rican dominions of Spain, agreed to pay to that crown a certain sum for each negro imported. In both cases the Assiento was taken by a commercial association in France-by the Guinea Company, which thereupon took the name of the Assiento Company (Compagnie de l'Assiente). Both the Portuguese company and the French were ruined by their contract. At the peace of Utrecht, in 1713, the Assiento, which the French had held since 1702, was transferred to the English for a period of thirty years. In addition to the exclusive right of importing negroes, the new holders of the contract obtained the privilege of sending every year a ship of 500 (afterwards raised to 600) tons to Spanish America, with goods to be entered and disposed of on payment of the same duties which were exacted from Spanish subjects; the crown of Spain, however, reserving to itself one-fourth of the profits, and five per cent. on the remaining three-fourths. The contract was given by Queen Anne to the South Sea Company, which, however, is understood to have made nothing by it, although it was calculated that there was a profit of cent. per cent. upon the goods imported in the annual ship, which usually amounted in value to about 300,000l. So much of this sum as fell to the share of the Company was either counterbalanced by the loss attendant on the supply of the 4800 negroes which they were bound to provide every year, or went chiefly into the pockets of their South American agents, many of whom in a few years made large fortunes. The war which broke out in 1739 stopped the further performance of this contract when there were still four years of it to run; and at the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, in 1748, the claim of England to this remainder of the privilege was given up. Spain indeed complained, and probably with justice, that the greatest frauds had been all along committed under the provision of the treaty which allowed the contractors to send a shipload of goods every year to South America. It was alleged that the single ship was made the means of introducing into the American markets a quantity of goods amounting to several times her own cargo. The public | feeling in Spain had been so strongly ex cited on the subject of this abuse, that it would have been very difficult to obtain the consent of that country to a renewal of the treaty. ASSIGNAT. One of the earliest financial measures of the Constituent Assembly, in the French revolution, was to appropriate to national purposes the landed property of the clergy, which, upon the proposition of Mirabeau, was, by a large majority, declared to be at the disposition of the state. (Thiers, Histoire de la Révolution Française, vol. i. p. 194, 2nd ed.) Shortly afterwards, the assembly, desirous to profit by this measure, decreed the sale of lands belonging to the crown and the clergy to the amount of 400 millions of francs, or about sixteen millions sterling (Ib. p. 212). To sell at once so large a portion of the surface of France, without lowering the price of land by overloading the market to such an unexampled extent (Thiers, vol. vii. p. 377), and moreover in a time of mistrust, insecurity, rapid political change, and almost of civil war, was an object of no very easy attainment. It was first proposed that the lands should be transferred to the municipalities, which, not being provided with ready money, might give the state a bond or security for the price, and the state would pay its creditors with these securities, which could, in process of time, be realised, as the municipalities were able successively to sell, at an advantageous price, the lands thus made over to them. The holders of the securities would thus have a claim not on the government, but on the municipal bodies, which would be compellable by process of law to pay; and the creditor might moreover extinguish the debt by buying the lands when put up to sale, and by offering the security in payment. But it might happen that the holder of such securities would be unable to realise them, and might not be willing to purchase any of the lands of the state: in order, therefore, to obviate this objection to the securities in question, it was proposed that they should be transferable and be made a legal tender. There was also another motive for the adoption of this latter expedient. In con of assignats caused by their over-issue, was felt in the high price of corn, and the unwillingness of the farmers to sup sequence of the want of confidence and stagnation of trade which prevailed in France at this time, money had become extremely scarce, and much of the cur-ply the markets with provisions. Wholly rent coin had been withdrawn from circulation; the king and queen had even been forced to send their plate to the mint. (Thiers, vol. i. p. 100.) Under hese circumstances it was determined to issue a paper-money, based on the security of the unsold lands belonging to the state. The notes thus issued (each of which was for 100 francs, equal to 41.) were called assignats, as representing land which might be transferred or assigned to the holder; and all notes which came back in this manner to the government in payment for national lands were to be cancelled. They moreover bore an interest by the day, like English Exchequerbills. The object of this measure was, therefore, to obtain the full value of the confiscated lands of the clergy (which in the actual state of