[129] This proposition was made by Talleyrand, then Bishop of Autun. In support of it he argued, that "the clergy were not proprietors, but depositories of their estates; that no individual could maintain any right of property, or inheritance in them; that they were bestowed originally by the munificence of kings or nobles, and might now be resumed by the nation, which had succeeded to _their_ rights." To this Maury and Siêyes replied, "that it was an unfounded assertion that the property of the Church was at the disposal of the state; that it flowed from the munificence or piety of individuals in former ages, and was destined to a peculiar purpose, totally different from secular concerns; that, if the purposes originally intended could not be carried into effect it should revert to the heirs of the donors, but certainly not accrue to the legislature."--THIERS, tom. i., p. 193. [130] M. de Chateaubriand says, "The funds thus acquired were enormous, the church-lands were nearly one-half of the whole landed property of the kingdom." [131] See Sir Henry Spelman's treatise on the "History of Sacrilege." [132] See M. de Staël, vol. i., p. 384. "The retreat of Necker produced a total change in the ministry. Of those who now came into office two were destined to perish on the scaffold, and a third by the sword of the revolutionary assassins."--LACRETELLE, tom. viii., p. 92. [133] Lacretelle, tom. viii., p. 38. [134] Mignet, tom. i., pp. 107, 121; Thiers, tom. i., pp. 240, 266. [135] Mignet says, "The Constitutional Church establishment was not the work of the modern philosophers, but was devised by the Jansenists, or rigid party." No doubt, the Jansenists, dupes of the philosophers, fancied themselves guides instead of blind instruments. [136] It was their custom to sit on the highest rows of benches in the hall. [137] Mémoires du Marquis des Ferrieres, l. iii. [138] Mémoires de Bailli, 16 Août. [139] Prudhomme, tom. ii., p. 297. [140] See Mignet, tom. i., p. 126; Lacretelle, tom. viii., p. 128. "I have had in my hands a letter of Mirabeau, written for the purpose of being shown to the King. He there made offer of all his means to restore to France an efficient and respected, but a limited monarchy; he made use, among others, of this remarkable expression: 'I should lament to have laboured at nothing but a vast destruction.'"--M. DE STAËL, vol. i., p. 401. "He (Mirabeau) received for a short time a pension of 20,000 francs, or £800 a-month, first from the Comte D'Artois, and afterwards the King; but he considered himself an agent intrusted with their affairs, and he accepted those pensions not to be governed by, but to govern, those who granted them."--DUMONT, p. 230. [141] Lacretelle, tom. viii., p. 126.