the second time in 1799, through an
actual bankruptcy and hatred of the Revolution.

An architect like the French Consul is on his guard against a
financial, social and moral danger of this sort. He is aware that, in a
well-organized society, there must be neither surcharge nor discharge,
no favors, no exemptions and no exclusions. Moreover, "l'Etat c'est
lui;"[3210] thus is the public interest confounded with his personal
interest, and, in the management of this double interest, his hands are
free. Proprietor; and first inhabitant of France in the fashion of
its former kings, he is not obliged and embarrassed as they were by
immemorial precedents, by the concessions they have sanctioned or the
rights they have acquired. At the public table over which he presides
and which is his table, he does not, like Louis XV. or Louis XVI.,
encounter messmates already installed there, the heirs or purchasers of
the seats they occupy,[3211] extending in long rows from one end of the
room to the other, each in his place according to rank, in an arm-chair,
or common chair, or on a footstool, all being the legitimate and
recognized owners of their seats, all of them the King's messmates and
all authorized by law, tradition and custom to eat a free dinner or pay
for it at less than cost, to find fault with the dishes passed around,
to reach out for those not near by, to help themselves to what they want
and to carry off the dessert in their pockets. At the new table there
are no places secured beforehand. It is Napoleon himself who arranges
the table, and on sitting down, he is the master who has invited
whomsoever he pleases, who assigns to each his portion, who regulates
meals as he thinks best for his own and the common interest, and who
introduces into the entire service order, watchfulness and economy.
Instead of a prodigal and negligent grand-seignior, here at last is
a modern administrator who orders supplies, distributes portions and
limits consumption, a contractor who feels his responsibility, a man of
business able to calculate. Henceforth, each is to pay for his portion,
estimated according to his ration, and each is to enjoy his ration
according to his quota.--Judge of this by one example: In his own house,
customarily a center of abuses and sinecures, there must be no more
parasites. From the grooms and scullions of his palace up to its
grand officials, even to the chamberlains and ladies of honor, all his
domestics, with