he mysteries of finance
and acquired the confidence of the city. The great merchants of London
and the rising manufacturers in the country were rapidly growing in
wealth and influence. The monied-men represented the most active,
energetic, and growing part of the body politic. Their interests
determined the direction of the national policy. The great wars of the
century were undertaken in the interests of British trade. The extension
of the empire in India was carried on through a great commercial
company. The growth of commerce supported the sea-power which was the
main factor in the development of the empire. The new industrial
organisation which was arising was in later years to represent a class
distinctly opposed to the old aristocratic order. At present it was in a
comparatively subordinate position. The squire was interested in the
land and the church; the merchant thought more of commerce and was apt
to be a dissenter. But the merchant, in spite of some little jealousies,
admitted the claims of the country-gentleman to be his social superior
and political leader. His highest ambition was to be himself admitted to
the class or to secure the admission of his family. As he became rich he
bought a solid mansion at Clapham or Wimbledon, and, if he made a
fortune, might become lord of manors in the country. He could not as yet
aspire to become himself a peer, but he might be the ancestor of peers.
The son of Josiah Child, the great merchant of the seventeenth century,
became Earl Tylney, and built at Wanstead one of the noblest mansions in
England. His contemporary Sir Francis Child, Lord Mayor, and a founder
of the Bank of England, built Osterley House, and was ancestor of the
earls of Jersey and Westmoreland. The daughter of Sir John Barnard, the
typical merchant of Walpole's time, married the second Lord Palmerston.
Beckford, the famous Lord Mayor of Chatham's day, was father of the
author of _Vathek_, who married an earl's daughter and became the father
of a duchess. The Barings, descendants of a German pastor, settled in
England early in the century and became country-gentlemen, baronets,
and peers. Cobbett, who saw them rise, reviled the stockjobbers who were
buying out the old families. But the process had begun long before his
days, and meant that the heads of the new industrial system were being
absorbed into the class of territorial magnates. That class represented
the framework upon which both political and s