The
redeeming rent _(rente de rachat_) was to be paid by the peasants,
either in money, according to an estimate fixed by law, or by work done
for the proprietor, _i.e.,_ by _corvies_. This last mode of payment,
sanctioned by law only for a short period, disappeared more and more
every day, so that the majority of the peasants no longer worked for the
proprietors, but paid their rent in money.
I can say more: About two millions of peasants were entirely liberated
with regard to the proprietors, thanks to an immediate payment of the
redeeming rent. In such cases their annual rent (_redevance_) was
capitalized, and the Government gave the proprietor an obligation for
the amount of the capital, which bore five per cent, interest, and was
to be redeemed in the course of forty-nine years by annual drawings
(_tirages_); the peasants then to pay their redeeming rent to
Government, and thus become free and independent proprietors. For some
time both peasants and proprietors seemed to find this proceeding the
most profitable, and agreements of this kind became more and more
frequent every day.
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