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'm ■>',.> m Si.'ftTt ':^mmmf;:'mit^^wimi '\*™'*^: w; ..„^,£^- Wf' # '€;, n 1795 '*«*.. i f' ■1 V : ,• • • ••• % • ••; • . • ' • • • T • • •• •.*. .* • • • ^'T ' * . ■».,■?>■ 1 ^^^% » ¥1 i J Page 'i' line 33- 8. — 10. 9- — »3- — — »7- »3- — 11. '$• — 35- i6. — «7. 19. — 18. 23- — 21. _- 26. — — 28. »—<■ — 3*. 27- — 10. 3°' — I. 32- — 28. 34- — 32. XMM "■** 33. 40. — *!• 41. _ 16. 56. — »3- 77- "~~ 39- 80. — 27. -ERRATA. y«r Convention reaJ French. /or they are r. it is. y^r determination r. termination, /or kgiflaturc r. legiilation. /or they r. it. /?r ingenious r. ingenaous, l aa 4W '■■', l*...-i Jt ^iWiSSiiidcH:^^- ^;j^ It- ♦ ■ i. s' f Chj i* "^ '(Sw*'.',**!!-)!^-! -r \f ADVERTISEMENT. 1 A\ ■*.«» THE two Chapters here offered to the Public make part of a work intended for the prefs immediately, which will contain an Ac- count of the late Revolution in Geneva^ as well as RefleSfions on the War ; in anfwer to Reflee^ tions on Peace^ by the Baronefs de Stael, A Treatife, (hewing the pecuniary diftrefles of the Republic of France, cannot but be highly interefting at thiscrifis : This part of M. D'lver- nois's Work is therefore publifhed feparately, to gratify the public curiofity on fo important a fubjedt. ** If there be a political truth," (fays the Au- thor in the Introdudion to the two following Chapters), " which the hiftory of modern Eu- •' rope puts out of all controverfy, it is— that ** every war is now more or Icfs a war of ** finance, invariably terminating to the dif- " advantage of that power whofe pecuniary " refources are fooneft exhaufted. The great " Frederic, who learned this axiom from his " father, never loft fight of it, and owed to it " all his fuccefs. If we read his works, we fhall find, that it was only by an admirable ma- nagement of his revenues, and by his care to have always new refources in referve, that A a ** he cc <( I '1:1 1:1; r i I Hi' Pw^^ (C <{ (( ** he was able to fupport, for feven AiccefTive years, and at laft to terminate with glory, a conteft full of difafters, and during which ** his enemies over-ran the whole of his domi- ** nions. When at laft he obliged them to re- ^* treav, and to reftore all that they had taken " from him, it was becaufe they felt an inability to perfift in the war, the neceflary confe- quence of exhaufted refources ; while, with a forcfight which fecurcd fuccefs, the great ** abilities of Frederic had been direfted as " much to recruit his treafures as his armies. -< •' It is true, that when the means of war al- ** together depended on the accumulation of ** treafure, its duration might more eafily be " calculated than now that nations have dif- ** covered the dangerous fecret of charging their ** expences on unborn generations by debts *. " But Hill, if, in comparing the ftrength of con- *• tending powers, we add to their exifting re- " fources thofe which are derived from credit, we may foretell, with fufficient certainty, which of them will ultimately be the moft powerful, and confequently which has the " beft reafon to exped: fuccefs from perfeve- ** ranee, fn the prefent war, therefore, before " a thought is admitted on the part of the Allies " of buying a peace by facrifices, which muft " neceffarily render it infecure j before we give C( c< « '"»"■ ^M mim[W'>.v» [ V ] " way to defpondency, we fhould examine '* whether our antagonift is not much nearer the " end of his treafures and his credit than we *• are ; whether the diftrcfs refuUing from this ** circumftance does not more than counter- ** balance any viftory in the field ; and whe- " ther, in fpite of his wide-extended acqui- " fitions, he is not on the point of being in a •* fitnation to fay with Pyrrhus, One viSiory •* tnore^ and I am undone, '* An object then at prefent of the greateft " importance, is to compare the military re- " fources, or, which in truth is the fame thing, " the finances and the credit of France with ** thofe of Great Britain ; for it is from fuch a " comparifon only that we can decide whether ** the latter ought to make any conceflion for " the fake of peace." 1 .1 Vms • f> n pope in debt, )n is in tfferent >unt of S •' way ■f I 1 ^ X ij, i f\ That 4li txei dtp of I THE tt] «« efti *' poptt <« pofei Thi! a func any he lution be fo: liberty to ovei attemp the re] neither but by i ^\: s CURSORY VIEW, c. C H A P I. ^at at prefent the only Re/our ce of France ss her jiffignats, on which even her future military ixertions mufi exclufively depend; which are depreciating with a continually accelerating pro- grejpon^ and in a Jhort time mufi inevitably be of no value whatever, npHE Author of the RefleSlions on Peace begins with ^ the following bold alTcrtion : " The whole power ** of the French Revolution confifts in the art of exciting " popular entbujiafm^ and directing it to political pur- *' pofes" Page i. line i. This (though alTumed, and afterwards relied on as a fundamental propoHtion) I muft deny without any heHtation. In the commencement of the Revo- lution it might be true, but has long fince ceafed to be fo : for, admitting that popular enthufiafm, with liberty for its objed, was the indrument employed to overturn the French Monarchy, and to repel the attempts of the Combined Powers to reftore it ; yet the republican fyftem which fucceeded it, could neither have been founded nor fupportcd fo long, but by a caufe more fimple, more durable, and more 9 unrcmic* :ii ill t 2 ] m It! hi I i, ! unremittingly adlivc: — I mean felf-intercft, which has been Simulated by the invention of aflTignats. In them, and in them only, confids ac prefenc all the power of the French Revolution, I* is by them that it has fucceeded in bribing every -f;erfbnal con- fideration. By (lipends to civil officers, who are every one preachers of the new-fafhioned doftrines, it has fucceeded in fpreading them to every corner of France. Even its foreign conqucfts are merely to be attributed to the affignats, which have hitherto pro- vided for 1,200,000 foldiers i and no doubt fo extraordinary a number muH necefTarily have pro- duced extraordinary cfFedts. If the conquefts of the French Republic have been three times as extenfive as thole of Louis XIV. it is becaufe the afllgnats have enabled it to maintain armies three times as numerous*. What we have to confider is, whether the rcfourccs of France have not been wafted with infinitely greater profufion i and whether Ihe is not, in this refpeft, on the eve of a cataftrophe, propor- tionably more violent than that which Ihe experienced in the beginning of this century j and whether fhe will be able much longer to delay this cataftrophe, * Of the truth of this we have the following conilrinations in the Convention, by Cambon, Feb. 8, 1795. The nation is under great obligations to the Conflituent AJftmhly for the creation of ajfignatt. This territorial money has very much affijied the Revolution, by bringing into circulation the value of tbt national domains., by enabling ustoprovifion, equip, and maintain ar- mies to the amount o/" 1,200,000 men, to create fleets ^ to cultivate tbt lands for faltpetre! to manufaSurt arms, l^c. i£r. This fame Cambon, who xtmzt)i.tA,thataflflhpart of the efftSivt population of France had been engaged in the common defence, ex* claimed on the 23d of November lall, in this fame Convention, Seme of my colleagues have faid, that the economical fyftem of Louis XIV. Jhould be adopted ; lubo, njuben be had to contend againfi a coalition of P owners, fpent no more than 219 millions (9 millions fterling) a year, nuhile the expences of the prefent nuar arealmoft ten times as great ; meaning to injinuati that tbt Convention fquanders the vjealtb of the nation ! by Mil ;, which iflTignacs. efent all by them lal con- who are oftrines, :orner of ely to be ?rto pro- ioubc fo ave pro- its of the extentive afllgnats times as whether ted with le is not, propor- Derienced ether fhe adrophe, mations in nt AJfimhly I :% i ' [ 8 ] it mud inevitably happen j and when it does happen, I afk what pofllble refource the Republic will have for the prefervation of its conquefts, and the provi- fion neceflary for the numerous armies which maintain thofc conquefts j and which no longer confift of vo- lunteers and enthufiafts, but of forced levies, and mere difciplired mercenaries, its only ftep muft be to difband its armies before they mutiny for want of pay, to reftore its conquefts before the troops dcfert them, and offer a peace before they are compelled to fue for it from abfolute necedity: (o that a reftitution of all the conquefts made by the Republic, and a folid and lafting peace, muft fpeedily be ihe confe- quence of the rapid and inevitable fall of the afljgnats, if the Allies will but have patience and fteadinefs enough to wait the event without relaxing their mili- tary exertions. I fay, if ihe Jllies have but Jieadincfs enough to wail ihe event without relaxing their military exertions j be- caufe it is evident that the progreflive fall of the af- fignats arifes principally from the neccfiity of iftuing new ones. But fince this neceffity muft continue as long as the war lafts, and muft be urgent in, propor- tion to the exertions which the French are obliged to counteradt, it feems evident, that the annihilation of this, their only remaining refource for carrying on the war, or preierving their conquefts, will be the fooner cffefted', in proportion as the co-operation of the Allied Powers is more aflive and perfevering \ and that every one of thofe Powers which withdraws itfelf from the confederation, poftpones this total bankruptcy, in proportion as the Republic, by beinoj able to leffen its expences, is in a leficr degree obliged to accelerate its own ruin by ifliiing new dflignats. The defeftion, however, of fome of the Allies can do no more than poftpone this event, which it is im- poffible to avoid, but by a general peace, the only meafuie which can put an end to the neceflity of new cmifljons; yet fallal X US, >• I'] ,■11 pringi C 9 ] ^rtiiffions ; and till that neceirity is at an end, no at- tempt to fupport the credit of the exifting afllgnats can anfwer any purpofe. 1 know that, in reply to this reafoning, it wiH be faid, that however feemingly well founded ic may be, yet unhappily experience has conftantly provf j its fallacioulhels ; fince France, far from being obliged to relax her efforts, has hitherto from time to time found means to double them •, and has alfo doubled her triumphs, in confequence of this increafing exer- tion. But let us not lofe fight of the circumftance that it is precifely this reduplication of her efforts which accelerates their determination. If thofe who confidercd this fubjed four years ago were miftaken in anticipating this event, it was becaufe they could not poffibly take into the calculation tlie defperate meafurcs adopted by Robcfpierre; meafures, only tending to make it ultimately more dreadful, by a temporary fufpenfion. How could they have conjec- tured that the Convention would have had lecourfe to the law of the Maximum^ which, as they own themfelves, has dejtroyed ccnmercet and annihilated ngri- culture * ? A mealure, which has ruined indujlr)\ cheated the probity which was faithful to the laws, and enriched the criminal avidity which fet them at dejiance-\l That they would have adopted fo fenfelefs a fyjiem cf legijlature which made terror the order of the day, and encouraged Jlock'jobbing — a legijlationt fays Boiffy d'Anglas J, which enabled the Government to become the only merchant^ farmery and manufa£!urery in the Republic i which enabled it to exercif a tyranny abfolutely unkKOun upon the earth ; and tending to univerfal annihi- litioti of proper tyy by the ajfajfination cf every man who pojfeffed any ? I "7 n \4 ' 'fl • BfJird, December 33, 1 794. f Echnfleriaiix, December 20, 1794. X January 8, 1795. Who b ■ HI m N. tt W 7 *• ,1 '1 ii [ io ] I'- \Vho could hive thought that the Guillotine would be able to introduce this violent law, wliich fjpportcd the afllgnats ^ and to maintain it, by deitroying in- difcriminaicly the new poffcflbrs of property and the old ? or have anticipated the dying words of Danton, that, to prolong a little ics frightful exiftencc, this revolutionary mcnjler would at laji devour its own off- Jpring^ Who could have thought that an unheard-of circle of fpoliations, kept in conftant motion by xht dreadful agency of terror, would be able fo fuddenly ind fo completely to enflave a warlike nation which allowed ii/elf to be menaced with the fcaffold *, at the very moment when it was boafting of having broken its fetters ? I may be told that the calamities of war may pof- fibly revive the fyftem of terror; but this I pofitively deny. This internal prodigy in the French Revo- lution never can be repeated; even the Nero of France, with his legion of executioners, did not make it laft longer than fourteen months j and I am not afraid to aflert that it would have been a thoufand times more eafy for him to have prolonged its exift- ence another year, than for iiis fucceflbrs, who owed their elevation to the abolition of it, to revive it for a fmgle day. 1 may alfo be told that Robefpierre has left them an immenfe fund in the eftaces which, though already confifcated,, have not hitherto been fold> and which are a fufficient fccurity for new emiffionsof affignats. I know that fuch has been their boalt, and that in the beginning of this year they had the aflurancc to afiert that there remained fecurity enough for 6 or 8 milliards (250 to 330 millions ftcrling) of new paper-money. But we want no better proof of the falfehood of fuch an allenion than this, that precifcly at the time * Rijuxiens/ur le Paix, p. 40. when ^ nlfS — - -^1 [ «« 3 ^hfti it was made, the affignats began to fall more rapidly than ever. And befides, this immenfe fecu- rity, even if it exifted, could not cover fuch ex- pences as thofe of the laft two months, for more than a (ingle year. Having traced the hidory of aflTignats through the three firft parts of it— itt. Their credit derived from public contidence — 2diy, Their reign by the influ- ence of the Maximum and of terror— and 3diy, Their difcredit after tht repeal of the Maximum — it is now time to advert to the fcurth Aft of this Drama, beyond a doubt the moil importanr, bccaul'e it leads us to the catadrophe. I have already faid that Robefpierre not having been able to fupport himfelf but by the utmott re- celTes of the moll flagrant injufliice, hii fucceflbrs had in fadt no way of fecuring thenifclves but by abfo- lutely oppofite meafures : of any fuch meafures the fafeft for them was an union with the Federalifts, whofe faftion, though it had been crufhed and dif- perfcd by Robefpierre, was ftill both numerous and powerful. Asa mcafure of party nothing could be more prudenc than this union j but it mull be al- lowed too that nothing could be more dellru6tive ro the aflignats : for it was clearly impoflible for the then prevailing members of the Convention to pro- Cure the fupport of the Federalift:s, without reftoring the vaft poflTcfljons they had been deprived of. The decree for this rcftitution did not pafs with- out violent debates for leveral days. Duhem ex- claimed, that ibis firft reftitution would ojfajjinate the country y and ht a decree of counter-revolution *\ ochers announced that, in confequence of it, the afllgnats would lofe the little value they ftill retained ; and that ta refiore the whole of their property to the fa- milies which had been plundered, would be to reduce the i\ A 1^ J (• f \ 'r ,. i A when * March 20, 1795. pullic II fn I' ' i public wea/ib'to nothing. Public wealth, replied fioiny d'Anglas, built on private property, is a bar" barous fophifm, invented in the ferocious den of the Jaco" bin:., who have offered to your creditors as ajecurity, efiates which they well knew they had no right to mort- gage. Ac lalV, ^vhen one of the Deputies, alarmed at the meafure, afked how they fliould pay the cx- pences of the war \—lVe are not at prefent, exclaimed Charrier, to inquire how the expence of the warjhall be paid, but to do jujiice. We are to prove to the people of other States, that the Convention does not maffacre her viSlims for the fake of their wealth, as the governments of ihofe States w'lfh them to believe. Induced by this