

relieve a minister of responsibility.

Article 90.

The Chamber of Representatives has the right to accuse

ministers and to arraign them before the Court of Cassation

[Appeal], which alone has the right to judge them, the united

Chambers reserving what may be enacted by law concerning civil

action by a party wronged, and as to crimes and misdemeanors

which ministers may have committed outside of the performance

of their duties. A law shall determine the cases of

responsibility, the penalties to be inflicted on the

ministers, and the manner of proceeding against them, either

upon the accusation admitted by the Chamber of

Representatives, or upon prosecution by parties wronged.

Article 91.

The King may pardon a minister sentenced by the Court of

Cassation only upon the request of one of the two Chambers.

Chapter III.—Of the Judiciary Power.

Article 92.

Contests concerning civil rights are exclusively within the

jurisdiction of the tribunals.

Article 93.

Contests concerning political rights are within the

jurisdiction of the tribunals, with exceptions determined by

law.

Article 94.

No tribunal can be established otherwise than by law. Neither

commissions nor extraordinary tribunals, under any

denomination whatever, can be created.

Article 95.

There is for the whole of Belgium one Court of Cassation. This

Court does not consider the ground of causes, except in the

judgment of ministers.

Article 96.

Sittings of the tribunals are public, unless such publicity be

dangerous to order or morals, and in that case the tribunal

declares it by a judgment. In the matter of political or press

offenses, the exclusion of the public must be voted

unanimously.

Article 97. The ground of every judgment is to be stated. It

is pronounced in public sitting.

Article 98.

The jury is established in all criminal cases, and for

political and press offenses.

Article 99.

The judges of the peace and judges of the tribunals are

appointed directly by the King. Councillors of the Courts of

appeal and presidents and vice-presidents of the courts of

original jurisdiction are appointed by the King, from two

double lists, presented, one by those courts and the other by

the provincial Councils. Councillors of the Court of Cassation

are appointed by the King from two double lists, one presented

by the Senate and the other by the Court of Cassation. In

these two cases the candidates whose names are on one list may

also be inscribed on the other. All presentations are made

public at least fifteen days before the appointment. The

courts choose their presidents and vice-presidents from among

their members.

{3731}

Article 100.

Judges are appointed for life. No judge can be deprived of his

position or suspended, except by a judgment. The displacement

of a judge can take place only through a new appointment and

with his consent.

Article 101.

The King appoints and dismisses the public prosecutors to the

courts and tribunals.

Article 102.

The salaries of the members of the judicial order are fixed by

law.

Article 103.

No judge may accept salaried offices from the government

unless he exercises them gratuitously, and excluding the cases

of incompatibility defined by law.

Article 104.

There are three courts of appeal in Belgium. The law

determines their jurisdiction and the places in which they

shall be established.

Article 105.

Special enactments regulate the organization of military

courts, their powers, the rights and obligations of the

members of such courts, and the duration of their functions.

There are tribunals of commerce in the places determined by

law, which regulate their organization, their powers, the mode

of appointment of their members and the term of the latters'

duties.

Article 106.

Conflicts of jurisdiction are settled by the Court of

Cassation, according to proceedings regulated by law.

Article 107.

Courts and tribunals shall apply general, provincial and local

decisions and regulations only so far as they are conformable

to the laws.

Chapter IV.—Of Provincial and Communal Institutions.

Article 108.

Provincial and communal institutions are regulated by the

laws. These laws sanction the application of the following

principles:

1. Direct election, with the exceptions which the law may

establish in regard to the chiefs of communal administration

and the government commissioners to the provincial councils;

2. The assigning to provincial and communal councils of all

which is of provincial and communal interest without prejudice

to the approval of their acts in the cases and according to

the proceedings which law determines;

3. The publicity of the sittings of the provincial and

communal councils within the limits established by law;

4. The publicity of budgets and accounts;

5. The intervention of the King' or of the legislative power

to prevent the provincial and communal councils from going

beyond their powers and injuring the general welfare.

Article 109.

The drawing up of certificates of birth, marriage and death,

and the keeping of the registers, are the exclusive

prerogatives of communal authorities.

Title IV. Of the Finances.

Article 110.

