him in 1852. For a time it seemed as if France was going to settle down and devote herself again to the arts of peace. The emperor, Napoleon III., did his best for manufacturing and other industries; useful commercial treaties were made with foreign states (of which we may note specially that of 1860 with England), greatly reducing duties on foreign imports. It is also interesting to note that in 1856 the duties on imported machinery had been lowered, with a view of introducing more of the new English inventions into manufactures. In 1867 a grand exhibition was held at Paris, in which France showed what excellent progress she had made in industry. In the ten years 1858-68 the exports of France increased from £75,000,000 to £132,000,000, an increase chiefly due to the diminution of tariffs. But at the same time speculation and commercial gambling of the wildest kind was going on. And three years after the Paris exhibition came the terrible blow of the Franco-German War (1870-71), from which France emerged defeated and impoverished.

176. The present Commerce of France.-Yet her wonderful powers of recovery have been shown most remarkably in the period that has elapsed since that defeat, and now trade and industry are progressing most satisfactorily. The Bank of France (founded in 1803) almost rivals the Bank of England in the magnitude of its operations, and the Parisian Bourse is only second to the London Stock Exchange. Agriculture has improved, wine and corn growing being the chief branches. Manufactures have been largely extended, and in some departments compete very successfully with English goods. The spinning of cotton and the linen trade are chiefly localised in Normandy and Picardy; the woollen industry in the north, the silk trade in the south. The manufacture of fancy articles of jewellery, ornamentation, and furniture is an important industry. Important also are the coal and iron trades. French exports now include many textile fabrics— in silk, wool, cotton, and linen; also glass, porcelain, perfumery, and fancy goods; all of which are distinguished by elegance of taste and design. In fact France owes a

large portion of her commercial progress to the artistic sense of her workmen.

177. French Colonial Possessions.-Although France is not now one of the great colonial powers, she has gained several foreign possessions since 1815. The most important is Algiers, acquired in 1830; but the military system of government there in force has not proved advantageous to industrial development, and the cost of the colony has always been far greater to France than its revenues. France still keeps, and is extending, her possessions on the west coast of Africa, which export many valuable products, such as ivory, gold-dust, palm oil, and cotton. The other French possessions are unimportant, but are given in the table of foreign possessions in the appendix. She has lately, however, pursued an aggressive policy of extension, acquiring, in 1884, Tonquin in Indo-China (which exports raw silk and rice), and assuming in 1886 a protectorate over Madagascar, which will probably prove a most fertile acquisition.

178. Germany during the Continental War.—If we now turn to France's great rival, we shall find a record of considerable commercial progress since the last century. Germany profited considerably from the conflicts between France and England, and between England and her colonies. The War of American Independence, for instance, and the following French wars, necessitated a considerable export of corn to the conflicting powers, whose own industry was disturbed; and this corn was largely supplied by Germany. The War of American Independence also had indirectly a beneficial effect in promoting various alleviations of the lot of the peasants and altering the medieval restrictions on landed property; and these events greatly improved agriculture. The stoppage of the tobacco import from America, owing to the war, caused the introduction of that plant into Germany, where it was successfully cultivated in Baden, Thuringia, and the Palatinate. But unfortunately the revival of industry and commerce thus caused was suddenly stopped by the Berlin Decree of Napoleon, which prevented the export of corn to England, and thus lost

Germany a good customer. Of course other trade was similarly hindered, and home industry was severely checked by the occupation of North Germany by the French troops under Napoleon (1805-1813). When Napoleon's power was at its highest, the French empire included, besides France, all Germany west of the Rhine, most of north-west Germany, the Netherlands, and Italy.

179. Increase of Manufactures. The Seaports.—It was, however, during this period of Napoleonic rule that the cultivation of commercial plants was encouraged, to meet the demands of home manufacturers who could no longer get raw materials from outside by reason of the blockade. Flax was more largely grown; and, to meet the lack of colonial produce, beetroot was grown to supply sugar, chicory to take the place of coffee; while home-grown tobacco took the place of the American article. The linen manufacture increased greatly, and exports were sent to England, America, Spain, and Portugal. The woollen export to Russia and Poland also became larger. The mineral products, in which Germany is so rich, were now more successfully mined, especially in the case of silver and coal. Silesia and Saxony also began at this period (the beginning of the nineteenth century) to take up the prominent position they now hold as seats of the textile industries-cotton and woollen cloth and lace being the chief manufactures. The northern cities were engaged in sugarrefining, Prussia was the chief district for tobacco and chicory manufactories, and also for pottery, while Hamburg went in for cotton-printing.

