n up in return for compensation. They imagined that the
distinction was founded on principle; but nobody ever ascertained the
dividing line between that which was property and that which was
abuse. The want of definiteness enabled the landlords afterwards to
attempt the recovery of much debatable ground, and involved, after
long contention, the ultimate loss of all.

The programme was excessively complicated, and required years to be
carried out. The nobles won the day with their demand to be
compensated; but Duport already spoke the menacing words: "Injustice
has no right to subsist, and the price of injustice has no right to
subsist." The immensity of the revolution, which these changes
implied, was at once apparent. For it signified that liberty, which
had been known only in the form of privilege, was henceforward
identified with equality. The nobles lost their jurisdiction; the
corporation of judges lost their right of holding office by purchase.
All classes alike were admitted to all employments. When privilege
fell, provinces lost it as well as orders. One after the other,
Dauphine, Provence, Brittany, Languedoc, declared that they renounced
their historic rights, and shared none but those which were common to
all Frenchmen. Servitude was abolished; and on the same principle,
that all might stand on the same level before the law, justice was
declared gratuitous.

Lubersac, bishop of Chartres, the friend and patron of Sieyes, moved
the abolition of the game laws, which meant the right of preserving on
another man's land. It was a right which necessarily followed the
movement of that night; but it led men to say that the clergy gave
away generously what belonged to somebody else. It was then proposed
that the tithe should be commuted; and the clergy showed themselves as
zealous as the laity to carry out to their own detriment the doctrine
that imposed so many sacrifices.

The France of history vanished on August 4, and the France of the new
democracy took its place. The transfer of property from the upper
class to the lower was considerable. The peasants' income was
increased by about 60 per cent. Nobody objected to the tremendous
loss, or argued to diminish it. Each class, recognising what was
inevitable, and reconciled to it, desired that it should be seen how
willingly and how sincerely it yielded. None wished to give time for
others to remind them of inconsistency, or reserve, or omission, in
the clean sweep