France was impossible), and to supply the deficiency of coin in the circulation (arising from a feeling of insecurity) by a forced issue of inconvertible paper-money, which, as was predicted by M. de Talleyrand, the Bishop of Autun, would inevitably be depreciated, and cause misery and ruin to the holders of it. (Thiers, vol. i. p. 233-7, and note xviii. p. 382.) The first issue of assignats was to the amount of 400 millions, bearing interest: shortly afterwards 800 millions in addition were issued, but without the liability to pay interest (Ib. p. 256). The last of these issues was made in September, 1790. But as, in the beginning of the following year, the Legislative Assembly sequestered the property of all the emigrants, a numerous and wealthy class, for the benefit of the state (Thiers, vol. ii. p. 51), it was thought that the amount of the national securities having been increased, the issues might be safely increased likewise accordingly, in September, 1792, although 2500 millions had been already issued, a fresh issue, to the amount of 200 millions, was ordered by the Convention. (Thiers, vol. iii. p. 151.) Towards the end of this year, the double effects of the general insecurity of property and person, and of the depreciation mistaking the causes of this evil, the violent revolutionary party clamoured for an assize, or fixed maximum of prices, and severe penalties against accapareurs, or engrossers, in order to check the avarice and unjust gains of the rich farmers. The Convention, however, though pressed both by factious violence and open insurrection, refused at this time to regulate prices by law. (Thiers, vol. iii. p. 311-7.) Prices, however, as was natural, still continued to rise; and although corn and other necessaries of life were to be had, their value, as represented in the depreciated paper currency, had been nearly doubled: the washerwomen of Paris came to the Convention to complain that the price of soap, which had formerly been 14 sous, had now risen to 30. On the other hand, the wages of labour had not risen in a corresponding degree (see Senior on Some Effects of Government Paper, p. 81): so that the evils arising from the depreciation of the assignats greatly aggravated the poverty and scarcity which would under any circumstances have been consequent on the troubles and insecurity of a revolution. The labouring classes accused the rich, the engrossers, and the aristocrats, of the evils which they were suffering, and demanded the imposition of a maximum of prices. Not only, however, in the Convention did the most violent democrats declare loudly against a maximum, but even in the more popular assembly of the Commune, and the still more democratic club of the Jacobins, was this measure condemned, frequently amidst the yells and hisses of the galleries. As the Convention refused to give way, Marat in his newspaper recommended the pillage of the shops as a means of lowering prices-a measure immediately adopted by the mob of Paris, who began by insisting to have goods at certain fixed prices, and ended by taking the goods without paying for them. (Thiers, vol. iv. p. 38-52.) These and other tumults were, however, appeased, partly by the interference of the military, and partly by the earnest remonstrances of the authorities but the evil still went on increasing; corn diminished in quantity and increased in price; the national lands, on account of the uncertainty of their title and the instability of the government, were not sold, and thus the number of assignats was not contracted, and they were continually more and more depreciated. At length the Convention, thinking that the depreciation might be stopped by laws, made penal to exchange coin for paper, or to agree to give a higher price if reckoned in paper than if reckoned in coin. Still the over-issue had its natural effects in June, 1793, one franc in silver was worth three francs in paper; in August it was worth six. Prices rose still higher; all creditors, annuitants, and mortgagees were defrauded of five-sixths of their legal rights; and the wages of the the labourers were equal in value only to a part of their former earnings. The Convention, unable any longer to resist, in May, 1793, passed a decree which compelled all farmers to declare the quantity of corn in their possession, to take it to the markets, and sell it there only at a price to be fixed by each commune, according to the prices of the first four months of 1793. No one was to buy more corn than would suffice for a month's consumption, and an infraction of the law was punished by forfeiture of the property bought and a fine of 300 to 1000 francs. The truth of the declaration might be ascertained by domiciliary visits. The commune of Paris also regulated the selling of bread: no person could receive bread at a baker's shop without a certificate obtained from a revolutionary committee, and the quantity was proportioned to the number of the family. A rope was moreover fixed to the door of each baker's shop, so that as the purchasers successively came, they might lay hold of it, and be served in their just order. Many people in this way waited during the whole night; but the tumults and disturbances were so great that they could often only be appeased by force, nor were they at all diminished by a regulation that the last comers should be served first. A similar maximum of prices was soon established for all