fourth, a fifth, or a sixth of their capital. Lastly, the working people, always obliged to offer their services and to give them to any one who will accept them, not knowing how to act in concert, in order to obtain a twofold or threefold increase of wages ges in proportion to the depreciated value of the assignats, were paid only part of what was necessary to obtain in exchange such things as they needed. The capitalist, half ruined, was silent and discontented; but the enraged populace called those tradesmen who would not sell at the old prices forestallers, and loudly demanded that forestallers should be sent to the guillotine.

All this resulted from the assignats, as the assignats had resulted from the necessity of paying old debts, making compensation for offices, and defraying the expenses of a ruinous war: in like manner the maximum was destined to result from the assignats. It was, in fact, to little purpose that a forced circulation had been given to this money, if the tradesman, by raising his prices, could evade the necessity of taking it. Let a forced rate then be fixed for commodities as well as for money. The moment the law said, Such a piece of paper shall be worth six francs-it ought also to say, Such a commodity shall be sold for no more than six francs otherwise the dealer, by raising the price to twelve, would escape the exchange.

It had therefore been absolutely necessary, in spite of the Girondins, who had given excellent reasons deduced from the ordinary economy of things, to fix a maximum for grain. The greatest hardship for the lower classes is the want of bread. The crops were not deficient, but the farmers, who would not confront the tumult of the markets, or sell their corn at the rate of the assignats, kept away with their goods. The little corn that did appear was quickly bought up by the communes and by individuals, induced by fear to lay in stocks of provisions. The dearth was more severely felt in Paris than in any town at France, because the supply of that immense city was more difficult, because its markets were more tumultuous, and the farmers were more afraid to attend them. On the 3d and 4th of May, the Convention could not help passing a decree, by which all farmers and corndealers were obliged to declare the quantity of corn in their possession, to thresh out what was still in ear, to carry it to the markets and to the markets only, to sell it at a mean price fixed by each commune, according to the prices which had prevailed between the 1st of January and the 1st of May. No person was allowed to lay in a supply for more than a month; those who sold or bought at a price above the maximum, or who made false declarations, were to be punished with confiscation and a fine of three hundred to one thousand francs. Domiciliary visits were ordered to ascertain the truth. Lastly, a statement of all the declarations was to be sent by the municipalities to the minister of the interior, in order to furnish a general statistical survey of the supplies of France. The commune of Paris, adding its police resolutions to the decrees of the Convention, had moreover regulated the distribution of bread at the bakers' shops. No one was allowed to go to them without safetytickets. On these tickets, delivered by the revolutionary committees, was specified the quantity of bread which the bearers had a right to ask for, and this quantity was proportionate to the number of persons of which each family was composed. Even the mode of getting served at the bakers' shops was regulated. A cord was to be fastened to their door; each customer was to lay hold of it, so as not to lose his turn, and to avoid confusion. Malicious women frequently cut this cord; a frightful tumult ensued, and the armed force was required to restore order. We here see to what drudgery, most laborious to itself and vexatious to those for whom it legislates, a government is doomed, as soon as it is obliged to see everything in order to regulate everything. But in this situation each circumstance was the result of another. The forced currency of assignats led to the forcing of sales, the forcing of prices, forcing even of the quantity, the hour, the mode of purchases; the last fact resulted from the first, and the first had been inevitable, like the Revolution itself. Meanwhile, the rise in the price of articles of consumption, which had led to the

* "Debtors of every description hastened to discharge their obligations: and the creditors, compelled to accept paper at par, which was not worth a fifth, or a tenth, and at last, not a hundredth of its nominal value, were defrauded of the greater part of their property." -Alison. E.

maximum, was general for all commodities of the first necessity. Butchers' meat, vegetables, fruit, groceries, candles, fuel, liquors, articles of clothing, and shoeleather, had all risen in price in proportion as assignats had fallen; and the populace were daily more and more bent on finding forestallers, where there were only dealers who refused a money that had lost its value. It will be recollected that in February it had plundered the grocers' shops, at the instigation of Marat. In July it had plundered boats laden with soap coming up the Seine to Paris. The indignant commune had passed the most severe resolutions, and Pache had printed this simple and laconic warning:

"Pache, Mayor, to his Fellow-Citizens.

" Paris contains seven hundred thousand inhabitants; the soil of Paris produces nothing for their food, their clothing, their subsistence; it is therefore necessary for Paris to obtain everything from the departments and from abroad.

