Yet, in actual practice, it was equality and
fraternity, but not liberty, that were preserved by the First Consul.
"What the French people want," he declared, "is equality, not liberty."
In the social order, therefore, Bonaparte rigidly maintained the
abolition of privilege, of serfdom and feudalism, and sought to
guarantee to all Frenchmen equal justice, equal rights, equal
opportunity of advancement. But in the political order he exercised a
tyranny as complete, if less open, than that of Louis XIV.
[Sidenote: Administrative Centralization]
The Constitution of the Year VIII (1799) placed in Bonaparte's hands
all the legislative and executive functions of the central government,
and a series of subsequent acts put the law courts under his control.
In 1800 the local government of the whole country was subordinated to
him. The extensive powers vested by the Constituent Assembly in
elective bodies of the departments and smaller districts
(_arrondissements_) were now to be wielded by prefects and sub-
prefects, appointed by the First Consul and responsible to him.
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