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Taine, Hippolyte, 1828-1893

"The French Revolution - Volume 1"

Only
on these conditions can a railway manager be sure that his pointsmen
are on the job. Only on these conditions can the foreman of a
foundry engage to execute work by a given day. In every public or
private enterprise, direct, immediate authority is the only known,
the only human and possible way to ensure the obedience and
punctuality of agents. - Administration is thus carried on in all
countries, by one or several series of functionaries, each under
some central manager who holds the reins in his single grasp.[10]
This is all reversed in the new Constitution. In the eyes of our
legislators obedience must be spontaneous and never compulsory, and,
in the suppression of despotism, they suppress government. The
general rule in the hierarchy which they establish is that the
subordinates should be independent of their superior, for he must
neither appoint nor displace them: the only right he has is to give
them advice and remonstrate with them.[11] At best, in certain
cases, he can annul their acts and inflict on them a provisional
suspension of their functions, which can be contested and is
revocable.


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