=141. Rise of a national commercial policy.=—The rise in power of the central government in countries like England and France is proved by the appearance, toward the close of the Middle Ages, of a national commercial policy. The reader will remember that even in these countries the towns were at first so independent that each adopted a commercial policy of its own; as though, nowadays, for instance, Boston and New York and Philadelphia should each have its own independent tariff and set of commercial regulations. A merchant of Dover was a foreigner in Southampton, and if he wanted to collect a debt due him from a Southampton merchant he would appeal, not to the central government and the law of the land, but to the Dover government; and the Dover government would put pressure on the Southampton government, perhaps by arresting any merchant from Southampton and holding his goods, until the debt was paid. About 1300 the English king was at last strong enough to make general regulations in matters like this of the collection of debts, and about the same time he established a national tariff at the ports, as a regular system, and forced the various towns to give up the right to levy what dues they pleased. A similar change took place in France at nearly the same time; the idea grew strong that the general interest of all Frenchmen was superior to the particular interests of any town or individual, and the people of France began to look to the king instead of to the local authorities for protection and control. =142. Medieval ideas on commerce.=—When commerce was undeveloped and only an incidental feature in the economic life of peoples, those high in authority in church and state held ideas of it which have faded away as commerce has proved its power and shown its benefits. Many kinds of commerce, including some forms of money-lending now considered legitimate, were prohibited because they seemed to give a man something for nothing. In ordinary trade one man was thought to make his profit at the expense of another, and government was always vigilant to protect the weaker party. A government, moreover, looked on foreign commerce rather as a privilege of its citizens than as their right, and used it freely as a political weapon instead of considering it an economic necessity. The ports of the kingdom were the “king’s gates,” which he could open or close at his pleasure, to further his royal policy. =143. Characteristic features of commercial policy.=—Among the characteristic features of national economic policy in the later centuries of the Middle Ages we find the following: (1) Export and import could be carried on only by favor of royal license, which was granted to and withdrawn from groups of natives and foreigners as suited the king’s ideas. (2) The export of necessaries was frequently prohibited (as had previously been the custom with the towns), to increase the supplies of the kingdom and keep an enemy from getting the good of them.