eloqyence, and by fome refpeft for thofe principles of equity which it had fo long trampled upon, at lail, on the 20th of March, the Convention decreed 2^fufpenfton of fale, as a preli- minary Hep to a reftituiion of the property of all perfons condemned by the revolutionary tribunals of Robefpierre. It was not however fo much a returning fenfe of juftice which occafioned ihis decree, as neceflity, rc- fulting from a multitude of irrefiftible caufes, which continue to operate, and will, fooner or later, bring on the reftitution of the property of at lead one dc- fcription of emigrants *. In fadt, though this decree has • If the crowd of unfortunate women, innocent viflims of the French Revolution, who now drag on a miferable exillence in fo- reign countries, and whofe fituation is one of the greateil fcan- dals to the Convention, could prefent themfelves, as the Fede- ralifts have done, at the bar of that Afl*embly, and fay that the natural timidity of their fex made them inftindlively forefee the atrocities of the Jacobins ; that an Aflembly which glories in having punidied thofe atrocities, ought no longer to impute it to defencelcfs females as a crime ; that they forefaw them fooner^ and efcaped from them by flight ; that it ought not to retain thrir fortunes which have been confifcated, and from which the Deputies received part of their falaries :— if compaflion can in- fluence that AiTembly as party prudence has done> I think fo dif- treffiog *r-r?Sr!tfe«sr^ replied a bar" >e Jaco" jecurity, to mort" ilarmed the ex- :laimed \Jhan be People of fere her )rnments refpeft fo long ch, the preli- ? of all inals of fenfe of ity, rc- I which , bring anc de- decree has IS of the ce in fo* ;ft rcan> le Fede- that the efee the ories in npute it fooner, > retain lich the can in- : fo dif- ' [ .J 1 has not been made more than fix weeks *, we know already that it has been extended (and particularly at Lyons) to a number of families who were by no means of the Federalifl; party. How indeed can it be poflible to revive the commerce of France, with- out recalling the merchants ? And to what purpofe will the merchants and manufa(fturers be recalled with- out reftoring to them the means of carrying on their employment ? Let it not be imagined that the Convention was taken by furprife, when they paflcd tin's important decree, and that, upon finding the total depreciation of the afTignats attributed to it, that Aflembly will be tempted to revoke it. They were perfe(5tly well ap- prifed beforehand of this, which had been predicted with much force, by Le Cointre, fo long ago as the loth of laft December. / now ajk you^ (laid he to his colleagues,) what will become of public credit, if you take but onejlep backward refpeSJing property judicially treffing a fcene muA move it to reply with one voice, in the ani- mated language of BoiHy d'Anglas, on the 20ch of March: JVe all kno'w that the confifcatiom jounded on the monjirous fen > Unces paffei by our late tyrants, are RonBER i f.s ; and that tho/e Robberies have plunged a hundred thou/and innocent families in tni/ery. The ghoji of the murdered ho-ver about this hall ; they call on you to refiore to their nuidoivs, their brothers, and their children^ the property ivhich they once paffejj'ed. Some have tie ajfurance to fay that this property is necejfary for the people ! People of France ! roufe at one* ivith indignation ; reje^ •with horror thefe bloody jpoils ; rtjt£l this fhameful tribute : it is un-juorthy of you ; // jhould make youfhuddtr\ it nuill make you accomplices of the monjiers you are purfuing, of the robbers you have condemned I Let me aflc, is not this jult as much as to lay to the people of France, Reject ivith horror the ajfignats ? In fsA, they (hould long fince have been held in honor. It is not, however, fencimenr, but felf-intereR, which will caufe their rej^dion. The alTignats have given birth to the war, and the war will be their deltrudlion. * fieride !i j: »'l j^,'""* t u 1 tonfifcateiii and applied to the ufe of the Republic /— IVhat will become of the Finances ? — In what a fitua- tion will you find your/elves? — Confidence will be at an end i and where in that cafe will you find pur chafers ? ^^Ify with refpeSi to the property in your hands^ you but cnce look backwards ~- but I check my f elf — / leave you to your reflections. Surely the lime when ihcy were looking forward to thefc confifcations, was the time when Le Cointre (hould have awakened the reflexions of his colleague Robefpierre. It is not the decree of the 20th of March which has dcjlroyed the aJftgnatSy by rcltoring pof-^ fej/ions that the State had no right to mortgage^ and which it could not pofTibly retain any longer : but it was Robefpierre, who, acquiring thofe pofiTcfllons by rob- beryy in order to have fecurity for new afTignats, and then wafting thefe new aflignats to extend the con- quefts of the Kepublic — it was Robefpierre that de- creed a Counter-revolutiony and affoffmated tie Republic : for at prefent I do not fcruple to afTert that it will periih, as the Monarchy perifhed, by the ruin of THE FINANCES. It is to no purpofe that the greater part of thofe who have fucceeded Robefpierre, perfift in attempting to deceive their countrymen, and Europe ; — to no purpofe that they ftill talk of ten or twelve milliards (4 or 500 millions fterling) which they pretend the property of the emigrants will produce, and which, they would perfi'ade tiie world, is a fecurity enough to redeem all the afTjgnats in exiftence, and all that they may have occafion to iflue. They thcmfclves well know that nothing can be more untrue ; for by their own calculations it may be proved, that all the confifcations which remain unfold are really not worth a fourth part of fuch a fum. Johannot, who feems to have more integrity than any orher perfon who has had the management of the Hevolutionary finances, in his report on that fubjcift, of the 2 2d of December, fnys, Whatever their amount ^"'^^^ t 15 ] a fttua- be at an chafers ? , you but veyou to f ' i. ward to Cointre oileague 20th of ring pof" d which c it was by rob- atSj and he con- tbat de- .epublic : c it will UlN OF of thofe mpting —to no milliards nd the which, enough all that mfelves for hy all the t worth ^ than of the ubjcd, amount may may be, yet the fecwity for them is much greater, AeeU' rate calculations prove that this fecwity is more than 15 Mards (i. e* more than 625,000,000 fterling). The yearly income of the national property which remains unfold, is about 300>ooo,ooo (12,500,000 fterling), Vfhich, eflimated at forty years purchafe, the furrent price of that property^ gives a real value of 1 2 milliards (500,000,900) } which, with the eftates not let, and the unprodu£live property, (both together at leafl worth two milliards,) and one milliard which will revert to the nation by eflates that would have defcendtH to emigrants, form an aSlual value of 15 milliards (625,000,000). t^ever had any paper^money fo folid a baft ! When 1 undertake to meafure this bafe, I prefume I (hajl be allowed to lay out of the account the two milliards at which eflates not let, and unproduSlive pro* perty, are valued ; and to reafon merely upon Johan- not*s afferiion, that lad December the amount of the annual income of the confifcated eflates which were not fold, was about 300,000,000 (12,500,000)* Now admitting this eftimate as true, we have a tole- rably accurate rule to value the capital of thole 300,000,000 of income by, not in aflignats, which loon will have no exigence, but in fpecie. Every one knows that formerly, in France, landed property fold from about 28 to 30 years purchafe 5 and it will not be difputed, but that while fo great a mafs of it is in the market, it mud be difficult to find buyers who will go beyond 25 years purchafe in fpecie. But in fad, it will be impoffible to find them at that price : ill, becaufe the rent itfelf is ef- timated by aflignats *, 2dly, becaufe a great part of this property is in houfes, which are every day fall- ing to decay •, ;dly, becaufe we know, from the in- genious confefTion of Cambon, on the 28th of Fe- bruary, that ejtates are ruined if they remair in the hands of the Republic ; and if fold, intriguers take care to be the bejt bidders, and, asfaonas they get pojfeffiw, fell « ' " )l ■I I if i ■ 1 k\ •>. §1 [ I« 1 fell the timber, firip the eft ate, and when the fecond pay- mint Jhould be made, the Nation is obliged to fell them again at the exorbitant lofs occafioncd by the/e dila- fidations, Wc fee then, bythefe recent acknowledgments, that the enormous prices at which fomt; parts of the national property have been fold, were merely in confequence of the fpeculaiions of intriguing purchafers. The Convention has from time to time boafted of the gains, but has taken care not to mention that the cftates are often left on hand, and refold at an exorbi- tant lofs. I believe, when thefe circumftances are confidered, no one will difpute with me, but that, if even the Republic fliould be fettled, and all the confifcated cf- tates Ihould remain at her difpofal, it will hardly be able to get more for them than even twenty years purchafe in fpecie, if calculated upon the rent paid in aflignats ; a price which, in fpecie, it is now very improbable they can ever bring. But fuppofing it fhould be able to fell them ar this price, the whole of them would not fetch more than 6 milliards (250 millions ilerling). Now, from thefe 6 mil- liards in fpecie, for which at prefent we hypothe- tically admit that the ellates let for 300,000,000 cur- rency may be fold, we mull in the firft place deduft the immenfc reftitutions made to the Federalifts and others, conformably to the decree paflTed on the. 20th of laft March : and though, to leffen the oppofition to this decree, thofe who propofed it, affeded to af- fert that thefe reftitutions would not amount to more than one milliard (41,666,666), I apprehend that the confifcations during the tyranny of Robefpierre may, without the leart exaggeration, be computed at a third of the property which laft December re- mained unfold; particularly when we are informed by the lateft news-papers from Paris, that, in the month of April, the Committee of Finance propofed 7 an an V' [ >7 ] an ahfokte rejlitutlon of the property of all hut the Eml' grants j fo that, after this dedudion, only two-thirds of the whole fum, or 4 milliards, remain. Out of thefe 4 milliards, muft be paid the immenfe debts of the Emigrants, debts which the State is charged with, by a decree of the Convention, made January i, 1795' And as Cambon declared at that time, that the Emigrants had not fewer than about a million of creditors i and as the Committee of Fi- nances has fmcc eilimated thofe debts at i milliard 800,000,000 of livres ; this will reduce what re- mains to the State to fomething more than 2 mil- liards. With thefe 2 milliards, it has to pay all the af- fignats now in circulation ; and which, if Cambon may be believed, amounted to 6 milliards 400 millions, fo long ago as the 4th of laft November j and which, notwithftanding fome of them have fince been taken out of circulation, yet, by the additions that have fince been made, cannot now amount to lefs than 8 or 9 milliards. It has alfo to pay all the new afllgnats which muft be ilTued as long as the war lafts : and who can calculare the amount to which, in confe- quence of depreciation, they mull be iffued by next December, if the French fliould delay the reftitution of their conquefts till chat time ? Befides all this, before the mafs of afllgnats can be redeemed, provifion ought to be made for the an- nuities purchafed during the monarchy, which amount to about 100,000,000 a year (more than 4 millions fterling). Suppofing this debt to be paid with a dalh of the pen, yet it will not be quite lo eafy to ftrike out the great promifes which have been made to a million of foldiers, for whom the Committee of Fi- nance propofes to referve a milliard, as the reward of their lervices. Nor is this all j for a confideration more preffing than any even of thefe is, to repair •j. ' what < 't ! >l I '1I I 1: {■J .1 i l'\' I i ■>\ n 1! v.! t >8 ] ¥rliat Echaileriaux calls the ruins of agriculture^ and ti^hich will require immenfe and immediate advances. Add to all this the neceflary expences to carry on the government, even if the war were over, till the revenue can again be made productive, which at pre- fent, reduced as it is in nominal amount, is ftill more reduced by being paid in depreciated alTignats, and I am confident is not equal to (^, 700,000 llerling in fpecie ; and which, in the impoverifhed and depopu- lated ftate of France, cannot be brought near to the jieceflary expences, however economically it may be managed, without being inBnitely more burdenfome than four times that fum would have been before ihe Revolution. Let the reader ferioufly confider the above flate- znent, and I believe he will hardly fubfcribe to Johannot's afiertion— •" Never had paper money fo folid a bafis/' Le Sage, Boifly d'Anglas, Cambaceres, La Re- veilliere, and Thibault, begin to remove the veil which has hitherto been ufed to hide the dreadful ftate of the French Finances.— yfj to the Jecurity of your ajjignats^ fays Le Sage, it is French integrity and the probity of the »<7//V«.— Boifly d'Anglas, who fix weeks before had affirmed that the ajjignats were un- doubtedly a property of inconteftibk Jolidity^ a debt of the Illation fecured on the firmeft bafiSy fuddenly changed his language in the Convention : — Tour ajignats^ (aid he on the 20th of March, are bills guaranteed by your integrity^ rejling much more on the credit which we have a right to, than on any other bafis. Ten days after this, Cambaceres tells the Convention, that, if it fliould diflblve itfelf, it would leave the Finances exhaufted *. We muft inftantly, exclaims La Reveilliere, remedy the diforder of the Finances, by means fimpie<^ equitable, and of March 6. immediate v _aii<3SE9S>'!si;!.~^^ «,/ t '9 J immediate efficacy'-^Tf they ferijh, we muji perijh "joith them, and the State with us. And laftly, to crown all thefe alarming confeflions, Thibault tells the Con- vention, on the I ft of April, that there were three fub» jells which Jhould never be publicly mentioned \ they are^ lays he, the State ofProviftons^ Religion^ and the Finances. Let their tranfient Republic continue then, if it will, to infcribe on its new afllgnats the pompous phrafe of National Domains: no intelligent perfon can help fubftituting inftead of it this alarming acknowledgment :— Exhaujled Finances ! — Security overloaded ! — Rejiitution begun ! — New emijjions if Pcper !-— and continued Depreciation ! I prefume a further explanation would be unnecef- fary, to (hew the way in which each effect of this con- tinued depreciation of affignats, becomes, in its turn, a caufe accelerating their ruin, which niuft approach with fuch an increafing rapidity, that nothing can check but a general peace. I would willingly believe that the prefent leaders of the Revolution have more integrity than their predeceffors •, but, as I cannoc believe that they have greater ability, I am convinced they cannot difcover any other way of carrying on the war than by new emiffions of depreciated afllgnats. I defy them to give any fort of permanent value to that immenfe mafs which has been iflTued, but by a general peace ; or to put ofF much longer the day when their people, wearied with mifery, will compel them to abandon all projeds of aggrandizement, and to facrifice all their conquefts, tor fo neceffary an objeftj efpecially if Great Britain will but honour- ably perfift in rejeding any overture which docs not propofe a complete reltituiion of all the French con- quefts, as a preliminary article. Some pertbns however, either interefted in mifrc- prefenting the queftion, or poflibly deceived by the quackery of the French Committee of Finance, fecm to imagine that fomc or other of the vifionary fchemes D ■ which i\ ij h ■■li ill ^■'•^^^^it - — ■• ■ ^ ■ ^.j*rf, ^ ^^-l — -k" It.' t H* [ 20 ] which that Committee either entertains, or wiflies its conftituents to entertain, may be pradlicable — fchemes which are to bring back the ajfignats into the public trea- fury by means purely voluntary, Firlt then, as to the idea ot Johannot, in a report of the 1 2th of lalt December, that the value of the mart" gaged property increafes in exa£i proportion to the multi' plication of afignats^ and that it is to this conjlant in- verted ratio between the value of the republican money, and that of the national property, that the French are in- debted for thofe inexlunijiible refourceSy which have afio' niJJjed Europe, and have prepared the means of triumph for fourteen armies. 