This is why the guarantee, vainly increased, no longer
suffices for the monstrous, disproportionate mortgage; it exceeds all
limits, covers nothing, and sinks through its own weight. At Paris,
the assignat of one hundred francs is worth in specie, in the month of
June, 1791, eighty-five francs, in January, 1792, only sixty-six
francs, in March, 1792, only fifty. three francs; rising in value at
the end of the Legislative Assembly, owing to fresh confiscations, it
falls back to fifty-five francs in January, 1793, to forty-seven
francs in April, to forty francs in June, to thirty-three francs in
July.[13] - Thus are the creditors of the State defrauded of a third,
one-half, and two-thirds of their investment, and not alone the
creditors of the State but every other creditor, since every debtor
has the right to discharge his obligations by paying his debts in
assignats. Enumerate, if possible, all who are defrauded of private
claims, all money-lenders and stockholders who have invested in any
private enterprise, either manufacturing or mercantile, those who have
loaned money on Contracts of longer or shorter date, all sellers of
real estate, with stipulations in their deeds for more or less remote
payment, all landowners who have leased their grounds or buildings for
a term of years, all holders of annuities on private bond or on an
estate, all manufacturers, merchants and farmers who have sold their
wares, goods and produce on time, all clerks on yearly salaries and
even all other employees, underlings, servants and workmen receiving
fixed salaries for a specified term.
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