The weight, however, of which he relieves himself falls upon the
overburdened buyer, and this weight, already excessive, goes on
increasing, through another effect of the revolutionary institution,
until it becomes ten-fold and even a hundred-fold. - The only money,
in fact, which private individuals possess melts away in their hands,
and, so to say, destroys itself. When the guillotine stops working,
the assignat, losing its official value, falls to its real value. In
August, 1794, the loss on it is sixty six per cent., in October,
seventy two per cent., in December, seventy eight per cent., in
January, 1795, eighty one per cent., and after that date the constant
issues of enormous amounts, five hundred millions, then a billion, a
billion and a half, and, finally, two billions a month, hastens its
depreciation.[101] The greater the depreciation of the assignats the
greater the amount the government is obliged to issue to provide for
its expenses, and the more it issues the more it causes their
depreciation, so that the decline which increases the issue increases
the depreciation, until, finally, the assignat comes down to nothing.
On March II, 1795, the louis d'or brings two hundred and five francs
in assignats, May 11, four hundred francs, June 12, one thousand
francs, in the month of October, one thousand seven hundred francs,
November 13, two thousand eight hundred and fifty francs, November 21
three thousand francs, and six months later, nineteen thousand francs.
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