友情提示:如果本网页打开太慢或显示不完整,请尝试鼠标右键“刷新”本网页!阅读过程发现任何错误请告诉我们,谢谢!! 报告错误
九色书籍 返回本书目录 我的书架 我的书签 TXT全本下载 进入书吧 加入书签

the origins of contemporary france-5-第90章

按键盘上方向键 ← 或 → 可快速上下翻页,按键盘上的 Enter 键可回到本书目录页,按键盘上方向键 ↑ 可回到本页顶部!
————未阅读完?加入书签已便下次继续阅读!




administrative compartments。 … According to the opportunity and the

temptation; it glides downhill; now toward the surrender of its duty;

and now toward the meddlesome interference of an intruder。









V。 Local versus State authority。



Case in which the State abdicates。 … Anarchy during the Revolution。 …

Case in which the State usurps。 … Regime of the year VIII。 … Remains

of local independence under the ancient regime。 … Destroyed under the

new regime。 … Local society after 1800。



From and after 1789; the State; passing through intermittent fits and

starts of brutal despotism; had resigned its commission。 Under its

almost nominal sovereignty; there were in France forty…four thousand

small States enjoying nearly sovereign power; and; most frequently;

sovereignty in reality。'11' Not only did the local community manage

its private affairs; but again; in the circumscription; each exercised

the highest public functions; disposed of the national guard; of the

police force; and even of the army; appointed civil and criminal

judges; police commissioners;'12' the assessors and collectors of

taxes。 In brief; the central State handed over; or allowed the seizure

of the powers of which it ought never to deprive itself; the last of

its means by which alone it acts effectively and on the spot;



* its sword; which it alone should wield;

* its scales of justice; which it alone should hold;

* its purse; for it to fill;



and we have seen with what harm to individuals; to the communes; and

to itself; with what a lamentable series of disastrous results:



* universal; incurable; persistent anarchy;

*  impotence of the government;

* violation of the laws;

* complete stoppage of revenue; an empty treasury;

* despotism of the strong; oppression of the weak;

* street riots;

* rural brigandage;

*  extortions and waste at the town halls;

* municipal usurpations and abdications;

* ruin of the highways; and all useful public works and buildings; and

* the ruin and distress of the communes。'13'



In contrast with this; and through disgust; the new Régime takes the

other side; and even goes to the other extreme; the central State; in

1800; no longer a party that has resigned; as formerly; becomes the

interloper。 Not only does it take back from local communities the

portion of the public domain which had been imprudently conceded to

them; but; again; it lays its hand on their private domain; it

attaches them to it by way of appendices; while its systematic;

uniform usurpation; accomplished at one blow; spread over the whole

territory; again plunges them all; communes and departments alike;

into a chaos in which; under the old monarchy; they would never have

fallen。



Before 1789; collective legal entities (persons); provincial and

communal; still existed。 On the one hand; five or six great local

bodies; represented by elective assemblies; full of life and

spontaneously active; among others those of Languedoc and Brittany;

still provided for and governed themselves。 The other provinces; which

the central power had reduced to administrative districts; retained;

at least; their historic cohesion; their time…honored name; the lament

for; or at least the souvenir of; their former autonomy; and; here and

there; a few vestiges or fragments of their lost independence; and;

better yet; these old; paralyzed; but not mutilated bodies; had just

assumed new life; and under their renewed organism were striving to

give the blood in their veins a fresh start。 Twenty…one provincial

assemblies; instituted over the entire territory; between 1778 and

1787; and provided with powers of considerable importance; undertook;

each in its own sphere; to direct provincial interests。 Communal

interest; also; had its representatives in the urban or rural

communes。 In the towns; a deliberative assembly; composed of the

leading notables and of delegates elected by all the corporations and

communities in the place; formed an intermittent municipal council the

same as to…day; but much more ample; which voted and passed

resolutions on important occasions; there was a board of management at

the head of it; 〃the town corps;〃 comprising the various municipal

officials; the mayor; his lieutenant; sheriffs; prosecuting attorney;