1 muft deny that there has been fuch a conjlant inverted ratio between the fall of the affignats, and the rile in the price of national property. If this inverted ratio had exifted at the time when Jo- hannot made this report, affignats being then at a dif- count of about -j^ per cent, or only a fourth of their iirft value, edates paid for in aflignats would confe- quently have fold at four times the ufual price : one, for inftance, which at thirty years purchafc, (the ufual value before the war,) would have fold for 1500I. in Ipecie, would laft December have fold for 6ocol, in aflignats. But in the fame fpeech, he fays, that the national domains fell at only forty years purchafe; fo that, by his own acknowledgment, the value of cftatcs had only rifen a fouith, while that of aflignats had fallen three-fourths. Pofllbly fome perfons may attribute this aftonifhing fall of the affignats, not to their want of a real value, but folely to the quantity of this reprefcntative of wealth, tnultiplied in fuch a degree, as to dejlroy all proportion between it and the objects which it reprefents *-, fo that, by diminilhing their mafs, and relievmg the circula- tion from half of the exifting affignats, the remaining half wuuld recover their original value. * Speech of EchafTeriaux, December 20. '^®*!*t^-^ i-SifA-ll^^r r. " ] It is now five months fince this objeA engaged the attention of the Committee of Finance, and that they declared fuch a diminution indifpenfable : but after having pre Tented report upon report, and projeft upon projcft, all that they have really done, has been to increafe the enormous mafs of aflignats, by forcing almoil as many new ones into circulation as they pur- pofcd to withdraw from it. They have however fug- gefted the following plans for their diminution, which poflibly will not be thought cjuite fo eafy in prafticc as in fpeculation. The firft was, of either an extraordinary loan^ or a revolutionary tax * : but as to the firft of thefe meafures, Cambon obfervcd, that the lofles by the law of the Maximum had been too great to allow of entertaining luch a projefl:} and as to revolutionary taxes j he avowed ingenuoufly on the 3d of February, that the forced loan of about a milliard (about 41 millions fterling^ had only produced between 180 and 200 millions (about 8 millions fterline). A ftrange defalcation, elpecially when we recolled't that it was while the fyf- tem of terror was in its full force! A fecond proje61: was a lottery or a tontine of four milliards, (about 165 millions fterling,) which was to induce the holders of afTignats to bring them into the public treafury, on receiving inftead of them, in the fhape of prizes, effeds which the Republic found itfelf unable to fell in any other way. But then, faid Cam- bon, 'we mujl offer fome premium — and he calculated that by allowing 10 per cent, ic would coft rhe na- tion 390 millions, and an annual intcreft of 131 mil- lions. — A curious way of relieving the finances ! Be- • As to the civic and voluntary donations, Cambon does not el^irnate the total amount at more than 20 millions (about >J30,oool. Iterling). *' Every one knows (faid be, the 24th of '* November) how what were called voluntary donations have in •? general been obtained. We cannot diflembl'. that the greater *• part of thefe pretended free gifts were the produd of terrpr *' and conftraint." D 2 fides J ^1 « ,11 m \ \\\ \ ■'si i 5 %\ [ »» ] * *' . I, ,< f It' (ides, whetlier as a lottery or as a tontine, the projef^ is impolTible ; for either the purchafe of tickets mui^ be voluntary, in which cafe a fecurity would be cx- pedcd for their value, that does not exill •, or clfe this refumption of afTignats muft be effcdled by force, and, far from impro'^ing the credit of any new emiffions, would only be evidence of their fate. The third of Cambon's projefts was a forced re- 4u^iofi of the fjomtjfai value of aJ/igNats.-^hutj faid he, very candidly, if we arbitrarily reduce the value of thofe already in exiftence, what credit will the new emiflions have ? We ihould find it abfolutely impoffibU to carry on the war. Force, however, is by no means neceflary to bring about this redu6lion of value. The bankruptcy is begun, and wants no decree to complete it : the only difference is, that it will not be openly confcfled, un- til the Convention finds, as it foon muft find, its new afTignats fo entirely without value, that nobody will take them.* But as to Cambon's obfervaiion, that in this cafe the Republic will find it impojfible to carry on the war — fome perfons imagine perhaps, that as the Con- vention muft long fince have forefeen the total de- preciation of its paper money, it muft of courfe have made a provifion for that event, out of the immenfe quantity of treafure which it procured by the pillage of the churches. With refpedt ro this treafure, the Convention itfelf admits that it has been fquandered with the fame thoughileJs profufion as the paper- money, and Cambon declared on the 2d of Novem- ber, that the whole of the plate taken from the churches, and of which Europe had heard fuch ex- aggerated accounts, did not produce more than between 2,5 and 30 millions * (about 11 or 1 200,000 1. fter- ling). . * Tbejhrine of St. Gent'vie've, added he, the 'wealth of ivhicb 'was eJItmateJ/o high, produced onI^ zi,ooo lives (not^uite 900I. iterling). Let ; projcft ets mu(^ be cx- or elfe fled by of any ir fate. reed re' faid he, ^alue of the new mpoffible to bring uptcy is he only ed, un- its new >dy will his cafe the war e Con- )tal de- rfe have mmenfe ' pillage irc, the andcred paper- govern - om the uch ex- between 1. fter- of ivhicb lite 900I. Let [ 23 1 Let us allow that this produce of facrilege dill re« fnains hoarded up, yet it is not equivalent to the no. xninal expence of two days of the laft month : bur, fince it is in fpecie, let us fuppofe it applied in dif« charging expences equivalent to thole of Grcac Britain : it may then lail about fifteen days ; and when that time is pad, I a(k once more — To what will the French Republic have rccourfe, in order to pro- tradt the war» and to defend its conquells ? To its ancient .abu.ndant refources? Let us confider the ftaie to which the Convention has reduced them. — . What were thofe refources? //j Commerce? — It has received a deadly bhw^ fays BoiflTy d*Anglas. — TeSi adds Columbel, we all agree that every thing has been dons to dejiroy commerce^ and but tco juccejsfully *. r-'lts Manufactures? — They are annihilated -^ the Viorkjhops are defer ted^ and the workmen are driven from the country^ fays Echafleriaux f . — Its Agricul* TURE ? — Liften to jfc'cllec — The tree of reproduiiion is cut off at the roots. — Its Credit? — That credit to V^hichy fays Boifly d'Anglas, they have a right. Where are the revenues on which it can now attempt to bor* row ? Confidering the fort of half-tonfeflion of Cam- bon, I very much doubt whether ihr prefeni receipts amount to more than 150 millions (6,250,000!. fter- ling); and in aflignats, they are not very likely, I fliould fuppofe, to promife any great furplus to borrow upon. Befides, where will they find dupes to lend them, or indeed any monied men, conntded wiih France, who have any thing left to knd, but affignats ? But to anticipate at once any fpeculaiions on the means which the French may be luppolld to adopt for protrading the war — let us imagine, that by a ilretch of authority the Convention adually reduces the nominal value of the aflSgnats, or thar the people, by general confent, agree to give up half or three- * 29 December. f 20 December. ' I '-i N^' \ fourths ^ n m ii li' [ 24 ] fourths of thofc in their hands, to retrieve the value bf the remainder. Whatever refource might be found in fuch meafures, after a general peace} yet, while the war continues, thev would be ufeiefs: for nothing but a general peace can take away the necelTuy of new emifliions: and befides, to propofe fuch a meafure to the French, in order to continue the war, would be modeftly afking them to burn half their fortunes, only to give the Convention an opportunity of annihilate ing the remainder — exhaufting the little life that is left, in grafping for a few months ^-lore Savoy and Belgium, and putting off for a ihor. time longer the return of the Stadtholder. I think I have faid enough to prove that it is not poflible for France to carry on a war of which aggran- difcment is the only objed, while the afljgnats, her means of carrying it on, aie in fuch a (late of depre- ciation i and equally impoflible to prevent that depre- ciation, now that a fyftem of moderation, adopted from abfolute necefiity, prevents plunder and confif- cation adequate to the wafte. With the annihilation of ail their remaining value, \\hich foon mull happen, will vanifli every remaining charm of the Revolution j and a political convulfion mult follow, produ(5live of confequences which at prefent can hardly be conjec- tured. Such a bankruptcy of the State will moft fcnfibly affect all the poorer claffcs, and particularly the foldierh, whole ab:ence has deprived them of the opportanicy of employing their paper in purcha- fing lands at a low rate, and who, when they return, will find no public property remaining to divide among them, as they were promifed. JT their indig- nation at finding their pnper fortunes of no fort of value, fhould induce them to require the annulling all the falcs of eftat-^s which have been made by the Convention, and which the Jacobins at home have purchaled tor almoft nothing, while they have been bleeding on the frontiers j — luch a meafure would be ; . ^ ftriaiy ^- -.3. Ilf(l t 25 1 ftrifkly equitable, and would give the means of allow- ing fome indemnification, both ro them, and to the former proprietors. But, as it would produce nothing towards carrying on a war^ then, and pofTibly not till then, the illufion on that iubjeft will ceafe. Her Revolution will then leave France nothing to contem- plate, but the mil'ery of her people, the ruins which cover her, and the madnefs with which her dema- gogues have wafted a refource, which, if prudently managed, would have effeded and itcured the du- ration of all the improvements in her government which (he wanted. She will fee their criminal abfur- dity, in having facrificed fuch an immenle refource to the phantoms of military glory, and territorial aggran- difement. But what is palt cannot now be remedied ', and of her prefent mifery the only cure is Peace, and her only future hope Economy. Thcfe words every Frenchman will very foon fubftitute inltead of Conjueft and Democracy, Having experienced that the jea- loufy of we::kh, and of cultivated underftanding, which is inherent in a pure Democracy, makes it the moft ignorant of all forms of government, while the multitude and the avidity of its agent.<: make it the moft cxpenfive, they will diredt all their wilhes to- wards one lefs burdenfome, more fimple in its ar- rangements, and more powerful in its protedtion ; in ihort, they will fly for refuge to the arms of a Mo- narchy. I do not deny that this concluding fcene of the French Revolution may be more or lefs delayed by different meafures, and particularly by a peace; but the propofition which I have undertaken to examine, does not relate to the termination of the Revolution, but to that of the War : whether, if it be protraded, any thing can pofTibly delay much longer the annihi- lation of the paper- money, which, on the part of the French, is its only fupport ; and whether Great Bri- tain fhould lofe f]ght of this circumftance. The ( 'I t i / I » I i! ,1'' [ »« 1 The ca(c of Arrerica, however, is feemlngty afl example which direAly contradids all thefe conclu- lions by the iure teft of experience •, and may polTibly influence many opinions in this country. Thofe who conlider it as a cafe in point, will reply to me :— " Your calculations may be true, and the •* afTignats may fall to nothing, even fooner than is " expected-, anil yet your conclufions may be falfc •' and illufive. A fimiiar illufion led us to perfift in •* the American war. At a great expence we perfe- ** vercrJ, till at laft the paper-money there was much " more depreciated than that of France has yet been, •' or perhaps ever will be j and yet, at that very time, " the Congrefs was able to augment its forces, in- •• (lead of diminiftiing them. To what purpofe did we oppofe our real to their artificial treafure ? The 140 millions which we fpent, enabled us onjy to fpin out the war, which the Americans carried on againft us with increafing focccfs. They fur- ** mounted all obdacles, made an advantageous peace; " and now, that hardl)' twelve years have elapfed, " their public credit is n.-ftored, their revenues greatly " exceed their expences, and their future profperity •* feems incalculable." This reprclentation is true, fo far as it applies to America, and fo far only •, for between that country and France there is no fort of analogy. What rc- fcmblance is thtre between America, engaged in a conteit at home, by no means <;xpenfive, and in which all Europe was on her fide; and France ob- ftinately perfilting in a foreign war, in which her finances are oppofed by alniolt all the wealth of Eu- rope? What refcmblance between a Congrefs, re- prefenting property by the principal proprietors, fuppcrtcd riratuitoufly by the armies and fleets of France, Spain, and llolland, who made her caufc their ov-r. — aud the French Convention, a mob, ap- pointed by a mobi which, lo far from having a fingle €( «< CC ~-^ *" ' ^ '' . *1t|^ >— J:^. Ingty af) conclu- poflib)/ ill rqaly and the r than is be falfe perfift in ^c pcrfc- as much et been, rry time, ces, in- pofe did e ? The i only to irried on ley fur- ls peace} eiapfed, s greatly rofperity plies to country Vhat re- ed in a and in ince ob- lich her I of Eu- refs, re- Drietors, leets of er caufe lob, ap- (iving a Tingle t »7 1 i)ngle ally, has been obliged to fpend very large tomi in purchafing the inaftivity of feveral of the govern- ments which (he had not provoked to take parC againft her ? The Congrcfs, when the total deprecia- tion of its paper currency made it requifite to nego- ciate foreign loans, had France and Holland ready to guarantee them, and imnK^nfe tracts of unappro- priated land to offer as a fecurity : a property, which, with fome moderate taxes, has proved an ample fundi fordifcharging their debt, and of courle has raifed it to its original value. But where are the perfons who will now advance any money to the French Convention ? Where are the Governments which will guarantee the repayment ? and what is the fe- curity which it can offer ? In her ftruggle for inde- pendence, America was not at one twelfth pare of the expence of her antagonift ; while France, on the contrary, fpends at prefent eight or ten times as much as the whole coalition againft her. In America the expences both of her friends and her enemies in- creafed very much her circulating fpeciej but in France gold and filver have almoft vanifhed. l?aper money was indeed fo much depreciated in Ame- rica, that the holders of it thought themfelves fortu- nate in being allowed to pay it in to the government at the enbrmous lofs of 99 per cent. But if America became bankrupt as to her domeftic debt, yet (he conftantly and regularly paid the full amount of the intereft of her foreign debt : and not as the French have done, with depreciated paper. But indeed what pofTibie refemblance can be difco- vered between America, with rcfources conftantly im- proving, even during the conteft, by a reproduction of the neceffaries of life, far greater than the confumption of her own people ; refources diredled all along by the fame leaders, men previoufly pradtifed in the arts of government, to one uniform obje<5t, and in a war- at home— and France, with wants continually increaf- E ing, J t »8 1 ing, with reproduction greatly reduced, continualtf