"When provisions and merchandise come to Paris, if the inhabitants rob the owners of them, supplies will cease to be sent.

" Paris will then have no food, no clothing, nothing for the subsistence of its numerous inhabitants.

" And seven hundred thousand persons, destitute of everything, will devour one another."

The people had not committed any further depredations, but they still demanded severe measures against the dealers; and we have seen the priest Jacques Roux exciting the Cordeliers, with a view to obtain the insertion of an article against forestallers in the Constitution. They also inveighed bitterly against the stockjobbers, who, they said, raised the prices of goods by speculating in assignats, gold, silver, and foreign paper.

The popular imagination created monsters, and everywhere discovered inveterate enemies, where there were only eager gamblers, profiting by the evil, but not producing it, and most certainly not having the power to produce it. The depreciation of the assignats had a great number of causes; their considerable quantity; the uncertainty of their pledge, which would be swept away, if the Revolution were to fall; their comparison with specie, which did not lose its reality, and with commodities which, retaining their value, refused to exchange themselves for a money that had lost its value. In this state of things, the capitalists would not keep their funds in the form of assignats, because under that form they were wasting from day to day. At first they had endeavoured to procure money; but six years of annoyance had scared the sellers and the buyers of specie. They had then thought of purchasing commodities, but these offered only a temporary employment of capital, because they would not keep long, and a dangerous employment, because the rage against forestallers was at its height. They sought, therefore, securities in foreign countries.* All those who had assignats were eager to buy bills of exchange on London, Amsterdam, Hamburg, Geneva, or on any place in Europe. To obtain these foreign values they gave enormous national values, and thus lowered the assignats by parting with them. Some of these bills of exchange were realized out of France, and the amount of them paid over to emigrants. Splendid furniture, the spoils of ancient luxury, consisting of cabinet-makers' work, clocks, mirrors, gilt bronzes, porcelain, paintings, valuable editions of books, paid for these bills of exchange, which were turned into guineas or ducats. But it was only the smallest portion of them that the holders endeavoured to realize. Sought after by the alarmed capitalists, who had no intention to emigrate but merely wished to give a solid guarantee to their fortune, they remained almost all on the spot, where the

alarmed transferred them from one to another. There is reason to believe that Pitt had induced the English bankers to sign a great quantity of this paper, and had even opened for them a considerable credit, for the purpose of increasing the mass, and contributing still more to the discredit of the assignats.

• "Terrified at the continual recurrence of disorders, the capitalists declined investing their money in purchases of any sort; and the shares in foreign mercantile companies rose rapidly from the increased demand for them, as the only investments affording a tolerable degree of security-a striking proof of the consequences of the disorders attendant on popular ambition, and their tendency to turn from the people the reservoirs by which their industry is maintained." -Alison. E.

Great eagerness was also shown to obtain shares in the stocks of the financial companies, which seemed to be beyond the reach of the Revolution and of the counterrevolution, and to offer moreover an advantageous employment of capital. Those of the Compagnie d'Escompte were in high favour; but those of the East India Company were sought after with the greatest avidity, because they rested in some measure on a pledge that could not be laid hold of, consisting in ships and storehouses situated all over the globe. To no purpose had they been subjected to a heavy transfer duty. The directors had evaded the law by abolishing the actions, and making them consist in an entry in the registers of the Company, which took place without any formality. They thus defrauded the state of a considerable revenue, for there were several thousand transfers per day, and they frustrated the precautions taken to prevent stockjobbing. To no purpose had a duty of five per cent. been imposed on the produce of these shares, in order to lessen their attraction. The dividends were paid to the shareholders, as a compensation for part of their capital; and by this stratagem the directors again evaded the law. Thus shares of 600 francs rose to 1000, 1200, and even 2000 francs. These were so many values opposed to the revolutionary money, and which served to discredit it still more.

Not only were all these kinds of funds opposed to the assignats, but also certain parts of the public debt, and certain assignats themselves. There existed, in fact, loans subscribed for at all periods, and under all forms. There were some that dated so far back as the reign of Louis XIII. Among the later ones subscribed for under Louis XIV., there were stocks of different creations. Those which were anterior to the constitutional monarchy were preferred to such as had been opened for the wants of the Revolution. All, in short, were opposed to the assignats founded on the spoliation of the clergy and of the emigrants. Lastly, differences were made between the assignats themselves. Out of about five thousand millions which had been issued since their creation, one thousand million had been returned by the sale of national possessions; nearly four thousand millions remained in circulation, and, in these four thousand millions, there were about five hundred millions issued under Louis XVI., and bearing the royal effigy. These latter, it was argued, would be better treated in case of a counter-revolution, and admitted for at least part of their value. Thus they were worth 10 or 15 per cent. more than the others. The republican assignats, the only resource of the government, the only money of the people, were, therefore, wholly discredited, and had to contend at one and the same time with specie, merchandise, foreign paper, the shares in financial companies, the different stocks of the state, and, lastly, the royal assignats.

