The most
prominent and necessary accompaniment or incident of property in the
ancient world was possession. What a man owned he held. His wealth
was in his farm, or his house, or his granary, or his ships. He
could hardly separate the idea of property from that of possession,
and the state of society strengthened the association. The frugal
man hoarded, and when he was terrified he buried his money, a
practice to which we owe the preservation of the greater portion of
the old coins now in our collections. The influence of this sense of
insecurity, of the constant fear of invasion or violence, lasted
long enough in all Continental countries, as Mr. Bagehot has
recently pointed out, to prevent the establishment of banks of issue
until very lately. The prospect of war was so constantly in men's
minds that no bank could make arrangements for the run which would
surely follow the outbreak of hostilities, and, in view of this
contingency, nobody would be willing to hold paper promises to pay
in lieu of gold and silver.
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