isitions for bed-linen, beds,
clothes, provisions, wines and the rests, along with specie and precious
metals, the condition of the mansion may be imagined, especially after
we have lodged in it; it is the same as if the house had been on fire;
all movable property and all real estate have perished.--Now that both
are destroyed they must not be allowed to accumulate again. To ensure
this,

1. we abolish, according to rule, the freedom of bequest,[2156]

2. we prescribe equal and obligatory divisions of all
inheritances;[2157]

3. we include bastards in this under the same title as legitimate
children;

4. we admit representation a l'infini,[2158] "in order to multiply heirs
and parcel out inheritances;"[2159]

5. we reduce the disposable portion to one-tenth, in the direct line,
and one-sixth in a collateral line;

6. we forbid any gift to persons whose income exceeds one thousand
quintals of grain;

7. we inaugurate adoption, "an admirable institution," and essentially
republican, "since it brings about a division of large properties
without a crisis."

Already, in the Legislative Assembly a deputy had stated that "equal
rights could be maintained only by a persistent tendency to uniformity
of fortunes."[2160]

We have provided for this for the present day and we likewise provide
for it in the future.--None of the vast tumors which have sucked the
sap of the human plant are to remain; we have cut them away with a few
telling blows, while the steady-moving machine, permanently erected
by us, will shear off their last tendrils should they change to sprout
again.

VI. Conditions requisite for making a citizen.

Conditions requisite for making a citizen.--Plans for
suppressing poverty.--Measures in favor of the poor.

In returning Man to his natural condition we have prepared for the
advent of the Social Man. The object now is to form the citizen, and
this is possible only through a leveling of conditions. In a well made
society there shall be "neither rich nor poor"[2161]: we have already
destroyed the opulence which corrupts; it now remains for us to suppress
the poverty which degrades. Under the tyranny of material things, which
is as oppressive as the tyranny of men, Man falls below himself. Never
will a citizen be made out of a poor fellow condemned to remain valet,
hireling or beggar, reduced to thinking only of himself and his daily
bread, asking in vain for work, or, plodding when h