No tax for the profit of the State can be imposed otherwise

than by a law. No charge or provincial assessment can be

imposed without the consent of the provincial council. No

charge or communal assessment can be imposed, without the

consent of the communal council. The law must determine those

exceptions of which experience will show the necessity in the

matter of provincial and communal impositions.

Article 111.

Taxes for the profit of the State are voted annually. The laws

which impose them are valid for one year only, unless renewed.

Article 112.

There can be no creation of privilege in the matter of taxes.

No exemption from nor diminution of taxes can be established

otherwise than by a law.

Article 113.

Beyond the cases expressly excepted by law, no payment can be

exacted from citizens, otherwise than in taxes levied for the

profit of the State, of the province, or of the commune. No

innovation is made on the actually existing system of the

polders and the wateringen, which remain subject to the

ordinary legislation.

Article 114.

No pension, nor gratuity at the expense of the public treasury

can be granted without authority of law.

Article 115.

Each year, the Chambers determine the law of accounts and vote

the budget. All the receipts and expenditures of the State

must be entered in the budget and in the accounts.

Article 116.

The members of the court of accounts are appointed by the

Chamber of Representatives and for the term fixed by law. That

court is intrusted with the examination and the settlement of

the accounts of the general administration and of all the

accountants for the public treasury. It sees that no article

of the expenses of the budget has been exceeded and that no

transfer has taken place. It determines the accounts of the

different administrations of the State and is required for

that purpose to gather all information, and all documents that

may be necessary. The general account of the State is

submitted to the Chambers with the observations of the court

of accounts. This court is organized by law.

Article 117.

The salaries and pensions of the ministers of religion are

paid by the State; the sums required to meet these expenses

are entered annually in the budget.

Title V. Of the Army.

Article 118.

The mode of recruiting the army is determined by law. The law

also regulates promotions, and the rights and obligations of

the military.

Article 119.

The contingent of the army is voted annually. The law that

fixes it is of force for one year only, unless renewed.

Article 120.

The organization and the powers of the gendarmerie are the

subject of a law.

Article 121.

No foreign troops can be admitted to the service of the State,

nor to occupy or pass through its territory, except by

provision of law.

Article 122.

There is a civic guard; its organization is regulated by law.

The officers of all ranks, up to that of captain at least, are

appointed by the guards with exceptions judged necessary for

the accountants.

Article 123.

The mobilization of the civic guard can occur only by

direction of law.

{3732}

Article 124.

Military men can be deprived of their grades, honors, and

pensions only in the manner determined by law.

Title VI. General Provisions.

Article 125.

The Belgian nation adopts the colors red, yellow and black,

and for the arms of the kingdom the Belgic lion with the

motto: "L'Union fait la Force" ["Union is Strength"].

Article 126.

The city of Brussels is the capital of Belgium and the scat of

its government.

Article 127.

No oath can be imposed except by law. The law also determines

its formula.

Article 128.

Any foreigner who is within the territory of Belgium enjoys

the protection accorded to persons and goods, with the

exceptions defined by law.

Article 129.

No law, decree, or administrative regulation, general,

provincial, or communal, is obligatory until it has been

published in the form prescribed by law.

Article 130.

The Constitution cannot be suspended, either wholly or in

part.

Title VII. Of the Revision of the Constitution.

Article 131.

The legislative power has the right to declare that there is

occasion for revising such constitutional provision as it

designates. After such declaration, the two Chambers are

dissolved. Two new Chambers shall then be convoked, in

conformity with Article 71. These Chambers act, in concurrence

with the King, on the points submitted for revision. In such

case, the Chambers cannot deliberate unless two-thirds at

least of the members composing each one of them are present,

and no change which does not receive at least two-thirds of

the votes in its favor shall be adopted.

Title VIII.—Temporary Provisions.

Article 132.

For the first choice of the chief of the State, the first

stipulation of Article 80 may be departed from.

Article 133.

Foreigners who settled in Belgium before the 1st of January

1814, and who have continued to reside in the country, are

considered as Belgians by birth, on condition that they

declare their intention to enjoy the benefit of this

provision. The declaration must be made within six months,

dating from the day when the present Constitution becomes

obligatory, if they are of age, and in the year following

their majority if they are under age. The declaration must be

made before the provincial authority within whose jurisdiction

they reside. It must be made in person or through a

representative bearing a special and authentic power of

attorney.

Article 134.

