ABSTRACT
Precisely the contrary, however, of that which was expected took place. Great Britain had been enabled to hold her own during the long war of twenty-two years, had subsidised hal£ Europe against the French, and had supported a weight of taxation previously unknown, because during these twenty-two years the great machine industry and the extension o£ commerce poured into the pockets of her trading and land-owning classes untold wealth. Napoleon's policy of excluding English goods from Europe had forced ow· manufacturers and merchants to seek outlets for their cot ton, iron, wool, and other manufactures farther afield. They found their new markets, thanks to the complete supremacy of England at sea, iu India, North and South America, the West India
cheapness of English goods became the marvel of the universe, and tho machine-llUlde stufts of Lancashire and Yorkshire gave an impulse to English commerce scarcely equalled even during the period of raHway construction and the gold discover·ies. Hargreaves a111l Jennings, and A.rk wrigM and Watt, the first fruits of machinery, and the eal'ly application of steam, piled up riches for England; and military and naval victories were made possible by extraordina1·y commercial success.
