Though from this point of view List’s Protectionism seems closely connected with the most modern of economic units, a still closer tie links him to the Mercantilism of old. Nor did he ever dissemble his love for the Mercantilists, especially for Colbert. He accused Smith and Say of having misunderstood them, and he declared that they themselves more justly deserved the title of Mercantilists because of their attempt to apply to whole nations a very simple conception which they had merely copied from a merchant’s note-book, namely, the advice to buy in the cheapest and sell in the dearest market. He distinguishes between two classes of Mercantilists according as they are influenced by one or other of two dominating ideas. On the one hand we have those who emphasise the importance of industrial education, which is the dominant note in List’s philosophy. This idea has quite taken the place of the older idea of a favourable balance of trade, and has been adopted by such a Liberal thinker as John Stuart Mill, whereas the other has been definitely rejected by the science. Furthermore, the Mercantilism of the seventeenth century was a special instrument employed in the interests of a permanent policy, which was exclusively national; while List’s Protection, according to his own opinion, was merely a means of leading nations towards the possibility of union on a footing of equality. It was a mere transitory system, a policy dictated by circumstances. List’s system cannot be regarded as the inspirer of modern Protection, any more than he himself can be regarded as a direct descendant of the old Mercantilists. Even in Germany, despite the great literary success of his work, its influence was practically _nil_, unless we credit it with the slight increase of taxation upon which the Zollverein decided in 1844, and couple with it the Protectionist campaign afterwards carried on by List in the columns of his newspaper.[598] But the Liberal reforms carried out by the English Parliament under the Premiership of Peel were during that very same year crowned by the abolition of the Corn Laws. This measure caused much consternation throughout Europe, and the confirmation which Cobden’s ideas thus received influenced public opinion a good deal and gave a Liberal trend to the commercial policy of Europe during the next few years. The _régime_ of commercial treaties inaugurated by Napoleon III was an outcome of this change of feeling. Towards the end of 1879 a vague kind of Protectionism made its appearance in Europe. Tariff walls were raised, but they never seemed to be high enough. One would like to know whether these new tariffs, established successfully by Germany and France, were in any way inspired by List’s ideas.