Until otherwise provided for by a law, the Chamber of

Representatives shall have a discretionary power to accuse a

minister, and the Court of Cassation to judge him,

characterizing the offense and determining the penalty.

Nevertheless the penalty cannot exceed that of imprisonment,

without prejudice to the cases expressly provided for by penal

laws.

Article 135.

The staff of courts and tribunals is maintained as it actually

exists, until it shall have been provided for by law. Such law

shall be enacted during the first legislative session.

Article 136.

A law enacted in the same session shall determine the mode of

the first appointment of members of the Court of Cassation.

Article 137.

The fundamental law of the 24th of August 1815, is hereby

repealed, as well as the provincial and local statutes; but

the provincial and local authorities will exercise their

powers until the law shall have otherwise provided.

Article 138.

From the day on which this Constitution goes into effect, all

laws, decrees, decisions, regulations, and other acts that are

in conflict with it are abrogated.

Supplementary Provisions.

Article 139.

The National Congress declares that it is necessary to provide

by separate laws and with the least possible delay for the

following objects:

1. The Press;

2. The organization of the jury;

3. The finances;

4. Provincial and communal organization;

5. The responsibility of ministers and

other agents of authority;

6. The organization of the judiciary;

7. The revision of the pension list;

8. Proper measures for preventing the

abuse of plurality of offices;

9. Revision of the laws of bankruptcy and suspension;

10. The organization of the army, the rights of

promotion and retirement, and the military penal code;

11. Revision of the codes.

The executive power is charged with the execution of the

present decree.

----------CONSTITUTION OF BELGIUM: End--------

----------CONSTITUTION OF ITALY: Start--------

The kingdom of Italy is still governed under the constitution

which was granted in 1848, by Charles Albert, to his Sardinian

subjects. It remains unchanged in form, but in practice has

been modified by legislation. The following translation of the

instrument, made by S. M. Lindsay, Ph. D., and L. S. Howe, Ph.

D., University of Pennsylvania, is borrowed, under permission,

from the:

_"Annals of the American Academy

of Political and Social Science,"

November, 1894, Supplement._

In their historical introduction to the instrument, the

translators say: "The extension of this constitution to the

various parts of the present Kingdom of Italy was effected by

a series of Plebiscites:

Lombardy, December 7, 1859;

Emilia by decree of March 18, 1860, and law of April 15, 1860;

Neapolitan Provinces, December 17, 1860;

Tuscany, decree March 22, and law April 15, 1860;

Sicily, Marches and Umbria, December 17, 1860;

Province of Venice, decree July 28, 1866;

Roman Provinces, decree October 9 and law December 31, 1870.

… Although no provision is to be found in this constitution

for amendment, most Italian constitutional jurists have held

that Parliament, with the approval of the King, has the power

to make laws amending the constitution, for an immutable

constitution is sure in time to hamper the development of a

progressive people. It is hardly necessary to add that such an

instrument is contrary to the true conception of an organic

law.

{3733}

As a matter of fact several provisions have been either

abrogated or rendered null and void through change of

conditions. Thus the second clause of Article 28, requiring

the previous consent of the bishop for the printing of Bibles,

prayer books and catechisms, has been rendered of no effect

through subsequent laws regulating the relations of Church and

State. Article 76, which provides for the establishment of a

communal militia, has been abrogated by the military law of

June 14, 1874. The fact that no French-speaking provinces now

form part of the kingdom has made Article 62 a dead-letter. So

also Articles 53 and 55 are no longer strictly adhered to. At

all events their observance has been suspended for the time

being."

The translated text of the Constitution is as follows:

