Finally, on September 30, 1797, as the culmination of these
and various other experiments and expedients, came an order of the
Directory that the national debts should be paid two-thirds in bonds
which might be used in purchasing confiscated real estate, and the
remaining "Consolidated Third," as it was called, was to be placed on
the "Great Book" of the national debt to be paid thenceforth as the
government should think best.

As to the bonds which the creditors of the nation were thus forced to
take, they sank rapidly, as the _assignats_ and _mandats_ had done, even
to three per cent of their value. As to the "Consolidated Third," that
was largely paid, until the coming of Bonaparte, in paper money which
sank gradually to about six per cent of its face value. Since May, 1797,
both _assignats_ and _mandats_ had been virtually worth nothing.

So ended the reign of paper money in France. The twenty-five hundred
millions of _mandats_ went into the common heap of refuse with the
previous forty-five thousand millions of _assignats_: the nation in
general, rich and poor alike, was plunged into financial ruin from one
end to the other.

On the prices charged for articles of ordinary use light is thrown by
extracts from a table published in 1795, reduced to American coinage.

1790 1795
For a bushel of flour 40 cents 45 dollars
For a bushel of oats 18 cents 10 dollars
For a cartload of wood 4 dollars 500 dollars
For a bushel of coal 7 cents 2 dollars
For a pound of sugar 18 cents 12 1/2 dollars
For a pound of soap 18 cents 8 dollars
For a pound of candles 18 cents 8 dollars
For one cabbage 8 cents 5 1/2 dollars
For a pair of shoes 1 dollar 40 dollars
For twenty-five eggs 24 cents 5 dollars

But these prices about the middle of 1795 were moderate compared with
those which were reached before the close of that year and during the
year following. Perfectly authentic examples were such as the following:

A pound of bread 9 dollars
A bushel of potatoes 40 dollars
A pound of candles 40 dollars
A cartload of wood 250 dollars

So much for the poorer people. Typical of those esteemed wealthy may be
mentioned a manufacturer of hardware who, having retired from business