changing its leaders, and its arrangements*, and fighting at a diftance, merely for aggrandifemenc by conquefts, much more expenfive to preferve, than difficult to make ? What refemblance between the French, who have hardly advanced a Hep without fome novelty in wickedncfs, and whofe fuccefles, by a natural confequence, give full fcope to domedic ftrife — and the Americans whofe union was ce- mented by danger, who regulated their conduct as much as pofllble by the eftablifhed laws of civilized nations, and who were anxious not to difgrace their caufe by the licentious ferocity of favages ? Any comparifon of the fituation, refources, and the condu^ of thefe two nations, proves that they re- femble one another in nothing, but that each was dif- treded by a revolutionary ftruggle ; Wwich the one had means of bringing to a fucceisful coi clufion, of which the other is totally deftitute. A contempla* tion of the progrefs of the American Revolution proves that paper-monty is not a permanent refources and the circumftances attending that of France prove that, when her paper-money fails, (he will find no fubilitute. I cannot too often repeat that nothing fhort of this failure will convince the French of the abfolute ne- cefTity of agreeing to a full reilitution of their con- quefts. Whatever may be the military events of the war, this objc6l will be obtained by the perfevcrance of the Allies ; and upon it depends the only reafon- able hope they now have of terminating it on equit- able and fafe conditions. A peace on fuch conditions, I corfider as fo inefti* mably valuable, and as fo certain a reward of forti- tude on iheir part, that even if we were to begin this campaign with the melancholy certainty that at the end of it there would be no material alteration in the military fituation of the two armies j yet ftill, no facrifices C 49 1 ntinuafTf ts } and menc by vc, than reen the without rffes, by jomeftic ivas ce- iduA as civilized ICC their :es, and they re- was dif- the one Hon, of teoDpIa- /oiution :fources c prove Bad no facrifices fliould be fpared, becaufe no facrifices can be too great, when the object is to drive back and conBne within their own country thefe modcra Goths and Vandals, who have already conceived the defign of overrunning the rert of Europe. At prc- fent indeed they feem to have fufpcndcd their defign i but the national charaAer of the French will never allow them to rclinquilh it, if an example of difunion, and humiliating concelTion, (hould ever give them a profpeft of fuccefs ', and reduce the reft of Lurupe, cither to the necefllty of becoming their Allies, and gradually falling into the deplorable (ituation of thofe idands which under that name fubmitted to the domi- neering infolence of the democracy of Athens j or of maintaining a perpetual lt?te of warfare, in defence of their independence^ againft French violence and f rcnch intrigue. li^ of this utc ne- ir con- of the rerance reafon- equit- inefti- forti- in this at the in the ill, no riflces E^ I H'l {: t 30 1 CHAP. II. T/je State in which the Co?ivention leaves the Fi- nances to their Succejfors^ September 6, 1795. THE former Chapter was written about the end of laft March, and the interval fince its publication has already furnilhed every confirmation which I could defire of the truth of my hypothefis. The Committee of Finance, which has thought fit r^ <*on- tradid that hypothefis *, will, I hope> permit me to defend it by evidence coUeded from its own reports, and the debates of the Convention. To ihofe au- thorities only I (hall appeal, and by contrafting con- fefllons with denials, I think 1 ftiall be able to de- monftrate, that far from having allowed myfelf \o exaggerate, I was really much below the truth on the greater part of my conjedures, and that if my prin- cipal afiertions can be conteded, it is only becaufe ihey were not fufficienily ftrong. First Assertion. The fundamental propofition of my former Chap- ter was this, that the whole power of the French Revo-* lution conftjs in the ajjignats. I added, that the tem- porary iuccefs of the military exertions of the Re- public is to be attributed to the profufion with which ♦ See the Report of the Commictee of Finance prefented to the Convention the 30th of June lait, which begins with boldly aflerting, that I am ptnjitntd by Mr. Pitt to vilify the ajjignati. I believe it will hardly be expeAed, that I fhould lubmit to reply to this imputation. I fhall leave equally difregarded, the epithet q^ French Emigrant^ which the Committee has thought it convenient to apply to me, and with equal truth : but, fince I pm challenged to perjiji in tracing all itsjleps, and nuatthing all its fiiions^ (0 this 1 have not the lead cbjedion, and, as a proof, £ ofi-cr this comparative collediog o( the confplTions of the Con- vention, » ^l^ey 1^, ' the Ft- * 1795- he end of jblication which I fis. The it r ^ <*on- lit me to n reports, ihofe au- l:ing con- le to de- myfelf t,o ith on the my prin- ^ bec^ufe ler Chap- ncb Revo-' the tem- the Re- rith which pre fen ted (o with boldly ajjignats. I lubmit to garded, the lias thought but, flnce I ching all its s a proof, £ }f the Con- ^bey [ 31 ] they have been Iquandered, and that when once this mine is exhaufted, and nothing remains in it to pay her numerous foldiers, (he will then have no refourcc but to abandon her conquefts before the armies eva^ cuate them, and di(band thofe armies before they mutiny for want of pay. In confirmation of this afTertion, the debates of the Convention give me the following acknowledgment, made by Dupuis the 7th of April. The plate for printing ajfignats was found infinilely more convenient than an ajjijfment of taxes-, and^ -without any longer caU culating exfences^ theConJlituent Jj/embiy tranfmitted this fruitful plate to the Legiflative^ which paffedit on to us, IVith iti thofe Affemblies tranfmitted the burthen of pub' lie debt infinttely more heavy than they received it, and bequeathed us a wcr^ with all its expences, and with re- Jponfibility for their error. In creating a new fpecies of money, our predeceffors thought of the means of begin* KING A REVOLUTION, BUT DID NOT THINK. OF ANV fOR FINISHING IT. For full five months fince this was faid, the Con- vention has been trying to find fomc method of finifh'mg the Revolution lb brilliantly commenced by af- fignats. Its own members avow that thefe will not lupply the means of protraifting and terminating the war which, fay ti.ey, was bequeathed us by our pre- deceffors. But is it for their extravagance and their errors only that the prefent Convention is refponfible, or were they the only Aflemblies who have gone on without calculating expences ? Second Assertion, I advanced, that by means of the aJ/Jgfiats the Re* fuhlic has fucceeded in bribing every perjonal confidera" fion^ and that by fH fends to civil cfjicersy who are every one preachers of thi new fafjjioned do£lrines, it has fuc- (eeded in f Dreading them to every corner of f ranee, 13 This { I 1 ■■>i hi M i I \ I 1 i is .l\ I 32 1 Ihis afTcrtlon, which has been controverted, but which, if true, opens the whole myftery. of the pro^ grefs of the French Revolution, has fince been con- firmed in the ampleft manner, by the following de- tiaracions made by leading members of the Conven- tion. Jobanmti the 14th of April, in the name of the Committee of Finance, faid, The revolutionary movement has led us to give falaries to too great a num- ber of perfons^ to a greater number than are employed in all the governments of Europe together. In fupport of this declaration D«^wV Cr^w/, the 5th of May, adr mitred, that the Commiffion of Commerce only, employed thirty fve thou/and perfons. But the declaration of Dufermont, the 7th of July, crowns both the others \ that the expences of adminijiration in the dijtri^s ivas more confiderable than the value of all the produc- tions of the J oil in thofe difiriSls. At prefcnt we are to learn how the Republic will be able to prcferve its partil'ans when no longer able to pay them •, how it will be able to maintain the credit of tlic affignats with which their falaries have hitherto been paid ; or when that refource fails, in what expedient it will find an adequate fubllitute for it. Third Assertion. After having traced the hiftory of the aflignats, and of their gradual depreciation from their firft fa- brication dow/) to the repeal of the Maximum^ and remarking on the probable confequences of that re- peal, 1 limited mylVlf to the reprelijnting it as proba- ble; that they would continue to fall at the rate of /•o per cent, every two months. This I advanced about the end of March, when they were (till worth 10 per cent, and by the end of May they really were worth no more than five per cent; and at prcfent are only wo h about two and a half per cent j and, if any credit is to be given to the French newlpapers, there arc already fome departments where they are con-» i'iojbe^ t 33 1 Cionfidered as only an illujion. The manager of the French paper called the Batave publifhed on the i4tli of Auguft laft a letter from a fuperintendant of mili- tary fupplies for the department of the North. Nothings fays the writer, can give an idea of the difcredit of our money : in this country it is only regarded as an illusion. At Ghent for a common fupper for my f elf and my fervanty and for our two horfes, they in/ifted on being paid before^ hand^ either eighteen livres in fpecie^ or elfe 1125 in ajfignats. This barefaced depredation mujl lead to the fnqfi defiruliive confequences. The next extradt which I Ihall give is from the Courier Fran^m of the 20th of Auguft. The nearer the Convention approaches t9 the end of its career t the more the horizon clears up, and the more our money lofes credit. This is an enigma ! While we are waiting its folution, we fuffer a great deal from this oppofite progrejfion. The afftgnats fall into the mcfi alarming difcredit. In many places they only pafs for a fortieth part of their nominal value. In IFejt^ Fianders, Brabant, &c. &c. they have no longer any commercial circulation^ and nothing pajfes butfpecie. If the Convention does not adopt fome meafures to prevent this, we fhall very foon have to pay 1800 livres for an cmelett, as was the cafe in America, But a circum- ftance, more ftrong even than thefe, was communi- cated to the Convention by Roux one of the mem- bers,— //&a/ the bargemen on a part of the Seine, ivbo the year before ajked only 1 00 I'lvres for dragging a large barge, and which at mofi was only t'vo hours work* at prejent afk as far as 40,000 livres. The Moniteur where this is related adds, that there was a general movement of indignation through the whole Allem- bly. This is not the laft inftance, in which they wiU have fimilar reafons for it, I by no means however would be confidered as af- ferting, but that lo very rapid a depreciation as thefe inftanccs indicate may be more or ids retarded, or even fufpendedi by the contingencies of a revolution « she m m u- U^' C 3+ 1 the violent decrees, and the defperate meafures whicK may pofTibly be adopted. But I again affirm that no meafures which can be adopted, will put off for any long time the moment when the alTignats will noE be worth the falaries of the perfons employed to ve- rify them; and that they will have the fame fate as the coloniil paper-money of America, which at laft a great many perfons threw away, when a thoufand dollars of it would no longer purchafe a fingle dol- lar in fpecie. There is every appearance that the alTignats will be in the fame depreciated ftate be- fore the beginning, or at Icuft, before the termina-* tlon of another campaign -, and in that cafe, I once more alk, how ihofe who are to fucceed the Conven- tion will be able to fupply, and pay, the fourteen armies which defend ilie extenfive conqueds of France, or whether a vote without armies will prefcrve them as integval parts of the indivifibk Republic? , . Fourth Assertion. In tracing the courfe of this depreciation and poinC- !ing out its inevitable confequences, I remarked, that ithe Convention had thought fit to double the falaries of its own members, fo long fince as the 13th of lad January, and then limited my fe If to this cbfervation, that // is rolher furprifwg that it has hitherto refrained from doubling in the fame way, the pay of its fourteen armies. In fa6t it has been obliged to do a great deal more. The well-founded complaints of the troops, and their frequent defertions, ^ bliged it to vote on the 23d of July an addition of two fols in fpecie, to the pay of the non-commiflioned officers and privates ot all their armies. This fupplementary pay, as they choofe to ftyle it, being in fpecie, is evidently equivalent to 80 fols in aflignats •, nearly fix times the former pay, which was 15 fols in paper. If ihe Convciit'on really had in aftual fervice the mil- lion of foldiers which it pretends to have, this alone would i. > termina- I 35 1 would be an expence of 3 millions of livrcs a month in fpecie ; but as I have very good reafon to believe, that, at prefent, the armies do not amoun: to more than 500,000 effs6tive men, I will rate this new expence at only 1,500,000 livres per month •, but then it mud be remembered that it is to be paid in cafli i and we are to learn where the treafure can be found to do it. This decree had not pafled more than a week, before the Committee of Finance (in- filling at the fame time on the abfolute necelTity of executing it) found itfelf obliged to propofe another, ordering all the articles of gilt plate, gold, orjilver, re- maining either in the treafury, or in any other of the Na- tional repojitcries, to be iinmediately carried to the mint. So that the Convention found itfelf under the difa- greeable neceflity of letting all the world know, that it can only make provifion for this moderate expen- diture of fpecie, by adopting the lall refource of prodigals, and coining its trinkets. And yet, not- withllanding all this, it is infatuated enough to per- fift in its pretentions of preft-rving what it calls the hrilliant tircle of its conquefls, in reality no other than a circle of mifery. But befides this fupplementary pay to the common loldiers, it cannot polfibly much longer avoid giving a proportionate addition in fpe- cie, to the pay of the officers, for at prefent many of them receive lels by from 10 to 15 fols per day, than the common foldiers. In confequence complaints are received from every quarter, and the captains of companies affirm, that, to be paid as they were three years ago, they ought at prefent to receive at leaft 6000 livres per month, which after all is only equi- valent to about fix pounds fterling. The complaints too of the other perlons in the iisrvice of the nation, are equally numerous, well founded, and dsftrelfing. ^he really indigent, faid Cambaceresj the 21ft of June, fire the public fun^ionariesy thofe "joho receive the pay pf the Nation^ and thofe who are its creditors J or fmall F fums. t ■ • 1 ;!- '1% .\ »i 'W'->^T jH»lillif ■ .%*»^ -^.