Principles of western civilisation

x THE MODERN WORLD-CONFLICT 379

social fabric of the ancient civilisations was reared. The development which begins gradually to succeed to this condition is very remarkable. With a comprehensive grasp of the facts of the historical process, Schmoller traces the steps by which this exclusive life of the towns throughout Europe becomes overlaid by the economic life of ever larger and larger communities ; these, however, continuing to preserve, for the time being, the same attitude of self-sufficiency against the world; while they had won freedom of economic movement within their own boundaries. The economic life of the town Schmoller sees expanding in this manner, first of all into that of the territory—a unit which had for its characteristic the association of town azd country, similarly organised for war with other territories ; then into that of the national State organised on a like principle ; then into that of the mercantile system organised by England in the eighteenth century on a similar basis, and now in process of imitation by modern Germany in many of its features.

If we look closely at this development for a moment, there are certain features of great interest in it which have to be noticed. In the first place, it was no automatic process unfolding itself without stress in history. Every step in it was resistedand not resisted mistakenly, as the theories of the Manchester school might have led us to supposeby the interests concerned. We see distinctly, for instance, how that it was not, as might at first sight be assumed, the immediate economic interest of the towns to become merged in the territories, or of the territories in turn to become merged in the national State. So clearly was this recognised at