Church property.
Various ecclesiastics made speeches, some of them full of pithy and
weighty arguments, against the proposed issue of paper, and there is
preserved a sermon from one priest threatening all persons handling the
new money with eternal damnation. But the great majority of the French
people, who had suffered ecclesiastical oppression so long, regarded
these utterances as the wriggling of a fish on the hook, and enjoyed the
sport all the better. [11]

The first result of this issue was apparently all that the most sanguine
could desire: the treasury was at once greatly relieved; a portion of
the public debt was paid; creditors were encouraged; credit revived;
ordinary expenses were met, and, a considerable part of this paper
money having thus been passed from the government into the hands of
the people, trade increased and all difficulties seemed to vanish. The
anxieties of Necker, the prophecies of Maury and Cazales seemed proven
utterly futile. And, indeed, it is quite possible that, if the national
authorities had stopped with this issue, few of the financial evils
which afterwards arose would have been severely felt; the four hundred
millions of paper money then issued would have simply discharged the
function of a similar amount of specie. But soon there came another
result: times grew less easy; by the end of September, within five
months after the issue of the four hundred millions in _assignats_, the
government had spent them and was again in distress. [12]

The old remedy immediately and naturally recurred to the minds of
men. Throughout the country began a cry for another issue of paper;
thoughtful men then began to recall what their fathers had told them
about the seductive path of paper-money issues in John Law's time, and
to remember the prophecies that they themselves had heard in the debate
on the first issue of _assignats_ less than six months before.

At that time the opponents of paper had prophesied that, once on the
downward path of inflation, the nation could not be restrained and that
more issues would follow. The supporters of the first issue had asserted
that this was a calumny; that the people were now in control and that
they could and would check these issues whenever they desired.

The condition of opinion in the Assembly was, therefore, chaotic: a few
schemers and dreamers were loud and outspoken for paper money; many
of the more shallow and easy-going were inclined to yield; t