The things we do!

-- Moreover;
whoever the actual holders may be, whether old or whether new men,
the State is under obligation to them, not only by general right --
and because, from the beginning, it is in its nature the guardian of
all property, -- but also by a special right, because it has itself
sanctioned this particular species of property. The buyers of
yesterday paid their money only under its guarantee; its signature
is affixed to the contract, and it has bound itself to secure to
them the enjoyment of it. If it prevents them from doing so, let it
make them compensation; in default of the thing promised to them, it
owes them the value of it. Such is the law in cases of
expropriation for public utility; in 1834, for instance, the
English, for the legal abolition of slavery, paid to their planters
the sum of ?20,000,000. -- - But that is not sufficient: when, in
the suppression of feudal rights, the legislator's thoughts are
taken up with the creditors, he has only half performed his task;
there are two sides to the question, and he must likewise think of
the debtors.


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