The aid
required by indigence is a debt of the rich to the poor. The right of
property is limited, and applies only to that portion which the law
guarantees. Every ownership, any trade, which bears prejudicially on
the existence of our fellow-creatures is necessarily illicit and
immoral."
The meaning of this is more than clear: the Jacobin populace, having
decided that the possession of, and trade in, groceries was
prejudicial to its existence, the grocers' monopoly is, therefore,
immoral and illicit, and consequently, it pillages their shops. Under
the rule of the populace and of the "Mountain," the Convention applies
the theory, seizes capital wherever it can be found, and notifies the
poor, in its name,
"that they will find in the pocket-books of the rich whatever they
need to supply their wants."[7]
Over and above these striking and direct attacks, an indirect and
hidden attack, even more significant, which slowly undermines the
basis of all present and future property. State affairs are
everybody's affairs, and, when the State ruins itself, everybody is
ruined along with it. For, it is the country's greatest debtor and
its greatest creditor, while there is no debtor so free of seizure and
no creditor so absorbing, since, making the laws and possessing the
force, it can, firstly, repudiate indebtedness and send away the fund-
holder with empty hands, and next, increase taxation and empty the
taxpayer's pocket of his last penny.
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