never dreamt of, and even to
find themselves lending, out of the abundance of their war profits,
money to their creditors. America has led the way with a loan of L100
millions to France and England, and Canada has placed 10 millions of
credit at the disposal of the Mother Country. There can be little doubt
that if the war goes on, and the neutral countries continue to pile up
profits by selling food and war materials to the belligerents, many of
them will find it convenient to lend some of their gains to their
customers. America has also been taking the place of France and England
as international moneylenders by financing Argentina; and a great
company has been formed in New York to promote international activity,
on the part of Americans, in foreign countries. "And thus the whirligig
of time," assisted by the eclipse of civilization in Europe, "brings in
his revenges" and turns debtors into creditors. In the meantime it need
hardly be said that investment at home has become for the time being a
matter of patriotic duty for every Englishman, since the financing of
the war has the first and last claim on his savings.

Our present concern, however, is not with the war problems of to-day,
but with the processes of international finance in the past, and
perhaps, before we get to the end, with some attempt to hazard a glimpse
into its arrangements in the future. What was the effect on England, and
on the countries to whom she lent, of her moneylending activity in the
past? As soon as we begin to look into this question we see once more
how close is the connection between finance and trade, and that finance
is powerless unless it is supported and in fact made possible by
industrial or commercial activity behind it. England's international
trade made her international finance possible and necessary. A country
can only lend money to others if it has goods and services to supply,
for in fact it lends not money but goods and services.

In the beginnings of international trade the older countries exchange
their products for the raw materials and food produced by the new ones.
Then, as emigrants from the old countries go out into the new ones,
they want to be supplied with the comforts and appliances of the older
civilizations, such as, to take an obvious example, railways. But as the
productions of the new countries, at their early stage of development,
do not suffice to pay for all the material and machinery needed for
buildin