Page:The Evolution of Modern Capitalism.djvu/31

MODERN CAPITALISM. Mat

modern sense this vast empire, but established trading centres in the chief towns and took rich toll of the manu- factures. They found in Antioch, Tripolis, Tyre, a flourishing silk industry; cotton in Armenia; glass and pottery in Syria; and considerable mining operations in Phocis and elsewhere. Their mode of exploitation seems to have been an adaptation of the feudal system, by which as overlords they exacted a large portion, usually one-third, of the total produce of the soil, mines, and industry. ‘This form of infeudation, which later on the Spaniards introduced into America under the title of Encomiendas, existed long before in these Italian colonies of the Levant. Later on the feudal form dropped off, giving place to the sway of privileged companies wielding a royal or state monopoly.

The real significance of this early ‘‘colonisation” for the rise of modern capitalism was that it afforded the first opportunity of profit on a large scale, by placing at the dis- posal of the Italian masters a large supply of skilled serf labour. Not only was the property of whole provinces confiscated to the conquerors, but the condition of large masses of the inhabitants was, from old usage, one of virtual slavery, ‘fall rights and possessions in men, women, and children” passing to the new feudal superiors. ‘The Italian conquerors found also a most profitable inheritance in the slave-trade, which Byzantines and Arabs had carried on from ancient times. ‘This slave-trade they greatly extended by means of a premium system, bringing in great numbers of captive Mussulmans, so that, for example, the increase of population in Crete alone under their rule was from 50,000 to 192,725.

Thus early was laid the foundation of the profitable trade which furnished to Western Europe the accumulations of wealth required for the later development of capitalistic methods of production at home. A huge “proletariat,” slave or nominally free, was first placed at the disposal of Europe in the near East. The treasures of the East, its hoarded gold and slaves, its rich textiles, its spices and other concentrated wealth, poured into Western Europe through the hands of the Italian traders and bankers. The lesson taught by this early experiment was that the chief advantage of conquest lies, not in the discovery and seizure of hidden accumulated treasure, important as that was in the case of