ABSTRACT
Mercantilism never existed in the sense that Colbert or Cromwell existed. It is only an instrumental concept which, if aptly chosen, should enable us to understand a particular historical period more clearly than we otherwise might. Thus everybody must be free to give the term mercantilism the meaning and more particularly the scope that best harmonize with the special tasks he assigns himself. T o this degree there can be no question of the right or wrong use of the word, but only of its greater or less appropriateness. It is certainly of little use to give the expression a significance deviating widely from that which it has come to receive in the course of time. This criticism partly applies to the way in which the term has been employed in historical works during the last fifty years. Without in any way desiring to abandon the positions gained in the advance that recent research has undoubtedly made, the following exposition constitutes a return to the original meaning of the word-not in place of, but in addition to, the meaning that recent historians have wanted to give it.
