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366 RISE OF THE CONTINENTALvernments. The experienceof modern times has thrownmuch light upon the connexion of political and mercantileinterests ;it has shown, that if they cannot be wholly separated, neither are they so closely related as they were held tobe in times when it was thought that the course which commerce should take, might be prescribed by mercantile treaties,or mercantile interdictions.Independently of these causes, there is yet another groundwhich renders it impossible for an insular power, which occupies a prominent place in a political system, to be indifferent to the proceedings of other states a ; ground which,in the eyesof a practical politician, is certainlyfar from unimportantthe maintenance of its station and dignity as amember of that system. In a political bodylike that ofmodern Europe, where such unwearied activity prevails,where so many energies are constantly at work, any seclusion from the common affairs, even when of no immediateimportance to it, would, to a powerful and leading state, bethe unavoidable commencement of its decline. In proportion as such a state contracts its sphere, that of its rival mustnecessarily expand; while the one loses, the other gains;and how desirable soever the maintenance of peace may be,the remark is hot without its value, that power increases onlythrough a struggle, and that a long peace purchased by suchpolitics as these, often proves a very dangerous blessing.The history of Europe has furnished many useful examplesin this respect but none more so than that of the;UnitedNetherlands. Its active interference in the of politics Europecost this statemany heavy sacrifices, and even reduced it tothe brink of destruction. After the peace of Utrecht,braced the opposite principle, and has maintained it asit emsteadily as it has been able. But from that period begandecline, and the internal causes of its fall worked thenceforth with a certainty proportionate to their undisturbed development. An absolute monarchy, which chiefly dependsupon the genius of the ruler, is much more calculated tooutlast a long period of peace ; although even here symptomsof decline are usually visible. But in a state with a republican constitution, whether combined with monarchy or not,other causes step in, which, under such circumstances, mustalmost necessarily prove detrimental. The times of peace