The privileged orders do not tire of saying that, from the moment that
the three orders jointly surrender their purely monetary exemptions,
everything will be equal between them. But if everything will be equal,
why then should they be afraid of the demands of the Third Estate? Is it
to be supposed that the Third Estate would want to harm itself by attacking
a common interest? If everything is to be equal, how can one explain
all those efforts to prevent the Third Estate from escaping from its political
nullity?
But where, I ask, is the miraculous power able to guarantee France
from the possibility of any abuse of any kind as soon as the nobility begins
122 Political Writings
to pay its share of the taxes? If such abuses and disorder will still exist, I
would like to know how everything can be equal between those who
profit from them and those who suffer from them.