(Charles Albert, by the Grace of God, King of Sardinia, Cyprus

and Jerusalem, Duke of Savoy, Genoa, Monferrato, Aosta, of the

Chiablese, Genovese and of Piacenza; Prince of Piedmont and

Oneglia; Marquis of Italy, Saluzzo, Ivrea, Susa, Ceva, of the

Maro, of Oristano, of Cesana and Savona; Count of Moriana,

Geneva, Nice, Trenda, Romonte, Asti, Alexandria, Goceano,

Novara, Tortona, Vigevano and of Bobbio; Baron of Vaud and

Faucigny; Lord of Vercelli, Pinerolo, Tarantasia, of the

Lomellina and of the Valley of Sesia, etc., etc., etc.) With

the fidelity of a king and the affection of a father, we are

about to-day to fulfill all that we promised our most beloved

subjects in our proclamation of the eighth of last February,

whereby we desired to show, in the midst of the extraordinary

events then transpiring throughout the country, how much our

confidence in our subjects increased with the gravity of the

situation, and how, consulting only the impulse of our heart,

we had fully determined to make their condition conform to the

spirit of the times and to the interests and dignity of the

nation. We, believing that the broad and permanent

representative institutions established by this fundamental

statute are the surest means of cementing the bonds of

indissoluble affection that bind to our crown a people that

has so often given us ample proof of their faithfulness,

obedience and love, have determined to sanction and promulgate

this statute. We believe, further, that God will bless our

good intentions, and that this free, strong and happy nation

will ever show itself more deserving of its ancient fame and

thus merit a glorious future. Therefore, we, with our full

knowledge and royal authority and with the advice of our

Council, have ordained and do hereby ordain and declare in

force the fundamental perpetual and irrevocable statute and

law of the monarchy as follows:

Article 1.

The Catholic, Apostolic and Roman religion is the only

religion of the State.

See Law of the Papal Guarantees,

under PAPACY: A. D. 1870 (page 2478)].

Other cults now existing are tolerated conformably to the law.

Article 2.

The State is governed by a representative monarchical

government, and the throne is hereditary according to the

Salic law.

Article 3.

The legislative power shall be exercised collectively by the

King and the two Chambers, the Senate and the Chamber of

Deputies.

Article 4.

The person of the King is sacred and inviolable.

Article 5.

To the King alone belongs the executive power. He is the

supreme head of the State; commands all land and naval forces;

declares war; makes treaties of peace, alliance, commerce and

other treaties, communicating them to the Chambers as soon as

the interest and security of the State permits, accompanying

such notice with opportune explanations; provided that

treaties involving financial obligations or change of State

territory shall not take effect until they have received the

consent of the Chambers.

Article 6.

The King appoints to all the offices of the State and makes

the necessary decrees and regulations for the execution of the

laws, provided that such decrees do not suspend or modify

their observance.

Article 7.

The King alone sanctions and promulgates the laws.

Article 8.

The King may grant pardons and commute sentences.

Article 9.

The King convokes the two Chambers each year. He may prorogue

their sessions and dissolve the Chamber of Deputies, in which

case he shall convoke a new Chamber within a period of four

months.

Article 10.

The initiative in legislation belongs both to the King and the

two Houses. All bills, however, imposing taxes or relating to

the budget shall first be presented to the Chamber of

Deputies.

Article 11.

The King shall attain his majority upon completion of his

eighteenth year.

Article 12.

During the King's minority, the Prince who is his nearest

relative in the order of succession to the throne, shall be

regent of the realm, provided he be twenty-one years of age.

Article 13.

Should the Prince upon whom the regency devolves be still in

his minority and this duty pass to a more distant relative,

the regent who actually takes office shall continue in the

same until the King becomes of age.

Article 14.

In the absence of male relatives, the regency devolves upon

the Queen-Mother.

Article 15.

In the event of the prior decease of the Queen-Mother, the

regent shall be elected by the legislative Chambers, convoked

within ten days by the Ministers of the Crown.

Article 16.

The preceding provisions in reference to the regency are also

applicable in case the King has attained his majority, but is

physically incapable of reigning. Under such circumstances, if

the heir presumptive to the throne be eighteen years of age,

be shall be regent of full right.

Article 17.

The Queen-Mother has charge of the education of the King until

he has completed his seventh year; from this time on his

guardianship passes into the hands of the regent.

Article 18.

All rights pertaining to the civil power in matters of

ecclesiastical benefices and in the execution of all

regulations whatsoever coming from foreign countries shall be

exercised by the King.

Article 19.

The civil list of the Crown shall remain, during the present

reign, at an amount equal to the average of the same for the

past ten years. The King shall continue to have the use of the

royal palaces, villas, gardens and their appurtenances, and

also of all chattels intended for the use of the Crown, of

which a speedy inventory shall be made by a responsible

ministerial department. In the future the prescribed dotation

of the Crown shall be fixed for the duration of each reign by

the first Legislature subsequent to the King s accession to

the throne.

{3734}

Article 20.

