The imperial commonwealth; a survey of commercial, industrial, and social history from the Tudor period to recent times

Prefatory Note

The design of this work is to delineate the growth and features of the Imperial Commonwealth, describe the origin of the Empire, and the circumstances culminating in its establishment.

It was my good fortune to be shown the proofs; the perusal made manifest the breadth and spaciousness of view achieved by the author, yet successfully expressed in unusually compact sentences by reason of his desire to compress into one volume material that might easily have filled several. Hence the style has caught, perhaps inevitably, an ^ affection for ellipsis, but has resulted in a book so packed oo with precise particulars as to be of large value to the student. ^ It retains as well a vivid interest for the general reader who g may desire, at his fireside, to contemplate the road along -' which, from the days of the first Tudor sovereign, the

Imperial Commonwealth has travelled during centuries.

^ The Constitution evolved from the struggles and victories

^ of our forefathers, as told by British history, leads us to

^ hope that the words of de Lolme, "The philosopher, when

he considers the constant fate of civil societies amongst men, g and observes the numerous and powerful causes which seem, g as it were unavoidably, to conduct them all to a state of ^; incurable political slavery, will take comfort in seeing that

Liberty has at length disclosed her secret to mankind and

secured an asylum to herself," are in fact at length

accomplished.

S. M. DE RHODES.

Inner Temple.

4*34083

Contents

CHAPTER

PAGE

I. The Early Growth of Industries .

Chapter I The Early Growth Of Industries

The growth of the British Commonwealth has been a slow process politically, evolving from a sovereignty vested in a king to a sovereignty vested in a king and Parliament. Commercially it has expanded from a country of litde activity to a country whose business operations rank among the foremost in the world.

Lord Bacon, writing of the City of London — and what he says of the City is applicable to the Commonwealth — remarks that Aristotle noteth well "that the nature of everything is best seen in its smallest portions and for that cause he enquireth of the nature of a Commonwealth first in the simple conjugations of man and wife, parent and child, master and servant, w^hich are in every cottage, even so likewise the nature of this great city of the world and the policy thereof must be sought in mean concordances and small portions." In this sense the growth of the Imperial Commonwealth is the story of the growth of the family and its connections; the human element runs through it, and may be perceived in the desires of the peoples to improve their spiritual and material condition.

The early industries of England were few, and these were mostly confined to the South-East and the West of the land; divided from the Continent by the sea, England had to rely on her natural resources for support. She possessed an equable climate, a land well wooded and watered, potteries, tin, iron, lead mines and coal, cattle and large flocks of sheep. Her coal and iron at first were of little importance, although they are now of the greatest; for many years her commerce with the Continent was mainly in the hands of foreigners, Germans of the Hanseatic League known as Easterlings, and Flemish and Belgian merchants called Westerlings. They resorted to her shores to sell cloth and a variety of commodities, some of which, such as spices, were exported from the East; in return they purchased raw material, lead, tin and hides, but principally wool. For long these foreign merchants Avere welcomed and obtained exceptional privileges; the great majority of them stayed forty days at a time, when, having discharged their business, they returned home with the profits of their venture.

The conquest of England by William I brought the Norman invaders, who became permanent settlers; in their train followed architects, builders, artists and weavers. They built cathedrals and churches, practised the fine arts and introduced the making of fabric. The close connection with Rome led to the coming of Italian ecclesiastics in whose retinue were many conversant with Italian trade. Flemings and others crossed the seas from Flanders and introduced their crafts. England, however, had no definite commercial policy till a later period. Many towns had charters and privileges which were not conducive to national policy. The progress of newly introduced industries was necessarily slow, and was often interrupted by civil commotions. The evolution of a system of law was only gradual.

The reign of Edward I saw the beginnings of constitutional and legal reform; the reign of Edward III witnessed the quickening of industry. The two movements proceeded, as might have been anticipated, in a directly logical order, the constitutional change preparing the way for the industrial, for before industry could explain its wants it required a medium by which to express them. It found this through a Parliament in which sat burgesses from the towns. As soon as industry made its wants heard it proceeded with no uncertain voice to determine a commercial policy for the country.

