The record-union., 1896-12-13
TRADE And FREEDOM.
Together They Built Up the Worlds
Greatest Empire.
The Idea That Trade and Labor Are
Undignified Is Reproach to
Civilization.


have for ages continued to live vigor-
| ously, and which die hard and slowly.
Among them is that most pernicious
one that trade is undignified and labor
reproach No matter what moralists
| and philosophers have said as to the
| worth of work and the value of COM
merce, no matter what has been written
| by the poets or preached by the divines,
fashionable society shut its ears and It's
understanding to all, and decreed that
whatever their personal character or
| abilities, those who engaged in trade or
| labor should be excluded from it's cir
cles.
| This opprobrious distinction between
| idleness and usefulness to the prejudice
| of the latter, or between one kind of
usefulness and another, is not an indig-
enous sentiment, but was continental
and imported hither. 1t had its rise liz
an inflated military pride. Our practi-
cal forefathers honored trade, and by
it's encouragement prepared the way for
| Englands greatness. And they re-
garded all classes of idlers, whether
aristocrats or sturdy vagabonds," with
keen severity Indeed, no one can
read Blackstone's commentaries ON the
laws of England without coming to the
conclusion that not our wealth, popula-
| ton and power alone, but our liberties
also, had their origin in trade. Trade
and freedom marched hand i'm hand,
acted and reacted upon each other, and
built UP the worlds greatest empire.
The wisest monarchs Of England, in
cluding Alfred and Elizabeth, have pro-
NOTED the extension of trade by their
example as we'll as by their laws. Eliza
beth had share in many specuiations.
| During the Stuart and Tudor periods,
merchants We're honored guests at
court If we except the purely feudal
period, it was not until the commence
/ ment of the present dynasty that the
narrow ideas Of social dignity which
have SO long prevailed in Germany
We're introduced here. Since that time,
and for the first time in our history. the
great Princes of England, from Barons
to Dukes, have been compelled to give
precedence to every petty German
Prince who finds his way to this coun-
try, and our merchant princes have
| been held as Of small social Importance
unless they could compel the royal
smiles through their political influence
Fortunately this system, which has
| lasted nearly two centuries, is giving
way through it's internal falsity. Num-
bers Of noble and even of ducal houses
are re-embarking in commercial ven
lures. Earls are voluntarily becoming
cab proprietors, wine merchants, dairy
men and cattle-breeders. Dukes are
| company directors and titled ladies run
bonnet shops and dress Adjustments.
We have not heard that any of them
have been excluded from ''the h'upper
sukkles'' in consequence. It would seem,
therefore, that sound common sense is
likely to prevail, and that eventually
every useful career will be deemed
honorable In any rank of society. Fash
ion has taken slight turn, and we
| must not be surprised If we see a Count
ess directing a steam laundry, or Wis
| count master Of a merchant ship.
It was the same abroad. The illlstri
Gus De Medicis, father and son, We're
merchants and Presidents Of the Floren-
tine republic, equal in greatness and
rower to any Of the kings Of their time.
The Doges and State Councillors Of
Venice, whose faded splendors are The
| marvel of Europe, were merchants and
controlled the trade Of the East.
How pa1try and pitfable have been the
methods by which class has intrenched
| itself from contact with class. each
feeling that it must draw line in its
| own favor, and making every town and
village in the Kingdom a hotbed Of jeal-
| ousies and hatreds. Moneyless proprie-
tors Of land disdained the 1andless pro-
prietors of money. The man who
could let his farms on hire scorned the
| man who made them fruitful.
Wholesale" would have nothing to
say to retail" Small gentry cooked
| their noses at the apothecary, but ad-
mitted physician. Clergymen of the
Established Church refused to shake
hands with dissenting ministers. When
| a merchant or manufacturer bought an
estate and settled in the country, he
was a nouveau richie among the landed
proprietors, not worth calling upon,
and the new-made noble was a parve-
nu to his titled brethren. The royal
source of honor was not sufficient
| guarantee. Generations of idleness and
| uselessness, usually accompanied by de-
| bauchery and extravaganza, can, how
ever, convert a parvenu family into
| truly noble one!
Yet we are proud to know that
large number of England's most hon.
ored families is derived from the hum
BILE ranks Of industry, and from the
| trading classes. The ancestors of Lord
Foley and of the Earl Of Dudley were
poor Staffordshire nailmakers: those of
Lord Leigh, the Earl of Northbrook,
Earl F'itzwilliam, and the Duke of
Leeds were city merchants. to say moth
ing of many others. Sir J. Bernard
Burke, in his "Vicissftudes of Families"
says: The present House of Lords can
not claim among It's members a single
| male descendant of any one Of the
Barons who were chosen to enforce
Magma Charta, or of any one Of the
| peers who are known to have fought at
Agincourt"
Not one-fourteenth of the peeraees
that had been created up to 1875 exist
to-day, notwithstanding the peerage Of
England Is, as Disraeli said. .sthe fin
est in Europe" No greater tribute Of
praise was ever paid to 1t than by
Rousseau-revolutiona and democrat
that he was-where he says In .Nou-
velle Heloise'': eff you know the Eng
iiSAA iFopilICy, you iAuSL UG aware Cnat IL
| is the most enlightened, the best taught.
| the wisest and the bravest In Europe
| This being so, 1t is unnecessary to in
quire If 1t be the most ancient, for, in
| speaking Of what 1t is, no question
arises OF what 1t has been. The peers
of England are certainly not the slaves
Of the prince, but his friends; not the
tyrants Of the people, but its chiefs;
4 a.