The property that the King possesses in his own right, shall

form his private patrimony, together with that to which he may

acquire title either for a consideration or gratuitously in

the course of his reign. The King may dispose of his private

patrimony either by deed or will exempt from the provisions of

the civil law as to the amount thus disposable. In all other

cases, the King's patrimony is subject to the laws that govern

other property.

Article 21.

The law shall provide an annual civil list for the heir

apparent to the throne when he has attained his majority, and

also earlier on occasion of his marriage; for the allowances

of the Princes of the royal family and royal blood within the

specified conditions; for the dowries of the Princesses and

for the dowries of the Queens.

Article 22.

Upon ascending the throne, the King shall take an oath in the

presence of the two Chambers to observe faithfully the present

constitution.

Article 23.

The regent, before entering on the duties of that office,

shall swear fidelity to the King and faithful observance of

this constitution and of the laws of the State.

Article 24.

All the inhabitants of the Kingdom, whatever their rank or

title, shall enjoy equality before the law. All shall equally

enjoy civil and political rights and be eligible to civil and

military office, except as otherwise provided by law.

Article 25.

All shall contribute without discrimination to the burdens of

the State, in proportion to their possessions.

Article 26.

Individual liberty is guaranteed. No one shall be arrested or

brought to trial except in cases provided for and according to

the forms prescribed by law.

Article 27.

The domicile shall be inviolable. No house search shall take

place except in the enforcement of law and in the manner

prescribed by law.

Article 28.

The press shall be free, but the law may suppress abuses of

this freedom. Nevertheless, Bibles, catechisms, liturgical and

prayer books shall not be printed without the previous consent

of the bishop.

Article 29.

Property of all kinds whatsoever shall be inviolable. In all

cases, however, where the public welfare, legally ascertained,

demands it, property may be condemned and transferred in whole

or in part after a just indemnity has been paid according to

law.

Article 30.

No tax shall be levied or collected without the consent of the

Chambers and the sanction of the King.

Article 31.

The public debt is guaranteed. All obligations between the

State and its creditors shall be inviolable.

Article 32.

The right to peaceful assembly, without arms, is recognized,

subject, however, to the laws that may regulate the exercise

of this privilege in the interest of the public welfare. This

privilege is not applicable, however, to meetings in public

places or places open to the public, which shall remain

entirely subject to police law and regulation.

Article 33.

The Senate shall be composed of members, having attained the

age of forty years, appointed for life by the King, without

limit of numbers. They shall be selected from the following

categories of citizens:

1. Archbishops and Bishops of the State.

2. The President of the Chamber of Deputies.

3. Deputies after having served in three Legislatures, or

after six years of membership in the Chamber of Deputies.

4. Ministers of State.

5. Secretaries to Ministers of State.

6. Ambassadors.

7. Envoys Extraordinary after three years of such service.

8. The First Presidents of the Courts

of Cassation and of the Chamber of Accounts.

9. The First Presidents of the Courts of Appeal.

10. The Attorney-General of the Courts of Cassation

and the Prosecutor-General, after five years of service.

11. The Presidents of the Chambers of the Courts of Appeal

after three years of service.

12. The Councillors of the Courts of Cassation and of the

Chamber of Accounts after five years of service.

13. The Advocates-General and Fiscals-General of the Courts

of Appeal after five years of service.

14. All military officers of the land and naval forces with

title of general. Major-generals and rear-admirals after five

years of active service in this capacity.

15. The Councillors of State after live years of service.

16. The members of the Councils of Division after three

elections to their presidency.

17. The Provincial Governors (Intendenti generali) after seven years of service.

18. Members of the Royal Academy of Science

of seven years standing.

19. Ordinary members of the Superior Council of Public

Instruction after seven years of service.

20. Those who by their services or eminent merit have done

honor to their country.

21. Persons who, for at least three years, have paid direct

property or occupation taxes to the amount of 3,000 lire.

Article 34.

The Princes of the Royal Family shall be members of the

Senate. They shall take rank immediately after the President.

They shall enter the Senate at the age of twenty-one and have

a vote at twenty-five.

Article 35.

The President and Vice-Presidents of the Senate shall be

appointed by the King, but the Senate chooses from among its

own members its secretaries.

Article 36.

