This method appeared to the Cardinal the most equitable, at least he says so, and the only one practicable; but in my opinion it was the most arbitrary of the three; the most liable to abuse, and the most opposite to the principles of public credit, as at present established: and yet it is a thought, which, when conducted with justice, may upon some occasions answer excellent purposes, as I shall observe in a proper place. Had he adopted the first expedient, of ascertaining the value of the real advance, there was an appearance of justice; because the creditors were thereby represented as usurers; and by repaying them what they had advanced, by the enjoyment of an income above the legal interest, he treated them with more indulgence than the laws allow between private persons: but when money was borrowed in time of war, a higher interest should have been allowed for it than in time of peace, when it was to be paid off; and therefore to take the standard of peace, in reckoning with the creditors who had lent in time of war, was an evident injustice. Could he, according to the second scheme, have discovered exactly the sums which had been paid for the annuities given, and offered reimbursements upon that footing, less could have been said against it; because the mentioning more in the contract than what had been paid, was a palpable fraud against the King. The third method, which the Cardinal approves of, contains this piece of great injustice, that the antient creditors of the state who had paid 12 years purchase for their contracts, that is, those who had lent at about 8 _per cent._ might by this scheme be paid off with one half of what they originally paid. If it be answered, that nothing is worth more than what it can bring; I answer, that it may be worth more than what it can bring _at a particular time_. During a war, an annuity which had been bought at 12 years purchase in time of peace, will fall to five, providing annuities can then be bought at that rate. The new loans constantly regulate the value of the old capitals; but upon a return of peace, they will rise to the original value. Another injustice here was, that a minister, by borrowing a sum at a very high interest, at a time he wanted to set a value on the capitals, might sink this value. And, in the third place, the greatest injustice of all consisted in this, that the Cardinal had no thoughts of any reimbursement, as we shall see by what follows. There was, at this time, one class of annuities constituted at 8 _per cent._ These he proposed to reduce to 6 _per cent._ as above, by his preliminary operation. Such annuities sold at that time for five years purchase. These, says the Cardinal, _we must fix at that value_; and by allowing the proprietors to enjoy them for 7½ years, the capital and interest will be paid off. Other annuities constituted upon the _taille_ sold for six years purchase, which, by the same rule, were to be paid off in 8½ years.