as might prevent all future quibbling and special
pleading.

If the emigrants, the priesthood, and the nobility, did not scruple to
express their hopes aloud that the sales of the national domains might
be declared null and void, it was equally well known to the public
that certain Great Personages entertained the same hopes in secret.
Doubts respecting the legality, and, consequently, of the validity of
the sales, were expressed in the ministerial journals; and various
publications were industriously disseminated, in which the purchases
were directly impugned. The authors of these works were favoured and
protected[10]; and it was whispered that the Great Personages, to
whom we have already alluded, had deliberated on the means of
realizing their hopes. All these tokens of the times united in giving
too reasonable a ground for the apprehensions entertained by the
proprietors of the confiscated lands; and the disorganization of the
tribunals was considered as a national calamity.

[Footnote 10: M.M. David and Falconnet. In order to
appease the public indignation, a summons was
issued against these writers, it being stated in
the process that they had endeavoured to excite
civil war. There was no difficulty in guessing that
this proceeding was a farce, and that by
overcharging the crime it was the intention of the
government to favour the acquittal of the accused;
and accordingly they were acquitted.]

It is calculated that the individuals who are interested directly or
indirectly either in the purchases of the national domains, or in the
rights and liabilities arising out of them, amount in number to
somewhat between nine and ten millions.

An opportunity offered itself when all the uneasiness felt by this
integral portion of the population of France might have been removed.
It was when the law; by which the emigrants recovered possession of
such part of their property as had not been alienated, came under
consideration. It was natural to suppose that the administration would
take advantage of the capability of the proceeding, in order to revive
the confidence of the public, and to renew the guarantee of the
charter. Such was not their conduct. On the contrary, M. Ferrand, the
government orator, one of the men who did most mischief to the King
and