The Senate may be constituted a High Court of Justice by

decree of the King for judging crimes of high treason and

attempts upon the safety of the State, also for trying

Ministers placed in accusation by the Chamber of Deputies.

When acting in this capacity, the Senate is not a political

body. It shall not then occupy itself with any other judicial

matters than those for which it was convened; any other action

is null and void.

Article 37.

No Senator shall be arrested except by virtue of an order of

the Senate, unless in cases of flagrant commission of crime.

The Senate shall be the sole judge of the imputed misdemeanors

of its members.

Article 38.

Legal documents as to births, marriages and deaths in the

Royal Family shall be presented to the Senate and deposited by

that body among its archives.

Article 39.

The elective Chamber is composed of deputies chosen by the

electoral colleges as provided by law.

{3735}

["The election law long in force was that of December 17,

1860, which was subsequently modified in July, 1875, and in

May, 1877. In January, 1882, a comprehensive electoral

reform was inaugurated by which the electoral age

qualification was reduced from twenty-five to twenty-one

years, and the tax qualification to an annual payment of

nineteen lire eighty centesimi as a minimum of direct

taxes. This law introduced a new provision requiring of

electors a knowledge of reading and writing. It is an

elaborate law of 107 articles. The provisions relating to

the elections by general ticket were further revised by law

of May and decree of June, 1882, and the text of the whole

law was co-ordinated with the preceding laws by Royal

Decree of September 24, 1882. It was again modified May

5th, 1891, by the abolition of elections on general tickets

and the creation of a Commission for the territorial

division of the country into electoral colleges. The number

of electoral colleges is at present fixed at 508, each

electing one Deputy. Twelve articles of this law of 1882,

as thus amended, have been again amended by a law dated

June 28, 1892, prescribing further reforms in the control

and supervision of elections, and by law of July 11, 1894,

on the revision of electoral and registration

lists."—Foot-note.]

Article 40.

No person shall be a member of the Chamber who is not a

subject of the King, thirty years of age, possessing all civil

and political rights and the other qualifications required by

law.

Article 41.

Deputies shall represent the nation at large and not the

several Provinces from which they are chosen. No binding

instructions may therefore be given by the electors.

Article 42.

Deputies shall be elected for a term of five years; their

power ceases ipso jure at the expiration of this period.

Article 43.

The President, Vice-presidents and Secretaries of the Chamber

of Deputies shall be chosen from among its own members at the

beginning of each session for the entire session.

Article 44.

If a Deputy ceases for any reason whatsoever to perform his

duties, the electoral college that chose him shall be convened

at once to proceed with a new election.

Article 45.

Deputies shall be privileged from arrest during the sessions,

except in cases of flagrant commission of crime; but no Deputy

may be brought to trial in criminal matters without the

previous consent of the Chamber.

Article 46.

No warrant of arrest for debts may be executed against a

Deputy during the sessions of the Chamber, nor within a period

of three weeks preceding or following the same.

["This article has been practically abolished by

the Mancini law of December 6, 1877, doing

away with personal arrest for debts."—Footnote.]

Article 47.

The Chamber of Deputies shall have power to impeach Ministers

of the Crown and to bring them to trial before the High Court

of Justice.

Article 48:

The sessions of the Senate and Chamber of Deputies shall begin

and end at the same time, and every meeting of one Chamber, at

a time when the other, is not in session, is illegal and its

acts wholly null and void.

Article 49.

Senators and Deputies before entering upon the duties of their

office shall take an oath of fidelity to the King and swear to

observe faithfully the Constitution and laws of the State and

to perform their duties with the joint welfare of King and

country as the sole end in view.

Article 50.

The office of Senator or Deputy does not entitle to any

compensation or remuneration.

Article 51.

Senators and Deputies shall not be held responsible in any

other place for opinions expressed or votes given in the

Chambers.

Article 52.

The sessions of the Chambers shall be public. Upon the written

request of ten members secret sessions may be held.

Article 53.

No session or vote of either Chamber shall be legal or valid

unless an absolute majority of its members is present.

[This article is not observed in actual parliamentary

practice.—Foot-note.]

Article 54.

The action of either Chamber on any question shall be

determined by a majority of the votes cast.

Article 55.

All bills shall be submitted to committees elected by each

House for preliminary examination. Any proposition discussed

and approved by one Chamber shall be transmitted to the other

for its consideration and approval; after passing both

Chambers it shall be presented to the King for his sanction.

