2. The Reorganisation of France by the
Consulate.
Upon assuming power Bonaparte undertook a colossal task. All
was in ruins; all was to be rebuilt. On the morrow of the
coup of Brumaire he drafted, almost single-handed, the
Constitution destined to give him the absolute power which was to
enable him to reorganise the country and to prevail over the
factions. In a month it was completed.
This Constitution, known as that of the year VIII.,
survived, with slight modifications, until the end of his reign.
The executive power was the attribute of three Consuls, two of
whom possessed a consultative voice only. The first Consul,
Bonaparte, was therefore sole master of France. He appointed
ministers, councillors of state, ambassadors, magistrates, and
other officials, and decided upon peace or war. The legislative
power was his also, since only he could initiate the laws, which
were subsequently submitted to three Assemblies—the Council of
State, the Tribunate, and the Legislative Corps. A fourth
Assembly,
the Senate, acted effectually as the guardian of the
Constitution.
Despotic as he was and became, Bonaparte always called the
other Consuls about him before proceeding with the most trivial
measure. The Legislative Corps did not exercise much influence
during his reign, but he signed no decrees of any kind without
first discussing them with the Council of State. This Council,
composed of the most enlightened and learned men of France,
prepared laws, which were then presented to the Legislative
Corps, which could criticise them very freely, since voting was
secret. Presided over by Bonaparte, the Council of State was a
kind of sovereign tribunal, judging even the actions of
ministers.9
The new master had great confidence in this Council, as it
was composed more particularly of
eminent jurists, each of whom dealt with his own speciality. He
was too good a psychologist not to entertain the greatest
suspicion of large and incompetent assemblies of popular origin,
whose disastrous results had been obvious to him during the whole
of the Revolution.
Wishing to govern for the people, but never with its
assistance, Bonaparte accorded it no part in the government,
reserving to it only the right of voting, once for all, for or
against the adoption of the new Constitution. He only in rare
instances had recourse to universal suffrage. The members of the
Legislative Corps recruited themselves, and were not elected by
the people.
In creating a Constitution intended solely to fortify his
own power, the First Consul had no illusion that it would serve
to restore the country. Consequently, while he was drafting it
he also undertook the enormous task of the administrative,
judicial, and financial reorganisation of France. The various
powers were centralised in Paris. Each department was directed
by a prefect, assisted by a consul-general; the
arrondissement by a sub-prefect, assisted by a council;
the commune by a mayor, assisted by a municipal council. All
were
appointed by the ministers, and not by election, as under the
Republic.
This system, which created the omnipotent State and a
powerful centralisation, was retained by all subsequent
Governments and is preserved to-day. Centralisation being, in
spite of its drawbacks, the only means of avoiding local
tyrannies in a country profoundly divided within itself, has
always been maintained.
This organisation, based on a profound knowledge of the
soul of the French people, immediately restored that tranquillity
and order which had for so long been unknown.
To complete the mental pacification of the country, the
political exiles were recalled and the churches restored to the
faithful.
Continuing to rebuild the social edifice, Bonaparte busied
himself also with the drafting of a code, the greater part of
which consisted of customs borrowed from the ancien
régime. It was, as has been said, a sort of
transition or compromise between the old law and the new.
Considering the enormous task accomplished by the First
Consul in so short a time, we realise that he had need, before
all, of a Constitution according him absolute power. If all the
measures by which he restored France had been submitted to
assemblies of attorneys, he could never have extricated the
country from the disorder into which it had fallen.
The Constitution of the year VIII. obviously transformed
the Republic into a monarchy at least as absolute as the
“Divine right” monarchy of Louis XIV. Being the only
Constitution adapted to the needs of the moment, it represented a
psychological necessity.
