Commerce ar.d tnamfaflures. — The refult of the vail difeount upon afiignats has, inrelation to the national indullry, been almofi contrary to what many perfons, .not ill-informed, expeded. Early in the confufion of the revolution, nothing fullered lo i"e-verely as manufadurc-s; but I am now (*792) informed, that there is much more mo-tion and employment in them than fome time pall, when the general afped of affairswas lefs alarming. The very circumltance which, according to common ideas, fnouldhave continued their depreffion, has molt unaccountably revived them in fome meafure ;I mean the depreciation of the afiignats. Paper currency has been at fo low a pitch,that every fpecies of goods has been preferred in payments; mailer manufadurers pay-ing their workmen, &c. in afiignats, by which bread is purchafed at a price propor-tioned tp the crop, can fell the produd of that labour to inch an advantage, as to createdemand enough to animate their bufinefs : a moll curious political combination, whichfeems to lhew, that in circumllances where evils are of the moll alarming tendency,there is a re-adion, an under-current, that works again!! the apparent tide, and bringsrelief, even from the very nature of the misfortune. Combine this with the point ofdepreffion of England, in all her wars, as explained v’ith fuch talents by the ingeniousMr. Chalmers, and fomethingofa fimilarity will llrikelhe relleding reader. The lofsby the depreffion of afiignats has not been by any interior tranfadions, but by thofewith foreign powers. In confequence of it, the courfe of exchange rofe at hall fo high,that the lofs to the kingdom has been great, but by no means fo great as fome haveimagined, who fuppofed the intercourfe to be moving in the fame ratio as in precedingperiods. But this is no light error; the evil of exchange, like all other political evils,corrcds itfelf; when it is very much again!! a people, they necefiarily lefien their con-fumption of foreign commodites ; and on the contrary, foreign nations confume theirsvery freely, becaufe fo eafily paid for. Through the month of January, 1792, thecourfe of exchange between us and Paris , has been about 18 on an average ; reckoningthe par at 30 (which, however, is not exad), here is 40,per cent again!! France ; de-dud 36 for the difeount on afiignats, and this apparent enormity of evil is reduced to4 per cent. Through the month of January, 1791, the courfe was 25 £ ; this was 15per cent, difadvantage, and deduding five for the difeount on afiignats, the real difad-vantage was ten. Thus the exchange in January, 1792, is 6 per cent more favoura-ble to France than in 1791 ; a remark, however, which mull not be extended to anyother cafe, and touches not on the internal mifehiefs of a depreciated currency. Itfeems to lhew, that the evils of their fituation, fo little underllood by the generality ofpeople here, are correding themfelves, relative to foreigners, through the operationof the caufes I have mentioned. It is at the fame time to be remarked, that while theprice of corn, and other things, in which there is no competition by foreigners, rifesmerely on account of a (carcity, real or apprehenfive; at the lame time, every thingbought by foreigners, or which can be bought by them, has rifen greatly ; for inflance,the cloth of Abbeville, a French commodity, has rifen from 30 livres to 40 livres theauln; and copper, a foreign commodity, has increafed, it is afierted in the petition ofthe Norman manufadurers to the National Aflembly, 70 per cent. Such a fabric mayfuller: but if their pins fellproportionably with other things, the evil, it mud be admit-ted, tends to corred itfelf.
Finances. —The prominent feature is the immenfity of the debt, which increafes everyhour. That which bears interefl may be about 5,000,000,000 liv.; and afiignats, or thedebt not bearing interelf, may be grofsly efiimated at 1,500,000,000 liv. ; in all6,500,coo,coo liv. or 284,37^,0001. fterling, a debt of fuch enormity, that nothing butthe mol! regular, and well paid revenue, could enable the kingdom to fupport it. The
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