urope to seek
their happiness under laws which they admire; and soon France, enriched
by her new property and by the national industry which is preparing for
fruitfulness, will demand still another creation of paper money."

France was now fully committed to a policy of inflation; and, if there
had been any question of this before, all doubts were removed now by
various acts very significant as showing the exceeding difficulty of
stopping a nation once in the full tide of a depreciating currency. The
National Assembly had from the first shown an amazing liberality to all
sorts of enterprises, wise or foolish, which were urged "for the good of
the people." As a result of these and other largesses the old cry of the
"lack of a circulating medium" broke forth again; and especially loud
were the clamors for more small bills. The cheaper currency had largely
driven out the dearer; paper had caused small silver and copper money
mainly to disappear; all sorts of notes of hand, circulating under the
name of "confidence bills," flooded France--sixty-three kinds in Paris
alone. This unguaranteed currency caused endless confusion and fraud.
Different districts of France began to issue their own _assignats_ in
small denominations, and this action stirred the National Assembly to
evade the solemn pledge that the circulation should not go above twelve
hundred millions and that all _assignats_ returned to the treasury for
lands should immediately be burned. [24] Within a short time there had
been received into the treasury for lands one hundred and sixty million
_livres_ in paper. By the terms of the previous acts this amount of
paper ought to have been retired. Instead of this, under the plea of
necessity, the greater part of it was reissued in the form of small
notes.

There was, indeed, much excuse for new issues of small notes, for, under
the theory that an issue of smaller notes would drive silver out of
circulation, the smallest authorized _assignat_ was for fifty _livres_.
To supply silver and copper and hold it in circulation everything was
tried. Citizens had been spurred on by law to send their silverware and
jewels to the mint. Even the king sent his silver and gold plate, and
the churches and convents were required by law to send to the government
melting pot all silver and gold vessels not absolutely necessary for
public worship. For copper money the church bells were melted down. But
silver and even copper continued to