There was more mobility of people. Taxation became regular
and it was controlled by representatives of the taxpayers.
Population growth gradually stabilized.
Capitalism was coming into being. For instance, the clothier was
now a manufacturer. He had become a contractor, taking wool to the
specialist spinner, the yarn to the specialist weaver, the rough
cloth to be washed and stretched, and finally to the dyer. This
cloth was sold at retail by the drapers. Tin on the surface was
exhausted, so capital was used to drive deep shafts in tin mines.
No longer did a single man with a single ship sail around until he
found a market, but company trading overseas had their ships,
wharves, and depots furnished by men's savings put into a common
stock. The first major capitalist industries were coal mining,
iron mining, and foreign trade because they all needed large
investments, and thus joint-stock company organization.
Cromwell reconstituted the East India Company on a wider and more
permanent basis. He gave it a new charter in 1657 which included
authority to make stock permanent, thus ensuring a continuity of
capital. This solved the problem of the competition of overlapping
voyages which still occurred despite their terms of several years.
The company became one of the first permanent joint-stock
companies. Now the stock was never wound up. The Company had
permanent capital which could grow.
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