96 PARLIAMENTARY COLBERTISM 
devoted themselves, the linen industry was one for which the 
materials could be provided in Ireland and Scotland, and it 
came to be completely naturalised ; but raw silk and cotton 
wool were, and continued to be, foreign products. The very 
existence of such textile manufactures is dependent on the 
maintenance of intercourse with distant lands. The rapid 
increase of English commerce gave enlarged opportunities of 
procuring materials, so that there was room for steady, and 
eventually for rapid development. 
The de- The fact that English industry was becoming dependent 
pendence . . . 
of industry for its markets, and to some extent for its materials, on 
7 irae distant countries, involved the intervention of capitalists in 
md for, an increasing degree. The capitalist merchant was called 
upon to serve as an intermediary between the English weaver 
and the purchaser in foreign parts, and to procure the 
materials which were necessary for the prosecution of certain 
trades. The judgment of the employer was required to 
maintain the honesty of the materials and workmanship, and 
to decide on the fashion and quality of goods which it was 
best worth while to produce. In the old days of gild regula- 
tion, or of the activity of aulnagers and searchers, and under 
the system of well-ordered trade, there had been little room 
for the personal skill and judgment of an employer. But in 
pavean the eighteenth century, there was full scope for the exercise 
impulse to . a . 2 
he inter- of these business qualities, and industry could not flourish or 
vention of expand unless they were brought into play. 
The opening of distant markets for English manufactures 
did not always bring about an increased production?, but it 
necessarily affected the character of the industrial system. 
There was greater scope for supervision by masters, and 
employment in the textile trades was apt to pass from small 
independent manufacturers to wage-earners. The eighteenth 
century commercial system led, not so much to the expansion 
of industry, as to the development of the class of capitalist 
employers, whom Adam Smith criticised and the Manchester 
School admired. This sort of modification in the economic 
relationships of those who are co-operating in the work of 
producing some article for the market, may proceed very 
1 The limitation of the supply of materials rendered this impossible.