^111*9*^1^ ,r'i ^ ' V. ' i 36 1 funis. The latter being paid in aflignats at their nominal value, do not really receive mere than a fortieth part of their original intercft. To relieve, in fomc degree, the difcrefs of thefe pcrfons, the Committee of Public Welfare, about three weeks after the former decree, announced, that from the 17th of Auguft it would take meafures for diftributing to perfons in low circumjiances, to the pub' lie funnionaries, and the annuitants, candles, oily and faltjijhy at about a fourth of the market-price. This meafure, indeed, has hitherto been only adopted for the relief of the inhabitants of Paris *; but if, with re* fped to Paris, this be a meafure of public fafety, how is the fafety of the French Republic, and how are its conquefts to be preferved ? Fifth Assertion. I faid that the bankruptcy is already begun, and that the various meafures adopted by the Convention in lail March, may be confidered as the fcene immedi- ately preceding the catallrophe of this drama. The Paris newfpapers very foon confirmed my conjedore. What follows is an cxtraft from the Courier Univerfel of the 24th of May. The fpetlacle which France pre- fents at this moment is horrible. The government cannot pay its creditors ; the debtors to the ft ate cannot pay the gozernmerj \ and the citizens cannot pay one another. This is the neceffary confequence of uncertainly, andarbi^ trary rule, the unfortunate refult ofrepeatti and extrava- gant £W'J/ions of affignat!, and of the diminution and dif- appearance of fpecie, liut this terrible view of things * At prefcnt, the whole anxiety of the Committee of Public Welfare is direiSled to the Capital, which obliges the Committee of Finance to make enoimous facrifices. Meat, faid Vernier, the 16th of June, already tifts the nation 12 litres per pound, and 'vjtll J'oon coji it from 18 to ,',0 li'vres; 'which, he added, occafions fin expence of i-j milltms ^r tnonth, only for th( confumption cf does A . does r 37 ] VToes not reft merely on the authority of the editor of a newfpaper. Six days before the datf; of the above txtradl, Jean-Bon Saint ^»^r^' addrefled his colleagues in the following terms : PFhat would you fay ^ if a younger brother were to come to you with the following iomplaint ? My father, who died before the revolution^ left nte a twelfth part of his property, which remained in the hands of my eldejl brother. He now choofes to pay fne\ but as affignats are to fpecie only as \$to i, he finds out that I am only entitled to a 1 3o//& part of my father^ s property, though he left me a twelfth of it I The cafe of farmers and land-owners is exactly analogous to this. If fuch as this was the univerfal confufion in private tranfaftions, when affignats were only as 15 to i with fpecie, what muft it be now that they are as 40 to i ? Another inftance, marked by ftill greater atrocity, was denounced by the Committee of Legiflation, oa the 13th of July, in the following words: What has made a particular impreffion on your Committee, is the way in which feveral hufbands plunder their wives. For inftance — a woman brought her hufhand, as a portion, a real eft ate worth 30,000 livres. He, taking advantage of, or more properly abufing^ a law, (which, by its great latitude, is become too favourable perhaps to the fuggeftions of inconftancy, and the fhameful calculations of corruption and cupidity,) applies for and obtains « di- vorce. If the wife is only entitled to be reimburfed the nominal value of her fcrtune, he does this by felling a tenths or perhaps a twentieth part of her eftate : he re- tains the rejidue, in defiance of probity, which he fports withy and enriches fame other wife with the fpoils of the former, Tkefe terrible examples of immorality, cor^ ruption, and bad faith, are unfortunately but too frequent y and demand immediate remedy. The Convention, to r^«("l| i'>l n i t( [ 33 I nuiiies originating before the iftof January 179^^ What other interpretation can be put on this decree, but that it is virtually an admifllon that the revolu- tionar/ money is good for nothing, or, in other words, that the revolution is bankrupt ? Indeed a more palpable bankruptcy can hardly be conceived than that of a debtor, who pays his cre- ditors only a fortieth part of what he owes them. Exadiy fuch is rhe prefent fituation of France, whole failure only differs from common failures in this re- fpe6t ; that the Republic, inftead of avowedly (top- ping payment, goes on paying her foreign creditors,, whole loans were made in real money, very punftu- ally, with flips of paper, worth a fortieth part of their denomination, and then makes a parade of her ho- nmrahk conduil, and the unperijhable good faith of tks Nation *. n]i fi 1 :^ Sixth Assertion. In efti mating the probable augmentation of the mafs of alfignats by new cmifllons, in order to calcU' late by the lowefi data^ I began with the deficit of the month Nivojs^ which was only 428 millions -, and I contented myfelf with inferring, that by the end of the year there would be in circulation a new mafs of affignc'.ts of about five milliards (more than 208 miU lioiis iterling), \ am not cxaflly informed of the deficit of the fub* fequent moiuhs, but I have every reafon to believe that it has already exceeded this fum. We may jiuige by what one of their great financiers. Bourdon of Oif, aflerted, the i8th of May — fVe have expended' • This is rot the lei's true on account of one exception^ But I ihould do the Deputy Fernier the juftice to fay, that he ex- jprciTed hiniliilon this lobjcft, on the jihof May, in the follow- ing terms. Laiu, jujlice, and the regard due to foreign naiiont haojc been impudemlj vitiated ; and how can lue, after /ttcbtondu3^ expcil that they 'will treat taith ui ? I 39 1 rjr 179.4, decrecy revolu- lin other lardly be his cre- ss them. , whofe this re- ly ftop- :reditorSy pun<5l;Li- t of their her ho- th of the rj of the to ccUcU'- cit of the IS ; and I the end new ma/s 2o8 mil- ■ the fub«- believe We may Bourdon ? expended' tion, But that he ex* the follow. ig*i nationt tit in the laft month 800 milf'^.fis j this month wejhall e^t-' pend a milliard \ the next 1 500 millionsy and fo pro- grejjively. However exaggerated this anticipating alTcrtion of his appeared at the timt. v. hen iw was made, the fadts have even exceeded his cunje6.ures i for the Convention founditfeif obliged to ilTue, in the month of June, 300 millions more than he talked of*. If this almoll unimaginable progreflfion does not Aop, a "^ the deficit Qiouldonly increafe in the ratio of one- third per month, the emiflion neceflary for next De- cember (if alTignats fliould lad fo long) will be no lefs than nine milliards and a half, or almofi; 400 millioni (lerling ! \ allow that 1 do not contider fuch a circumfliance as poflTible •, but either the afllgnats muft: continue to be iflued, or fome other way of paying the pub- lic expences muft be difcovered, or the Revolution vanifhes. What the event may be, time will difco- ver, but the following obfervation will afTilt our con- jedures as to the future value of afllgnats-, that fince ihe third of May they have loft three-fourths of their then rem.aining value, though the whole circulating mafs has only been increafed one-third. It is, however, already near four months fince the laft mentioned financier reprefcntcd this profpcdt in the following alarming manner : Like the daugh- ters of DanauSf we are condemned to pour in perpetually without ever being able to fill. We have a paper -drcpfy^ and it is not by increajirig the bulk that the difeafe can be cured. It is a punSlure which muft be made. If I ftiould be told that the idea conveyed by ihis medical metaphor will poflibly be realized, for that the Convention has adopted the extraordinary means * The Convention decreed on the 12th of July a credit, or, in other words, ao emiflion of 1800 millions (7; mili:ons (lerling), of which ijoo millions were for the ufe of the cotnminion of j^rovi(ioo8 ! rccom- i\ f i "!'♦!! ; i; '*i''w>ifm>T«" ^^f^Mi^-4%ijHLM^J ■^ ^^Hffm'' [ 40 r rfcommendeu by this fame Bourdon of Oifej arid that ihey will very loon withdraw the cxifting afFignats, in a much greater proportion than it will be neccirary to iirue new ones, I acknowledge that they have boaltcd or doing all this ■, but in undertaking an examina- tion of the marvellous means which are to produce lb marvellous an effedl, I am not atraid toalVcrt, that whatever the quantity of paper-money may be which is received with one hand, at leall a double quantity mult beillued again with rhe other j and by the time when the people will be '»»fd of taking it, the Re- public will find that, in a vain attempt to fupporc its credit, flie has alienated all the mod valuable of the national domains •, by which I mean that part of the confifcated, which is confidered as the belt, if not the only pledge for the paper-money. The greater part of the inftruments to be cm- ployed in this famous operation had already been commented on by Johannot in his report of the 14th of April, in which he lupportcd his opinions by thcfe remarkable words : // is no longer a time to do things by halves : ive mujl advance towards a rege- fieration with the fame perjevtrance^ as for eighteen months paji we have ken going to deJtruSfion, He began this report with boldly alTcriing, that the peace with PruJJia tvould give a new hafis to public credit \ and that the Convention might now, in fame degree^ build on fure ground, after Jo many concufftom and hurricanes. This iblid edifice was to be built by fifteen infallible operations, which Bourdon of Oife has laved me the trouble of commenting on ; for the whole palace of cards was overfct by the following Ihorc fpeech. 11:is monmig a projeil of finance has been di/iributed among you. Many of my colleagues and tnyjclf intend to dtjpute feven-eights of ;/. It is abfo' lutcly nectjjary to withdraw Jome cf the affignats from circulation; for fcrtnerly, when you traded with all Europe, you had net afourlb part of the currency which you t 41 ] you have at prefer :. Now your money is increa fed four - fifth Sy and you have no trade but with yourfelves. This cannot lajl. It is clearly demonflrated that nothing FETTERS OUR REVOLUTIOM SO MUCH AS THE FI- NANCES, This fingle cenfure io completely let afidc the projed of Johannot, that the Convention did not even deign to deliberate on ir. The new empiric immediately affumed the alcendanty in the diredtion of the finances, and his patients placed the fame implicit confidence in him, as they had done in their former quacks, and allowed hin to attempt the cure of the paper-dropjy by tapping! :J And now we will proceed to analyfe the five extra- ordinary remedies which have been fuccefilvely a- dopttd to fecure the fiiccefs of this operation *. The FfsT was the violent decree which Hopped the circulation of all the alTignats of the royal impreffion, under pretence that they interfered with republican principles : a decree which, if it could have been executed, would only have withdrawn from the cir* culation a quantity of paper equal to the cminjon of one month. But as this decree was exprefsiy, and with great juftice, called an adt of bankruptcy-}- by fome of the deputies j and as this bankruptcy * The decree of the 14th of July, certainly need not be enumerated among ihe remedies ! — a decree by which the Con- vention opened a loan for a milliard cfajjignuls, at anannualand perpetual itittreft of I per cent. In fat^t, if (he fcheme could have fucceeded, and the Republic could have funded h.T twelve mil- liards at this rate, (he would have found herfelf, in the I'pace of three years only, loaded with an additional debt, far heavier than the whole debt of Great Britain ; during which time (he has almoft annihilated that revenue which, when mod produc- tive, was fo inadequate to the former national expenditure, as that the deficiency caufed the dcHruflion of the monarchy. f Some people, faid Geniflieux, the 12th of May, re-volt at any fort of DEMONETISATION, confound the ivord ivltb an nu ca- tion, and attach to it the idtias cf roucerv and eani;- {lUPTfY { parti- '1' ':(v| if 'I |*!>f*B*!*~< m--»^r w . Vi^'h; [ 42 1 particularly affcfled the fmall aflignats, and confc- quently the poor, it immediately became one of the great grievances which ftimulated the infurgents to attack the Convention, in fo formidable a manner, on the 2 2d of May. As this was the firft inftance of an infurre(5lion againft the Reprefentatives of the People, it is more than probable that the extreme danger* which they efcaped with fo much difficulty will prevent any new decrees of demonetifation^ or can- celling unredeemed aflignats. Indeed LeGendre^ whofe intrepidity fo remarkably contributed to fave his colleagues from the fury of the populace, a few • The following extrafl from the Cturier Univer/tl of the 24th of May, will give fome idea of the alarming ficuation of the Convention on that occafion. " The criOs is come. The National Reprefentation has been *' difowned, vilified, annihilated: the blood of a Reprefentative *' of the People has been ftied ; his bleeding head has been car* *< ried on a pike into the very fandluary of the laws, &c. 3cc. " Generous friends of the laws and of libert} 1 you, who in ** your philanthropic dreams hoped to date the reiurn of AAre^ " to earth, from the apra of the Republic ! why could you not *' all be prefent at this frightful fpcAade ? why could not you " fee the blood c'rcppirg from that head, where, with the pallid "look of death, was united the ferenity of innocence! why *' did not >ou behold this prople of cannibals preffing forward " to be fprinkled with blood ! •' Kn«:)w then, that the BfTaflin of Ferrand, arrefted in his *' civic courfe, has been ref ued from the executioner by four or " five thousand .illains who call themfelves, and whom we call, " TflE People, has Iten carried in triumph as a martyr for ** libtrty, and covered 'with civic crcwns^ SiC. •* After fuch crimes, good men can only withdraw them- *< fclves, and conjure the God of heaven and earth, at laft, to <' arm himlelf with his thunder, and exterminate so abo- '• MI N ABLE A PKOPLE !" At lall the French Revolut'onifts invokt the fupreme Being ! conjure him to exterminate jo ahminable a People ; to exterminate the Parifians, the Conquerors o> the Baflile ! If the partial bankruptcy, which, at that time, the Convention attempted, occaiioned fuch a florm; what may we not expert, wh lion!) in fpecinal evil, ers to ufe of which on would Ince dafh how to entangled :ycs open er. ourdotit in his plan, pted, for ptrluade nt of the nths. // 'onetife the 'repeat itj "^Jbere is no ich all the invention adignais, ive fallen fortieth, which all ftaie the ivary, in had once e Jo vio' ^ any du- ium than any t 47 1 )iny real caufe i and that the accidental and temporary lofs on ajjignats was to be attributed to caufes which muj^ jfoon vaniflj. As to the fall in the price of provifions, which the Convention fo confidently pronounced would be an effccl of this projeft, we niayiidge by the following fad, averred by Hardi : — Surely^ laid he, we have not ijfued in the coiirje of the laft thrc months no timei the ajftgnats preijioujly exifiing j and yet bread, which then fold for ^ojolsy now fells for i8 livres a pound in m^ department. But notwithftanding fo apparently tempting a fpe- culation as the decree offers, Bnlland complained bitterly on the 14th oi^ June, that there were flill places where they had not been able to fell any ejlates', Jq 'much, f'.id he, is the public fpirit perverted. On the contrary, I think it demonftrative evidence, ror that the public fpirit is perverted^ but that, in tir ^'ftridl of which he complains, the people are ]- Jed, that even if, againft all exprdiiiion, the Ixcpuoiic fhouid be eitablilhed, yet the diftrefs in which the legiflature that fucceeds the Convention will find itfclf involved, will make it impofllble for it ever to confirm the fales made in virtue of this de- cree: fales fo fraudulent, that, if Bourdon cf Oife is to be believed, a Jingle yearns produce hcs been more than fnfjicient to pay for the pur chafe. An ancient hiltonan, when wifhing to fet in the moll: ftriking view the terrible democratic confufion of Greece, and the depredations of its popular go- vernments, does it by faying, that the confifcated pro- perty of the rich could no longer find purchafers at two years value. What then will the hillorian of the French Revolution fay, when he comes to this period of it? — '* Never," he will exclaim, " never did the " annals of mankind produce an example of fuch f* unbounded fpoliatlon, nor a more memorable t* proof ^hat the robberies of a government, how- " ever t i i fi'i % '"I Ir.'l ■ \m ._^- ,— nfMi^ C 48 ] c< ver fyftematicaHy conduded, and with the parade ** of legal forms, yet are, if poflible, even lefs pro- ** fitable than thofe of the private plunderer, who is " obliged to (belter himfelf in obfcurity." Thefe fraudulent faies muft, I think, be inevitably annulled 1 but I will not pretend to fix precifely the time when it will happen: adverting, however, to prefent circumftances only, I am not afraid to aflert, that, in the whole courfe of the year, not three mil- liards will be withdrawn from circulation, though it was announced as a meafure which would withdraw 6 milliards (250 millions fterling) by the month of Oc' tober, or perhaps fooner. Probably very little btfides the ecclefiaftical pro- perty will ever be fold under this decree, and what remains of that cannot now be a great deal, becauf* fo much of it has already been fold j being the only property which has been confidered as at ail likely to be fecured to the purchafers. All the perfons who come from France agree in fayingj that the purchafers of national domains make an immenfe difftrcrnce in their valuation of them, ac' cording to the cuis of proprietors from whom they were confifcated. They fay, that monadic property ftill is bought with eagerncfs and confidence i next to that the church lands •, and next, the domains cf the crown, which, however, find but few purchaL'rs \ and as to the edates of the emigrants, very few per^ fons care to have any thing to do with them •, or ac leaft they rnai^e a marked difference between thofe confilCvited by the Conftituent and the fucceeding Aff-mblies. This circumftance induced the Con- vention to form a fcheme for felling emigrant eftatcs by way of lottery^ or tontine j a projed which, were we to believe them, would produce a milliard of aflignats. Whatever the effedt of this plan may be, the Convention is too necefiitous to wait for it, with- out adopting other mealures of more immediate ope- ration. rai fo )o fer dr is wl thi t 49 1 make n, ac' they perty next ins of ia(jrs i w per^ or ac thofe eding Con- eftates were rd of ay be, with- : ope- ation. ration. In the fitting of the 2d of this month, the four united Committqps brought forward the fol- lowing propofitions, which they confidently repre- fented as an eajy and certain way of immediately with" drawing feveral milliards from the circulation : this is to be done by the fale of all the houles in Paris which belong to the nation. They propofed to pulh this fale fo expeditlouQy, as to complete it in one de- cade j and to exaft the full payment in the courfe of the decade fuecceding, and to give polfenion in four days to al citizens who would offer 150 times the rent of the year 1 7 92. But as in that year the mag- nificent houfes of 1 he emigrants did not let, perhaps, for more than a tenth part of their value, 150 times that rent, at the aftual value of paper-money, will not be more than half a year's purchafe, according to tht rent which they would have let at before the Revolution. In order to induce the Convention to adopt this defperate fcheme, which its contrivers themfelves called extraordinary, the Committees reprefented— I ft. That thefe houfes ^ partly from the ex pence of keeping them in order t and partly from had management^ produced little or nothing. 