Bills shall be discussed article by article.

Article 56.

Any bill rejected by one of the three legislative powers

cannot again be introduced during the same session.

Article 57.

Every person who shall have attained his majority has the

right to send petitions to the Chambers, which in turn must

order them to be examined by a committee; on report of the

committee each House shall decide whether they are to be taken

into consideration, and if voted in the affirmative, they

shall be referred to the competent Minister or shall be

deposited with a Government Department for proper action.

Article 58.

No petition may be presented in person to either Chamber. No

persons except the constituted authorities shall have the

right to submit petitions in their collective capacity.

Article 59.

The Chambers shall not receive any deputation, nor give

hearing to other than their own members and the Ministers and

Commissioners of the Government.

Article 60.

Each Chamber shall be sole judge of the qualifications and

elections of its own members.

Article 61.

The Senate as well as the Chamber of Deputies shall make its

own rules and regulations respecting its methods of procedure

in the performance of its respective duties.

Article 62.

Italian shall be the official language of the Chambers. The

use of French shall, however, be permitted to those members

coming from French-speaking districts and to other members in

replying to the same.

Article 63.

Votes shall be taken by rising, by division, and by secret

ballot. The latter method, however, shall always be employed

for the final vote on a law and in all cases of a personal

nature.

Article 64.

No one shall hold the office of Senator and Deputy at the same

time.

Article 65.

The King appoints and dismisses his ministers.

Article 66.

The Ministers shall have no vote in either Chamber unless they

are members thereof. They shall have entrance to both Chambers

and must be heard upon request.

Article 67.

The Ministers shall be responsible. Laws and decrees of the

government shall not take effect until they shall have

received the signature of a Minister.

{3736}

Article 68.

Justice emanates from the King and shall be administered in

his name by the judges he appoints.

Article 69.

Judges appointed by the King, except Cantonal or District

judges (di mandamento), shall not be removed after three years

of service.

Article 70.

Courts, tribunals and judges are retained as at present

existing. No modification shall be introduced except by law.

Article 71.

No one shall be taken from his ordinary legal jurisdiction. It

is therefore not lawful to create extraordinary tribunals or

commissions.

Article 72.

The proceedings of tribunals in civil cases and the hearings

in criminal cases shall be public as provided by law.

Article 73.

The interpretation of the laws, in the form obligatory upon

all citizens, belongs exclusively to the legislative power.

Article 74.

Communal and provincial institutions and the boundaries of the

communes and provinces shall be regulated by law.

Article 75.

The military conscriptions shall be regulated by law.

Article 76.

A communal militia shall be established on a basis fixed by

law.

Article 77.

The State retains its flag, and the blue cockade is the only

national one.

Article 78.

The knightly orders now in existence shall be maintained with

their endowments, which shall not be used for other purposes

than those specified in the acts by which they were

established. The King may create other orders and prescribe

their constitutions.

Article 79.

Titles of the nobility are guaranteed to those who have a

right to them. The King may confer new titles.

Article 80.

No one may receive orders, titles or pensions from a foreign

power without the King's consent.

Article 81.

All laws contrary to the provisions of the present

constitution are hereby abrogated.

Given at Turin on the fourth day of March, in the year of Our

Lord, one thousand eight hundred and forty-eight, and of Our

Reign the eighteenth.

Transitory Provisions.

Article 82.

This statue shall go into effect on the day of the first

meeting of the Chambers, which shall take place immediately

after the elections. Until that time urgent public service

shall be provided for by royal ordinances according to the

mode and form now in vogue, excepting, however, the

ratifications and registrations in the courts which are from

now on abolished.

Article 83.

In the execution of this statute the King reserves to himself

the right to make the laws for the press, elections, communal

militia and organization of the Council of State. Until the

publication of the laws for the press, the regulations now in

force on this subject remain valid.

Article 84.

The Ministers are entrusted with, and are responsible for the

execution and full observance of these transitory provisions.

----------CONSTITUTION OF ITALY: End--------

CONSTITUTION OF NEW YORK STATE, and its Revisions.

See NEW YORK: A. D. 1777, 1821, 1846, 1867-1882,

and 1894 (page 2339, and after).

CONSTITUTION OF RHODE ISLAND.

