Assembly see that natural laws work as inexorably in France as
elsewhere; he predicted that if this new issue were made there would
come a depreciation of thirty per cent. Singular, that the man who so
fearlessly stood against this tide of unreason has left to the world
simply a reputation as the most brilliant cook that ever existed! He
was followed by the Abbe Goutes, who declared,--what seems grotesque
to those who have read the history of an irredeemable paper currency
in any country--that new issues of paper money "will supply a
circulating medium which will protect public morals from
corruption."[17]

Into this debate was brought a report by Necker. He was not, indeed,
the great statesman whom France especially needed at this time, of all
times. He did not recognize the fact that the nation was entering a
great revolution, but he could and did see that, come what might,
there were simple principles of finance which must be adhered to.
Most earnestly, therefore, he endeavored to dissuade the Assembly from
the proposed issue; suggesting that other means could be found for
accomplishing the result, and he predicted terrible evils. But the
current was running too fast. The only result was that Necker was
spurned as a man of the past; he sent in his resignation and left
France forever.[18] The paper-money demagogues shouted for joy at his
departure; their chorus rang through the journalism of the time. No
words could express their contempt for a man who was unable to see the
advantages of filling the treasury with the issues of a printing
press. Marat, Hébert, Camille Desmoulins and the whole mass of
demagogues so soon to follow them to the guillotine were especially
jubilant.[19]

Continuing the debate, Rewbell attacked Necker, saying that the