In the reign of Edward III a new word crept into the

The Early Growth of Industries 3

recitals or preambles of Acts of Parliament. The Parliamentary draftsman or the Clerk to the Parliament expressed that a statute was made for the benefit of the people. No doubt these preambles were based on wordings of petitions presented to the House of Commons from the Commonalty. Thus a statute of 14 Edw. Ill recited its enactment for the peace and quietness of the people. By the time of Richard II statutes were passed for the common profit of the realm, for the quietness and tranquillity of the people. In the reign of Henry IV the phrasing purported to nourish the unity, peace and concord of all parties within the realm. Late in the reign of Henry VI statutes were passed for the weal of the people and the common profit of all the realm. With the coming of the Tudors the expression Commonwealth definitely made its appearance. The Commonwealth and the public weal became synonymous terms, and lastly the country adopted the Commonwealth as a title to express that it existed for all the people.

Commercial policy, it has already been stated, was directed to meet the desire of the people to improve their conditions. The early door to prosperity lay through wool. During the reigns of the three Edwards the Englishman sold wool to the foreign merchant and received cloth in exchange. The Avool, carried across Channel, was manufactured into cloth at towns such as Bruges, Ypres and Poperinghe. With the growth of population it was found that the rearing of sheep was not an occupation which afforded employment in sufficient ratio to the increase. Nobles and abbots grew rich from the profits of its sale, but few shepherds were needed to tend great flocks of sheep. Many factors now united to determine the country to establish new industries and to enlarge and improve existing ones. It was computed that the Englishman sold his wool and saw it returned to him in the manufactured article at seven times the price at which he had sold it. With improvements constantly introduced in manufacturing munitions many new industries became essential as means of defence. King, Parliament and people now began by a series of protective measures, some tentative in character, many subsequently repealed, to establish an industrial system.

During this transitory period England was generally, but not always, self-supporting in the matter of foodstuff, but her wine was poor and it was found desirable to supplement it from the vintages of France. Some tendency w^as exhibited towards a free trade system in the reign of Edward III when the Kingship of England and the Duchy of Guienne were vested in one sovereign, and when excellent trade relationships existed with Brabant and Flanders.

Underlying the dynastic reasons which led to wars between France and England there were also substantial commercial causes. The King of France was seeking the unity of France, but found great obstacles in the existence of such powerful fiefs as Guienne and Flanders. Edward III had similar aims; his wars in Wales and against Scotland were attempts to unite Great Britain. The conquest of Flanders by France seemed not improbable, but it would have endangered the Flemish manufacturing interests and interfered with their export of English wool. France was always willing to assist Scotland in her struggles with England so as to weaken a formidable opponent. It might have been thought by Edward III that the trade interests of Guienne as an exporter of wine would have drawn her so closely to England as to render a commercial federation between England, France and Guienne possible. Such a federation would have proved a barrier to the further expansion of France. During the greater portion of the reign of Edward III Canon Cunningham traces the working of this idea which loomed through the battle lust of Crecy and Poitiers but faded with the failure of the Black Prince's administration in the South of France. With this exception the commercial policy of England was wholly Protectionist in character, and remained so till nearly the first half of last century.

During the reigns of the Lancastrians and Yorkists commercial policy was directed to keeping foreign merchants strictly to their business of selling merchandise they imported by wholesale, not allowing them to become retailers. When, hov/ever, privileges based upon ancient charters were claimed by towns to purchase off foreign merchants wine and foodstuffs in order to enhance prices unduly on their

