nobles, at the same night sitting of August
4, they surrendered the right of taxing, and of not being taxed.

When the principle of exemption was rejected, the economists computed
that the clergy owed 100 millions of arrears. Their tithes were
abolished, with a promise of redemption. But this the landowners would
not suffer, and they gained largely by the transaction. It followed
that the clergy, instead of a powerful and wealthy order, had to
become salaried functionaries. Their income was made a charge on the
State; and as the surplice fees went with the abolished tithe, the
services of the parish priest to his parishioners were gratuitous. It
was not intended that the priests should be losers, and the bargain
was a bad one for the public. It involved an expenditure of at least
two millions a year, at a time when means were wanting to pay the
national creditor. The consequences were obvious. The State, having
undertaken to remunerate the inferior clergy out of a falling revenue,
had a powerful motive to appropriate what remained of the Church
property when the tithes were lost. That resource was abundant for the
purpose. But it was concentrated in the hands of the higher clergy and
of religious orders--both under the ban of opinion, as nobles or as
corporations. Their wealth would clear off the debts of the clergy,
would pay all their salaries and annuities, and would strengthen the
public credit. After the first spoliation, in the month of August,
these consequences became clear to all, and the secularisation of
Church property was a foregone conclusion.

On October 10 Talleyrand moved that it be appropriated by the State.
He computed that after ample endowment of the clergy, there would be a
present and increasing surplus of L2,000,000 a year. It was difficult
for the clergy to resist the motion, after the agreement of August,
that the State should make provision for them. The Archbishop of Paris
had surrendered the tithe to be disposed of by the nation; and he
afterwards added the gold and silver vessels and ornaments, to the
value of several millions. Bethizy, Bishop of Usez, had declared the
Church property a gift of the nation, which the nation alone could
recall. Maury, loosely arguing, admitted that property is the product
of law; from which it followed that it was subject to modification by
law. It was urged in reply that corporate property is created by law,
but not private, as the individual has his right