[17]
- The result is manifest: command, in every civil and in every
military order, becomes upset; subalterns are no longer precise and
trustworthy instruments; the chief no longer has any practical hold
on them; his orders, consequently, encounter only tame obedience,
doubtful deference, sometimes even open resistance; their execution
remains dilatory, uncertain, incomplete, and at length is utterly
neglected; a latent and soon flagrant system of disorganization is
instituted by the law. Step by step, in the hierarchy of
Government, power has slipped downwards, and henceforth belongs by
virtue of the Constitution to the authorities who sit at the bottom
of the ladder. It is not the King, or the minister, or the
directory of the department or of the district who rules, but its
municipal officers; and their sway is as omnipotent as it can be in
a small independent republic. They alone have the "strong hand"
with which to search the pockets of refractory tax-payers, and
ensure the collection of the revenue; to seize the rioter by the
throat, and protect life and property; in short, to convert the
promises and menaces of the law into acts.
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