2d", That by the purchafe of all the national houfes ^ ten thoufand inhabitants of Paris would inJianHy become attached to the Revolution^ which would be, by this mea" fure, eftablijhed in that city fcr ever, 3d, That this )ieneralfa(c could net hut raife the value Tf the affignats by diminifhing their nwuber ; and that the Jcur Committees were convinced that the fudden withdrawing of Jo great a mafs of them inujt nectJJ'arily improve the exchange. • , The rcluk of this second projecl I (^o not yet know ; but fince it was propoleJ two decades have elapfed ; and however great , the mar*, of a(iignats may have been which has been received m cunlequence of ir, yet the value of the remainder coniinues to ditniniOi A • 1^ in m i X., ■ '■n^*- ■i^* J' I 50 i in the uf'ual proportion : and by what is now* aflwally paffing in Paris, we may judge whether //&tf Revolution IS ejiahii/h. i therefor ever I So little have the effe<5ls, either of the original decree, or of this Cupplementarjr one, corrcfponded with the expedation of their pro- jedtors ! How fanguine they were in their hopes of the good efFeils of the; firft-mentioned decree, we may judge from the expreflions ufed by Bourdon of Oife. On propoling limilar meafurcs to his colleagues the aytht of May, he fra kly avowed, that unlejs they wert adcpiedy it zvould be impoJjl^U to go on three months longer. Three days after, upon the palTing of this decree, he triumphantly exclaimed, / declare to the Powers of Europey that the national domains which are lefty after- dedu^Ung the afftgnats which have been iffuedy can Jli I furniflj us with the means of carrying on the war againji them all for three years to come. It is a curious circumltance, which no doubt readily occurs to thofe who attend to the debates of the Con- vention, that it is the pradice of its orators to am- plify the exaggerations of the public rcfources, in proportion as they adually diminiQi. Only fix weeks before this pufFof Bourdon^ his col- league Jchannot had come forward, in the name of the Committee of Finance, to aflure the Convention, that three milliards of alTignats C 125 milliuils fterling) would be more than enough to fupply all the future cxpences of the war. At that time the Committee was fo confident of this, tha^ it propofed printing aliignats to this .amount, merely by way of precautieny and im- mediately after to deftroy publicly all the imple« ments ufed in fabricating them. Johannot added—' Even if the warf^ould lajl two years longer y there will remain feven milliards of the funds provided for it i whichy after the pacif cation, may be ufefully applied to fay off the national debt. Johannot was contented to fay two years ; but as foon as the three milliards, which he talked "T^MfK '■mfi^'^ r 5» r talked of, were in a way of being fpeedily cxhauftcd, Bourdon of Oife came forward to improve upon his predcceflbr, and confidently aflcrt, that the Conven- tion had means f( r .— rrying on the war three years longer againft all the Powers of Europe. 1 do not prefume to judge whateffe(5t this amplifi- cation of Johannot's hyperbole will haveon the Diet at Ratiibun -, but I can hardly believe that it will in- duce Great Britain to lay down her arms, before thofe of her allies, who rem .n true to their engagements, have obtained full reftitution, Notwithftanding all this blazing difplay of the in- exhauftible refources of the Republic, many mem- bers of the Convention are not \o much dazzled as not to exprefs th-ir amazement, that though they have made peace with Pruflla and Spain, yet the military expences go on increafing, while the re- fources diminifh, and the difcredit of the affignats progrefilvelv increafcs, in proportion as the govern- ment makes extraorHinarv efforts to withdraw a part from the circulation, and improve the credit of the remainder -, jull indeed as Clauzel faid beforehand that it would be. / have but one word to add, faid he, the 7th of June, whf n oppofing the fale of the rational domains at 75 years' purchafc : // was af-* Jertedt that this new mode of felling would lower the price of commodities, by ratfing the credit of the affignats ; (indyet^ fince the pronmlgation of that law, the loss UPON ASSIGN ATS BECOMES CONTINUALLY GREATER AND GREATER. 'The ajfo ciatiofis formed for the pur- pofe of buying the national eflates at a low price, make it their buftnefs to depreciate the affignats ; and it is their interefl to do fo* Now that this opinion is confirmed by experience, and \\\2i\. the lofs becomes continually greater and greater, the Convention thinks fit to lay the blame on the people. It feems, fays Savary peevifhly, in his re-* port of the 12th of July, itfeems as if the French all ^ ^^ H agres il I ii-i !f I J* I agree to unite their endeavours to depreciate the puhlic wealth, and amuje tbemfelves with being injlrumental in their own ruin. Savary, however, at the very time that he ventures to charge the people with wilfull/ ruining the fortune of the public, does juft as thofe who went before him did, and tries to conceal the real fituation of m, as a compenfacion for the fall of afTigtiats, during the time that it has been due. "With this intention, it decreed, on the 2 lit of June, that in all cafes where creditors were obliged to re- ceive payment of any debt, they (hall be allowed to demand, in addition to the original fum, one-fourth more for every feries of afllgnats of 500 millions if- fued'fince firfl that t\vo milliards were in circula-* * The editor, perhaps, did not think it quite fafe to add what will readily occur to many of his readers — " But why are new *< ones continually ill'uing? Becaufe we obllinately refufe to re- *' Acre our conqueils : becaufe fo long as we refufe to reftore *' them, the war mud continue ; and fo long as the war con- *< tinues, the emiiTion of new aflignats is indifpenfable : be- '* caufe we are reiblved to reduce their value to nothing, by re- «' peated cmiflions, before we will terminate the war which they " enabled us to begin." tion, mfdnf^' the public umental in very time li wilfully [I as thofe nccal the IS that fo ecurjor of this refto' r is fo far worfc and be given p/, of the latiofts of How can uion ha9 » (lop this ; the pro- tie of pro-' led in re- r the fall bteen due. of June, ed to re- llowed to tie-fourth illions if-. circula<> o add what y are new fufe to re- to reftore war con- able : be< ng, by re- vhich they tion, t S3 I tion *. So thai\ as at the time when the decree pafled, there were aboui i2 milliards (500 millions (Icrling) in circulation, (if i underftand its meaning,) every one who, ever fince the period at which the fcale com- mences, has owed 1000 livres, fince the pafTingofthe decree is not entitled to a releafe for his debt buc by paying 6000 livres in national money or afllgnats : but yet, as thefe are now worth only a fortieth pare of their nominal value, he, in jullice, ought to be obliged to pay 40,000, inflead of only 6000. It is true that 1 have reafon to believe thar this law, though of fo recent a date, is already neglected f. Such a law, however, a(5tually did pafs ; and it is in this way that the legiflators of France regulate pe- cuniary tranfadions, (lop the depreciation of aflig- nats, and provide means of continuing the war for three years longer againji all the Powers of Europe I But at prefent they depend more on their fourth cure for this paper-dropfy^ which is a Maximumt once more edablifhed by a decree of the 20th of July, well worthy of Dubois Crance who propofed it J. They have indeed cautiouQy avoided ufing a fecond time the * In the 3d article of this fame decree it is provided, that the payments Jhall diminijh in the fame proportion of one-fourth upon every diminution of ^oo millions in the circulating mafs of ajpgnats. I believe molt of my readers will confider this article as totally unneceflary. Can the Convention hope to impofe on the credulity of the people by regulations like this i f So great a proportion of the decrees of the Convention fall of themfelves, without any formal repeal, that, perhaps, it may be the cafe refpeding this. The decree of the 13th of July, which is pofterior to it, and which provifionally fufpends certain repayments in aillgnats, feems virtually to repeal it, as not an- fwering its intention. X Nothing can be more ridiculous thac the pompous difplay of riches, which Dubois Cranci promifed the Convention would be gained by adopting this meafure. By the benefit of this de- cree, faid he, the 5 th of May, not an uffignat goes out of thetrea' fury to pay the armies. Tour expences are infinitely diminijhedi for ivhat has cofi you 3 milUardi (125 millions ftcrling) a-year, nuill H 2 no'w ■ '1 A I m I i/i [ 54 J the dcteftcd word Maximum. But this new law (?<•- crces that the land-tax for the prcfcnt year Ihall be paid, half in ajfignats at their nominal value, and half in CORN according to its atlual value in fpecie in the year 1790, which was ten livres per 100 lb. It is ealy to comprehend that this le-ond Maximum^ as far as it goes, is even more vexatious than the firft, Robefpterre had at lead the j".::lice to extend his Max- imum to ail forts of commodities. He fixed a price at which the farmer was obliged to fell his corn, but then he fixed a proportionate price on every thing which the farmer could have occafion to pay for. But this new Maximum affcds exclufively the cultivators c.fland, and in fuch a degree, that the Convention compels them to furnifli 100 lb. of corn at a lefs price than they are forced to pay for a fingle day's work to the labourer who reaps it •, for the new dictators have not hitherto dared to follow the example of Robefpierre more clofely, and extend tneir Maximum to wages, though Dubois Crance prefled this regula- tion too. How could Boijfy d^Anglas refrain from rulhing once more with indigr.aiion to the Tribune, to op- pofe this kcond Maximum, exertit^g againft it the fame fplendid eloquence with which he defcribed the hor- rors of the former? Our foil, faid he, was menaced with fterility by this law. In France it was become a misfortune to be condemned to provide food for the citizens. n feel bef new coftyou only 157 millions (about 6,500,000!. fterling). 0/ this a r.ett fum of ^"i millions ivill come back again to the nation, heing the produce of thefale of our ivheat to Paris, and the neighhouritg commune!. The remaining nett fum o/" =; 9 millions ivill be our luhole txpence for feeding tiuo millions of men and 250 thoufand horjes. 1 imagine this calculation will not be quite fo well relifhed in the provinces as at Paris. What will the inhabitants of the for- mer fay, when they find themfelves condemned to pay taxes in kind, in order to feed Paris, which has hitherto domineered over them ; and to proi^rg a war which ruins them ? [ 55 3 The defpotifm of terror bore heavily on the ckfs which feeds us, &c. &c. Depending on fuch declarations, I was led to fup- pofe, as the Author of Rejletfions on Peace had done before me, that Nature could not pojftbly produce afc' ccnd time the phenomenon of fuch a government *. And I thought I might venture to pronounce that a Maxi- mum, confidering the experience which they have had of its concomitant evils, would never again be at- tempted by the Legiflators of France. However, I am compelled to acknowledge that I was miftaken. The Convention has virtually decreed it a fecond time i but it is more eafy to pafs a decree, than to enforce its execution. If hitherto the people do noc rife in a mafs againft it, the reafon is, becaule the ope- ration of it is prudently enough pollponed to the months Frimairc and Krumaire, and it will then be time enough for refillar.cf, if the rulers fhould be daring enough to perfift in enforcing it ; and befides the French at prclent hav(^ Iccirnz to J urfge from the difprfi t ion of their Legiflators {^^ Botfly d'Angias told them the 2Sth of June) rchat laws will be enforced, and what zvill be reconfiJered. But how can tliefc Legiflators entertain the idea that a peafantry, which was drawn in to fupport the Revolution by a folemn promile of the abolition of tithes, will now fubmic quietly to a tax of the fame kind, and far more oppiedive than before? or that they will conjcnt to fuch a meafure upon being told, that it will accompiifh this bentfcent Revolution, which was to free them from fo many public burthens, but which has already loaded them with fuch innumera- ble grievances ? Blmdly led by ignorant and prefumptuous conduc- tors, after fix long y- ars of revolutionary projects, we find them come back again, in this relpcct, to the i /'! I f • \ y- ^ke * Ref(3ions on Piace, p. 9. vc.y Ji\ 11 li;i »■• J r 56 1 tery point from which they kt out. For, if wc ma/ credit Merlin of Douay, the firft caule of the Revo-' lution was the general irritation occafioned by the projeft of a lax to be paid in kind^ which was propofcd to the Notables. And yet the prcfcnt Legiflaiora can hope to conlblidate the Revolution, by adopting that very mcafure in fupport of the new order of things, which was the dcllrudioti of the old ! If, this autumn, they fliould venture to enforce the execution of this decree, they will want, not more an army of 2co,ooo collcftors, as announced by Bourdon of Gift*, than one of 200,000 execu- tioners to their Guillotines. 