CHAP. XXIV. AND OF MATERIAL WEALTH. 



plate was sold to supply the means of emigration, 

 whether it was confiscated by the decrees of the 

 convention, or devoted to unauthorised pillage, 

 the greater part of it would, for the sake of more 

 facility in its circulation, be converted into coined 

 money. In Italy, where the churches, shrines, 

 and religious institutions were richly furnished 

 with ornaments of silver and gold, the greater part 

 was seized either by the assailants or the defenders, 

 and was converted into coin. The same course 

 of events may be observed in the Netherlands, in 

 Austria, in the parts of Southern Germany, and, 

 though at a later period, in Saxony, in Prussia, 

 and the north of Germany, and finally in Portugal 

 and Spain. 



During the first ten years of the French revolu- 

 tion, there could be little disposition to apply gold 

 and silver to articles of luxury ; and it is hence 

 probable that the greater portion of those metals 

 which were drawn to Europe from the mines was 

 appropriated to coin. These circumstances may 

 in some measure account for the rate of the prices 

 of general commodities not having fallen, though 

 the mass of material wealth had increased faster 

 than the metallic wealth by which its value was 

 measured. 



After the destruction of the Republic under the 

 consulate, but more under the Empire, some degree 

 of security was given to property in France. The 

 love of magnificence was displayed in the use of 



