when the liberal elements were insistent upon changes that were
fundamental, there was slender indication of any real desire on the
part of the French people for an essentially decentralized
administrative regime. At the most, the demand was but for the
autonomy of the commune, while the canton, arrondissement, and
department should continue to be administered by, and largely in the
interest of, the national government. By law of March 28, 1882, the
demand in behalf of the communes was met. Upon every commune, large
and small (except Paris), was conferred the privilege of choosing
freely its entire quota of administrative officials; and in the great
municipal code of April 5, 1884, drafted by a commission of nine
constituted in the previous year, this privilege, with others, was
specifically guaranteed.[512] Departments and arrondissements,
however, continued to be primarily spheres within which the general
government, acting through its own agents, brought home immediately to
the people the reality and comprehensiveness of its authority. And to
this day France presents the curious spectacle of a nation broadly
democratic in respect to its constitution and central government, yet
more closely bound by a hard and fast administrative regime than any
other principal state of western Europe.[513]

[Footnote 512: Text in J. Duvergier, Collection
complete des lois, decrets, ordonnances,
reglements, avis du conseil d'etat (Paris,
1834-1907), LXXXIV., 99-148.]

[Footnote 513: On the French administrative system
two admirable general works are H. Barthelemy,
Traite de droit administratif (5th ed., Paris,
1908), and A. Esmein, Histoire du droit francais
(8th ed., Paris, 1908). An older treatise of value
is E. Monnet, Histoire de l'administration
provinciale, departementale et communale en France
(Paris, 1885). Three works in which the subject is
dealt with in a comparative fashion are P. P.
Leroy-Beaulieu, Administration locale en France et
en Angleterre (Paris, 1872); P. W. L. Ashley, Local
and Central Government (London, 1906); and F. J.
Goodnow, Comparative Administrative Law (2d ed.,
New