That idea is bred in the peasant blood, just as the idea of superiority was once bred in noble blood.

The revolution of 1789 was the retaliation of the vanquished.

The peasants then set foot in possession of the soil which the feudal law had denied them for over twelve hundred years.

Hence their desire for land, which they now cut up among themselves until actually they divide a furrow into two parts; which, by the bye, often hinders or prevents the collection of taxes, for the value of such fractions of property is not sufficient to pay the legal costs of recovering them." "Very true, for the obstinacy of the small owners--their aggressiveness, if you choose--on this point is so great that in at least one thousand cantons of the three thousand of French territory, it is impossible for a rich man to buy an inch of land from a peasant," said Blondet, interrupting the abbe.

"The peasants who are willing to divide up their scraps of land among themselves would not sell a fraction on any condition or at any price to the middle classes.