Although one of the Great Powers of Europe, France has never, since the sale of Louisiana, possessed extensive colonies. Her West Indian possessions and the settlements in Asia were too small to affect either her commerce or revenue. Algiers was acquired in 1830, but never proved remunerative to France. Several small holdings on the west coast of Africa yield valuable products in ivory, gold, oil and cotton, and recently France has acquired a footing in Indo-China from which she derives silk and rice. Colbert's East India Company planted four small settlements in Madagascar, and that island may prove a profitable holding in the future. During the past quarter of a century, as compared with Germany and England, France has been losing ground as one of the great nations, and has failed to make the progress which her natural advantages of soil and climate should enable her to make. The upper classes are excessively fond of dress, pleasure and military glory, and, as a result, the energies of the nation have not been well directed. The national debt is the greatest, per capita, of any nation, being seventeen and one-half times as great as that of Germany, six times that of the United States and one and one-half times that of Great Britain. The bulwark of France is in the stability of her peasantry. These surpass in industry, thrift and frugality all other peoples of Europe, and if France were well governed, its prosperity would equal if not surpass its neighboring nations. Rural France is divided up into 3,500,-000 small farms, a large majority of which are cultivated by the owners, thus giving a self interest and stability to the population and to agriculture of the greatest value to the nation. Having ready markets near at hand in Paris and other large cities, a considerable portion of these farms are devoted to raising small but profitable crops, such as potatoes, fruit, poultry and the like. In 1882 the vineyards of France were ravaged by an insect, entailing a total or partial loss of over 4,000,000 acres, valued at $1,000,000,000. The pests were finally exterminated, but the wine industry was prostrated, and since that time a large portion of the wine used in domestic consumption has been annually imported.

In 1900 the French gave another great Exposition in Paris, to exhibit at the close of the century the progress of the world in the arts and sciences. Within the palaces of that exposition were gathered the best products of the hand and brain of man from all parts of the world. It was apparent that France was abreast of the great nations in processes of manufacture, and that in articles of luxury, such as silk, glass, porcelain, jewelry, furniture and brandy, she surpassed all other nations in the artistic character of her wares.                                       

Before The Norman Conquest; English Wool; Elizabeth's Policy; Carrying Trade.

While the Mediterranean was dotted with the commerce of the Phoenicians and Carthaginians, the British Isles were in a semi-barbarous state, the inhabitants living in huts and possessing the rudest implements to supply the bare necessaries of life. The ancient commercial history of these islands gave no indication of the greatness which the empire of Britain was destined to achieve in the domain of commerce and manufacture in modern times. Separated from the mainland of Europe and the highways of Mediterranean civilization, the Britons remained passive, and waited at home for traders, chiefly the Phoenicians and Carthaginians, who visited their coasts, supplying them with trinkets in exchange for tin and lead ore found in abundance lying near the surface. Little progress was made in the scale of civilization until after the Roman conquest. The wealth of coal and iron stored up in these islands was unknown. Herds of wild cattle and other animals roamed through the dense forests which at that time covered most of the area. Little attention was paid to agriculture and the natives lived chiefly upon fruits and the products of hunting. The invasion of the Romans infused new life and intelligence into the people, and gave an impetus to their civilization. Thereafter hides, wool and furs are named as among their exports. English wool came to be so esteemed that merchants dealing in it were exempted from the peril of capture in war. Eventually wheat and cheese began to be regular articles of export.