1791-9]

Sale of lands.

Local finance

705

70 per cent. below par at the time of issue, and were soon completely worthless. At the end of the Directory the annual charge of the consolidated debt was 46 millions, representing at 5 per cent. a capital of 920 millions, in addition to an annual sum of 29 millions in respect of annuities.

What was the value of the property nationalised by the French Revolution? Ramel estimated the amount at 3300 millions, but this is much below the mark. Eschassériaux valued it for the Conseil des Anciens in the fourth year of the Republic at a total of 5253 millions (specie value), of which 3195 millions were for Church and Crown lands and 2058 millions for the property of the émigrés. To this must be added 2000 millions from property nationalised in Belgium after its annexation. From the outbreak of the Revolution the position of the nobility had been increasingly difficult. Their titles and liveries were abolished (June 19, 1790). They were unprotected in rural districts from the violence of the Jacquerie. Such rights as were left to them were no longer enforced. The menacing attitude of the peasantry, and the hostility of government, caused many of them to leave the country — some to join the army of Condé, others to wait peacefully for quieter times. All alike were stricken after the flight to Varennes by decrees declaring them banished and liable to execution (March 28, 1793), and their property was confiscated (February 9 and July 27, 1792). The Terror attacked their families and ordered the confiscation of the property even of those who harboured the families of émigrés.

Reference has already been made to the evils which resulted from the insufficiently considered delegation of government functions to the local authorities (law of December 1, 1790). The abolition of octroi duties on the one hand, the responsibility for increased administration on the other, seriously compromised local finance. Municipalities were authorised to retain one-sixteenth of the proceeds of national property sold through their agency - the amount to be applied to the extinction of their debts, for which purpose they were also to sell all their property not set apart for common enjoyment (August 5, 1791). On August 24, 1793, all the debts of local authorities outstanding a fortnight earlier were nationalised. In return for the cost of collecting government taxes, etc. the ordinary contributions were augmented by additional sous to be retained by the local authorities. But the contributions (foncière and personnelle) could not be established in a day. The machinery of a new system of taxation, involving elaborate valuations and assessments, would have strained for many months the resources of a regular branch of the government service. The inexperienced communes were unequal to the task. The lists for the Year III were not completed at the end of the Year v. At the beginning of the Consulate less than a third of the lists for the Year VII had been drawn up. Many of these lagging payments were never recovered; and the municipalities, themselves.

C. M. H. VIII.

45

706

The gradual return to order

[1795-1801

almost devoid of means, neglected their new duties. Education was entrusted to their charge, but the schools had been generally sold with Church property, and 200,000 school-children were left without instruction. The highways were not repaired. Peasants who had grumbled at the corvées found themselves wasting more time and money in transport than they had previously devoted to forced public works. Turnpikes were set up to levy tolls on the English system. The assessment to the contribution personnelle and the tax upon luxury (July 25, 1795) were entrusted to "juries of equity" (jurys d'équite) by the law of August 1, 1797; but their proceedings, based upon favouritism and pique, were far more arbitrary than the worst abuses of the ancien régime, and gave rise to so much scandal that they were suppressed (December 23, 1798). The additional sous had already been taken over by government, which abolished the local budgets of departments and communes, but not of municipalities (19 Fructidor, An II), and resumed. the direction of most of the national services. Hospitals and charities. were nationalised (23 Messidor, An II), and the main lines of modern local finance in France were laid down by the law of December 23, 1798, authorising additions up to 17 per cent. for local purposes. The State management of the collection of revenue was the first step taken by Gaudin (November 24, 1799), when at the beginning of the Consulate he succeeded to an empty treasury. Until this was done, the national exchequer was in an impossible position.

The general financial position after the third year of the Republic can only be summarily indicated. Ramel, with access to official documents. and official advisers, was unable to arrive at any clear conclusions. So long as the paper-money was in circulation the accounts present an insoluble enigma. On 17 Brumaire, An IV, was presented a "sort of budget,” amounting to 3000 millions of expenses in paper-money, the louis of 24 livres being at this time worth 3080 livres in paper. The principal financial feature of the year was a further forced loan of 600 millions, one-half being payable in grain. The actual expenses were returned at 618,512,627 livres, and the receipts at 561,820,176 livres (specie value). The estimate for An v (16 Brumaire) amounted to 1000 million livres (specie value), of which 450 was required for ordinary expenditure and 550 for war. The ordinary expenditure was subsequently returned at 568,421,555 livres, and the ordinary receipts at 340 millions. The estimate of the various government departments for the ordinary expenditure of An VI amounted to 643,436,581 millions, reduced by the Corps Législatif to 616 millions (voted 9 Vendémiaire). With the Year VI we have, says Ramel, who may henceforward be adopted as our most trustworthy guide, a return to order. The exchequer revenue amounted to 418,995,118 livres, in addition to 3,317,043 for the repair of roads, and 105,009,555 paid over to local authorities. 50 millions of arrears were outstanding, and the deficit of the year stood at 25,157,613 livres.

