299

ON THE CAUSES

grounds of reasoning, or as correct expressions
of fact, mislead the mind intent on the pursuit
of truth; and Ihave no fear, that to those who
are adequately aware of the importance of
wqrds in all moral and political researches, the
objection, which I have urged to the language
under consideration, will either appear frivolous
or unfounded.

In this attempt to show that the value of capital
 cannot be traced entirely to the quantity of
producing labour, I have taken into view those
commodities only, the production of which is
perfectly free to competition: and so far as we
have proceeded, the strictures, which I have
ventured to offer, apply rather to the manner in
which the doctrine is asserted than to any thing
actually maintained by its supporters. But the
great defect of this theory is, its overlooking the
important fact, that capital consists, not only
of commodities of this class, but also of the

commodities belonging to the other two classes
of our enumeration. To assert, that the value
of capital may be resolved into quantity of la-