Excerpt from An Inquiry: Concerning the Rise and Progress, the Redemption and Present State and the Management of the National Debt of Great Britain and Ireland In the middle ages, when the ferocious spirit which had formerly animated the northern nations, had in some degree subsided while commerce was still in its infancy, and little national wealth accumulated; wars were carried on languidly, and were generally of short duration. Their operations were frequently interrupt ed by truces, and sometimes discontinued through mere feebleness. A victorious army, conducted by a war like leader, was obliged to stop short in a successful career, from want of resources. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.