Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 6.djvu/235

Capital, in its monetary form of transfer, is as much a commodity as the more usual articles of trade; and when a country lends large sums to another country, the same effects are produced on the rates of exchange for the time being, and more protractedly on the general course of import and export, as would be produced by an equivalent amount of goods exported by the borrowing country. The imports of the borrower, during the period of expenditure of the loans, will increase; and the exports, though they may not diminish, will lose in some measure their previous proportion to the imports. These are consequences worthy of observation in the general conduct of mercantile business, but they also go farther. The free lending of money from country to country, with its incidents of higher rates of interest, and a certain degree of speculative adventure, is legitimate. By this means the richer parts of the world help to develop the poorer, as well as to increase their own prosperity; and when the debts thus contracted become valid and transferable securities, they are an important element in equalizing exchange where temporarily disturbed. But the extreme looseness with which this branch of commerce is conducted almost exceeds belief. The proceedings of the recent Committee on Foreign Loans have thrown some light on the subject. As long as bankers and financiers of repute put loans on the market without care as to their objects or security, or an exercise of the least mercantile judgment as to the probable effect of the loans on the value of requisite materials, and with the view simply of making some large immediate profit to themselves, and dropping the whole charge and risks, often by deceptive means, into the hands of a helpless public of investors, the most deplorable consequences must ensue. It is scarcely an exaggeration to say that in the years 1869–72 the foreign railway and other undertakings thus launched were such as there were not materials in the markets of the whole world to carry through, without an enhancement of values that should not only render the undertakings themselves hopeless, but seriously cripple much well-established trade. In the more solid class of foreign loans, bearing the security of not unprosperous states, it has frequently happened that nearly the whole revenue of the state was derived from customs duties. While the borrowing proceeded, the imports of the state increased, and the revenue flourished, giving a guarantee to the creditors. When the loan had been expended, and the return interest and redemptions had to be paid, the imports suddenly declined, and the revenue security on which the money had been lent disappeared, throwing the states themselves into much commercial embarrassment, in some cases into political convulsions. This subject cannot here be further pursued, but its bearings on trade are sufficiently apparent.

It may be said, in conclusion, that commerce has acquired a security and extension, in all its most essential conditions, of which it was void in any previous age. It can hardly ever again exhibit that wandering course from route to route, and from one solitary centre to another, which is so characteristic of its ancient history, because it is established in every quarter of the globe, and all the seas and ways are open to it on terms fair and equal to every nation. Wherever there is population, industry, resource, art, and skill, there will be international trade. Commerce will have many centres, and one may relatively rise or relatively fall; but such decay and ruin as have smitten many once proud seats of wealth into dust cannot again occur without such cataclysms of war, violence, and disorder as the growing civilization and reason of mankind, and the power of law, right, and common interest forbid us to anticipate. But, with all these advantages, it must not be supposed that the future course of trade is free of difficulty. The very magnitude of commerce now suggests what serious work devolves on all who are engaged in it. If in the older times it was thought that a foreign merchant required to be not only a good man of business, but even a statesman, it is evident that all the higher faculties of the mercantile profession must still more be called into request when imports and exports are reckoned by hundreds instead of fives or tens of millions, when the markets are so much larger and more numerous, the competition so much more keen and varied, the problems to be solved in every course of transaction so much more complex, the whole range of affairs to be overseen so immensely widened. It is not a company of merchants, having a monopoly, and doing whatever they please, whether right or wrong, that now hold the commerce of the world in their hands, but large communities of free merchants in all parts of the world, affiliated to manufacturers and producers equally free, each under strong temptation to do what may be wrong in the pursuit of his own interest, and the only security of doing right being to follow steady lights of information and economic science common to all. The triumphs of commerce and its auxiliaries have been exhibited in the present article. Easy transport of goods by land and sea, prompt intelligence from every point of the compass, general prevalence of mercantile law and safety, have all been accomplished; and the world is opened to trade. But intellectual grasp of principles and details, and the moral integrity which is the root of all commercial success, have to be severely tested in this vaster sphere.

(r. so.)

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COMMERCY, a town of France in the department of Meuse, at the head of an arrondissement, on the left bank of the Meuse, twenty miles east of Bar-le Due. It possesses n castle built in 1708 and now used as cavalry barracks, a Benedictine convent occupied by the prefecture, a hospital rebuilt in the 18th century, and a cloth-market. Its public walks are very fine, and lead out in various directions to pleasant suburban villages. The industrial establish ments include foundries, lime-kilns, and a cotton factory ; and the trade runs mainly on cattle, grain, wood, and basket-work. Population, 4191.

Commercy dates "back to the 9th century, and at that time its lords were dependent on the bishop of Metz. In 1544 it was besieged by Charles V. in person. For some time the lordship was in the hands of Cardinal de Retz, who lived in the town for a number of years, and there composed his memoirs. From him it was purchased by Charles IV., duke of Lorraine, who bestowed it on his daughter Anne on her marriage with the prince of Ile-Boune. In the beginning of the 18th century it formed a principality under the prince of Vaudemont, and in-1744 it became the residence ot Stanislas, king of Poland, who spent a great deal of care on the embellishment of the town and neighbourhood. A description of his improvements is given in the Journal dcs Savants for 1752.

COMMODUS, Lucius Aurelius (161-192), emperor of

Rome from 180 to 192, was born at Lanuvium in 161, and was the son of the philosopher-emperor M. Aurelius, and of the younger Faustina. His teachers were carefully selected; but all the pains bestowed on his education did not prevent him from choosing the society and the pursuits of profligate favourites and common gladiators. Blind to his faults, however, his father gave him the title of emperor when not more than fifteen years of age; and at sixteen he shared the imperial power in every department except the chief pontificate. On the death of Aurelius, whom he had accompanied in the war against the Germans, Commodus hastily concluded peace, and hurried back to

the pleasures of the capital (180). From the first he gave