[Footnote 243: Some curious facts were elicited during the progress of this discussion respecting the manner in which a portion of the vast revenues of the Church had been obtained. The clergy of Condom promised the simple, kind-hearted peasants, in consideration for a large quantity of grain, that they would every year conduct two hundred and fifty souls from purgatory directly to Paradise. In some places a regular tariff of prices had been established for the pardon of crimes. Absolution for incest could be purchased for one dollar, arson required one dollar and a quarter, parricide one dollar, and absolution could be obtained for all sins united for about sixteen dollars. These prices seem very moderate. But it must be remembered that the peasants were _excessively_ poor, and could not, even to escape from purgatory, pay large sums.--_Villiaumé_, p. 52.] [Footnote 244: Histoire des Montagnards, par Alphonse Esquiros, p. 25.] [Footnote 245: In the Faubourg St. Antoine, which contained a population of thirty thousand, it is said that there were but two hundred _active citizens_. Marat, in his addresses to the "unfortunate citizens of the faubourgs," urged them to vote, notwithstanding the decree of the Assembly. "No power under the sun," said he, "can deprive you of the right of suffrage, which is inherent in society itself."] [Footnote 246: The price of salt immediately fell from fourteen sous a pound to less than one sou.--_Villiaumé._] [Footnote 247: It was not until the month of March, 1792, that the guillotine was first used,] [Footnote 248: "The government of the Revolution was rapidly becoming established. The Assembly had given to the new régime its monarch, its national representation, its territorial division, its armed force, its municipal and administrative power, its popular tribunals, its currency, its clergy; it had made an arrangement with respect to its debt, and had found means to reconstruct property without injustice."--_Miguet_, p. 87.] [Footnote 249: Michelet's French Revolution, p. 358.] [Footnote 250: "What was the National Assembly doing at this time in Paris? Its more than Christian meekness is a surprising spectacle."--_Michelet_, p. 365.] CHAPTER XIX. THE KING ACCEPTS THE CONSTITUTION. The King visits the Assembly.--His Speech.--The Priests rouse the Populace.--The King's Salary.--Petition of Talma.--Views of Napoleon.--Condemnation and Execution of the Marquis of Favrus.--Spirit of the New Constitution.--National Jubilee.--The Queen sympathizes with the Popular Movement.--Writings of Edmund Burke.