oflivress Part of this sum wasin- 
tended to redeem the assignats in cir- 
culation at the rate of thirty of these 
for one of the former ; and the lands 
on sale were to be mortgaged, asa 
talments; and, as the property dis- 
osed of was a solid and visible 
set; it was hoped that the new 
mission would retain its original 
alue. The directory insisted in 
he most serious terms on theimme- 
iate want of this supply, for the 
carrying on of the war, and the ser- 
vice of the current year. 
The various failures of the French 
goverment in its pecuniary. opera- 
tions, had so much discouraged the 
peculators in these matters, thatit 
was highly necessary to hold out 
every encouragement to them. On 
he decline of the assignats, a paper, 
known by the name of rescriptions, 
had been given for advances to go- 
vernment, and made payable in spe- 
cie at a fixed period: but this too 
had lost its credit, by non-payment, 
The new fabrication, which went 
by the name of mandats, lost, at 
its first issuing, one-fourth of its 
nominal value, and’ was reduced 
shortly after to one-fifth. It con- 
tinued to decrease, and. feil at last 
to the bare proportion of one-tenth. 
So heavy a. loss alarmed the di- 
rectory, as, at that rate, the na- 
‘tional property, which was paid for 
in mandais, must of course be sold 
for one-tenth of its value. It came 
jto the determination to shorten the 
|periods of payment, in order to di- 
\minish thereby the quantity of man- 
dats in circulation, which would 
raise the- worth of those that had 
\remained ; but this expedient did not 
much restore it, and government, 
HISTORY OF EUROPE, 
[155 
to secure any farther detriment, 
ordained the last instalment, which 
was the fourth part of the purchase, 
to be paid in specie. 
Thus the speculators were to- 
tally deceived in their ealculations 
of the profit they had expected : the 
more indeed as private Jand sold at 
a cheaper rate than public: but as 
they were chiefly monied men, and 
much of their opulence had arisen 
from their successful speculations 
during the public distress, as their 
losses were unheeded, and the con- 
duét of government, however irre- 
gular and arbitrary, passed uncen- 
sured. 
So great, in the mean time, were 
the difficulties of the republic, that, 
according to a statement of the re- 
venue, made at this time by the 
committee of finances, the whole of 
itamounted to no more than five 
-hundred millions of livres, while 
the expenditure was not less than 
one thousand. The directory was 
fully sensible that in such a situation 
the boldest, as well as the most pru- 
dent measures must be resorted to, 
and that no alternative remained, 
but either of finishing the contest 
with the enemies of France, on 
disadvantageous conditions, or of 
straining the authority and power of 
government to the farthest extent 
that could be borne with, or sub- 
mitted to, regardless of the dissatis- 
faction and murmurs that such a 
conduct would in all likelihood oc- 
casion. " 
France was, at this period, nearly 
exhausted ofallextraordinary means 
of levying money. The sale of na- 
tional property, which was almost 
the only one remaining, had been 
decreed. This measure however had 
not yet taken place in the Austrian 
Netherlands, now incorporated 
with 
