would be restored.

Still another favorite idea was that British emissaries were in the
midst of the people, instilling notions hostile to paper. Great
efforts were made to find these emissaries and more than one innocent
person experienced the popular wrath under the supposition that he was
engaged in raising gold and depressing paper. Even Talleyrand, shrewd
as he was, insisted that the cause was simply that the imports were
too great and the exports too little.[28] As well might he explain
that fact that, when oil is mingled with water, water sinks to the
bottom, by saying that this is because the oil rises to the top. This
disappearance of specie was the result of a natural law as simple and
as sure in its action as gravitation; the superior currency had been
withdrawn because an inferior currency could be used.[29] Some efforts
were made to remedy this. In the municipality of Quilleboeuf a
considerable amount in specie having been found in the possession of a
citizen, the money was seized and sent to the Assembly. The people of
that town treated this hoarded gold as the result of unpatriotic
wickedness or madness, instead of seeing that it was but the sure
result of a law working in every land and time, when certain causes
are present. Marat followed out this theory by asserting that death
was the proper penalty for persons who thus hid their money.

Still another troublesome fact began now to appear. Though paper
money had increased in amount, prosperity had steadily diminished. In
spite of all the paper issues, commercial activity grew more and more
spasmodic. Enterprise was chilled and business became more and more
stagnant. Mirabeau, in his speech which decided the second great
issue of paper, had insisted that, though bankers might suffer, this
issue would be of great service to manufacturers and restore