The Sun.
London, England, 1845-10-06 00:00:00

INFLUENCE OF INDUSTRY AND
COMMERCE UPON CIVILISATION.
(From the French of C. Dupin.)
Commerce can not exist in any country without in-
dustry ; therefore it follows that the fruits of industry
must find consumers. But production alone will not con-
fine industry. Its empire is more extensive, and c•m-
merce may be considered only as one of the branches by
which it exchanges its products against a representative
value.

If we look for a definition of the word industry, we
find that this mother of riches is the instinct which leads
us to invent objects, or new processes necessary to arts
and trades, in order that we may obtain in ex-
change the products of foreign countries, or by culture
of the earth, produce greater abundance. Sueh.
is industry as we can understand it. This rotation of
the creation of exchange existed in the most,
remote ages. It owes its birth to the first na-
tural wants of man ; who worked to obtain the means
of satisfying his wants as we find Abel and Cain did
with their flocks and harvests. The exchanges at that
period were natural or in kind, but they were subse-
quently operated upon by a value which men placed upon
the precious metals, gold and silver, and also copper.
From the moment when these metals represented other
products, a commencement of civilisation was observed.
By this civilisation society was naturally divided into
two classes. The poor having little, and the rich having
much. It followed that the industry of both classes
procured necessaries and superfluities. The establish-
ment of the most industrious upon one geographical
point gave rise to the most remarkable states. Asia,
that mother of great empires and luxury, was not in-
debted fur her riches to the pride and conquests of
kings, but to commerce, of which she was the first
theatre. Tyr, or Tyrus the superb, was the fruit of the
commercial industry of the Phoenicians. Carthage had
tne same origin ; in short, Greece, after having been
invaded by the Persians, had no ground to fear her
masters, in consequence of the power she could obtain
at all times by her industry. Without wishing to enu-
merate all the nations which existed before, or rose ,
after the wars of Alexander, we may merely glance at
Marseilles. That colony of merchants carried to Rome
the industry and civilization of Greece, with the riches
of the Gauls and Spain. If, as we must all see, the
birth of several great empires upon geological points,
emanated from industry, their civilisation was moreover
the result of the same influence. England, turbulent
and cruel before the discovery of the East Indies, has
since become rich, wise, and the mistress of the sea.
Commerce and industry have made her one of the great
empires to which we have alluded. Industry, in these
facts, will present to us one of the motives of the
human mind, which can apply its force to labour and
the sciences. Moreover, its genius surmounts all diffi-
culties—its living image is seen in the nee, euning
from all the flowers the pollen which it requires.
But in this march of power industry is often led by
chance or necessity ; yet, whatever be the cause which
gives birth to the movement, it invariably brings opu-
lence to a country and advancement to civilisation. We
may add, that its power acts not only upon the first de-
velopment of this civilisation, but that it can change the
mural of a whole nation. For example, the stupid be-
come ingenious, the idle active, and the warrior pacific.
France, warlike under Napoleon, is become a new na-
tion. Military, and brilliant in glory, she has changed
her laurels, equally disastrous for the conqueror and
conquered, against the olive crowns, less dazzling, with-
out doubt, but far more precious for the people.
Without offering many examples of this change of
moral of the people, produced by the influence of
industry, we may look at Russia. That horde of
Sclavonians (slaves), allied to other hordes of Scan-
dinavians, began by degrees to receive laws
under Ivan IV. Their political education was
so dark, that in the reign of Peter the Great they
might be considered half savage, when compared with
neighbouring nations. That illustrious Monarch enter-
tained the noble design of civilising them. In short, to
accomplish that object, he felt that he himself must learn
what others were ignorant of'. He quitted his Court ;
travelled into all countries ; visited all factories, and dis-
guised his person to gain admittance into dockyards.
,In
shipyards the greatest Sovereign of Europe. was at work
with the quare and the axe, receiving lessonsin the
lowest offices, and the companion of a crowd of workmen
whose knowledgehe envied and desired to possess. Fur-
ni,hed Hith instruction and useful observations, ho re
turned to his empire, united round him learned men and
artisans, whose advice he wished to follow, and whom he
was qualified to command. He ordered his people to be
instructed, and, to promote civilisation, laid the founda-
tion of a new city ; hut death took him away at the
moment when industry flourished at St. Petersburgh,
giving to that city the eclat which it possesses at the pre-
sent day.
Quitting old Europe, we shall still sec civilisation keep
i
ngpece with industry. The United States of America,
taking advantage of the lights held out by experience,
had no sooner conquered and obtained their liberty under
the standard of Washington, than they applied them-
selves to active industry, which has for years been the
rival of that of England. The last picture we offer is
a stronger prcof of this influence of commerce and
industry. Egypt, formerly so brilliant, and so bar-
barous at the present day; and Greece, the country
of the fine arts in ancient times, and latterly that of
servitude, are indebted for the change to the loss of
industry, which fled when oppression subdued the spirit
of the people. Since, however, Mehemet Ali has begun
to despise the brutal system of his predecessors and
in some measure thrown off. the yoke of the Ottoman
Government, Egypt may revive, and prove to its gover-
nors the real source of the riches of nations. With re-
spect to the inhabitants of Attica, and the Peloponnessus,
devoted not long since by the ignorance of the Ottoman
Porte to the most ignoble servitude, they have only had
recourse to commerce since the commencement of the
present century. By degrees this commerce may pro-
since riches. The Greeks, under the new state of their
country, can now procure better education for their chil-
dren. Man well instructed and industrious cannot avoid
feeling a noble pride, which must awaken his courage.
Such is the power of industry on the morals of the
people, that it will always animate their spirit, however
it may be curbed or chained to the yoke of an unjust
oppressive power.