g fifty or sixty thousand men, termed
Notabilities of the Departments, were again to name one-tenth of their
number, who were styled Notabilities of the Nation. But the most
important act of selection was still to come--from above. From this
last-named list the governing powers were to select the members of the
legislative bodies and the chief officials and servants of the
Government.

The executive now claims a brief notice. The well-worn theory of the
distinction of powers, that is, the legislative and executive powers,
was maintained in Sieyes' plan. At the head of the Government the
philosopher desired to enthrone an august personage, the Grand
Elector, who was to be selected by the Senate. This Grand Elector was
to nominate two Consuls, one for peace, the other for war; they were
to nominate the Ministers of State, who in their turn selected the
agents of power from the list of Notabilities of the Nation. The two
Consuls and their Ministers administered the executive affairs. The
Senate, sitting in dignified ease, was merely to safeguard the
constitution, to elect the Grand Elector, and to select the members of
the _Corps Legislatif_ (proper) and the Tribunate.

Distrust of the former almost superhuman activity in law-making now
appeared in divisions, checks, and balances quite ingenious in their
complexity. The Legislature was divided into three councils: the
_Corps Legislatif_, properly so called, which listened in silence to
proposals of laws offered by the Council of State and criticised or
orally approved by the Tribunate.[131] These three bodies were not
only divided, but were placed in opposition, especially the two
talking bodies, which resembled plaintiff and defendant pleading
before a gagged judge. But even so the constitution was not
sufficiently guarded against Jacobins or royalists. If by any chance a
dangerous proposal were forced through these mutually distrustful
bodies, the Senate was charged with the task of vetoing it, and if the
Grand Elector, or any other high official, strove to gain a perpetual
dictatorship, the Senate was at once to _absorb_ him into its ranks.

Moreover, lest the voters should send up too large a proportion of
Jacobins or royalists, the first selection of members of the great
Councils and the chief functionaries for local affairs was to be made
by the Consuls, who thus primarily exercised not only the "power from
above," but also the "confidence" which ought to have com