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56 Travels in France 



able to acquire in new rents the payments from which the land 

 has been freed. Owners of meadows, woods, and a varietv of 

 articles for which no tithe was paid before, gain much less than 

 others whose property used to be subject to that burthen. In 

 regard to the payment of rent, there is a distinction between the 

 north and south of the Loire; in the former, rents continue to 

 be paid; but to the south, many landlords have been unable to 

 receive a penny, and here a difference is observable; absentees, 

 who were not beloved or whose agents are disliked, are in an ill 

 situation; but others who reside, or who, though absent, are 

 beloved, are paid proportionally to the ability of the metayer, 

 which species of tenant is chiefly found south of the Loire. The 

 last crop (of 1791) is said to have been short; in a good year, in 

 Picardy, 40 sheaves gave a septier of wheat, of 240 lb. ; but now 

 it takes 50 to 60. This circumstance, however, caimot be 

 general as the price plainly proves; for January 7, 1792, price 

 at Paris of wheat was 22 to 28 livTes with assignats at 36 per 

 cent, discount, a remarkable proof that the most depreciated 

 paper currency will answer every purpose for objects of physical 

 necessity and daily consumption. The discount on this paper 

 is greater than ever was foretold by those who predicted an 

 enormous rise of all the necessaries of life ; a proof how new the 

 science of politics is, and how little able the most ingenious men 

 are to foretell the effects of any specified event. The sale of the 

 national estates has been of late very slow, which is a strange 

 circumstance, since the rapidity of their transfer ought to have 

 been proportioned to the discount upon assignats, for an obvious 

 reason; for, while land is to be acquired with money, the more 

 depreciated paper is, the greater the benefit to the purchaser. 

 While the sale of the estates lasted with any degree of briskness, 

 the common price, of such as have come to my knowledge, was 

 twenty to thirty, and even more years' purchase ; at which rate 

 the advantages attending investments may be great. 



Commerce and Manufactures. — The result of the vast discount 

 upon assignats has, in relation to the national industry, been 

 almost contrary to what many persons, not ill informed, ex- 

 pected. Early in the confusion of the revolution nothing 

 suffered so severely as manufactures; but I am now (1792) in- 

 formed that there is much more motion and employment in 

 them than some time past, when the general aspect of affairs 

 was less alarming. The very circumstance which, according to 

 common ideas, should have continued their depression, has 

 most unaccountably revived them in some measure; I mean the 