'lh:n injlrument of death muft once more become the hern of plenty of the French Republic : a metaphor ufed by Gamon the 3d of May, in fpeaking of the connexion betweeri the Guillotine and the Rcquifilicns and Maximum^ which k To tfFedually fupporicd. But 1 alk, what other fupport or combination of Tcfources can be invented, which will have a chance of fuccefsfuUy doing what Vernier propolcd the i5ih of July, relieving tht government from the neceffity of thofe ruinous purcbafes which devour the public ? It is now near four months fince Baudin gave an intimation of the rigorous meafures which at prcfent the Convention feems difpofed to recur to. To pro- vide fubfiftencc for the armies and the great ccmmiines 'ivithout requi/itions^ and without throwing four milliards more of ajfignats into circulation ; this^ laid he, is a problem which mufl be immediately folved. No doubt the Convention judged this problem in- capable of Iblution, for thty have thrown four milliards more into circulation fince that time, and have adopt- ed a fpecies of requifition, which Dubois Crance (the author of the latter meafurc) probably hopes will enable the Republic to continue the war. Bertucat indeed faid upon the occafion, T'ou do not know but that with the Maximum and RequifitionSt you may be compelled wc ma/ : Rcvo-rf by the iropofed giHators dopiing )rdcr of I enforce nt, not lounccd cxecu- of death ' of the xmon the between w, which lation of I chance the 15th 'cejfit^ of ? gave an : prcfent To prO' cmmtmes milliards he, is a )!em in- milliards t adopt- nci (the 3CS win Bertucat now tut may be empelkd t 57 J eompelled once more to fubmit to the reign of terror, Dubois Crance undoubtedly knows this very well, but I believe he knows too, that its iecond reign would neither be long nor unpunifticd. And after all, the whole which this tax could pro- duce, even admitting that there would he no oblla* cles to its colledion, could only be bread for about two millions of perfons : but as in tht: prefcnt (late of France no cffc6lual means of coercion can be cm- ployed againft any but marked royaiills, we may be fure that it will not produce one third of the fum ac which it is calculated. Far from providing fur the fubliftcnce of the armies, this tax in kind will not be adequate to the confumptiun of Paris, which is juiU/ confidered as an objed ot the higheft unportancej and whofe inhabitants have already been promifcd abun- dant and almoft gratuitous diflribuci^ns of bread. Time will Akw whether the people in the provinces, hitherto fo fubmifTjve to any political orders di(5fatrd by Paris, will (hew the fame temper in the prefent iii- ftance ; will (hew too, by what means, if a' ai!, the Convention will be able to extricate itfclf from its prefent diftrcfling embarralfment 1 which is fuch, that (hough almoft the whole of the land-tax is (ive years jnarrear, yet ncce(rity compels it to have lecourle to the defperate expedient of finding an equivalent for the deficiency of former years, in a new fpeci-s of contribution, twenty-times more burthenfome than that which the people could not be prevailed upon to pay. We muft wait the event * before we decide too * It is evident that a farincr whofe lau.i-tax amounts, we will fay, to 2C0 livres, being fc the prefent year called upon to pay 100 livi-es in afTignats, an. 100 in corn tilimaieJ at its money. price in 1790, (chat is, at not more than a fortieth or fiftieth part of the prefent marketpii e,) will pay at lead 4100 livres, inllead of his afrefl'ment of 200 only. And in this way, the founded theories of adminidration are perverted by the French, ^hepever they attempt to reduce them to pra£lice. A tax in kind »3 - i / • '^'•\'j,. •''&i^i'<^^^^. [ 58 ] tob pofitively on the fuccefs of fuch a projedl j but I guels that, for once, the words of Rioujfe will not be verified. Jt really feems^ laid he, thai in France, we do any ihiug which we dure do. A FIFTH remedy for the fall of the afTlgnats, the lall which has been attempted, and that on which the Convention feenis to rely with its habitual credulity, confifts in adopting meafures of unufuul feverity ^gdAv^'A. jobbers^ and purchafers on fpeculaiisn, .vhom it thinks rit to charge with being the authors of their depreciation. Its Committee of Public Welfare announced on the 15th of July laft, with all the tri- umph of a national vidory, that it had arretted near four hundred perions of this defcription within a fingle decade, a me.ifure which was applauded as a ftriking dilphy of nario.ial juftice ; and which, if we believe its advifers, is almolt the only fure way to give the adignafs that value which they ought to bear, and fecure the freedom of commerce. The French legif- lators, by way of preparation for this new fyftem of terror, have, for a confiderable time, been exciting the popular reftntment aga-nft their prefent vidfims, by reprefenting them as a cloud of vultures^ from wbofe talons they wijhed to fave them * ; as abominable wretches^ the outcajfs of lociety -\ ; as bloodjuckers ; as brig ands, who enrich themfehes by plundering the people^ and tranjmuting to gold its tears and its blood ^» /kind may be modified, {o as to be equally juft with any other ; but it is diredlly the contrary, when the legiflature which efta- bhflies it r^'cognizes two values of money, the one nominal, and ihe other re i! ; by the one of which, the farmer is obliged to pay his Uhourer?, and by the other, to deliver his corn to the public granaries. It does not appear that this obfervaiion oc- turjtd to any of ihe;n ; nnd Duict's Crancc took care to filence all dilpuip, by afTuring the Convention, that the Cbine/e, the iJ'JiJi pco^h upon cnrtb, hat'C a :ax in kind, * Lellardi, May the loth. f Jean-Bon St. Andre, the i6th of May, .i X GeniiTicux, the i6thofMay. ' If [ 59 ] If this unfortunate people, covered with blood and with tears, is really determined to deliver itfelf from fo cruel a calamity, let it fliut up the den of the monfter which tears and devours it. Let it (hut up that pretended fanSluary of the laws^ that hall from which the Convention has ilTued its deftruftive de- crees, which have exterminated morality, and have inftigated this miferable people to prey upon one an- other. The legiflators themfelves are the au- thors of the guilt againfl: which they now fo vehe- mently declaim *. Where is the objeft to which thefe political projedlors hare not direded their fpe- culations, and what has efcaped their monopoly ? One of its own body charged this pretended lenate with having made itfelf the only merchant^ the only I m * BalUndt in bis report of the 29th of May, thought It his duty to declare to his colleagues, " That commerce is become mere " jobbing ; becaufe, as it is eafy to forefee that the price of " every thing muft rife, or, in other words, that the value of " affignats mud fall, fo long as you augment the mafs of them " in circulation, and they have not a fixed and invariable va> •* lue ; many perfons lubo have no wip either to gain or lofe, buy " up provijions and merchandize ^ knowing well that in /omt time ** they muft be dearer. Th e miserable poor, the little annui- *' tants, and a great number of other citizens, can no longer " fubfift, or provide themfelves with even rhe commoneft necef- " faries. But all thefe difadrous inconveniencies will be at an " end, if you ftop the depreciation of the affignats, by giving them *' a real and fixed value; if you withdraw a great part of them, *< by accelerating and facilitating thefale of the national eilates, *' and fixing very early days for payment of the purchafe-money ; •* if you annihilate the jobbers, by preventing the rife of provijions ; *' or, more properly, by preventing the fall of the real value of your " paper-money, and by giving it all that credit nvhich is necejfary »* to eftablij}} the Republic, and reftore the reign of jujlice and the la ws. If Since this report, though the meafures recommended in it were adopted, yet the affignats have gone on falling to half their then remaining value; and now the Convention, in the bitter- nefs of its diiappointment, has thought fit to make a great example of 400 poor wretches, whofe only crime is the having forefeen that affignats will fall, and that, therefore, every thing elfe will be dearer. I farmerf .;>viaji**Mifee„ kr-^ [ ^o T farmer y the ojily manufaSltirer, For five or fix years pad, all the members of all its numerous fi^ftions have been Ipeculating to take advantage of the igno- rance of the people, its credulity, its religion, its oaths, its courage, and its blood — have even calcu- lated on its pafiive fubmiffion to terror. For three years together the Convention has done every thing to metamorpholc the whole nation to a fet of g^me- fters i for three years has encouraged defperate pro- jeds, by numberlefs great prizes in the lottery of public confufion ; has fed the greedinefs of gain with waggon- loads of nominal money ; and now begins a perfecution, becaule there are perfons who prefer fubftantial wealth to a (hadow ! Kow that tl^c dclu- fion is vanilhed, and is fucccedcd by general djiftrufl", the Convention ftigmatizes the natural cfFeft of that diftruft with the odious name oi jobbing, and threatens it with the /word of the law^ direding againft pre- tended criminals, new penalties, of which itfelf is the minifter ! That fame affcmbly, which had been guilty of the atrocious crime of un,ci,vilizing a whole nation, and ruling it by terror; but was pardoned, upon folemnly promifing for ever to put an end to its reign, and opening the ilate-prifons ; that fame aflembly has already encumbered them again with 4C0 vidims of a new fpecies, and directs againft them the popular vengeance, in hopes, if poflible, to de- lay the cataftrophe, which its rapines, and the abo- mi;iable ufe it has made of their produce, render every day more inevitable. Oh ! that 1 had the pen of 3. Tacitus, to write the annals of this aflcmblage of Nero's ! Of all the attempts which the Convention has made to reftore the credit of the aflignats, the uni- form effe6t has hitherto been an acceleration of their ruin. The true caufe of fo many errors, and fo much mifcalculation, is the long feries of extrava- gant theories which have originated in the ignorance or i;lir* I*". ' ----- >r fix years js fi^ftions the ignp- ligion, its ren calcu- For three very thing t of g^me- erate pro- lottery of f gain with w begins a ^rho prefer : t^c dclu- al aiflirufl-, •ft of that i threatens ^ainft pre- tfelf is the had been ig a whole pardoned, an end to that fame pain with nil them , to de- the abo- rcndcr the pen emblage tion has the uni- of their and fo extrava- norance or Je, E fii ] i5r the fraud of the deputies who have been trufted with the direftion of the finances. Firft of ail, with the hopes of flopping the com- mencing difcrcdit of the afljgnats, they profefied to be able to calculate cxadlly what would be the effect of the public diftruft. With a parade of arithme- tical precifion, they demonftrated that the price of provifions could only rife in exad proportion to the Tall of the afTignats : and that the latter could only fall in the exadl proportion of the excefs of the new- fafhioned money above the fpecie before in circu- lation. When experience had proved the nonfenfe of this reafoning, and the Convention began to fhew fomc fymptoms of alarm on the fubjed, new theorifts came forward, who gravely affirmed, that there was not the leaft reafon for any apprehenfions ; for that the value of the national property muft neceflarily in- creafe in exadly t\,s fame ratio as that of the aflignats miahc diminifh j fo that the fame balance would con- ftantly remam between the fecurity and the debt j that is to fay, that though every new emifllon became an additional charge on the property pledged for the af- fignats, yet they attempted to prove, that the nation might pay without dilburfing, or difburfe without paying. Even this hypothelis was not too abfurd for conventional credulity j and the delufion has re- mained, till the national domains only fell for n twentieth or a thirtieth of their real value, while the affignats only pafs for a fortieih part of tiieir nominal value i fo that the fame public fervices require ac prtfent that forty times as many of them fliould be ilfued as at firll. I cannot conjedure by what fpecies of impoflure the new directors of France will perfuade the Con- vention, or thofe who luccecd ir, that thefe oppolite progredions can be retarded j and I fufpedl that ihty have forac bold mealure in contemplation j luch, per- I I 2 haps, M ii m i t 6z ] haps, as a decree, reducing all the exiding afTignats to one-half, or one-third, of their nominal value. No doubt they will, in that cafe, argue, that fuch a decree, affeding equally all afligi.ats, and extend- ing to all who poffcfs them, only deprives the latter of a nominal portion of their money, at tl w fame time that it greatly relieves the public treafury. Bur, net to infill on the imprafticability, in many refpedls, of fo defperate an expedient, the extreme injuftice of \z is evident, ill, Becaufe it fuppofes every o .: lo have a (hare of the mafs of alTignats cxadly correfponding with his wealth or poverty. 2d, Becaufe the poorer clafles, who have not had the means of accumulating paper-money enough to be- come jobbers, and purchafcrs of national eftates, have almoft all their little fubfiftence in affignats. 3d, Becaufe, for this reafon, fuch a partial bank- ruptcy would bear particularly hard on the poor, while thofe who have profited by the pillage of the nation, and whom it would be much morejuft to ftrike at in any fuch meafure, would in reality be gainers. /] fet of men (faid Cambaceres, the 21ft of J unc) Jhamelefs enough to pay the whole price of their pur" chafes with the profits of the firfl year ; and that in affignats, which in this way they get rid of before they lofe their value. However, we have good reafon to fuppofe that the recolledtion of the terrible explofion which was to near dcftroying the Convention in the month of May, and which was principally occafioned by the firft projedt of demonetifation^ will, at lead for fome time longer, prevent any fimilar attempt. c CI What I have advanced on the fubjeft of the affig- nats is, to my own mind, a demonilration that the termination of their career is approaching. When- ever ; afllgnats value, that fuch d extend- the latter tl w fame ilury. in many t extreme fuppofes affignais poverty, )t had the jh to be- 1 cftates, afTignats. al bank- he poor, ;e of the ejuft to eality be e 2 1 ft of ^beir pur-' that in f before that the i was to lonth of i by the or fome le aflig- ;hat the When-, ever ever that happens, whenever France can no longer create an artificial credit, the only refource left her to provide for the extraordinary expences of the war muft be her revenue ; and confequently, the queftion principally turns upon the degree in which that can be made produdlive. Much as the Convention has wiflied to envelop the ftate of the revenue in obfcurity, yet an acknow- ledgment has efcaped from the Committee of Finance, which gives light enough to detedt its real fituation. Vernier^ on the 12th of June, came forward in the name of that Committee, to make bitter complaints againft ihok bad citizens, ^-^perfons unjujl, or indifferent, who have hitherto reJufeJ to pay their taxes •, that Jacred debtf which is fo neceffary a link of the facial contrail. By way of making them afhamed, he declared, that the arrears were more than 1200 millions (more than 50 millions fterhng) ! Now, as the aflfcffments on real and moveable property ought to produce annually joo millions (12,500,0001. fterling), it is a neceffary conclufion, that hardly any part of thofe affeffments has been paid ever fince the commencement of the Revolu- tion *. So that the clafs which Vernier io properly denounces as «»/«/?, or indifferent, forms very nearly the whole population of the new French Republic, . No wonder that Rewbell, four days after, com- plained of fuch a ftate of things, and faid in the Con- vention, that it was time to put an end to it» He did ' • There may be fome indired taxes, which are paid for no other rcafon but becaufe it is impolTible to efcape them; it is, however, evident, that I over-rated the annual produce of the contributions by at leall one half, in afluming its amount to be 150 millions (6,250,000 pounds fterling). If ever thofe who fucceed ihe Convention llate and publilh the account which it has promifed, I dare aficrt, that it will be evident that fince the commencement of the Republic, the French nation has not even paid 75 millions annually in dircd taxe: ; and I fpeak of alfii'nats. not. i i jjjm II J [ 64 ] ilot, however, venture to mention the caufe of the evil, and tell his colleagues, that fuch a ftatc of things muft continue as long as the war., and will probably not terminate but with the Republic. If, indeed, it can no longer be diflembled, that the in* habitants of the country have beei; luiierfo Scribed to fxipporc the Republican fyftem, by the noa-iberlefs falaries of a prodigal adminiftr.:tian i ind that they have betn habituated^ hy that fyfti"U to ["pardte ihi'i'' e'L:,i inter -ili from that of /•■;' fubik* \ and been re- lieved from the piefni.g nes.rflity 0/ paying taxes :— «• 1 a{l<, ho.v' they c&-^ j-offibly be: induced to lubmit to pay thh JacYcd debt ^ Jo necejfary tojocia! order t ti'! th;,': focial order is, not nominally, but-.iergeticaily, leefta- bliflied i till they have <; government,, not only with kgiiimate authority to impofe t .