The compensation made for offices, the payment for the large supplies furnished to the state for the war department, the eagerness of many debtors to pay off their liabilities, had produced a great accumulation of capital in certain hands. The war, and the fear of a terrible revolution, had interrupted many commercial operations, and further increased the mass of stagnant capitals that were seeking securities. These capitals, thus accumulated, were employed in perpetual speculations at the Stock Exchange of Paris, and were converted alternately into gold, silver, merchandise, bills of exchange, companies' shares, old government stocks, &c. Thither resorted, as usual, those adventurous gamblers who plunge into every kind of hazard, who speculate on the accidents of commerce, the supply of armies, the good faith of governments. Placing themselves on the watch at the Exchange, they made a profit by all the rises occasioned by the constant fall of the assignats. The fall of the assignat first began at the Exchange, with reference to specie and to all moveable values. It took place afterwards with reference to commodities, which rose in price in the shops and in the markets. Commodities, however, did not rise so rapidly as specie, because the markets are at a distance from the Exchange, because they are not so easily affected, and, moreover, because the dealers cannot give the word so rapidly to one another as stockjobbers assembled in one and the same building. The difference, pronounced at the Exchange, was not felt in other places till after a longer or shorter time: thus, when the five-franc assignat was worth no more than two francs at the Exchange, it was passing for three in the markets, and the stockjobbers had sufficient time for speculating. Having their capitals quite ready, they procured specie before the rise; as soon as it had risen in comparison with assignats, they exchanged it for the latter; they had of course a greater quantity, and, as merchandise had not yet had time to rise too, with this greater quantity of assignats they bought a greater quantity of merchandise, and sold it again when the balance between them was restored. Their part had consisted in holding cash or merchandise while one or the other rose in reference to the assignat. It was therefore the constant profit of the rise of everything in comparison with the assignat which they had made, and it was natural that they should be grudged this profit, invariably founded on a public calamity. Their speculations extended to the variation of all kinds of securities, such as foreign paper, companies' shares, &c. They profited by all the accidents that could produce these fluctuations-a defeat, a motion, a false report. They formed a very considerable class. Among them were included foreign bankers, contractors, usurers, ancient priests or nobles, revolutionary upstarts, and certain deputies, who, to the honour of the Convention, were but five or six, and who possessed the perfidious advantage of contributing to the fluctuation of securities by seasonable motions. They led a dissolute life with actresses, and ci-devant nuns, or countesses, who, after performing the part of mistresses, sometimes took up that of women of business.* The two principal deputies engaged in these intrigues were Julien of Toulouse, who lived with the Countess of Beaufort, and Delaunay of Angers, who was intimate with Descoings, the actress. It is asserted that Chabot, dissolute as an ex-Capuchin, and occasionally turning his attention to financial questions, was engaged in this kind of stockjobbing, in company with two brothers, named Frey, expelled from Moravia for their revolutionary opinions, and who had come to Paris to carry on the banking business there. Fabre d'Eglantine also dabbled in it, and Danton was accused, but without any proof, of having had a hand in it too.

The most shameful intrigue was that which connected Baron de Batz, an able banker and financier, with Julien of Toulouse, and Delaunay of Angers, two men most intent on making money. Their scheme was to charge the East India Company with malversations, to reduce the price of its shares, to buy them up immediately, and then to raise them by means of milder motions, and thus to make a profit by the rise. D'Espagnac, that dissolute abbé, who had been commissary to Dumouriez in Belgium, and had since obtained the general contract for carts and wagons, and whose interests Julien patronized in the Convention, was, out of gratitude, to furnish the funds for this speculation, into which Julien proposed to draw Fabre, Chabot, and others, who were likely to be useful as members of various committees.