treasurer; and clerk;'14' now elected by the deliberative assembly;

now the legal purchasers; heirs; and proprietors of their office; the

same as a notary or advocate of to…day owns his office; protected

against administrative caprices by a royal acquittance; and; for a

money consideration; titular in their towns; the same as a

parliamentarian in his parliament; and hence planted in; or grafted

upon; the commune like a parliamentarian among his peers; and; like

him; defenders of local interests against the central power。 … In the

village; the heads of families met together on the public square;

deliberated in common over common affairs; elected the syndic;

likewise the collectors of the taille; and deputies to the intendant;

of their own accord; but with his approval; they taxed themselves for

the support of the school; for repairs to the church or fountain; and

for beginning or carrying on a suit in court。 … All these remains of

the ancient provincial and communal initiative; respected or tolerated

by monarchical centralization; are crushed out and extinguished。 The

First Consul very soon falls upon these local societies and seizes

them in his claws; in the eyes of the new legislator they scarcely

seem to exist; there must not be any local personalities for him。 The

commune and department; in his eyes; are merely territorial districts;

physical portions of the public domain; provincial workshops to which

the central State transfers and uses its tools; in order to work

effectively and on the spot。 Here; as elsewhere; he takes the business

entirely in his own hands; if he employs interested parties it is only

as auxiliaries; at odd times; for a few days; to operate with more

discernment and more economy; to listen to complaints and promises; to

become better informed and the better to apportion changes; but;

except this occasional and subordinate help; the members of the local

society must remain passive in the local society; they are to pay and

obey; and nothing more。 Their community no longer belongs to them; but

to the government; its chiefs are functionaries who depend on him; and

not on it; it no longer issues its mandate; all its legal mandatories;

all its representatives and directors; municipal or general

councilors; mayors; sub…prefects or prefects; are imposed on it from

above; by a foreign hand; and; willingly or not; instead of choosing

them; it has to put up with them。





VI。 Local Elections under the First Consul。



Lists of notables。 … Sénatus…consultes of the year X。 … Liberal

institution becomes a reigning instrument。 … Mechanism of the system

of appointments and candidatures。 … Decree of 1806 and suppression of

candidatures。



At the beginning; an effort was made to put in practice the

constitutional principle proposed by Sieyès: Power in future;

according the accepted formula; must come from above and confidence

from below。 To this end; in the year IX; the assembled citizens

appointed one…tenth of their number; about 500;000 communal notables;

and these; likewise assembled; appointed also one…tenth of their

number; about 50;000 departmental notables。 The government selected

from this list the municipal councilors of each commune; and; from

this second list; the general councilors of each department。 … The

machine; however; is clumsy; difficult to set going; still more

difficult to manage; and too unreliable in its operation。 According to

the First Consul; it is an absurd system; 〃a childish piece of

ideology; a great nation should not be organized in this way。〃'15' At

bottom;'16' 〃he does not want notables accepted by the nation。 In his

system; he is to declare who the notables of the nation shall be and

stamp them with the seal of the State; it is not for the nation to

present them to the head of the State stamped with the national seal。〃

Consequently; at the end of a year; he becomes; through the

establishment of electoral colleges; the veritable grand…elector of

all the notables; he has transformed; with his usual address; a

liberal institution into a reigning instrumentality。'17'

Provisionally; he holds on to the list of communal notables; 〃because

it is the work of the people; the result of a grand movement which

must not prove useless; and because; moreover; it contains a large

number of names。 。 。 。 offering a wide margin from which to make good

selections。'18' He brings together these notables in each canton; and

invites them to designate their trusty men; the candidates from which

he will choose municipal councilors。 But; as there are very few

cultivated men in the rural districts; 〃nearly always it is the 
返回目录 上一页 下一页 回到顶部 0 1
未阅读完?加入书签已便下次继续阅读!
温馨提示: 温看小说的同时发表评论,说出自己的看法和其它小伙伴们分享也不错哦!发表书评还可以获得积分和经验奖励,认真写原创书评 被采纳为精评可以获得大量金币、积分和经验奖励哦!