other necessaries, such as meat, wine, vegetables, wood, salt, leather, linen, woollen, and cotton goods, &c.; and any person who refused to sell them at the legal price was punished with death. Other measures were added to lower the prices of commodities. Every dealer was compelled to declare the amount of his stock; and any one who gave up trade, after having been engaged in it for a year, was imprisoned as a suspected person. A new method of regulating prices was likewise devised, by which a fixed sum was assumed for the cost of production, and certain per-centages were added for the expense of carriage, and for the profit of the wholesale and retail dealers. The excessive issue of paper had likewise produced its natural consequence, over-speculation, even in times so unfavourable for commercial undertakings. Numerous companies were established, of which the shares soon rose to more than double or treble their original value. These shares, being transferable, served in some measure as a papercurrency; upon which the Convention, thinking that they contributed still further to discredit the assignats, suppressed all companies whose shares were transferable or negociable. The power of establishing such companies was reserved to the government alone. In August, 1793, there were in circalation 3776 millions of assignats; and by a forced loan of 1000 millions, and by the collection of a year's taxes, this amount was subsequently reduced to less than two-thirds. The confidence moreover inspired by the recent successes of the republic against its foreign and domestic enemies, tended to increase the value of the securities on which the paper-money ultimately reposed: so that towards the end of 1793 the assignats are stated to have been at par. This effect is attributed by M. Thiers, in his History of the French Revolution' (vol. v. p. 407), to the severe penal laws against the use of coin: nevertheless we suspect that those who made this statement were deceived by false appearances, and that, neither at this nor any other time, not even at their first issue, did the real value of assignats agree with their nominal value. | is evident that a fear lest the national (Thiers, vol. v. pp. 145-62, 196-208, 399- lands might not ultimately prove a valu413.) However, this restoration of the able security did not now tend to discredit paper-currency, whether real or apparent, the assignats: their depreciation was was of very short duration, as the wants solely owing to their over-issue, as comof the government led to a fresh issue of pared with the wants of the country, and assignats so that in June, 1794, the their inconvertibility with the precious quantity in circulation was 6536 millions. metals. The government however began By this time the law of the maximum had now to find that, although it might for become even more oppressive than at first, some time gain by issuing inconvertible and it was found necessary to withdraw paper in payment of its own obligations, certain commodities from its operation. yet when the depreciated paper came to Nevertheless, the commission of pro- return upon it in the shape of taxes, it visions, which had attempted to perform obtained in fact a very small portion of the part of a commissariat for the whole the sum nominally paid. Consequently population of France, began to interfere they argued that, as successive issues dein a more arbitrary manner with the vo- preciated the currency in a regular ratio luntary dealings of buyers and sellers, (which however is very far from being the and to regulate not only the quantity of case), it would be expedient to require a bread, but also the quantity of meat and larger sum to be paid for taxes according wood which each person was to receive. to the amount of paper in circulation. It (Thiers, vol. vi. pp. 146-51, 307-14.) was therefore decreed that, taking a curOther arbitrary measures connected with rency of 2000 millions as the standard, a the supply of the army, as compulsory fourth should be added for every 500 requisitions of food and horses, and the millions added to the circulation. Thus, levying of large bodies of men, had con- if a sum of 2000 francs was due to the tributed to paralyse all industry. Thus, government, it would become 2500 francs not only had all commerce and all manu- when the currency was 2500 millions, factures ceased, but even the land was in 3000 francs when it was 3000 millions, many places untilled. After the fall of and so on. Robespierre, the Thermidorian party (as it was called), which then gained the ascendency, being guided by less violent principles, and being somewhat more enlightened on matters of political economy than their predecessors, induced the Convention to relax a little of its former policy, and succeeded in first excepting all foreign imports from the maximum, and afterwards abolishing it altogether. The transition to a natural system was, however, attended with great difficulty and danger, as the necessary consequence of the change was a sudden and immense rise of the avowed prices; and trade having been so long prevented from acting for itself, did not at once resume its former habits; so that Paris, in the middle of winter, was almost in danger of starvation, and wood was scarcely more abundant than bread. As at this time the power of the revolutionary government to retain possession of the lands which it had confiscated and to give a