Untitled - 24grammata.com

374 PJSE OF THE CONTINENTALket, and that to which English wool was first carried, wasin the Netherlands, the manufacturers of which dependedfor their prosperity upon the trade and hence arose a con;nexion which existed not merely in the capriceof the sovereign or the minister, but in the real interests of the nation.Even in this period it had some political consequences for;when Henry VIII. declared war against Charles V. in 1527,the discontent of those engaged in this business,compelledthe kingto make a separate treatyfor the neutrality of theNetherlands. The sequel of this inquiry will show, that asso itthe connexion with this country was one of the oldest,has always remained one of the firmest links of the Britishcontinental interests. Besides the trade with the Netherlands, England found a market for her wool in the northeastern countries of Europe, in Prussia, Denmark, Sweden,and Norway, and even in Russia, This trade was for sometime carried on only by the vessels belonging to the Hanseaticleague ; which, as it is well known, had one of itscommercial establishments in London. But the Englishbegan to try all means in order to itbring into their ownhands, and thus differences arose; which, however, endedrather in piracy, and that of the most cruel kind, than informal wars. If the power of this league, however, had notbeen already so much on the decline, that Elizabeth wasenabled to depriveit of its commercial privileges in England,these circumstances might have had a much greater influenceupon the continental politicsof this country, than actuallywas the case.These are the ties which, under the first four Tudors, connected England with the continent of Europe. They wereall of the most delicate and frail nature ;and for the mostpart detrimental to England. But it was reserved for thelast monarch of this house to create a firmer and better connexion ;and in the history of the continental interests ofEngland, her reign undoubtedly constitutes a distinct andvery important period.SECOND PERIOD.PERIOD OF ELIZABETH, 1558-1603.In the whole history of the British continental intereststhere are, properly speaking, only two periods which form