The things we do!

Some people gain
six hundred thousand francs by this act, and thirty thousand francs
in Income.[59] Through this gratuitous and unexpected gift, one
hundred and twenty-three millions of revenue, and two milliards and
a half of capital, is divided among the holders of real estate in
France, and in a manner so ingenious that the rich receive the most.
Such is the effect of abstract principles. To afford a relief of
thirty millions a year to the peasants in wooden shoes, an assembly
of democrats adds thirty millions a year to the revenue of wealthy
bourgeois and thirty millions a year to opulent nobles. The first
part of this operation moreover, is but another burden to the State;
for, in taking off the load from the holders of real property, it
has encumbered itself, the State henceforth, without pocketing a
penny, being obliged to defray the expenses of worship in their
place. - As to the second part of the operation, which consists in
the confiscation of four milliards of real estate, it proves, after
all, to be ruinous, although promising to be lucrative.


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