Colonial Tariff Policies

That nearly one-half of the world's area now consists of colonies is d:"; to a variety of economic and political forces. These forces have shown their influence neither continuously through modern history nor with equal effect upon different powers. Their influence was relatively ineffective during most of the nineteenth century and when the colonial movement began again about 1875 it excited but little interest on the part of the three powers which had been the first to enter the field of colonial enterprise, while powers which had previously been either nonexistent or indifferent to colonial expansion now joined in the race. The salient features of this modern colonial history may be seen to fall into three periods.

FIRST PERIOD.

The modern period of colonial expansion began in the latter half of the fifteenth century, when the Portuguese pushed their explorations down the coast of Africa and around the Cape of Good Hope to India, while Spanish expeditions crossed the Atlantic and found the continents of America blocking the westward route to the Spice Islands of the East. The Pope declared the unconquered portions of the world divided between Portugal and Spain. Before the period of its union with Spain (1580-1610) Portugal was the political equal and the commercial superior of England. During that period the Dutch, even while fighting to free themselves from Spain, ventured boldly and with striking success onto the high seas; and by 1630 they possessed one-half of the world's merchant marine. Seeking colonies as a means of trade, they took from the Portuguese most of the Spice Islands, including Ceylon. By the end of tlie century they had settlements in Guiana and the Cape of Good Hope.

Somewhat tarily in their entry, France and Great Britian profited by the pioneering of other nations and overcame the handicap of a late start by the vigor and effectiveness of their commercial and settlement activities. To them, in the second half of the seventeenth century, the Dutch lost much of the carrying trade.' The eighteenth century found France and Great Britian the leading colonial rivals. Between 1756 and 1815 Great Britian took from France, Canada, India, and various minor colonies, and from Holland practically all of her colonies (but the Spice Islands were later restored). In the same period Great Britian lost thirteen American colonies and France sold the Louisiana Territory, all that remained of her North American colonies. A little later Brazil declared its independence of Portugal, and virtually all 3 of South and of Central America esstablished its independence of Spain. This left Great Britain the foremost of colonial powers."

1 This was the consequence much more of the enforcement of French and English navigation acts than of the wars of the period.

Throughout this early period, colonial rivalry was dominated by the theories and practices of mercantilism and monopoly. Although there was some settlement colonization in America and at the Cape, the chief object of early colonial enterprise was the acquisition of treasure in the form of precious metals; and where these were not obtainable spices, silks, sugar, or slaves were taken for the purpose of securing money by exchange. The African and Asiatic * colonies” were mere trading stations, and even the English, onquests in India amounted simply to the occupation of areas tributary to and required for the strategic sa feguarding of the ports. With certain exceptions, chiefly at the beginning and at the end of the period, monopolies were the order of the day. If the state did not keep the trade in its own hands (as in the case of Portugal), it granted monopolies to chartered companies or, later, excluded from the trade all but its own nationals. The principle of monopoly applied to all phases of the colonial trade: To the colony as a market, to the colony as a source of raw materials or commercial luxuries, and to the carrying trade between colony and mother country. The monopoly was fortified not by differential tariffs, but by absolute prohibitions, sanctioned sometimes by even a death penalty, and it was relaxed only gradually, mainly by the conclusion of commercial treaties.

SECOND PERIOD. The six decades from the end of the Napoleonic Wars to about 1875 form a second period in colonial history. Then, as a consequence of various influences--such as the successful revolt of the Americas, the liberal and humanitarian concepts of the philosophy of the French Revolution, the doctrines of Adam Smith and his successors, the decrease in the relative importance of colonial trade, and the great expansion of markets for the manufactured products of Europe resulting from the industrial revolution--the colonial powers loosened, in different degrees and with unequal promptitude, their restrictions on colonial trade. At the same time and in some

? Except some relatively unimportant islands. ? Except the Guianas and British Honduras.

* At that time some of the British colonial acquisitions were commonly regarded as of slight value. At the end of the eighteenth century England would gladly have traded Canada for Guadeloupe and Martinique. Colonial trade was relatively more important then than now, but estimated by modern standards its total was insignificant. Of the 3,280 vessels which constituted the English merchant marine in 1701, it is estimated that the whole number could not have carried on long voyages as much merchandise in a year as can a single large modern steamship. Voyages to the East Indies frequently Occupied more than a year. It is estimated that in the early years of the reign of Charles II, the total exports of England averaged a little over £2,000,000 por annum, and that a century later it amounted to only £10,000,000. The heavy costs of transportation limited the trade to valuable commodities, such as spices, sugar, silks, and woolens, The various parts of Europe were practically self-sufficient, with the exception of a few seaports and the industrial centers, such as those of Holland, closely connected with them. The same was true of continental America and India. The West Indies, however, were devoted to sugar l'aising, of which they had practically a monopoly, and they imported a large proportion of what they consumed; their trade, both in exports and imports, was therefore inore important than was that of the larger colonies on the neighboring mainland. Inci. dentally it may be noted that as a rule the foreign trade of a small area or a small population is greater per capita than is that of a similar but larger unit, which has almost invariably more diversitied resources and a greater division of labor. (See Marshall, Alfred : Trade and Industry, especially pr. 25 and 38.)

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