CH. VIII.] OF CAPITAL. 109 



most part destitute of resources, either from indi- 

 viduals or from the public banks ; and this, with 

 the exception of Great Britain, as we shall pre- 

 sently see, is common to nearly all Europe. Capital 

 has taken, and must take, in Europe, quite a differ- 

 ent course. We have seen that men, when they 

 formed themselves into communities, found their 

 means of subsistence ready to their hands. The 

 same may almost be said of their garments, as they 

 covered themselves with deerskins, and in many 

 countries with the skins of sheep. But for their 

 dwellings they had everything to provide, especially 

 when, in the progress of civilization, corpora- 

 tions of various arts and trades were established in 

 the towns. The materials such as stone, lime, 

 plaster, wood were indeed provided beforehand, 

 but iron and the other metals required long prepa- 

 ration, and all these materials had to be transported 

 to the towns. Such labour necessarily employed 

 the capital which existed. The corporations of each 

 art and trade became in a manner securities ; and 

 the buildings and mechanical implements which 

 they constructed, the first materials which they ac- 

 cumulated or the goods which they manufactured, 

 formed a guarantee. This guarantee, as well as 

 the person himself who borrowed, was under the 

 eyes of the lender, and not isolated in distant di- 

 stricts, situated in the midst of woods and marshes. 



