The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1865-02-10

naturally caused our first conventional Is
sue to be received with avidity; and these
wants we're such that, in my opinion this
currency would have been adopted had it
even not been forced To ground an ar
gument, however, on this first success, in
favor of second and more ample issue, is
to expose ourselves to great dangers
The assigqats will undoubtedly have char
acters of security which no paper money
ever had-none was ever created upon so
valuable pledge, clothed with so solid a
security--but still it must be admitted
that never will any national paper be upon
a par with the metals, never will the sup
Elementary sign Of the first representative
sign of wealth have the exact value of its
model the very title proves want, and
spreads alarm and distrust around it.
Why will assignat money be always below
specie? In the first place, because there
will always be doubts Of the exact applica,
tion of its proportions between the mass of
the assignats and that of the national
property; because there will long be I'M
certainty respecting the contamination of
the sales; because no conception can be
formed by whac time two thousand mil
lions of assignats, representing nearly the
value of the domains, will be extiuguish-
ed; because money being put in COMPETE
ton with paper, both become marketable
commodity, and the more abundant any
commodity is, the lower must be its price;
because with money one will always be
able to do without ass.guats, whilst it is
impossible with assignats to do without
money and fortunately, the absolute
want of money will keep some specie in
circulation, for it would be the greatest of
all evils to be absolutely destitute of it,"
Much more in the same strain did the
sagacious politician say on the subject of
the new currency. But the necessities of
the government were such that it could
listen at the time neither to threats nor
remonstrances aud in the face Of all Tai
leyrand's warnings and appeals, new is
sue of eight hundred millions was order
ed, with the new and important proviso,
that the notes should no longer carry inter-
est. This marked the second stage in the
history, and having described these pre-
liminary steps with some minuteness, we
may glance more rapidly over what is to
follow.
With a security so tangible as that of
the assignats, it might have beeen expec-
ted that they would have maintained their
nominal value for at least a considerable
length of time. To the confscated do
mains of the church was by and by added
the property of the loyal emigrants, con-
sisting not only of lands, but of houses
and shares, with whatever movablcs, in
the shape of furniture aud jewels, they
had been unable to carry along with
them and it cannot be doubted that if
these had been sold at reasonable rate,
they would have brought more than
enough to meet the expenses of the gov
eminent during the first. year of the Revo,
luton. But Notwithstanding this appa-
rently favorable state of the public assets,
the paper fell soon and rapidly.
One cause of this has already been in
dicated-the incon0ertabiliy Of the seeu-
ritz; but other things concurred with
that in accelerAting the decline; for ex-
ample, the people had no confidence that
the assiguats which had been made to serve
their original purpose-which had been
paid into the treasury in exchange for val,
ne received-would be withdrawn from
circulation. In one case, a quantity was
known to be re-issued, and as what was
done once might be done twenty times, the
act have a cast of insincerty aud untrust-
worthiness to the entire scheme. Be-
sides, what was done by the authorities,
with the design of checking the fall, had
actually the effect of rendering it more
swift. In August, 1898, a silver franc
was worth six francs in assignats, and two
consequences, of course, followed-coin
was boarded, and the price of every other
species of commodity were raised. But
instead of accepting these results as inevi-
table, the government, with that unhappy
tendency to meddle which has always
been characteristic of French rulers, at
tempted forciby to mend the matter. A
law was passed, making it punishable to
exchange certain quantity of gold or sill
yer for a more considerable quantity of
assiguats in other words, all were re-
CURED, under penalty, to regard the pa
per franc and the metal franc as equal in
value and when this failed to bring down
the price of bread by raising the worth Of
the assignat, the artificial law of the mac
in,uns was enacted that is to say, com
modities were not allowed to find or make
their own price i'll the market the price
was fixed for them, in each commune, by
the municipal authorities and the baker
or the butcher who charged more than the
legal sum for his pound of bread or meat,
was liable to be taken up as an offender,
and subjected to fine and imprisonment.
These regulations we're well meant, but,
as might have been expected, they worse
than failed to maintain the vslue of the
paper.money. 1t could not but be felt
that an article which required such extra.
ordinary aids to keep it afoat, must have
an inherent aud irremediable tendency to
Il II