cessful step, and it was only by gradual
stages and from unwise measures that it eventually failed. In April
1790, assignats were made legal tender; a few months later they ceased
to bear interest,--in other words, though still bonds on their face
they really became paper money. In September 1790, another 800
millions were issued, and in June another 600, and in small
denominations, and from that moment they began to sink in value
rapidly. Until the month of January 1791 they stood at over 90; in
July 1791 they were at 87; during 1792-93, years of the greatest
crisis, they fell fast; in 1795 they had almost lost value and during
the Directoire period the assignat becomes almost worthless, one
recorded transaction giving 3,080 francs in paper for 20 in gold.

{98} Behind the financial policy of the assembly was Mirabeau. He had
long been connected with the bankers and promoters of Paris, had
produced pamphlets to serve their financial projects. The bond issues
of the assembly, and the probable sales of large blocks of real
property, were of great interest to these groups, and Mirabeau was
their natural connecting link with the assembly. He was the strongest
advocate of the assignat measures, and whatever interest his friends
took in them, it need not be doubted that he believed them salutary and
wise.

The Court in its new perplexity, helplessly entangled in Paris, having
learnt just a little from experience, now turned to Mirabeau for
assistance. He secretly advised that the King should take the
initiative, and should put forward the policy of a moderate
constitution on the English model with a responsible ministry. If this
brought on a conflict, or if his situation otherwise made it advisable
to leave Paris, he should seek refuge in the well-disposed province of
Normandy, and not with the army on the German frontier. The advice of
Mirabeau was not unsound, and it implied as a step the formation of a
Mirabeau, Necker, La Fayette ministry.

{99} But Mirabeau was too much handicapped by his past. The Assembly
viewed him with rooted suspicion and dislike, and for this reason the
Court could not have chosen a worse agent. At the end of November the
assembly voted decrees excluding its members from the King's ministry,
thus barring Mirabeau's path, and thus accentuating once more its own
destructive attitude towards the Government. If it would not
participate, even indirectly, in the executive, it was partly b