ABSTRACT
BRITAIN'S fortunes in the international field were almost asmuch a financial as a commercial matter. The large andgrowing income earned abroad by investments and financial services and the essential part that these had in assisting the momentum of merchandise trade bear witness to that. It is inconceivable that the vast ramifications of British economic relations with the rest of the world in the late nineteenth century could have developed unless a highly sophisticated financial system had already come into existence; and, since they did develop with such impressive effect, it was to be expected that the financial system itself would become more closely linked with international influences. In many ways the dominant features of financial history in the late nineteenth century were extensions and refinements of developments inaugurated earlier. They may be summed up as a movement towards greater size, stability and cohesion in the financial system as a whole, and a heavier impact of external dealings on its business and on the determination of the policies which guided it.