The German seaports also benefited by the wars of the Americans, French, and English. Now that the American colonies had become independent, and England no longer had a monopoly of their commerce, a direct trade sprang up between them and the towns of Hamburg and Bremen. At the same time the decay of the Netherlands, and their conquest by France (1795), seriously injured this rival of the German seaports. Hamburg and Bremen now engaged largely in the American and West Indian trade, and also gained nearly all the trade with south and west Germany,

and even the east of France. They even got hold of the Rhine trade and that with Switzerland, so that altogether they rose to considerable prosperity.

180. Depression after the Peace of 1815.—The peace of 1815, however, caused a great depression in Germany. England now came forward again more than ever as the greatest manufacturing nation of Europe, and English goods, accumulated during the war in our factories, almost flooded the markets of Europe. Moreover, Germany had not yet any of the English inventions in machinery; and the result was that, in face of English competition, her home industries suffered severely. The cotton, iron, and steel trades especially were much depressed. But, on the other hand, England was now more than ever the market for corn and wool, and thus the German exports of these commodities rose considerably. The growth of so much wool even restored the woollen manufactures.

This foreign competition was a serious blow to the German states, and they tried to stop it by protective enactments. These had the usual result. Prussia introduced a new Tariff Act in 1818, which seemed to help her manufacturers for a time, and so did other states; but as Austria, Russia, and France did the same, all the German states were soon in a worse condition than before.

181. Zollverein.-Under these circumstances they decided to try to mitigate tariffs among themselves, and in 1828 Bavaria, Würtemberg, and other states formed a customs league of their own, identical with the Prussian tariff. Soon afterwards Saxony, Hanover, Brunswick, Hesse, and other central states made another league. Other leagues were also formed. Finally in 1833 nearly all the principal states, such as Prussia, Saxony, and Bavaria, formed a much larger league or Zollverein, and by 1854 practically all the states were amalgamated into it. Only Austria, Holstein, Mecklenburg, and Lauenburg remained outside, together with the three Hansa towns, Hamburg, Lübeck, and Bremen. This Zollverein concluded treaties of commerce with England, France, Austria, and most other European countries, reducing the pro

tective tariffs. The economic and commercial results of this action were very beneficial to trade. Then in 1866 was formed the North German Confederation, which soon included practically every state in Germany, and settled all questions of tariff, coinage, banking, industry, and commerce, as well as telegraphic and postal arrangements. This confederation also established a council, parliament, and supreme court for commercial affairs, and lasted till 1871, when the German empire, as we now know it, was formed, and the parliament incorporated into the imperial Reichstag.

182. Revival of German Trade.—Returning now to the progress of trade, we notice since 1830 a great revival and development in the wool trade. The home production of raw wool became insufficient for the requirements, of the manufacturers; and now woollen goods form a very important item in the exports. The silk and cotton industries also made great progress after the introduction of machinery, and so did the linen trade after 1850. The iron and steel trades and coal mining rose greatly, for the same reasons that they rose in England, as being absolutely necessary to the factory and machine system of industry. Glass, paper, pottery, porcelain, and hardware also have become important manufactures, and in particular the manufacture of chemicals, dyes, beer, and sugar, all of which are largely exported. The increased home production led naturally to increased imports, and German trade is now in a most flourishing condition.

183. Special Features of German Trade. Since the great war with France, and the foundation of the German empire in 1871, its foreign commerce has shown certain noticeable developments. There has been a steady increase in the value of silk manufactures exported, and consequently in the import of the raw material. A remarkable rise is seen in the export of beet-sugar, to which much scientific attention has been given. The rise of the silk industry has been at the expense of France, by the manufacture of a cheaper kind of silk than the French fabric. The growth of the sugar export is the result of bounties