Sole possessor of land, capital and the necessities of life, he imposes conditions which others, deprived of means, are forced to accept at the risk of starvation; he speculates at his discretion on wants which cannot be put off, and makes the most of his monopoly by maintaining the poor in their destitute situations.

That is why, writes Saint Just:[2145] "Opulence is a disgrace; for every thousand livres expenditure of this kind a smaller number of natural or adopted children can be looked after."-- "The richest Frenchman," says Robespierre, "ought not to have now more three thousand livres rental."-- Beyond what is strictly necessary, no property is legitimate; we have the right to take the superfluous wherever we find it.

Not only to-day, because we now require it for the State and for the poor, but at all times, because the superfluous, in all times, confers on its owner an advantage in contracts, a control of wages, an arbitrary power over the means of living, in short, a supremacy of condition worse than preeminence in rank.

Consequently, our hand is not only against the nobles, but also against the rich and well-to-do bourgeois[2146] the large land-owners and capitalists; we are going to demolish their crafty feudalism from top to bottom.[2147]--In the first place, and merely through the effect of the new institutions, we prevent any capitalist from deducting, as he is used to do, the best portion of the fruits of another's labor; the hornets shall no longer, year after year, consume the honey of the bees.

To bring this about, we have only to let the assignats (paper money) and their forced rate (of exchange) work things out.