EIGHT THOUSAND MILLION ASSIGNATS In 1790 the interest on the assignats holdings was reduced to 3%, and as the Treasury had again become exhausted a further issue was decided upon ; it was also decreed that the assignats were to be accepted as legal tender, all public departments being instructed to receive them as the equivalent of metallic money. This second issue amounted to 800,000,000 francs and carried no interest. It was solemnly declared in the decree authorizing the issue that the maximum issue was never to exceed 1,200,000,000 francs. This pledge, however, was soon broken, and further issues brought the total up to 3,750,000,000 francs. The consequence of these further issues was instant depreciation, and the note of zoo francs' nominal value sank to less than 20 francs' coin. Recourse was then had to protective legislation. The first step was to decree the penalty of six years' imprisonment against any person who should sell specie for a more considerable quantity of assignats, or who should stipulate a different price for commodities according as the payment was to be made in specie or in assignats. For the second offence the penalty was to be 20 years' imprisonment (Aug. I 1793), for which the death penalty was ultimately substituted (May 10 1794)• This severe provision was, however, repealed after the fall of Robespierre. Notwithstanding these precautions the value of assignats still declined, till the proportion to specie had become that of six to one. Then came the passing by the con vention, May 3 1793, of the absurd "maximum." The decree re quired all farmers and corn-dealers to declare the quantity of corn in their possession and to sell it only in recognized markets. No person was to be allowed to lay in more than one month's supply. A maximum price was fixed, above which, under severe penalties, no one was to buy or sell. These measures were soon stultified by further issues, and by June 1794 the total number of assignats aggregated nearly 8,000,000,000, of which only 2,464,000,00o had returned to the Treasury and been destroyed. The extension of the "maximum" to all commodities only increased the confusion. Trade was paralysed and all manufacturing establishments were closed down. Attempts by the convention to increase the value of the assignats were of no avail. Too many causes operated in favour of their depreciation : the enormous issue, the uncertainty as to their value if the Revolution should fail, the relation they bore to both specie and commodities, which retained their value and refused to be exchanged for a money of constantly diminish ing purchasing power. Even between the assignats there were differences. The royal assignats, which had been issued under Louis XVI., had depreciated less than the republican ones. They were worth from 8 to 15% more, because of the hope that in case of a counter-revolution they would be less likely to be discredited.
The Directory was guilty of even greater abuses in dealing with the assignats. By 1796 the issues had reached the enormous figure of 45,500,000,00o francs, and even this gigantic total was swollen still more by the numerous counterfeits introduced into France from the neighbouring countries. The assignats had now become totally valueless—the abolition of the "maximum" the previous year (I 795) had produced no effect, and though, by various pay ments into the Treasury, the total number had been reduced to about 24,000,000,00o francs, their face-value was about 3o to I of coin. At that value they were converted into 800,000,000 francs of land-warrants or mandats territoriaux, which were to constitute a mortgage on all the lands of the republic. These mandats were no more successful than the assignats, and even on the day of their issue were at a discount of 82%. They had an existence of six months, and were finally received back by the State at about the loth part of their face value in coin. (See also PAPER MONEY; MONEY.) BIBLIOGRAPHY.-L. A. Thiers, Histoire de la revolution francaise, Bibliography.-L. A. Thiers, Histoire de la revolution francaise, gives a full and graphic account of the assignats, the causes of their depreciation, etc.; J. Garnier, Traite des Finances (1862) ; J. Bresson, Histoire ftnanciere de la France (1829) ; R. Stourm, Les Finances de l'ancien regime et de la revolution (1885) ; F. A. Walker, Money (1891) ; Henry Higgs, in the Cambridge Modern History, vol. viii. (19o4)•