at this there arose many murmurs. Chabroud came
to the rescue. He said that the issue of _assignats_ would relieve the
distress of the people and he presented very neatly the new theory of
paper money and its basis in the following words: "The earth is the
source of value; you cannot distribute the earth in a circulating value,
but this paper becomes representative of that value and it is evident
that the creditors of the nation will not be injured by taking it." On
the other hand, appeared in the leading paper, the "Moniteur," a very
thoughtful article against paper money, which sums up all by saying,
"It is, then, evident that all paper which cannot, at the will of the
bearer, be converted into specie cannot discharge the functions of
money." This article goes on to cite Mirabeau's former opinion in his
letter to Cerutti, published in 1789,--the famous opinion of paper money
as "a nursery of tyranny, corruption and delusion; a veritable debauch
of authority in delirium." Lablache, in the Assembly, quoted a saying
that "paper money is the emetic of great states." [20]

Boutidoux, resorting to phrasemaking, called the _assignats_ _"un papier
terre,"_ or "land converted into paper." Boislandry answered vigorously
and foretold evil results. Pamphlets continued to be issued,--among
them, one so pungent that it was brought into the Assembly and read
there,--the truth which it presented with great clearness being simply
that doubling the quantity of money or substitutes for money in a nation
simply increases prices, disturbs values, alarms capital, diminishes
legitimate enterprise, and so decreases the demand both for products
and for labor; that the only persons to be helped by it are the rich
who have large debts to pay. This pamphlet was signed "A Friend of the
People," and was received with great applause by the thoughtful minority
in the Assembly. Du Pont de Nemours, who had stood by Necker in the
debate on the first issue of _assignats_, arose, avowed the pamphlet to
be his, and said sturdily that he had always voted against the emission
of irredeemable paper and always would. [21]

Far more important than any other argument against inflation was the
speech of Talleyrand. He had been among the boldest and most radical
French statesmen. He it was,--a former bishop,--who, more than any
other, had carried the extreme measure of taking into the possession of
the nation the great landed estates of the Church, and he had su