The house of Industry : a new estate of the realm

YOU CANNOT DODGE THE ECONOMIC ar

which ought to be performed with great skill and conscience, so that the private gain may ever accompany the publique good.”’

Historical generalisations are always dangerous —there are too many exceptions in the endless permutations of human life—but I venture on one: the prosperity of communities and nations depends on fellowship that governs conduct as well as regulates our business transactions. I do not, of course, mean conduct touching faith or morals, as they are generally understood, but the right conduct of business, particularly affecting probity and a trained understanding of equity. We may at least note that where there has been great prosperity these Fellowships have been powerful. And the need for fellowship has always been felt and acted upon. I think Ian Colvin, upon whose work this chapter is largely based, is right in surmising that the Carthaginians had a code if not a fellowship ; that the great Venetian Fellowships knew something of it; that undoubtedly the Hanseatic League was modelled upon the Italian; as undoubtedly the English Fellowship of Merchant Adventurers was largely modelled upon the Hanseatic. We see the same progression of ideas in the Venetian Navigation Law, succeeded by the German Law of “‘ Hanse goods on Hanse Ships,’’ followed in its turn by the British Navigation Acts. In the same connection we remember the medieval Guilds, which spread through Europe and flourished in Great Britain. Larger economic developments may ultimately

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