^xes, but vv;i.h power enough to coili'ft them ? The mcrai habits of the French arr'. juch, that the only government which Clin do this muft be a Monarchy. Such is the almoft incredibkt ruin to which the fi- iiunces have been reduced by !o much abfurd mif- inanagcment, that at prefcnt, the revenues of a wholh\c\\ J'uppe/ts France to he exhaufttdt has deprived England of that market for its commodities, has impo'uerijhed its agri* iulturt, ruined its commerce, &C. &C. 'i his llatefman has even gone much farther. Piercing with an eagle's eye through the (hades of futurity, he tells Mr. Pitt, thai the moment is not far £^when the EngliHi nation will demand a friSl account of his conduit, efpf ciallyyir having put againji it the nr.men/e market ejlahlijhed in France. This no doobt alludes 10 ihe F»iil brought in by Mr. Pitt, the objcft of which was to exclude the kngiifh from the immenfe market of aflignats; or, which ccmes to the fame thing, to prevent any kind of circula- tion of that per-money in the Britilh dominions. If evrr a levolutionary tribunal, vt\\\i which Boifjy d'Anglas threatens Mr. Pile, fhould think of laying th? whole refponiibility for this nicaluru upon him, I think he may requeft Bourdon of Oife to undertake hii defence. " Greedy iflanders!" he will perhaps fay, •' what do you complain of? If Mr. Pitt has deprived you *' of the immenfe treafure of uur aiTignats, has he nut allowed " you to glut yourfelves ivith our fpecie? Is not your {/7tf more •' than ever the mijirrfs of the commerce of the ivorldP" ftake. ,^^i?^«i»cL \m/i h may ftill ecic which fllft her in ans of re- ore or lefs Convention itcd. Tour on of Oife, goldt and Wee of the but whofe ND PARTI- on, and of s, that the )f their laft Nivofe, war- etu centinmally ) indifcreet a imple amends iant fpeech of at the Britifli , has deprived rijhed its agrt* Piercing with :eIJs Mr. Pitt. )n will demand Pmt againji it doabt alludes which was to affignats; or, id of circuJa- IS. If ever a \las threatens ibility for «his ion of Oi/e to will perhaps ; deprived you e nut allowed your ///(f more ftake. [ 69 1 flake, is the man who H itters them with a pofitive uHurance that they may . able to carry on the war againfl all the Powers in Europe for three years longer. This ftrange union of fo much boading and ib much lamentation, of fongs of triumph and fig- nals of dillrefs, is coUedted from authority which the partizans of the Convention moil afTurediy will not attempt to difpute \ for it is taken entirely from the debates of that Aflembly, and tlie reports of its Committees. It is, 1 think, a proof how cautioudy I avoided every fpecies of exaggeration in the pre- ceding Chapter ; and how much the wade of the afllgnats, their rapid depreciation, and the augmen- tation of their mais, and the readion of thcle cir* cumftances one on another, have exceeded all my affertions. The Committee of Finance, when it ho- noured thofe aflertions with its refentment in the report which Thibault brought forward the 30th of June, prudently confined itfelf to inveiitive, and faid, that if a detailed anfwer were called fcr^ a paper war muji be the confequence^ and that might give feme advantage to the aggreffors *. Thcfe * The Committee at the fame time engaged to an/'wer it all together. We tuill very foon, faid the Reporter, give a Jiatement of the national accounts. That is what I wiHi to lee; and his na- tion too afks for it inceflantly, and with alarming impatience. The following is an extradt upon this fubjed from the Courier Vniverfd of the 7th of Meflidor laft. *' For ever plans of finance, and never any view of our real •* fituation; for ever means propofed for withdrawing affignats, " and never any for iiTuing fewer ; vagOe reports of their quan- *' tity, and great boafting of the goodnefs of the fecurity ; long *' fpeeches on jobbing, and thofe fpeeches followed by decrees. " No public and formal declaration of their amount ;; no llatc- *' ment how much is fold, and how much remains of the fe- " curity ; no faithful accounts, no clear abftradls ; and yet it " is expelled that the affignats Ihould maintain their value; and " how ? Debafed by thofe who ilTue them io profufely ; dreaded *' by thofe who hold them ; every time they are paid is a fort of K a *• confeffion 1 I ,4 ■iii'lL**5r.'* 4fc'^ t* ■ — ■ ■ - ; ; [ 70 1 Thefe dilapidators of the pub] r wealth have, I own, a far more important bufin. • ; on their hands, which is to repair, as well as they can^ thr: mifchief that they have done. But why is it that anriong fo many, who have fuc- cefTively been charged with this undertaking, and feveral of whom have in other inftances fhcwed cou- rage, not one has hitherto had the refolution to avow publicly, what all of them muft be internally con- vinced of? not one of them has ventured to fay to his colleagues — " DifiTemblc no longer with your- fclvcs that the whole Revolution turns upon Fi- nance*, and that the ruin of your rcfources will be the ruin of the republican lyftem. Ccafe for once •' to confide in thofe incapable empirics who have •' fuccefllvely impofed upon you wich their wonder- " ful and poifonous receipts. Liftcn to nothing but the terrible warnings of experience. She will tell you, that great evils require ftrong remedies; and that it is not by palliatives you will be able to cure the gargrene of the Hate, To reftore the aflignats to their original value is certainly no longer the quertion. 'I' his would be, as one of your own writers has told you, jujl the fame as fretending to raife the dead *. Bur, fince the people conjures you to preferve at lead their fmall re- maining value, direct your attention to the only way in which it can be done. Iffue no more new paper, to deftroy the credit of the old j an(l break publicly the implements for coining revo- lutionary money, as was propol'ed to you three months ago. 4( C( ti C( »;Ati;. ,^» ■*B«t>e;s» )l [ 74 ] III t'i 'U. I ) ft 'A / leave the fmallefl: doubt refpefting the fidelity of its iblemn alliance with the departments already incor- porated ; and the other deputies from thofe depart- ments feconded his oppofition to Merlin of Douay fo warmly, that though it was by no means difficult to guefs at his ultimate intention, yet he did not dare to develop it. He retraded, and even had tiie mean- neis to accommodate his expreffions to the views of his opponents. / perftjl^ laid he, in (ijking that you. luill net come to any final determination rcfpeoling the con» quered ccuntries \ but I do not include as fiich^ Mont Ter^ rible^ Mcnt Blanc ^ and the Maritime Alps^ which we cannot cede;, for their union is completed^ and they are parts cf France. The lecond of r .e articles I am fpeaking of, de- prives of their property, and exiles for ever from Trance, all thole who have abandoned that country fince the 15th of July 1789.— This article, which is the 37^d of the rew conftitution, expreisly forbids the nezv legifiature to ena£f any additional exceptions to its application. It declares their property irrevocably con^ fijcated to the ufe cf the Republic, And this is Gallic humanity ! This the fort of amneily which is to conciliate all hearts, and fecure the new conftitution by an ad of benevolence ! In vain did Latyuinais conjure his colleagues, the c;oth of AiigufI:, to confider the innumerable fathers of families, whoje ejlates have been feijed. In vain he ex- claimed — you cannot mean that France Jljould focn be- come an uncultivated iva/ie ! The Convention ap- plauded his philanthropy, but neverthelefs confirmed irrevocably this final fentence, as propofed by the three united Committees. Let the Emigrants^ faid thofe Committees by their reporter De Launay, the 17th of Auguft — Let the Emigrants gOy and dragon their exijlence in difgrace^ and out of the French territory ! L.Ci them leave us to enjoy in peace the fruit of our la- Lours! Which, I prefume, in the new language of the Convention, Col Mr^iA^ the rs of ex- be- ap- med the faid the % on f 75 ] Convention, means, *' Let them leave us to f njoy in " peace the eftates of which we have robbed them.** The gd of the articles to which I refer, wag adopted the 17th ofAuguft as additional •, and, as a pledge of the public faith^ declares, that the legal purchafers of national eftates cannot be difpojfejfed of them, &t &c. 1 cannot fay how long the executors in truft of this Angular will, may think fit to be bound by it j but thofe of them who wifh to fet it afide, may very eafily prove the delirium of the teftator at the time of fign- ing thefe claufes, by the following declarations made in the few lucid intervals which he h^d during tbf remiflions of his political fever : The Jacobins have offered your creditors as afecurity^ property which they well knew that you have no right to mortgage: — you all know thefe confif cation i were rob* BERIES *. No! jou cannot wijh that the public accufer of the Revolutionary Tribunal of Paris fhould have it in his power to reply to your charges againfi him, " I ** COINED WITH THE GuiLLOTINE, MONEY WHICH ** YOU DEEM IT JUST TO RETAIN IN YOUR POSSES- ** sioN." Tou cannot wifh that his defence Jhould turn en your being the accomplices of his crimes -f. Thelaws^ adapted to circumjlances, which were propojed to youy thofe extremely fevere laws^ we're more intended to bribe the multitude than for the public good. The greatefi malady cf the Republic is the diforder of the Finances J, If the finances peri/Ii^ you penfo, and the fiat e finks with you §. Revife all thofe falfe meafures of finance which you bate adopted^ reject all thofe fangj.'n dry Juggles of which the Republic has heen the dupe ||. * Boijly d^ Anglos, ihe 20th of Marcht ' t BoiJJy d'Anglas, the zd of Mfi^^ kr- fit i; , J .. ;', i i I C ?8 J •• difcover, when it is too late, that Jacobinifm was or-» ganizcd and hired by aflignats •, that they corrupt morals, and cheat the probity which is faithful to the Inws'y that they deftroy public wealth, and private property ; that they are a perpetual caufe of trick, and of difpiHes in all dealings \ that by engaging in this new fort of domeftic warfare, elder fons con- trive to retain the foriunt-s of their younger brothers, with impunity; the hulband alfo, without fear of punifhmrnt, robs his wife of her portion, and pajfes^ vjith the plunder i to the arms of another. In a word, that the aflignats, as was truly faid by one of the deputies, have wrapped all France in the garment of NefJ'us *. She will have found that they detach the inhabitants of the country from the pubiic intereft \ accuftom them to nc" gle^ laying the f acred debt of taxes \ ruin indujlry^ de- flroy commerce^ cut up by the roots the tree of reproduce tioni and lalllyj that ii»e lubititution of this artificial and i 11 u live rtlburce, has, in rhr (liort fpace of a few years, annihilated her rea' efources in a degree which ages of induttry and peace will hardly be able to retrieve. Then, and not till then, all her inhabitants will partake of the general aftonilhment of Europe, on finding that they have been fo blind and ftupid as to indulge, for five years together, the idea that it is pofTibie to multiply real wealth, by only multiplying the figns which reprrient it ; and that they could grow rich, by robbing thcmfelves. Then a" France will bitterly regret the not having liftened to Mr. Pitt, when he prophetically warned them, that they would gain nothing by this fern- * The deputy La Riviere, who fketched with this finglc ilrolce fo ftriking a portrait of the horrible effedts of the affignats, four dav- afte: exclaimed with great agitation ■.-—The public morals are torrupted! Ah! IVret hes ! of all the nuounds you have injliited, this fi the viejl ouel, ui well as themoji difficult to heal. J3 blance '<>. '■■ ii m i! I .- i.«r.is-'" '^i- If \ was or« y corrupt 'ul to the private of trick, ;aging in ons con- brothers, fear of nd paJlfeSf ord, that deputies, *. She ts of the em to ne" ^ujiryt dC' reproduce artificial ^ce of a degree be able rants will irope, on pid as to that it is iltiplying :y could t having f warned his fcm- nglc ftrolce nats, four morals are •e injliittd. blance blance of immenfe wealthy cotijored mtd by A gigantic plan of fwindlingy but, for a {l|y|jimt^ illufive advantages, followed by lading i|itfl;%ifild that very foon taey would feel nothing b^ "H^i^iiAh ednefs and remorfe; that extreme mifery^^nttfelfc-.: now waftesthem, and of which their leaders in vaia try to blunt the fenfation by callinrg it honourable want. And fincc fome Frenchmen arc not yet cured of this delirium, but dill believe in the exidence of what they call ihe national for tune ^ and expeft the perma- nent poflcflions of their conquefts j I will perfid in alking them, what they rely on as the next expedient, when thGir fruitful plate of afllgnats is become abfo- lutcly barren by forced produ6lion ? I will perfift in alking them, what new fort of philofopher's done they flatter themfclves with being able to difcover, and which may provide for the immenfe expences that they mud incur till the period of an equitable peace. But if I cannot compel them to acknowledge their approaching vveaknefs, or excite among them a gene- ral cry for immediate peacej if they continue to litlen to thoie of their fenrelefs reprefentatives, who never prefent them with ihe olive- branchy but to advifc ihem to bind it round the extended frontier of their ex- panded territory* j in that cal'e 1 would addrefs my- i^M to that refpeftable Germanic confederation, which they wilh to dil'member ; I would endeavour to demonftrate to the princes wiio are at the head of it, how entirely and defervedly France is exhaufted ; and would prefs them to warn their fu'.^jeits againlt the infinuations of thofe writers who, influenced only by pafTion^, preach up alternately war, dii- couragctnerit, and dclpair; and who would now ac- cept any truce olfertd them as a favour, though with .1 il Freron, the 20th of February 1795. the ,:^f IW i i 4 « !1 !1 1 !! I i i I. ! fft certainty of iu Jxm/ fbilolCd bf • ftil) more ^faftrous wtr. It itiitfrthe fake of duuipeace which ilfaeir •fubjefts fo ^fixioudy implore, thai I folicic all ie princes qL^c Empire to rodze all true. Germans . Jky m e la figuage of perfuafive reafoning, and by the animating voice of patriot ifm } and reprefent to them how much the duration of the peace, which Europe alks, depends on continuing without dcfpondence thofe exertions, however diitrefTing, which mull, if perrevered in, inevitably recover ail that has been loft. I had affirmed in the preceding Chapter, that the invention of afTignats ^^z'l;^ birth to the wary and that their annihilation will bring on a peace. I alfo affirmed, that the Republic would perijb prC' cifely as the Monarchy did — by the finances*. I repeat thefc two affcriions with incrcafing confi- dence. The picture which I have drawn is not a creature of fancy, but is traced from real fcenes with the pencil of hiftory. * The leaders of the French begin themfelves to talk of this as a poffible event. Wi J'nJ eur/clves at pre/entf faid Bourdon of Oi/e, the loth of May, fwitb rtfptS to the finances, in the moji alarm- ing fituatien. In 1789 our Jituation 'was equally fo. What tuere the eonj'equences ? The R e vo l u t ion .—The ruin of the finances pro- iuced our liberty— let us takt care, that the preftnt defcredit of ajfig* nats do not bring about a cottrary tffeil. U'. THE END. wi :'^1 \ .^HiSSSSBST' ^tt more ce which blicic all Sermans I by the CO them I Europe ondence muft, if las been that the and that rijh pre- g confi- is not a les with Ik of this UurJem of oft alarm- hut nuere tofajpg-. fe^^ife-^