The Early Growth of Industries 5

way to the consumer, the prohibition against retailing was withdrawn. Restrictions on tlie sale of wool were directed to ensure a sale at the highest price by offering it to foreign merchants through certain detined markets in staple towns where competition would be likely to increase prices. Its disposal, however, through special markets was also a revenue measure to enable the customs to be more easily collected. There Avas nothing in the principles on which commercial policy was then based which differed from those pursued by a business man of the present day; of buying in the lowest and selling in the highest market. The institution of staple towns afforded him the opportunity required. By selling wool at the highest price and by the restrictions on the sale of imports, especially on rich articles of dress such as furs, probably brought by German merchants from their factory at Nijni Novgorod, and by sumptuary laws, it was sought to secure a favourable balance of trade and increase the capital of the country. The success of this policy was undeniable, for without an increase in the spending power of the people there would have been no means to purchase imported furs and the commodities of Italian towns. From the time of Richard II legislation proceeded generally at the instance of the producers. It was often, however, regulated to meet the needs of the consumers, and honesty in manufacturing was required. A statute of Henry VI in 1442 is an instance of such legislation. Its preamble says that whereas worsted was somewhat a good merchandise and greatly desired and loved in the parts beyond the sea, now, because that it is of false work and false stuff, no man thereof taketh regard, which is a great danger to the King's customs. Worsted was a Norfolk industry : it was directed that four wardens of Norwich and two from the county should be selected from worsted weavers to regulate its manufacture. Another statute illustrates an attempt to combine the interests of the corn growers with those of the consumers. The export of corn had been prohibited. It was now allowed when the price of wheat did not exceed 6s. 8d. a quarter and barley 3s. 4d. As abundance of corn glutted markets, lowered prices and impoverished the growers, the interests of the consumers were compelled to yield to those of the producers. By the time of Edward IV, so strong had the cloth industry grown, that English cloth began to dominate the markets of Flanders. The Duke of Burgundy then prohibited its entry into his dominion, but Parliament replied : If wool and cloth manufactured in England be prohibited in Brabant, Holland and Zeeland, then no merchandise close growing or wrought therein within the dominion of the Duke of Burgundy shall come into England upon pain of forfeiture. This commercial war was ended by the marriage of Edward IV's sister, Margaret, with the Duke of Burgundy, when better trade relations were developed.

A staple town for the interchange of commodities between England and the Continent was fixed in the time of Edward III at Calais. During the reign of Edward IV the export of wools, fells, or tins, was prohibited except through Calais; the loss of Calais in the reign of Queen Mary was a great blow to England.

'With reference to alien trading, it may be noticed that alien merchants who resorted to England were forbidden to export gold and silver from the realm under pain of forfeiture, but were ordered to expend it in making purchases in the country. As wool became more in demand for home manufacture, in 1463 aliens were forbidden to export wool. When Protection was required to establish a struggling industry, it was granted. Thus, when the silk women and spinners complained of the introduction of wrought-silk ribbons, girdles and other articles which destroyed their industry, their complaint was redressed by the prohibition of competing imports.

In 1533 a statute was passed dealing with the bookbinders. It recited that printed books not only in Latin but in English were brought into the country, some bound in boards, some in leather and some in parchment, and sold by retail, "whereby many of the King's subjects being binders of books and having no other faculty whereby to get their living, be destitute of work and like to be undone except some reparation herein be had." The import of ready-bound books was prohibited. Lest the consumer should suffer by printers or sellers raising the prices of printed books on sale or binding to high and unreasonable

The Early Growth of Industries 7

prices, the King's great officers were empowered to inquire thereof as well with the oaths of twelve honest and discreet persons or otherwise by their direction. When printing was introduced into England by William Caxton all books from abroad, by a statute of Richard III, 1483, were admitted free. From 1474 to 1491 Caxton worked as a printer at Westminster, and he, his successor Wynkyn de Worde and others laid the foundation of the great book industry. But as the free importation of books had led to the introduction of a marvellous number from the Continent, the reason for a change of policy was explained. In 1483 there were few books and few printers, but in 1533 there were "a great number cunning and expert in the science or craft of printing, as able to exercise the said craft in all points as any stranger in any other country."

