But that which more than anything else has made London the great trade
centre of the world has been the policy, now for many years adopted by
the British people, of allowing the goods and products of all other
nations to enter their ports untaxed. Every port in Britain is a free
port of entry for all imported merchandise except spirits, tobacco,
wine, tea, coffee, cocoa, and chicory; and ships of all nations are
allowed to trade at British ports upon terms exactly the same as those
laid down for British ships. The result is that Britain has become the
entrepôt or distributing mart for the produce of the world. Ships of
all nations are found at her wharves, and commodities from all parts
of the world brought in those ships are found in her warehouses. Her
mercantile navy numbers 21,000 vessels, and 8000 of these are
steamships. The tonnage of these vessels amounts to over 8,750,000
tons, and of this nearly 8,000,000 is engaged in the foreign trade
alone. Her mercantile sailors number over 250,000 men, and over
150,000 of these are engaged in the foreign trade. London is, of
course, the chief gainer from this perfect unrestriction of trade.
Twenty-seven per cent. of the whole trade of the country is in its
hands. Its merchants do business in every seaport on the globe, and
the trade of Great Britain with ports in Europe, the Levant, Egypt,
India, the East Indies, China, Japan, and Australasia, is almost
wholly controlled by them. Its shipping embraces the finest trading
fleets known to commerce. Its docks and wharves extend on either side
of the Thames for twenty-four miles from London Bridge down to
Gravesend, and are the largest and finest in the world.
[Illustration: British mercantile marine. Compared with that of other
countries.]