21 THE COTTON TRADE IN ENGLAND

ever flowed to each group in the way of riches was controlled byusage and privilege, especially by the position in which the repre-sentative of the group was born. The revolutionary elementin Middle-Age society was the merchant—a stranger in the land,originally treated as an enemy. He represented, as opposed tothe landed proprietary of the Middle Ages, a new modern line ofthought. Whilst, then, the lots in life were settled by usage andprivilege, the striving after the greatest possible profit tilled hisvery soul—according to present ideas, the first “ self-made man.”

Commerce brings riches. In order to favour it a- new systemof law subservient to it must be created. Whilst justice forthe rest was inherited privilege!, a law freed from personality wascreated the commercial relations—a “ jus gentium,” as opposedto “ jus civile”—a common right as opposed to the special laws ofthe Saxons , Franks, etc. The two events in the history of theRoman as well as German law just mentioned depend upon thedevelopment of the commercial element. Wherever this attainsthe upper hand it leads to legal conditions which are just theopposite to former ones; in place of restriction of property, to freeproperty; in place of limitation of the person, to personal freedom.

But for a long time the influence of the commercial elementwas slight, and was confined to certain centres of communication,markets and towns. The difficulty of traffic, the badness ofroads, the uncertainty of law, duties, staple rights, etc., confinedcommerce to a few valuable articles. With respect to the greatmajority of economical commodities, competition was not felt for along time. Production and prices depended upon privilege andcustom. How the individual persons participating in the pro-duction divided the products among themselves was regulated, inlike manner, by authority. Only when competition, andtherewith commercial ideas, seized industry, the old guildsyielded to freedom of trade, and that change of productionoccurred which led to the machine and centralised industry.

The development, for certain reasons, first occurred in England during the last century, and, indeed, earliest in the c~tton in-dustry. A helper a,t the birth of the new period was here, asin other places in Europe , the mercantile monarchy, which re-quired money in order to pay civil servants and soldiers, andtherefore favoured commerce. (Elizabeth, Cromwell, William III .)