permanently good title to purchasers, was not doubted, it This rule however was only applied to the taxes and arrears of taxes due to the government, and was not extended to payments made by the government, as to public creditors or public functionaries. Nor did it comprehend any private dealings between individuals. (Thiers, vol. vii. pp. 40-51, 132-41, 232-89, 368-85, 420-8.) Îniquitous as this regulation was, as employed solely in favour of the government, it would nevertheless have been ineffective if its operation had been more widely extended; for the assignats, instead of being depreciated only a fifth, had now fallen to the 150th part of their nominal value. The taxes being levied in part only in commodities, and being chiefly paid in paper, produced scarcely anything to the government; which had however undertaken the task of feeding the city of Paris. Had it not in fact furnished something more solid than depreciated assignats to the fundholders and public functionaries, they must have died of starvation. Many, indeed, notwithstanding the scanty and precarious supplies furnished by the government, were threatened with the horrors of famine; and numbers of persons threw themselves every evening into the Seine, in order to save themselves from this extremity. (Storch, Economie Polit. vol. iv. p. 168.) To such a state of utter pauperism had the nation been reduced by the mismanagement of its finances and the ruin of public credit by the excessive issues of paper, that when the five Directors went to the Luxembourg, in October, 1795, there was not a single piece of furniture in the office. The doorkeeper lent them a rickety table, a sheet of letter-paper, and an inkstand, in order to enable thein to write their first message to announce to the two Councils of State that the Directory was established. There was not a single piece of coin in the treasury. The assignats necessary for the ensuing day were printed in the night, and issued in the morning wet from the press. Even before the entry of the Directors into office, the sum in circulation amounted to 19,000 millions: a sum unheard of in the annals of financial profligacy. One of their first measures, however, in order to procure silver, was to issue 3000 millions in addition, which produced not much more than 100 million francs. In this formidable state of things, the next measure adopted was worthy of the violent and shortsighted administration from which it emanated. A forced loan of 600 millions was raised from the richest classes, to be paid either in coin, or in assignats at the hundredth part of their nominal value. So that if the current paper was 20,000 millions, a payment of 200 millions would be sufficient to extinguish the whole. The government however refused to sanction this principle as against itself; for in paying the public creditor, it gave the assignat the tenth part of its nominal value. The land-tax and the duties in farm were required to be paid half in kind and half in assignats; the custom-duties, half in corn and half in assignats. In the meantime, until the funds produced by this loan, which was enforced with great severity, could be at the disposition of the state, the government went on issuing assignats till they had absolutely lost all value, and had become waste-paper. It therefore anticipated its resources by issuing promissory notes payable in specie, when the forced loan should be collected, and with difficulty prevailed on bankers to discount them to the amount of 60 millions. At this time the Directory gave up the task of supplying Paris with bread, and allowed the bakers' shops to be opened as before: an exception being made in favour of the indigent, and of fundholders and public functionaries whose annual incomes were not more than 5000 francs. The payment of the loan, however, went on slowly, the produce of the government bills was exhausted, and fresh funds were required. Again the resource of assignats was resorted to, and in two months the currency had been raised to 36,000 millions by the issue of 20,000 millions, which even to the government were not worth the 200th part of their nominal value. By this time some new financial expedient became necessary. It was expected that, by payments of taxes and of the forced loan to the government, the paper in circulation would soon be reduced to 24,000 millions. It was therefore determined to make a new issue of paper, under the name of mandats, to the amount of 2400 millions. Of this sum 800 millions were to be employed in extinguishing 34,000 millions of assignats, which were to be taken at a thirtieth part of their legal value: 600 millions were to be allotted to the public service, and the other 1200 millions retained in the public coffers. These mandats were to enable any person who was willing to pay the estimated value of any of the national lands to enter at once into possession; and therefore they furnished a somewhat better security than the assignats, as these could only be offered in payment at sales by auction; and consequently the price of the lands rose in proportion to the depreciation of the paper. The estimate of the lands having been made in 1790, was not true in 1795, at which time they had in some cases lost a half, in others twothirds or three-fourths of their former value. The mandat of 100 francs, however, at its first issue, was worth only fifteen francs in silver; and the new |