These leaguers， who during the period of their might andprosperity had scarcely deemed an alliance with the German Empireas worthy of consideration， now in their time of need betookthemselves to the German Reichstag and represented to that bodythat the English exported annually 200，000 pieces of cloth， ofwhich a great proportion went to Germany， and that the only meanswhereby the League could regain its ancient privileges in England，was to prohibit the import of English cloth into Germany.Accordingto Anderson， a decree of the Reichstag to that effect was seriouslycontemplated， if not actually drawn up， but that author assertsthat Gilpin， the English ambassador to the Reichstag， contrived toprevent its being passed.A hundred and fifty years after theformal dissolution of the Hanseatic League， so completely had allmemory of its former greatness disappeared in the Hanseatic citiesthat Justus M鰏er asserts (in some passage in his works) that whenhe visited those cities， and narrated to their merchants the powerand greatness which their predecessors had enjoyed， they wouldscarcely believe him.Hamburg， formerly the terror of pirates inevery sea， and renowned throughout Christendom for the serviceswhich she had rendered to civilisation in suppressing sea-robbers，had sunk so low that she had to purchase safety for her vessels bypaying an annual tribute to the pirates of Algiers.Afterwards，when the dominion of the seas had passed into the hands of theDutch another policy became prevalent in reference to piracy.Whenthe Hanseatic League were supreme at sea， the pirate was consideredas the enemy of the civilised world， and extirpated wherever thatwas possible.The Dutch， on the contrary， regarded the corsairs ofBarbary as useful partisans， by whose means the marine commerce ofother nations could be destroyed in times of peace， to theadvantage of the Dutch.Anderson avails himself of the quotation ofan observation of De Witt in favour of this policy to make thelaconic comment， 'Fas est et ab hoste doceri'， a piece of advicewhich， in spite of its brevity， his countrymen comprehended andfollowed so well that the English， to the disgrace of Christianity，tolerated even until our days the abominable doings of thesea-robbers on the North African coasts， until the French performedthe great service to civilisation of extirpating them.(16*)The commerce of these Hanseatic cities was not a national one；it was neither based on the equal preponderance and perfectdevelopment of internal powers of production， nor sustained byadequate political power.The bonds which held together the membersof the League were too lax， the striving among them for predominantpower and for separate interests (or， as the Swiss or the Americanswould say， the cantonal spirit， the spirit of separate state right)was too predominant， and superseded Hanseatic patriotism， whichalone could have caused the general common weal of the League to beconsidered before the private interests of individual cities.Hencearose jealousies， and not unfrequently treachery.Thus Cologneturned to her own private advantage the hostility of Englandtowards the League， and Hamburg sought to utilise for her ownadvantage a quarrel which arose between Denmark and L黚eck.
The Hanseatic cities did not base their commerce on theproduction and consumption， the agriculture or the manufactures， ofthe land to which their merchants belonged.They had neglected tofavour in any way the agricultural industry of their ownfatherland， while that of foreign lands was greatly stimulated bytheir commerce.They found it more convenient to purchasemanufactured goods in Belgium， than to establish manufactories intheir own country.They encouraged and promoted the agriculture ofPoland， the sheep-farming of England， the iron industry of Sweden，and the manufactures of Belgium.They acted for centuries on themaxim which the theoretical economists of our day commend to allnations for adoption -- they 'bought only in the cheapest market.'
But when the nations from whom they bought， and those to whom theysold， excluded them from their markets， neither their own nativeagriculture nor their own manufacturing industry was sufficientlydeveloped to furnish employment for their surplus commercialcapital.it consequently flowed over into Holland and England， andthus went to increase the industry， the wealth， and the power oftheir enemies； a striking proof that mere private industry whenleft to follow its own course does not always promote theprosperity and the power of nations.In their exclusive efforts togain material wealth， these cities had utterly neglected thepromotion of their political interests.During the period of theirpower， they appeared no longer to belong at all to the GermanEmpire.It flattered these selfish， proud citizens， within theircircumscribed territories， to find themselves courted by emperors，kings， and princes， and to act the part of sovereigns of the seas.