It is a radical operation, and in conformity with principle.
Unfortunately, the puerility of the thing is so gross as to defeat its own object.

In effect, since the days of Charlemagne, all the estates in the country which have been sold and resold over and over again have always paid tithes, and have never been purchased except with this charge upon them, which amounts to about one-seventh of the net revenue of the country.

Take off this tax and one-seventh is added to the income of the proprietor, and, consequently, a seventh to his capital.

A present is made to him of one hundred francs if his land is worth seven hundred-francs, and of one thousand if it is worth seven thousand, of ten thousand if it is worth seventy thousand, and of one hundred thousand if it is worth seven hundred thousand.

Some people gain six hundred thousand francs by this act, and thirty thousand francs in Income.[2259] 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.