However, they are almost entirely unworthy of attention, and afford but occasionally openings for speculation. Of the last, (_Obligations de Reçeveur_) it may be necessary to observe that they are monthy acceptances issued by the Receivers-General of all the departments, which the government has given to the five bankers, charged with supplying money for the current service, as security for their advances, and which are commonly discounted at from 7/8 to one per cent per month. I shall terminate this concise, though accurate sketch of the French funds by a general statement of the National Debt, and by an account of an annuity supposed to be held by a foreigner before the revolution, and which, to become _Tiers Consolidé_, must undergo the regular process of reduction and liquidation. _National Debt_. _Francs._ Consolidated Stock (_Tiers Consolidé_) 38,750,000 Floating Debt, to be consolidated, about 23,000,000 Life Annuities 20,000,000 Ecclesiastical, Military, and other Pensions 19,000,000 ----------- 100,750,000 The value of a _franc_ is something more than 10_d_. English money: according to which calculation, the National Debt of France is in round numbers no more than £4,000,000 Supposed liquidation of an annuity of £100. sterling, or 2,400 _livres tournois_ held by a foreigner before the war and yet unliquidated. _Francs._ Original Annuity 2,400 _Tiers Consolidé Bons de deux Tiers_ 2,400 The actual value of the whole, including the arreared dividends up to the present day is as follows: _Francs._ _Tiers Consolidé_ as above, 800 francs sold at 60 francs 9,600 _Bons de deux Tiers_, ditto 1600 francs sold at 3 francs 48 Arrears from the first year of the Republic to the fifth ditto (23d of September, 1792 to the 23d of September, 1797) are to be paid in Assignats, and are of no value.