=229. Benefits of the English political constitution.=—Finally, in summing up the advantages which the English of this period enjoyed, we must put as perhaps the chief and certainly a very important one, their political development. They were not only spared from the necessity of using their resources to repel a foreign invasion, they had attained to national unity among themselves; and they had a government which, however crude it may seem now, was much more closely in touch with the people than that of most states, and which proved capable of further development at comparatively slight expense, measured in men and money. The student who, in estimating the commercial assets of England during this period, left out of account the English constitution would go wide of the mark. Spanish inquisition and expulsions, Dutch corruption, French oppression and revolution, German or Italian disunion—to be free from these was worth great wealth. =230. Development of the English into an active commercial people about the fifteenth century.=—The English historian, Seeley, combats the idea that it is “in the blood” of Englishmen, that it is “the genius of the race” to be a maritime and colonizing people. During the Middle Ages, in fact, the English were not great navigators, in spite of the facilities offered by the excellent harbors and the rivers penetrating far inland; English commerce was carried on largely by foreigners, as has been said in a previous section. The advance of the English from passive to active commerce came at the close of the Middle Ages, in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. In 1400 English merchandise was mostly borne in foreign ships; in 1500, it is said, English vessels carried more than half of all the cloth exported, and about three fourths of all the other wares. =231. Agencies helping to extend English commerce.=—Among the influences aiding the development of English commerce in this period we must put the skilful diplomacy of the sovereigns of the Tudor line, which secured important privileges for English merchants in other countries, and the energy of the fellowship of Merchants Adventurers, which made the most of these privileges. The Merchants Adventurers differed from the Merchants Staplers (see section 126), in three important points, each of which marks an advance: they were all native Englishmen instead of foreigners; they exported manufactured goods, chiefly cloth, instead of raw materials; they were not bound to a fixed staple but “adventured” to different places. Though the association was not nearly so close as that of later stock companies, it was strong enough to protect the interests of English commerce against abuses by individual merchants and attacks by foreigners; and was especially helpful in pushing English trade along the coast of the North Sea (Flanders, Netherlands, Germany).