he was in the habit, after obtaining information about the public
buildings a town needed, to order them as he passed along, and, for this
munificence, he bore away the blessings of the people."--Some time after
this a letter came from the minister of the interior: "In conformity
with the favor extended to you by the First Consul (later, emperor) you
are required, citizen mayor, to order the construction of this or
that building, taking care to charge the expenses on the funds of your
commune," and which the prefect of the department obliges him to do,
even when available funds are exhausted or otherwise applied.]

[Footnote 31147: Thiers, VIII., 117 (August 1807) and 124. 13,400
leagues of highways were constructed or repaired; 10 canals were dug
or continued, at the expense of the public treasury; 32 departments
contribute to the expense of these through the extra centimes tax,
which is imposed on them. The State and the department, on the average,
contribute each one-half.--Among the material evils caused by the
Revolution, the most striking and the most seriously felt was the
abandonment and running down of roads which had become impracticable,
also the still more formidable degeneracy of the dikes and barriers
against rivers and the sea. (Cf. in Rocquain, "Etat de la France au 18
Brumaire," the reports of Francais de Nantes, Fourcroy, Barbee-Marbois,
etc.)--The Directory had imagined barrriers with toll-gates on each road
to provide expenses, which brought in scarcely 16 millions to offset 30
and 35 millions of expenditure. Napoleon substitutes for these tolls the
product of the salt-tax. (Decree of April 24, 1806, art. 59.)]

[Footnote 31148: "Souvenirs", by PASQUIER (Etienne-Dennis, duc) Librarie
Plon, Paris 1893. "Scarcely two or three highways remained in decent
order. ... Navigation on the rivers and canals became impossible Public
buildings and monuments were everywhere falling to ruin.... If the
rapidity of destruction was prodigious, that of restoration was no less
so."]

CHAPTER II. TAXATION AND CONSCRIPTION.

I. Distributive Justice in Allotment of Burdens and Benefits.

Requirements previous to the Revolution.--Lack of
distributive justice.--Wrongs committed in the allotment of
social sacrifices and benefits.--Under the ancient Regime.
--During the Revolution.--Napoleon's personal and public
motives in the application of distributive justice.--The
circumstan