ceable; that the report proved the first issue
of _assignats_ a success; that public affairs had come out of distress;
that ruin had been averted and credit established. He then argued that
there was a difference between paper money of the recent issue and
that from which the nation had suffered so much in John Law's time; he
declared that the French nation had now become enlightened and he added,
"Deceptive subtleties can no longer mislead patriots and men of sense in
this matter." He then went on to say: "We must accomplish that which
we have begun," and declared that there must be one more large issue
of paper, guaranteed by the national lands and by the good faith of the
French nation. To show how practical the system was he insisted that
just as soon as paper money should become too abundant it would be
absorbed in rapid purchases of national lands; and he made a very
striking comparison between this self-adjusting, self-converting system
and the rains descending in showers upon the earth, then in swelling
rivers discharged into the sea, then drawn up in vapor and finally
scattered over the earth again in rapidly fertilizing showers. He
predicted that the members would be surprised at the astonishing success
of this paper money and that there would be none too much of it.

His theory grew by what it fed upon,--as the paper-money theory has
generally done. Toward the close, in a burst of eloquence, he suggested
that _assignats_ be created to an amount sufficient to cover the
national debt, and that all the national lands be exposed for sale
immediately, predicting that thus prosperity would return to the nation
and that an classes would find this additional issue of paper money a
blessing. [15]

This speech was frequently interrupted by applause; a unanimous vote
ordered it printed, and copies were spread throughout France. The
impulse given by it permeated all subsequent discussion; Gouy arose
and proposed to liquidate the national debt of twenty-four hundred
millions,--to use his own words--"by one single operation, grand,
simple, magnificent." [16] This "operation" was to be the emission of
twenty-four hundred millions in legal tender notes, and a law that
specie should not be accepted in purchasing national lands. His demagogy
bloomed forth magnificently. He advocated an appeal to the people, who,
to use his flattering expression, "ought alone to give the law in a
matter so interesting." The newspapers of the p