The Nature of International Commercial Laws on Superphysics

General laws on Commerce; Africa

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Commerce is subject to great revolutions. Yet its nature may be forever fixed by physical causes such as:

the quality of the soil or
the climate

We currently trade with India merely through the silver which we send. The Romans annually had a trade volume with India of about 50,000,000 sesterces in exchange for Indian merchandise

The wants of the People in the South are different from those of the North

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

In Europe, there is a kind of balance between the southern and northern nations.

Southern nations have every convenience of life, and few of its wants. Nature has given them much, and demands but little.

The Principal Difference between the Commerce of the Ancients and the Moderns

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Commerce has changed through time.

European trade is currently carried on principally from the north to the south.

The difference of climate is the cause that the several nations have great occasion for the merchandizes of each other. For example, the liquors of the south, which are carried to the north, form a commerce little known to the ancients. Thus the burden of vessels, which was formerly computed by measures of corn, is at present determined by tons of liquor.

The Commerce of the Ancients

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Semiramis had immense treasures which could not be acquired in a day. It means that the Assyrians had pillaged other rich nations, as other nations afterwards pillaged them.

The effect of commerce is riches.
The effect of riches is luxury
The effect of luxury is the perfection of arts

The arts were carried to great perfection in Semiramis’ time. This shows that a considerable commerce was then established.

The Commerce of the Greeks

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THE first Greeks were all pirates.

Minos was a pirate who enjoyed the empire of his own isle. But when the Greeks became a great people, the Athenians obtained the real dominion of the sea; because this trading and victorious nation gave laws to the most potent monarch of that time; and humbled the maritime powers of Syria, of the isle of Cyprus, and Phœnicia.

Alexander's Conquest

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FOUR great events happened in the reign of Alexander, which entirely changed the face of commerce:

The taking of Tyre
The conquest of Egypt
The conquest of India
The discovery of the Indian Ocean

The empire of Persia extended to the Indus. Darius, long before Alexander, had sent some vessels down this river and passed even into the Red sea.

The Commerce of the Greek Kings after the Death of Alexander

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When Alexander conquered Egypt, they only had an imperfect idea of the Red sea and none of the Indian ocean. They thought it impossible to sail around the Arabian peninsula.

The Circuit of Africa

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Before the discovery of the compass, four attempts were made to sail round the coast of Africa.

Necho and Eudoxus of the Phoenicians fled the wrath of Ptolomy Lathyrus

They set out from the Red sea, and succeeded

Sataspes was sent by Xerxes from Gibraltar and failed

Carthage and Marseilles

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THE law of nations which obtained at Carthage, was very extraordinary. All strangers, who traded to Sardinia and towards Hercules’s pillars, this haughty republic sentenced to be drowned.

Her civil polity was equally surprizing. She forbid the Sardinians to cultivate their lands, upon pain of death.

The Isle of Delos and Mithridates

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UPON the destruction of Corinth by the Romans, the merchants retired to Delos island, which was a place of safety. It was extremely well situated for the commerce of Italy and Asia, which, since the reduction of Africa, and the weakening of Greece, was grown more important.

The Commerce of the Romans with the Barbarians

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THE Romans erected a vast empire in Europe, Asia, and Africa.

The weakness of the people and the tyranny of their laws united this immense body. The Roman policy was then to avoid all communication with those nations whom they had not subdued. The fear of carrying to them the art of conquering, made them neglect the art of enriching themselves.

Commerce after the Destruction of the Western Empire

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Commerce was destroyed after the fall of the Roman empire. The barbarous nations at first saw it only as an opportunity for robbery. When they had subdued the Romans, they honoured it no more than agriculture, and the other professions of a conquered people.

How Europe was Affected by the Discovery of Two New Worlds

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The compass opened the universe.

Asia and Africa were found, of which only some borders were known; and America, of which we knew nothing.

The Portuguese discovered the southernmost point of Africa. They saw a vast sea, which carried them to India.

How Commerce broke through Europe's Barbarism

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Aristotle’s philosophy was carried to the west. It pleased the subtile geniuses, who were the virtuosi of those times of ignorance.

The theologians condemned the Jewish notions of lending at interest absolutely and in all cases. Hence commerce, which was the profession only of mean persons, became that of knaves, because whenever a thing is forbidden, which nature permits or necessity requires, those who do it are looked upon as dishonest.

The Riches which Spain drew from America

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Spain has derived so many advantages from the American trade.

She drew from the Americas so much gold and silver that we had before. But no one expected that Spain would have misfortunes.