In all this protective legislation there were several factors present, but the principle was the desire to find more employment for the people, and there is little doubt that the creation and building up of new industries efTected this purpose. For what would have been the condition of England if she had been content to exist on her agricultural resources and the sale of her raw materials, with but small occupation for her people and little opportunity to improve their material comfort or intellectual equipment ? Surrounded by powerful neighbours, without the means to support herself against attack, she would have inevitably become a mere dependant, a Cinderella amongst nations. Adam Smith, in his inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, does not discuss the measures which built up the early industries of the country ; the reason for his silence is not clear, for by the close of Elizabeth's reign England had attained a first-class position in the European family by reason of her wealth. Other political economists have been contented to dismiss the period as unworthy of consideration, as mediaeval and barbarous, the suggestion being that by the adoption of some other system England would have earlier attained prosperity, but how it is difficult tO' ascertain. The history of Mediaeval England showed that restraints upon the importation of foreign goods did increase the general industry. It is noticeable, however, that the policy of Mediaeval

England was to encourage new industries by State aid, but not thus to found them ; it did not subsidize Flemish weavers to settle in England, but, on their arrival, ensured them a welcome; it did not introduce printing in Westminster, but left its introduction to the ingenuity and public spirit of Caxton ; it did interfere after the printing industry had established itself, when its future progress was endangered by foreign competition, on the ground that skilled workers should not be thrown out of employment by the cessation of the craft they lived by. The loss of productive labour was deemed a general loss to the community.

The success of England's w^eaving industry enabled England ultimately to sell her cloth throughout the world; its success was due in the first instance to the control of the necessary raw material ; before the Black Death she was practically the only country which exported wool ; afterwards, probably from the dearth of labour, sheep-rearing extended to Spain, whence Italy and Venice drew their supplies for manufacturing. Flanders, notwithstanding her trained craftsmen, from her inability to obtain cheap raw material, ultimately saw her cloth-making industry wrested from her and engaged in a hopeless struggle to exclude English cloth from her markets. The Mediaeval period is noticeable for the fact that the rates of wages w^ere fixed by legislation ; the Mediaeval conception being that a man should be paid a fair remuneration for his work. This was probably due to the teachings of the Church, which looked to the welfare of the worker rather than to the goods he made.

Chapter II

Concurrently with a growing commercial system, a sense of nationality was developing w^hich, perhaps, was due to the insular position of the country and the policy of the great Plantagenet Kings, Edward I and III. In the reigns of Richard II and Henry IV England had acquired a considerable political freedom. Her system of Common Law and her language w^^ere then assuming shape and form. But the progress she made received a rapid set-back from the Wars of the Roses, when the sense of county was lost in faction ; counties, even families, being divided, father against son, brother against brother. The Englishman, however, was free. Even torture was unknown till the time of Henry VI, when it was first sought to be employed in the Tower by the Dukes of Exeter and Suffolk.

On the accession of Henry VII a strong Government was required. Henry had small title to the crown, except as acquired by conquest, but he obtained a Parliamentary title, and by his subsequent marriage with Elizabeth united the Houses of Lancaster and York. As English nationality developed, similarly it developed in France and Spain. By the policy of Louis XI France was strengthened. By the marriage of Ferdinand of Aragon with Isabella of Castile and the conquest of Grenada Spain became unified. The three monarchs were named by Lord Bacon "the Three Magi." Nationality, however, is generally dated from the invasion of Italy by Charles VIII.

For some time after the break up of the Roman Empire the Papacy supplied its place as guardian of the peace, but the potency of its spiritual weapons, the interdict and excommunication, depended upon acceptance without question of the fiats of the successors of St. Peter. Even ecclesiastical statesmen in England ceased to believe in them as a means of assuring peace, and one of Henry VII's bishops, Foxe, was responsible for the saying, "the surest way to peace is a constant preparedness for war." Sir Thomas More, who had been a page at the court of Archbishop Morton, another of Henry VII's great Ministers, subsequently, in the pages of "Utopia," expressed his disbelief in leagues of nations, believing peace was ultimately to be found in the general spread of ideas of goodwill amongst all men. The doctrine of the balance of power was universally accepted. The policy of Henry VII was turned, as Lord Bacon observed, from considerations of plenty to those of power.

