Excerpt from The Growth of English Industry and Commerce in Modern Times: The Mercantile System Since the second edition of this work was issued, I have had, as a college lecturer, repeated Opportunities of going over the ground it covers and I have come to see many of the matters dealt with, in truer proportion. I have given more attention to the economic affinities of different political personages and parties; I have noted more definitely the disastrous effects of the Civil War on the social and industrial organisation of the Realm; and I have been able to write more justly of the Restoration period, which so closely resembles our own. Earnest efforts were consciously made at that time to build up the world-wide commercial empire which Britain now holds. The medal represented on the title page, by the kind permission of the authorities of the British Museum, dates from the era when the factories of the great J oint-stock Companies were being planted in all parts of the world. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.