History of the Science.—The great nations of antiquity, the Greeks and Romans, had no notiou of what we understand by political economy. They sought to increase their wealth chiefly by war, by conquering and plundering weaker nations, and appropriating to their own use part of the produce of their industry. They considered handicraft and trade as degrading to a citizen, and left those pursuits to be exercised by slaves or freedmen. The Romans, in the earlier ages of the republic, held agriculture in more esteem ; but after they had extended their conquests beyond the limits of Latium, the business of agriculture also was mainly conducted by slaves. The consequences of this system are well known ; agriculture declined, and the people of Rome were obliged to be fed by corn from the provinces. It is evident that in such a state of society there will be no room for the consideration of some of the most important questions of political economy, which are based upon the principles of free labour and com petition. It appears that the Romans considered gold not as the representative of wealth, but as wealth itself, for we find that the senate forbade its exportation. (Cicero, Pro Flacco; 28.) After the fall of the Roman empire, the free towns that rose in the middle ages, Pisa, Venice, Florence, Genoa, and the Hanseatic towns, were essentially commercial, and with them the "mercantile " system, as it is called, may be said to have originated, at least in practice ; for it was not expounded and reduced to rules until centuries after. This system consisted in looking to foreign trade as the source of wealth, selling dear 'and buying cheap, and thereby realising, by the exchange, a surplus in bullion, which surplus was employed in increasing the quantity of produce to be sold. Shipping, foreign marts, colonies or factories abroad, were the means employed for these objects. But as each mercantile nation sought a monopoly of trade, restrictions were resorted to in order to favour its own commerce and impede or depress that of others. This led to jealousies and wars, which ended with the ruin of one or the other of the contending parties. This system was narrow and exclusive : it considered only one state, and built the prosperity of that state on the depression of others. It was affected by the same error as the military system of conquerors, who wish to exalt and enrich one country by subjugating and plundering another, overlooking the fact that the prosperity of other countries is part of the general prosperity of the world, in which our own country must share. The principle that " the whole world as to trade is but as one 'nation or people, and therein nations are as persons" (Sir Dudley North's 'Discourses on Trade,' 1661), was not known as yet, and indeed it may be said to be acknowledged, even now, by comparatively few in any country.
Another mistake of the states of the middle ages was that of con sidering gold and silver as constituting the exclusive wealth of a country; their attention was fixed on money not as a means, but as the end of trade, and as the most beneficial surplus, which they endeavoured to retain in their coffers by enacting severe penalties against its exportation. Hence the earlier Italian writers on commerce treat exclusively of money, its standard, and the evils of tampering with it. Gaspard Scarufli, of Reggio near Modena, wrote, in 1570, Discorso copra le Moneta, a della very proporcione fr3 Pero e l'argento.'
In 1588 Bernardo Davanzati of Florence wrote a abort treatise, Sulle 3Ionete; and another Sui Cambj; or The Exchanges.' Antonio Serra, a native of Cosenza in Calabria, published, in 1613, Breve Trattato dello Cause the possono far abbondare i Regui d'Oro e d'Ar gento.' Looking upon gold and silver as constituting the wealth of a state, Serra investigates the means of making them flow abundantly into a country. Among these means be reckons manufactures, "which afford a much greater return than agriculture ; " and maritime com merce. But " these means," adds Serra, " are of no avail without fixed laws, order, and security for persona and property, for there can be no prosperity where there are continual changes of dynasties and laws." This shows that Serra, considering tho age and country in which he lived, had formed some correct and extended notions of political economy. His book however remained unnoticed, and the author, being implicated, as it seems, in some conspiracy against the Spanish rulers of Naples, was imprisoned for ten years, and underwent the torture seven times. It is not known when and where he died. Turbolo of Naples wrote several treatises on the coinage and the state of money in the kingdom of Naples ; 'Discorsi c Relazione sulle 3Ioncte del Regno di Napoli,' 1616, 1618, 1623, and 1629. Geminiano Montanari of Modena published, in 1680, ' Trattato Mercantile delle Dlonete; and afterwards,' Trattato del Valore delle Moneto in tutti gli Stati; in which he lays down sound principles for regulating the coinage.
The first writers on the subject of commerce at large appeared in England. Raleigh wrote, in 1595, his Essay on Trade ; ' Edward 31iseeldee wrote his Circle of Trade,' in 1623, and Louis Roberta his ' Treasure of Traffic; in 1641. Thomas Mun wrote, in 1621, his Defence of the East India Trade,' in which he exploded the notion that money exclusively constituted wealth. He compared the expor tation of gold and silver wherewith to buy goods for importation, with the seed which the husbandman throws into the earth that he may reap a plentiful harvest ; and in his Treasure of Foreign Trade,' published in 1664, Mun advocates the same principle. But Sir William Petty went further than any of his predecessors or con temporaries in asserting enlarged views of political economy. In his treatise Ou Taxes and Contributions,' published in 1667, he was the first to state, though in an incidental manner, that "it was the labour required for the production of commodities which determined their value." He also wrote his Quantulumeunque; a treatise oh money, in which he condemned the laws regulating the rate of interest, and combated the notion that a country may be drained of cash by an unfavourable balance of trade. [PETTY, SIR WILLIAM, in BIOG. Div.] In France, the minister Colbert, a •contemporary of Sir William Petty, was a great promoter of the mercantile system in all its exclu siveness [COLBERT in Brea. Drv.], and the principles of that system continued to prevail in France after his death till the time of .Quesnay. Pierre le Pesant, Seigneur de Bois Guibert, published, in 1695, his D4tail sur la France,' in which he treated both of commerce and money, but the author was banished some of his propositions reflected upon feudal rights and ecclesiastical privileges. Twelve years later Vauban published his Dixtne Royale,' in which he proposed a new plan of taxation.