Most of these men were attached to the Revolution, and had no intention to do it disservice; but, at any rate, they were desirous of securing pleasures and wealth. All their secret artifices were not known; but, as they speculated on the discredit of the assignats, the evil by which they profited was imputed to them. As they comprised in their ranks many foreign bankers, they were said to be agents of Pitt and of the coalition; and here, too, people fancied that they discovered that mysterious and so much dreaded influence of the English minister. In short, they were equally incensed against the stockjobbers and the forestallers, and called out for the same punishment against both.

Thus, while the North, the Rhine, the South, were assailed by our enemies, our financial means consisted in a money that was not accepted, the pledge of which was uncertain as the Revolution, and which, on every accident, sunk in a ratio proportionate to the danger. Such was this singular situation: as the danger increased and the means ought to have increased along with it, they on the contrary diminished; supplies were beyond the reach of the government, and necessaries beyond that of the people. It was requisite, therefore, at one and the same time, to create soldiers, arms, and a currency for the state and for the people, and, after all this, to secure victories.

* "The Bourse was crowded with adventurers of every description, who sometimes made enormous gains, and passed a life of debauchery with abandoned women of all sorts. Such was the universal dissoluteness of manners, arising from the dread of popular jealousy, that almost all the members of the Convention lived publicly with mistresses who became possessed of much of the influence in the state."-Alison. E.

THE NATIONAL CONVENTION.

ANNIVERSARY OF THE TENTH OF AUGUST, AND FESTIVAL FOR THE AССЕРТANCE OF THE CONSTITUTION-EXTRAORDINARY DECREES - GENERAL ARREST OF SUSPECTED PERSONS-LEVY EN MASSE-INSTITUTION OF THE GREAT BOOK-FORCED LOAN-MAXIMUM-DECREES AGAINST LA VENDEE.

THE deputies sent by the primary assemblies to accelerate the anniversary of the 10th of August, and to accept the constitution in the name of all France, had by this time arrived at Paris. It was determined to seize this occasion for exciting a movement of enthusiasm, reconciling the provinces with the capital, and calling forth heroic resolutions. A brilliant reception was prepared. Considerable stores of articles of consumption were amassed, that no dearth might disturb this festival, and that the deputies might enjoy at once the spectacle of peace, abundance, and order. So far was attention to them carried, that all the administrations of the public conveyances were ordered to give them places, even though they had been already bespoken by other travellers. The administration of the department, which rivalled that of the commune in the austerity of its language and its proclamations, made an address to its brethren of the primary assemblies. "Here," it said to them," men covered with the mask of patriotism will talk to you with enthusiasm about liberty, equality, and the republic one and indivisible, while, in the bottom of their hearts, they aspire and labour only to re-establish royalty, and to tear their country in pieces. Those are the rich; and the rich have at all times abhorred virtue and poisoned morals. There you will find perverse women, too seductive by their charms, who will join with them to lead you into vice. Beware! above all, beware of that ci-devant Palais Royal. It is in that garden that you will meet with those perfidious persons. That famous garden, the cradle of the Revolution, once the asylum of the friends of liberty and equality, is at this day, in spite of our active vigilance, but the filthy drain of society, the haunt of villains, the den of all the conspirators..... Shun that impoisoned spot; prefer to the dangerous spectacle of luxury and debauchery the useful pictures of laborious virtue; visit the fauxbourgs, the founders of our liberty; enter the workshops where men, active, simple, and virtuous, like yourselves, like you, ready to defend the country, have long been waiting to unite themselves to you by the bonds of fraternity. Come, above all, to our popular societies. Let us unite! let us arm ourselves with fresh courage to meet the new dangers of the country! let us swear, for the last time, death and destruction to tyrants!"

...

The first step was to take them to the Jacobins, who gave them the warmest welcome, and offered them their hall to meet in. The deputies accepted this offer, and it was agreed that they should deliberate in the very bosom of the society, and mingle with it during their stay. Thus all the difference was, that there were now four hundred more Jacobins in Paris. The society, which sat every second day, resolved to meet every day, for the purpose of conferring with the envoys of the departments on measures of public welfare. It was said that some of these envoys leant to the side of indulgence, and that they were commissioned to demand a general amnesty on the day of the acceptance of the constitution. Some persons had, in fact, thought of this expedient for saving the imprisoned Girondins and all others who were detained for political causes. But the Jacobins would not hear of any composition, and demanded at once energy and vengeance. The envoys of the primary assemblies, says Hassenfratz, were slandered by a report that they meant to propose an amnesty; they were incapable of such a thing, and were ready