The Industrial Revolution

Bibliographic data

Monograph

Identifikator:: 1027928145

URN:: urn:nbn:de:zbw-retromon-159926

Document type:: Monograph

Author:: Cunningham, William http://d-nb.info/gnd/128907487

Title:: The Industrial Revolution

Place of publication:: Cambridge

Publisher:: The University Press

Year of publication:: 1922

Scope:: xxii S., S. 404-886

Digitisation:: 2021

Collection:: Economics Books

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/ e + al AT 1e aT 38 at ie wh or e, ne “oa PARLIAMENT AS SUPREME JUDGE OF PUBLIC INTEREST 405 King’s Government was carried on during the eighteenth A.D. 1689 century. The existence of such a system testifies alike to —e the real power which Parliament possessed, and to the asd ils unfitness of the House of Commons to exercise a wise [¢ied on control over economic interests, It is, of course, true that means. the taint, which attaches to legislative action during this period, does not suffice to prove that the measures adopted were wholly mistaken. Weighty considerations of public good were urged on behalf of the line of economic policy that was adopted during the period of Whig ascendancy. The scheme, which was carried out, contributed to the maintenance of some essential elements of national power. Still, it was pursued at the cost and to the detriment of a considerable body of English citizens, and some of the best contemporary writers were of opinion that the gain, which accrued to the public, was dearly bought Two different views may be taken as to the nature of the advantage which accrues to a country from its foreign trade. From one point of view we may say that the consumer of foreign products obtains articles he desires to use on easier terms, or of better quality, than would otherwise be the case? On the other hand, we may take a different standard and The policy gauge the benefit of trade by its reaction on native industry ig and the benefit which accrues to producers. This latter 724s standpoint was adopted by Colbert; the principles which might he worked out in France seemed to contemporaries to be industry brilliantly successful. Similar opinions as to the benefit of trade, and of the measures which should be taken to promote the prosperity of the country, were dominant in England during the period of Whig ascendancy. “For a hundred years past,” as a Dutch writer observed in 1751, “the English have considered exportation, and sale of goods and mer- chandises abroad, as the only profitable and advantageous trade of that kingdom, and on the coutrary left it very doubtful whether the importation of goods be beneficial ! This was the view taken by North, Davenant, Barbon and other Tory writers. Compare Ashley, The Tory Origin of Free Trade Policy in Surveys, p. 268. At the same time it must be remembered that Davenant and the rest were not Free Traders in the modern sense; they did believe that it was the business of the statesman to foster and encourage trade, not to let it alone. See below, p. 867. 1 See below. p. 602.

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