They are the salvation of the present
rulers.
As the Assembly has laid a most unsparing and cruel hand on all men who
have lived by the bounty, the justice, or the abuses of the old
government, they have lessened many expenses. The royal establishment,
though excessively and ridiculously great for _their_ scheme of things,
is reduced at least one half; the estates of the king's brothers, which
under the ancient government had been in truth royal revenues, go to the
general stock of the confiscation; and as to the crown lands, though
under the monarchy they never yielded two hundred and fifty thousand a
year, by many they are thought at least worth three times as much.
As to the ecclesiastical charge, whether as a compensation for losses,
or a provision for religion, of which they made at first a great parade,
and entered into a solemn engagement in favor of it, it was estimated at
a much larger sum than they could expect from the Church property,
movable or immovable: they are completely bankrupt as to that article.
It is just what they wish; and it is not productive of any serious
inconvenience.
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