See RHODE ISLAND: A. D. 1888 (page 2646).

CONTRACT TABLETS, BABYLONIAN.

See MONEY AND BANKING (page 2199).

COOKE AND WHEATSTONE, Telegraphic Inventions of.

See ELECTRICAL DISCOVERY AND INVENTION:

A. D. 1825-1874 (page 773).

CO-OPERATION.

See SOCIAL MOVEMENTS: A. D). 1816-1886, 1840-1848,

1848-1883 (pages 2938, 2942, 2946).

COPYRIGHT.

See LAW, COMMON: A. D. 1499;

and EQUITY: A. D. 1875 (pages 1965 and 1994).

COREA.

The war between Japan and China.

"The peninsula which projects between the Japanese and Yellow

Seas southwards in the direction of the southern islands of

Nippon is completely limited landwards. Like Italy, with which

it may be compared in extent, and even to some degree in its

orographic configuration, it is separated from the mainland by

the Alpine Taipeishan or 'Great White Mountains,' of

Manchuria. It has also its Apennines stretching north and

south, and forming the backbone of the peninsula. … Like most

regions of the extreme East, Korea is known to foreigners by a

name which has little currency in the country itself. This

term, belonging formerly to the petty state of Korié, has been

extended by the Chinese and Japanese to the whole peninsula,

under the forms of Kaokiuli, Korai, Kaoli. When all the

principalities were fused in one monarchy, towards the close

of the 14th century, the country, at that time subject to

China, took the official title of Chaosien (Tsiosen)—that is,

'Serenity of the Morning'—in allusion to its geographical

position east of the empire. Thus it is now designated by a

poetical expression which exactly indicates its position

between China and Japan. While for the people of the continent

Japan is the land of the Rising Sun, Korea is the 'Serene'

land, illumined by the morning rays. Although washed by two

much-frequented seas, and yearly sighted by thousands of

seafarers, Korea is one of the least known Asiatic regions. …

From its very position between China and Japan, Korea could

not fail to have been a subject of contention for its powerful

neighbours. Before its fusion in one state it comprised

several distinct principalities, whose limits were subject to

frequent changes. These were, in the north, Kaokiuli (Kaoli),

or Korea proper; in the centre, Chaosien and the 78 so-called

'kingdoms' of Chinese foundation, usually known as the San Kan

(San Han), or 'Three Han'; in the south, Petsi, or Hiaksaï

(Kudara), the Sinlo of the Chinese, or Siragi of the Japanese;

beside the petty state of Kara, Zinna, or Mimana, in the

south-east, round about the Bay of Tsiosan. The northern

regions naturally gravitated towards China, whose rulers

repeatedly interfered in the internal affairs of the country.

But the inhabitants of the south, known in history by the

Japanese name of Kmaso, or 'Herd of Bears,' were long subject

to Japan, while at other times they made frequent incursions

into Kiu-siu and Hondo, and even formed settlements on those

islands. The first conquest of the country was made by the

forces of the Queen Regent Zingu in the 3d century.

{3737}

Towards the end of the 16th the celebrated Japanese dictator

and usurper Taïkosama, having conceived the project of

conquering China, began with that of Korea, under the pretext

of old Japanese rights over the country of the Kmaso. After

wasting the land he compelled the King to become his

tributary, and left a permanent garrison in the peninsula. A

fresh expedition, although interrupted by the death of

Taïkosama, was equally successful. Tsu-sima remained in the

hands of the Japanese, and from that time till the middle of

the present century Korea continued in a state of vassalage,

sending every year presents and tribute to Nippon. … Thanks to

the aid sent by the Ming dynasty to Korea, in its victorious

struggle with the other petty states of the peninsula, and in

its resistance to Japan, its relations with China continued to

be of the most friendly character. Admirers of Chinese

culture, the native rulers felt honoured by the investiture

granted them by the 'Son of Heaven.' But after the Manchu

conquest of the Middle Kingdom, Korea remaining faithful to

the cause of the Mings, the new masters of the empire invaded

the peninsula, and in 1637 dictated a treaty, imposing on the

Koreans a yearly tribute. … But although since that time the

native ruler takes the title of 'Subject,' China exercises no

real sovereign rights in Korea."

_E. Reclus,

The Earth and its Inhabitants: Asia,

volume 2, chapter 6._