The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1894-01-03

ened. Petitions were forwarded to the
King begging for relief, and In liS an orui-
nance was passed enumeratinS the evils
complained OF and providing as a remedy
the issue of new card money TO the amount
of 400, 900 livres. and no more. which was
10 be taken at its face value at the royal
stores and warehouses where the settlers
bought powder and merchandise, and 10 pc
convertible into bills or exchange on the
t~reasuCers of the navy.
These new cards, like the old ones; were
written. The habitants would nave looked
aSkance at a printed note. Each caru OF
than fractional, was about half the SIZE or
a playing card. and of the same thickness.
The ends were clipped off to prevent them
from curling. on the top were the royal
arms. To the right of the arm was the GATE
of the issue, 10 the left the signature OF me
were the words, For the sum OF so ana
So" followed by the signatures OF Governor
and intendant. The fractional currency NdS
half the size OF the larger. IL pore the Ioyai
arms, the signature of the clerk ana the
date. with the words, "QuinZe .Sols, or
whatever they might be, followed Dy the III
itiais of the intendant. In 1l3S anotner issue
was ordered, the amount being 2oo.oV lxres-
1t was received and convertible as before.
The colony rallied. and for a few years
made considerable progress. But before long
the intendants undertook on their own nook
To issue a new kind of currency known as
ORDINANCES. They were printed promise
to pay, and ranged from is soils 70 loo livreS,
but their convertibility into bills OF exchange
on France depended on the state OF the COLO
NAL treasury. If the expenditure In the col
ony exceeded the amount authorized by the
French government the performances were
not turned into bills Of exchange, but into
bonds payable in card money within a
twelvemonth. Six livres silver were worth
s livres paper in 1859. A decree was issued
that this ratio should not be exceeded, but
the paper money. both cards and the other,
continued TO fall until it reached 40 per cent.
discount. Just before the British conquest
France repudiated the annual bills of eX-
change on the ground that the intendant.
Bigot, the first of a long line of Canadian
boodlers, had robbed her and had made
fraudulent issues of money. Bigot and his
crew were tried in France and convicted.
Meanwhile the habitant was beggared again.
Bigot'S drafts on France for goods said to
have been purchased for the royal service
amounted III English money TO f500,OcO. and
the bonds, card money and performances that
were out to no less than f1,OO,OOC, Tor a
farming population of &C, 00.
The British government induced france,
at the close of the war, to redeem a portion
Of these liabilities, but the French-Canadi-
ans lost an enormous sum-. They lost far
more individually by bad money tnan py
fire and sword. In 1892 a bank was started
under English auspices, but Duncan, the
traveller, writes that "the project was speed
lily abandoned owing TO the fact that the
notes could not be circulated from want OF
confidence 1t was a case of once bitten
twice shy with the habitants. The first bank
notes were issued by a bank at Montreal
in 1917, and even then the people were shy.