1799-1801] Contributions of foreign countries

707

The receipts of the next three years are stated as follows (An Ix estimated).

The gross "contributions of conquered countries" are 18, 14, and 12 millions respectively for these three years; 12, 9, and 9 millions net. In the Year VIII are included 5 millions from the sale of national property in Holland. The following table shows the items of principal importance, in net figures of millions.

The contributions from foreign countries were a considerable resource of the revolutionary government. Napoleon, in particular, was one of its most valuable assets. He collected the taxes in Italy, held individuals and towns to ransom, raised forced loans and war indemnities, commandeered enormous supplies, and even pillaged museums, art galleries, and private collections, to send coin and valuable articles to the Directory. Stores, horses, munitions of war captured in battle, were sold and captured again. He fed, clothed, and "found" his army at the expense of the localities in which they were quartered, and remitted substantial balances to the government in Paris. His proclamations declare that the French soldiers who brought the torch of liberty to oppressed humanity at the cost of their blood must at least be paid for their pains. Paid in gold or in kind, the soldiers drew comparisons to the disadvantage of a civilian government paying in worthless paper; and the fatal assignat thus enhanced the prestige of the military chiefs. Requisitions were not confined to foreigners. Ramel sagely observes that they are ruinous to individuals when they are not paid for, because then everything is worth taking, and ruinous to government when they are paid for because then everything is over-estimated. The expenses of government were enormous; 14 armies were on foot, covering a line. of 500 leagues from the mouth of the Ems to the Adriatic, and some of the pay-lists show as many as 1,400,000 soldiers. Whole battalions, no doubt, existed only on paper, and serious malversations occurred in the War Office, and in certain revenue departments where officials speculated with the government money.

For some time public relief works were carried on, which were little more than simple charity. 40 sous a day were paid to the

708

Restoration of order

audience of popular societies. Succour was accorded to all the larger communes. At Paris bread costing 8 sous a pound in cash was practically given away to the populace. To meet all these expenses the government threw all the resources of the country into hotchpot. The salaries of the clergy and the civil list had ceased to be paid. Church property, Crown property, the lands, houses, goods, and chattels of the émigrés were seized. Forced loans and forced gifts, voluntary contributions in kind and money, perquisitions, the seizure of Church plate worth 45 millions, and of Church bells worth 15 millions, a sum of 500 millions from the countries occupied by the armies of the Republicthese are examples of the means of supporting the Revolution. It had "liquidated the ancien régime," but, as has been well said, it was confronted with the necessity of liquidating itself. The strong hand of Napoleon and the trained intelligence of Gaudin found little to change in the laws affecting finance; but not until the return of order and authority did financial affairs emerge from chaos. The worthless paper, assignats, mandats, bonds of half-a-dozen descriptions, receipts for requisitions, etc. were gradually destroyed. The 15 millions of gros sous or large copper coins issued in 1791, and the 150 millions of copper money, into which the Church bells not used for making cannon were struck in 1794-5, soon became reinforced by gold and silver. Industry and commerce revived with the establishment of security; and the financial blunders of the Revolution took their place among regrettable incidents in a struggle which the French nation determined to survive, at whatever cost.

APPENDIX

I

Table of the Depreciation of assignats at Paris, showing the value in coin of 100 livres :

Number of livres in assignats which could be purchased for 24 livres in cash on the 1st of each month:

1795 April, 238; May, 299; June, 439; July, 808; August, 807; September, 1101; October, 1205; November, 2588; December, 3575.

1796 January, 4658; February, 5337; March, 7200.

The figures, derived from official sources, are set out in greater detail in Bresson, II. 226, and in Ramel (op cit.). The provincial prices frequently differ from those of Paris. The last quotation on the Bourse was on 21 Prairial, An. IV. The official equivalents are usually higher than the market rates.

The reader may refer for a discussion of principles and policy with regard to assignats to Thiers, Révolution française; J. B. Say, Traité d'économie politique; P. Leroy-Beaulieu, Science des Finances.

II

For convenience of reference may be noted the following financial measures, many of them "fundamental" in French finance:

Tax on doors and windows, November 24, 1798.

Trade licences, created 1791, abandoned 1793, renewed the same year, amended in 1796 (6 Fructidor, An Iv), finally settled, October 28, 1797, and October 22, 1798. Customs tariff, July 28-August 6-22, 1791.

Transfer duties, 22 Frimaire, An vii.

Stamp laws, December 12, 1790-February 18, 1791.

Amended by 9 Vendémiaire

and 3 Brumaire, An vi. Basis of present law 13 Brumaire, An vn. Playing-cards, duty abolished, March 2, 1791. New duty imposed, 9 Vendémiaire, An VI. The same law imposed a duty upon hackney carriages.

Tobacco monopoly abolished 1790. Duty of 50 frs. per 100 kilos. imposed 22 Germinal, An v, and an increased duty on manufacture, 22 Brumaire, An vii.

State lottery abolished 25 Frimaire, An п. Restored 17 Vendémiaire, An vi.