the candidate
for these and make him titular, but again to create directly and at
once, both titular and candidate.

VII. Municipal and general councillors under the Empire.

Quality of municipal and general councilors under the
Consulate and the Empire.--Object of their meetings.--Limits
of their power.--Their real role.--Role of the prefect and
of the government.

Observe the selections which he imposes on himself beforehand; these
selections are those to which he has tied down the electoral bodies.
Being the substitute of these bodies, he takes, as they do, general
councilors from those in the department who pay the most taxes, and
municipal councilors from those most taxed in the canton. One the
other hand, by virtue of the municipal law, it is from the municipal
councilors that he chooses the mayor. Thus the local auxiliaries and
agents he employs are all notables of the place, the leading landowners
and largest manufacturers and merchants. He systematically enrolls the
distributors of labor on his side, all who, through their wealth and
residence, through their enterprises and expenditure on the spot,
exercise local influence and authority. In order not to omit any of
these, and be able to introduce into the general council this or that
rich veteran of the old regime, or this or that parvenu of the new
regime who is not rich, he has reserved to himself the right of adding
twenty eligible members to the list, "ten of which must be taken from
among citizens belonging to the Legion of Honor, or having rendered
important services, and ten taken from among the thirty in the
department who pay the most taxes." In this way none of the notables
escape him; he recruits them as he pleases and according to his needs,
now among men of the revolution who he does not want to see discredited
or isolated,[4124] now among men of the old monarchy whom he wants
to rally to himself by favor or by force. Such is the Baron de
Vitrolles,[4125] who, without asking for the place, becomes mayor of
Versailles and councilor-general in Basses-Alps, and then, a little
later, at his peril, inspector of the imperial sheepfolds. Such is the
Count de Villele, who, on returning to his estate of Morville, after an
absence of fourteen years, suddenly, "before having determined where he
would live, either in town or in the country," finds himself mayor
of Morville. To make room for him, his predecessor is removed and the