it sold out its right to levy toll on the payment of a lump sum by the countries interested in free navigation. =412. Customs tariffs; the prohibitive system.=—The most important topic which remains to be considered in this chapter is that of commercial policy as shown in the customs tariffs. The details of tariff policy must be left to later chapters, in which the different states will be considered separately; place can be found here only for a brief review of the general course of development, and for a consideration of some of the factors which explain the great changes. Only a few years before the outbreak of the French Revolution France and England had agreed to a commercial treaty, which marked a great departure from the restrictive principles of the old mercantilist policy, and seemed to promise a new era of freedom in trade. The outbreak of war destroyed the new system almost as soon as it had been carried into effect, and changed the relations between the two states into that attitude of fierce antagonism which has been described above. The return of peace found the tariff systems of both France and England set in the old lines. The tariffs included a vast number of duties, both on imports and on exports; the rates were high and often prohibitive; the protection of national shipping by navigation acts was maintained. Similar characteristics marked the tariffs of other European states, and this period may fitly be termed the era of prohibition in recent commercial policy. =413. The period of free trade, 1860-1880.=—The prohibitive system held its ground, however, only by force of custom and by the active support of small groups whom it favored. The writings of French and English economists, of whom Adam Smith was the great representative, had convinced thinking men that the people and countries of Europe would benefit by greater freedom of trade, and governments waited only for favorable conditions, political and economic, to lower their customs duties. The movement toward reform was at first local, finding place especially in England and Germany. Soon after the middle of the century, however, it became general in Europe, and led to such sweeping changes that the period extending, roughly, from 1860 to 1880 has often been called the free-trade period in commercial history. This was the time when the technical inventions, especially the application of steam on a large scale to manufactures and transportation, were first showing their full power in increasing productiveness. At this time a state which secluded itself commercially seemed to be renouncing the chance to share in the great movement of progress. Industrial states sought markets for their manufactures and sources of supply for their food and raw materials. Agricultural states found the offers for their surplus products too tempting to be refused. So many profitable openings appeared everywhere that there was little dread of competition and little call for protection.