and which separates France from other nations: that thus shall
manufacturers be encouraged; that commerce with other nations may be a
curse, and hindrance thereto may be a blessing; that the laws of
political economy however applicable in other times, are not
applicable to this particular period, and, however operative in other
nations, are not now so in France; that the ordinary rules of
political economy are perhaps suited to the minions of despotism but
not to the free and enlightened inhabitants of France at the close of
the eighteenth century; that the whole state of present things, so far
from being an evil is a blessing. All these ideas, and others quite
as striking, were brought to the surface in the debates on the various
new issues.[39]

Within four months came another report to the Assembly as ingenious as
those preceding. It declared: "Your committee are thoroughly
persuaded that the amount of the circulating medium before the
Revolution was greater than that of the _assignats_ today: but at that
time the money circulated slowly and now it passes rapidly so that one
thousand million _assignats_ do the work of two thousand millions of
specie." The report foretells further increase in prices, but by some
curious jugglery reaches a conclusion favorable to further inflation.
Despite these encouragements the _assignats_ nominally worth 100
_livres_ had fallen, at the beginning of February, 1792, to about 60
_livres_, and during that month fell to 53 _livres_.[40]

In March, Clavière became minister of financ. He was especially
proud of his share in the invention and advocacy of the _assignats_,
and now pressed their creation more vigorously than ever, and on April
30th, of the same year, came the fifth great issue of paper money,
amounting to three hundred millions: at about the same time Cambon