he minister of the
interior, "the 36,000 communes represent, in France, 36,000 orphans.
.. girls abandoned or plundered during ten years by their municipal
guardians, appointed by the Convention and the Directory. In changing
the mayors, assistants, and councilors of the commune, scarcely more
has been done than to change the mode of stealing; they have stolen
the communal highway, the by-roads, the trees, and have robbed the
Church;[4130] they have stolen the furniture belonging to the commune
and are still stealing under the spineless municipal system of year
VIII."

All these abuses are investigated and punished;[4131] he thieves are
obliged to restore and will steal no more. The county budget, like of
the State, must now be prepared every year,[4132] with the same method,
precision, and clearness, receipts on one side and expenses on the
other, each section divided into chapters and each chapter into
articles, the state of the liabilities, each debt, the state of the
assets and a tabular enumeration of distinct resources, available
capital and unpaid claims, fixed income and variable income, certain
revenue and possible revenue. In no case must "the calculation of
presumable expenditure exceed the amount of presumable income." In no
case must "the commune demand or obtain an extra tax for its ordinary
expenses." Exact accounts and rigid economy, such are everywhere
indispensable, as well as preliminary reforms, when a badly kept house
has to be transformed into one which is kept in good order. The First
Consul has at heart these two reforms and he adheres to them. Above
all there must be no more indebtedness; now, more than one-half of the
communes are in debt. "Under penalty of dismissal, the prefect is to
visit the communes at least twice a year, and the sub-prefect four times
a year.[4133] A reward must be given to mayors who free their commune
of debt in two years, and the government will appoint a special
commissioner to take charge of the administration of a commune which,
after a delay of five years, shall not be liberated. The fifty mayors
who, each year, shall have most contributed to unencumber their commune
and assure that is has resources available, shall be summoned to Paris
at the expense of the State, and presented in solemn session to the
three consults. A column, raised at the expense of the government and
placed at the principal entrance of the town or village, will transmit
to posterity the mayor