But to understand what he said, and what he foresaw, I
must explain a little what had been the course of legislation in
France on which his predictions were founded.
"Before the Revolution of 1789, there had been a great accumulation
of the landed property of the country, and, indeed, of all its
property,--by means of laws of entail, _majorats_, and other legal
contrivances,--in the hands of the privileged classes; chiefly in
those of the nobility and the clergy. The injury and injustice done
by long continued legislation in this direction were obviously
great; and it was not, perhaps, unnatural, that the opposite course
to that which had brought on the mischief should be deemed the best
one to cure it. At any rate, such was the course taken.
"In 1791 a law was passed, preventing any man from having any
interest beyond the period of his own life in any of his property,
real, personal, or mixed, and distributing all his possessions for
him, immediately after his death, among his children, in equal
shares, or if he left no children, then among his next of kin, on
the same principle. This law, with a slight modification, made
under the influence of Robespierre, was in force till 1800. But the
period was entirely revolutionary, and probably quite as much
property changed hands from violence and the consequences of
violence, during the nine years it continued, as was transmitted by
the laws that directly controlled its succession.
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