To preserve an island state, treasure and shipping were necessary, Henry accumulated the former and increased the latter, for he dearly loved gold and could not endure to have trade sick. During the reigns of his immediate predecessors the question of security was present to the mind of Parliament, when two statutes were passed; the first which insisted that four bowstaves should be brought into the country with every ton of goods; the second that ten bowstaves should accompany every butt of wine. Lord Bacon refers to the policy of Henry in fostering a virile race by making farms and housing and husbandry of a standard that is maintained with such a proportion of land with them as may breed a subject to live in convenient plenty and no servile condition, and to keep the plough in the hands of the owners and not mere hirelings. One reason, says Lord Bacon, was the King's desire to have a sturdy race, especially as to the infantr3s which is the nerve of an army, and for this reason he considered the King's policy was profound and admirable. By laws against the keeping of retainers Henry diminished the power of the nobility. So long as they kept a number of idle retainers the nobility were ready to embark in rebellions and substitute the greater might for the greater right. The keeping of retainers, however, had other injurious consequences. By withdrawing men who might have been engaged in production from works of industry it lowered the productive capacity of the country.

Many things had happened in Europe. The most im-

The Growth of Nationality n

portant was the effect of the discovery of America. Amidst peans of triumph the Moorish dominion of Grenada fell. The tide of invasion which at one period threatened to submerge France, sighed, sobbed, and in one piteous lamentation ebbed from the shores of Spain for ever. In the flush of triumph, Isabella, seated in the conquered palace of the Alhambra, listened to the pleading of a Genoese mariner striving to teach a new geography to an unbelieving Europe. Christopher Columbus, on bended knees, successfully petitioned for some stout ships to sail westward to the Indies. Spain was rewarded with the gift of a new world. If Isabella had not consented it might have been otherwise, for Columbus had sent his brother Bartholomew to ask the assistance of Henry VII. But, robbed by pirates on his way, Bartholomew had not the necessary means to present himself at court. When he did the King readily consented. Columbus had then started, and not many months after Europe rang with the story of the strange regions he had discovered.

England, however, was not altogether idle in maritime enterprise. On July 15, 1480, a Welshman named Lloyd, with two ships of 80 tons burthen, owned by a Bristol merchant named John Jay, sailed from the West coast of Ireland to discover the supposed island of Brazil, but Atlantic storms drove his vessels back. In 1494 an expedition from Bristol discovered the mainland of America on Midsummer day. The land sighted was called Prima Vista, the island opposite St. John's. In 1496 Henry VII gave his support to an expedition fitted out by John Cabot, a Venetian subject living at Bristol. Cabot received a licence to fit out five ships at his own expense, and for rew^ard a strict trading monopoly. He was directed to sail to lands hitherto unknown to Christians. Starting in a single ship called the Matthew, Cabot eventually reported the discovery of a new territory he believed to be the country of the Grand Cham. Great honour was accorded him; money was given him by the King; he dressed himself in silk and was run after by the people, so that he could have enlisted as many of them as he pleased in his adventures. Two years later a patent for colonization was granted him. But his death probably took place before his expedition started, which was entrusted to Sebastian Cabot, who discovered Newfoundland. No fresh enterprise was ventured on, for the King was too careful to spend money where profitable returns appeared doubtful. Soon after 1500 Cabot took service in Spain.

Henry strengthened the country by his matrimonial alliances. He did not do this at first in his own case, relying upon his personal position, but he found marriage was indispensable to his safety, for the people were not readily reconciled to his claims. Rebellions broke out. Injustice was believed to have been perpetrated. The story of the murdered princes in the Tower was disbelieved. They were said to be alive. Pretenders arose who personated them, and Lambert Simnel and Perkin Warbeck found assistance in Scotland, Ireland, France and Burgundy. Henry gravitated to an alliance with Spain. Ultimately he joined forces with her in attacking Charles VIII of France, who was reducing Brittany. Charles's marriage with Anne of Brittany ended the war. Henry gained money both ways; from the people to pay for it and from Charles to discontinue it. The marriage of his daughter Margaret with James IV secured the friendship of Scotland, and the betrothal of his son Arthur with Catherine of Aragon, and after his death her marriage with his son Henry, cemented the Spanish alliance.

