The spokesman for the committee that had framed the bill makes excuses for not having deprived the father of all the disposable portion.

"The committee believed that such a clause would seriously violate our customs without being of any benefit to society or of any moral advantage.

We assured ourselves, moreover, that there should always be a division of property." With respect to donations: "It is repugnant to all ideas of beneficence to allow donations to the rich.

Nature is averse to the making of such gifts so long as our eyes dwell on misery and misfortune.

These affecting considerations have determined us to fix a point, a sort of maximum, which prohibits gifts on the part of those who have reached that point."] [Footnote 2160: Moniteur, XII., 730, (June 22, 1792), speech by Lamarque .-- But this principle is encountered everywhere.