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Trade, the general level of the Act of 1857 being lower than that of any period since 1816. Afterwards, the Constitution not permitting of an income-tax, high tariffs were imposed, at first accompanied by excise duties; soon the excise duties were withdrawn and the import duties remained.

The high Protection of France and Germany is attributable to similar causation, the pressure of war debts and fresh expenditure for armaments offering the Protectionist interests their opportunity. The return to high Protection by France in 1875, and in Germany a few years later, was not, indeed, wholly due to fiscal needs. Trade depression and unemployment, attributed to a dumping policy of British manufacturers, helped the movement towards a "national economy," the patriotic mask of naked business interests. In both countries the textile and metal trades were compelled to work in conjunction with the agricultural interest. This was due in Germany to the survival of the feudal power of the land-