The English people at this time were restless, turbulent and not easily governed. They loved freedom, they hated unfairness and injustice. They possessed a keen desire for fair play and were strongly individualistic in character. Their love of humour they often displayed in rough jests. Humour was exhibited by monks in their carvings — many of these were caricatures — of unpopular abbots and Church dignitaries in the cathedrals, abbeys and churches. Humour accompanied the pilgrims on the way to Canterbury.

An early Reformation had broken out in England in the fourteenth century, when John Wycliffe, Warden of Balliol, about 137 1 began to preach Lollardism. His teaching spread like a prairie fire over the land. Through his Bible the Scriptures were understood. Thousands joined the movement, and it found support in the highest quarters. From England it reached Boiiemia, where John Huss and Jerome of Prague were profoundly influenced. The causes were the vices and greediness of priests, scandals of Simony, sale of indulgences, false miracles, the cultivation of images, especially those of the Virgin and saints, and the pomp, luxury and ostentation of the Church. Notwithstanding the power of Rome Wycliffe died unmolested at Lutterworth in Leicestershire, but by order of the Bishop of Lincoln, on the request of the Pope, his remains were disinterred. A different fate befell John Huss, who, relying on a safe conduct to Constance given him by the Emperor Sigismund of Germany, was burnt alive, his ashes cast into the River Rhine. A bloody war followed in Bohemia. The works of Huss were not published at Strasburg till 15 15. Finding their way into the hands of Martin Luther they influenced him. In a Bohemian Psalter of 1572 appears a symbolical picture of Wycliffe striking the spark, Huss kindling the coals, and Luther brandishing the lighted torch.

The death of Wycliffe did not end Lollardism. The movement continued and statutes were passed to punish heresy by burning. During its operation continuous demands for social reform were raised and revolts against ecclesiastical authority were accompanied by corresponding attacks on political authority. The movement apparently died when Sir John Oldcastle, its leader, who had formed a conspiracy to seize the person of Henry V, was executed, but some followers existed in towns such as Colchester and Agmondesham (Amersham), where they met in secret societies of poor men, who read the Gospels and Wycliffe's "Wicket " by night. These, however, numbered thousands, for the Bishop of London, on writing to Erasmus as to the effect of Lutheranism in England, said : "It is no question of a pernicious novelty; it is only that new arms are being added to the great band of WyclifBtes."

The constant exactions of Henry rendered him unpopular. When he died at his palace at Richmond of consumption he left few mourners behind, but an England undoubtedly stronger.

Henry VIII was eighteen when he came to the throne.

Edward Herbert, first Baron of Cherbury, who wrote his life — a book not published till after Herbert's death in 1649 — relates how a great debate took place at the Privy Council soon after the King's accession, when the most learned statesmen of the land met : Should Henry revive his claims to the French Crown or should he seek the interest of the country overseas? There is reason to believe that the arguments which Lord Herbert puts into the mouths of those of the Council who were opposed to a Continental war were substantially accurate. "Let us, in God's name," said one spokesman of the new policy, "leave off our attempts against the Terra Firma. The natural situation of islands seems not to sort into conquest by that kind. England alone is a just Empire. When we enlarge ourselves let it be that way we can and to which it seems the Eternal Providence hath destined us, which is by sea. The Indies are discovered and vast treasure brought from thence every day. Let us therefore bend our endeavours thitherward, and if the Spaniards or Portuguese suffer us not to join with them there will yet be region enough for all to enjoy." Henry did not accept this advice. The glory of a war with France allured him. He began to squander the great treasure his father left him. So large was this that Henry VH was probably the richest man in Europe. The foreign policy of the country gradually underwent a change from the Spanish to the French alliance. The policy of a balance of power on the Continent became the settled policy of English statesmen. On the accession of Cardinal Wolsey to the Chancellorship the country assumed a new position. She became arbiter of the destinies of Europe. The Commonwealth was to be a centre for the dissemination of learning. Wolsey's views were reflected in his magnificent educational schemes. Shakespeare refers to them with admiration :